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Welcome to my little corner of the Internet. Here you will find different musings and descriptions of the various happenings in my life. Anything from political and religious opinions to fantastical writings that have absolutely nothing to do with anything important. Some days I may write about my educational adventures and others I may be writing about the rising price of gasoline, you just never know. So, if this is your cup of tea or if you are just looking for the entertainment of reading other people's thoughts, I welcome you and invite you to subscribe to my blog (look for the link in the sidebar). Thank you for your visit and please feel free to invite your friends!

Grilled whole Chicken

This is a good way to add moisture and flavor to your grilled whole chicken. You may also use this brine for pieces of chicken and cook it indoors as well! I think you will enjoy this one!

Recipe: Grilled Whole Chicken

Summary: best of all flavors, grill and brine!

Ingredients

  • 4 – 5 lb. Roasting hen
    Brining solution (see below)
    olive oil
    onions
    garlic
    paprika

Instructions

  1. Prepare brine solution as described below. Marinate chicken in brine in the refrigerator at least 8 hours and no more than 10 hours being sure that the chicken is fully submerged in the brine. Remove from brine and rinse under cold water twice for at least 30 seconds per rinse. Pat dry with paper towel. Rub outside of chicken with olive oil. Start your grill and keep in mind you wish to maintain a temperature between 250 and 300 degrees F for numerous hours. Mount chicken on one of those devices that make the chicken stand up in the grill (using a device like the Beer Butt Chicken Cooker works nicely). Dice onions and garlic and press into the surface of the chicken (no it won’t stick real well just do the best you can). Sprinkle with paprika. Roast in a closed grill for 3 to 3 1/2 hours until the temperature of the chicken is at least 180 degrees F. If you wish to add a little smoke that is ok as well, just go lightly on it as you can overwhelm the flavoring too much.

Cooking time (duration): all day

Number of servings (yield): 4

Meal type: supper

Culinary tradition: USA (Traditional)

My rating: 4.0 stars
****

Recipe by on.

Recipe: Standard Chicken Brine

Ingredients

  • 1 gal. water
    3/4 c. salt
    2/3 c. sugar
    1/4 c. olive oil
    1 tsp. ea of dried tarragon leaves, dried thyme leaves, ground black pepper

Instructions

  1. boil your water, add salt and sugar and wait for them to dissolve. Add remainding ingredients and steep for flavors to combine. Cool brine and add chicken AFTER BRINE IS COOL or it will cook in the brine! Ensure chicken is completely covered (weigh it down if needed), place in refrigerator for at least 8 hours.

Cooking time (duration): 9 hours

Recipe by on.

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Tags: Family, food by shadowchaser
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my firefox plugins

I’ve noticed quite a few different blogs have posted their plugins that they are using with firefox. I’ve been using firefox for quite a number of years now and throughout that time I’ve tried numerous plugins. Included in this posting are the current plugins that I am using and maybe even a little bit about why I am using them. Now just because I am using these does not mean that you should use the same plugins, my suggestion is to install them and give them a try for a few days, after all you can always uninstall them if you decide that they are not what you need. So, without boring you even further, here’s my list of useful plugins.

  1. All-in-One-Sidebar this one is new for me but looks quite promising. Among it’s features are listings of bookmarks, plugins, downloads, history and more all in a neat and organized sidebar.
  2. Interclue A link augmentation tool and more! Better than other link preview tools I’ve tried out, Interclue brings to you:
    • a text summary
    • snapshot
    • many other options for configuring speed, productivity and privacy!
  3. EmailTheWeb
     Absolutely my favorite plugin for Firefox! Allows you to email the entire web page AS YOU ARE CURRENTLY VIEWING IT to anyone you wish to. So, if you are viewing a particular website where the content changes quickly and you wish to let your friends or family see it before it changes you can do so with just a few clicks of the mouse. Definitely worth the install!
  4. Fission Combines your address bar with a graphical progress bar that visually shows you the loading status of the page.
  5. Morning Coffee
     A refreshing manner to get your favorite sites on a daily, weekly, or other interval that you configure basis. If you have a site that only updates on M W and F then you can configure to only open those sites on those days and the best thing is….. IT ALL HAPPENS WITH THE PUSH OF ONLY ONE BUTTON! Easily configured and you can backup your configuration and even transfer them to different machines.
  6. NoScript
    Straight from the website: “this free, open source add-on allows JavaScript, Java and Flash and other plugins to be executed only by trusted web sites of your choice (e.g. your online bank), and provides the most powerful Anti-XSS protection available in a browser.”
  7. StumbleUpon
    My second most favorite plugin for Firefox! I get many ideas from the time that I spend stumbling around the web. This is a must have if for no other reason at least for the entertainment value that it contains. Many different categories to choose from in the configuration mode.
  8. TwitterFox
    When you spend as much time on your browser as I do and you are a Twitter fan then you really need a plugin like this one. Check it out today!
  9. Xmarks
    Formerly known as Foxmarks, Xmarks is a bookmark syncronizer and search applet. Xmarks integrates with Google to bring you the top 3 results compiled from the millions of other Xmark users. You can also click on the Info icon in your address bar to receive detailed rating and information about the current site. Many other features as well, check it out!
  10. Zotero
    If you are a student or a researcher then this plugin is invaluable! It allows you to collect and categorize your sites and even eases the citation of your research. A MUST have for any student.

Well, that’s it for my list of installed Firefox plugins. Hopefully you can find at least one of these that is helpful to you. You are more than welcome to add any plugins you wish in your comments to this post. Please feel free to refer others to this post as well. Thanks for taking the time to check this out! Maybe next I’ll do one on handy freeware applications.

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Tags: Uncategorized by shadowchaser
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a fun and relaxing weekend

A different (but good) retreat! It has been a long time since I have attended a church retreat that has been so relaxing and non-pressured. New Church Ministries out of Atlanta, IL is a relatively new church for the McLean/Atlanta and surrounding region. Our daughter and her husband attend there and invited us to go to the Church Retreat at the Circle Z ranch near Platsburg, MO. Circle Z Ranch is owned by the family of the pastor’s wife and is a truly lovely ranch with 3 lakes that are teeming with fish.

Overview of Circle Z Ranch

Overview of Circle Z Ranch


Island on Circle Z Ranch

Island on Circle Z Ranch


I took Friday off of work so we could caravan down with our daughter and son-in-law (Nikki and Tim Goggin). We left bright and early from Atlanta (around 4:30 a.m.) and took I-55 down to U.S. 36 at Springfield, IL, this took us to Hannible, MO (home of Samuel Clemens aka Mark Twain) where we stopped to have breakfast at McDonalds. Breakfast was uneventful and we were soon on the road once again to run into 52 miles of road construction on U.S. 36. Tim of course was overjoyed by the prospect of being stuck behind a semi-trailer for almost the entire 52 miles of construction (we heard about this on the 2 way radios that he had purchased for the trip)! Finally we made our turn off on highway 35 then on down to highway 116 to Plattsburg. Once through Plattsburg we made our way along the backroads to the ranch along a gravel road (which we found out later that we did not have to take, thanks Ed!).
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Tags: Family, Uncategorized, camping, vacation by shadowchaser
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