Garlic and Pineapple Glazed Ham #NationalGarlicDay

This ham is crusted with crushed pineapple, garlic and honey before being baked for a unique and different Island Style dinner.

I served this up last November for an Island Style Friendsgiving Dinner with our Dive Family. I got so caught up in the festivities that I forgot to take photos until after dinner.  You can see, by the large dent in the ham, that it was a big hit......

Slow Cooker 40 Cloves of Garlic Chicken #4theLoveofGarlic

Tomorrow is National Garlic Day.  We have been celebrating for the past 6 days with Cam of Culinary Adventures with Camilla.  She invited 6 of us to try out the Garject garlic press from Dreamfarm and had Melissa's Produce provide us with a slew of garlic.  We received regular garlic, minced garlic, black garlic and elephant ear garlic.  We got TONS of garlic!!

Dreamfarm is also allowing us to raffle off 6 of their amazing garlic presses.  The Garject is not your ordinary garlic press.  It is heavy duty and equipped with an ejection handle so that you need not worry about peeling the garlic before mincing.  I can't tell you how much I love mine!

I have been going Garlic Crazy around here.  I have made Quick and Easy Garlic Knots and this yummy Garlic Soup with Noodles and Peas.

You can learn more about this celebration and enter to win your very own Garject by going to my Intro post.  Hurry, the raffle ends tomorrow.

The first thing I thought of when I received all this garlic was 40 Clove Chicken.  I had made 40 Clove chicken once, before I started blogging.  I braised it in the oven and it was decadent and delicious.  The day that I was making this was an errand day and I had planned to do a Whole Chicken in the Crockpot.  I decided to make my 40 Clove Chicken in the Slow Cooker to enjoy this wonderful gift I had gotten.

The Garject, as wonderful as it is, did not help me at all with this recipe.  All 40 cloves had to be peeled.  The best way to do this is to give each one a sharp whack with the side of a butcher knife. The skin will split and then easily peels off.  I had gotten a garlic stone as a sponsor gift for an event last year, but haven't been able to locate it since our move.  That doesn't mean that I had to run my errands with my hands reeking of garlic.  Wash your hands, rinse, rub them on your stainless steel sink, wash again, rinse and all that garlic odor will be gone.

I placed the chicken, breast down into the slow cooker, surrounded it with sweet potatoes and garlic and left to take care of all my running around.

When we got home the house smelled absolutely amazing.  I guess a vampire may not have thought it smelled wonderful but I, a self professed garliholic, swooned when I walked in the door.  Within moments I had the chicken carved and the dinner was served.  We had plenty of chicken for dinner that night using the breast meat and enjoyed pot pie using the dark meat and leftover gravy later in the week.

Slow Cooker 40 Cloves of Garlic Chicken

adapted from Cooking Light

1 whole chicken (3-4 lbs)

1 c. chicken stock

1/4 c. dry white wine

3 T. flour

2 T. butter, melted

2 T. lemon juice

salt and pepper to taste

2 t. Italian Herbs

2 sweet potatoes, peeled and quartered

40 cloves of garlic, peeled

Treat crock of slow cooker with cooking spray.  Wash the chicken with cold water, season inside and out with salt and pepper and place breast down into the crock. Scatter the sweet potatoes and garlic around the chicken.  Whisk together the chicken stock, wine, flour, butter and lemon juice.  Pour over the chicken, potatoes and garlic.  Sprinkle with the Italian herbs.  Cover and cook on high heat for 6-8 hours.

Remove the chicken to a cutting board.  Remove the skin and wings, discard.  Cut off the drumsticks and thighs, place onto a platter.  Remove the breast meat from the carcass and remove any bones, slice and place onto the platter.  Surround with potatoes and garlic.  Strain any fat from the gravy. Ladle gravy over chicken and serve.  Print Recipe

Garlic Soup with Noodles and Peas #4theLoveofGarlic #SoupSwappers #EasterWeek

Today is the final day of Easter Week.  Tomorrow we will be celebrating the Victory of our Risen Lord.  I want to thank Christie of A Kitchen Hoor's Adventures for all of her hard work this week. There have been some awesome recipes shared.

Today is also Soup Saturday Swappers, a group started by me this year where we all get together on the third Saturday of each month to share soup/stew recipes based on a theme chosen by one of our members.  I chose the theme Root Vegetables for this month.

This Garject from DreamFarm made easy mincing of wonderful garlic provided by Melissa's Produce.
DreamFarm and Melissa's provided the #4theLoveofGarlic participants with products to use in their recipes.
I received no monetary compensation for this post.  

You will just have to trust me when I tell you that I chose this theme before my friend, Cam of Culinary Adventures with Camilla, invited me to join  her and 5 others in  #4theLoveofGarlic to celebrate National Garlic Day.  Six bloggers, Six days of Garlic Recipes sponsored by Dreamfarm and Melissa's Produce.

I did, however take advantage of #4 the Love of Garlic, by choosing this day out of the 6 available to post my recipe, knowing that I could incorporate it into both my soup post for #SoupSwappers and my final post for #EasterWeek.  I love when things work out like that!!

I had made Garlic Soup in the past, using a recipe that I had gotten from Weekends in a French Kitchen by Mimi Thorisson, and enjoyed it.  The recipe I am sharing today came from the NY Times and is brothy instead of pureed and contains pasta and peas.  It is like a garlicky egg drop soup with additions.

I made a broth seasoned with minced garlic, thyme, bay leaf and kosher salt.  I added the past and while it was simmering I cut some slices of artisan bread and but them under the broiler to toast. Once toasted they were rubbed liberally with a clove of garlic that I had halved for the purpose and placed into shallow bowls. When the pasta was tender, I added the peas and beat 2 eggs with a tablespoon of olive oil.  I had some garlic flavored olive oil so I added that to intensify the flavor even more.

This soup is extremely garlicky.  If you, like me, believe there is no such thing as too much garlic, you will LOVE it.  However, if you want to tone it down a bit, just use regular olive oil in place of the garlic infused. Want to tone it down even more? Omit the garlic rub on the toast.  As for me?  Bring it on just as it is!!

I think this soup would be a great starter for an Easter Dinner featuring lamb as the entree.  Lamb and garlic pair so wonderfully together that this would be like a prelude to a symphony, add a potato gratin and you have a perfect, simple Easter Feast.  You will find more great #EasterRecipes at the bottom of this post.

I want to thank Melissa's Produce for all the wonderful garlic.  I have been in garlic heaven here as you will see during this week long #4 the Love of Garlic event.  That Garject from DreamFarm makes mincing garlic so easy peasy that you can't wait to use it, especially since it ejects the peel so easily and cleanly that you don't have to worry about peeling it first. You can win your very own Garject by entering the raffle found here.

We would love to have you join us over at Soup Saturday Swappers.  Next month we are celebrating English Stew hosted by Sneha of Sneha's Recipe.  Just leave your email address and blog name in the comments below if you want to join us and I will send you an invitation to the group. In the meantime, keep scrolling past this recipe to see what root vegetables the others have turned into soup this month.

Garlic Soup with Pasta and Peas

adapted from NY Times Cooking

5 garlic cloves, 4 minced and 1 halved

Salt to taste

1 bay leaf

3 sprigs thyme

1/2 c. elbow macaroni

1 c. frozen peas

4 slices of artisan bread loaf

2 eggs

1 T. garlic infused olive oil

ground pepper to taste

Place 6 1/2 c. water, minced garlic, salt, bay leaf and thyme into a large soup pot and bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer for 15-20 minutes.  Remove bay leaf and thyme sprigs and add pasta to the pot, simmer for another 10-12 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Add the peas and allow to simmer until warmed through, 5 minutes or so.

While soup is simmering, place bread slices under the broiler until toasted, flip and toast other side. Remove from broiler and immediately rub with halved garlic.  Place one toast into each of 4 bowls, set aside.

Using a fork, beat together the egg and olive oil.  Add two ladlefuls of broth to the egg mixture and remove the soup from the heat source.  Slowly add the egg mixture to the soup, stirring constantly. The soup will thicken slightly and have ribbons of egg throughout.  Ladle the soup over the toasts and serve.  Print Recipe

More Easter Recipes

• Garlic Soup with Pasta and Peas by A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Mounds Cake by Family Around The Table
• Roasted Root Vegetable Soup by Amy's Cooking Adventures

More Soup made with Root Vegetables

An InLinkz Link-up

Quick and Easy Garlic Knots #EasterRecipes #4theLoveofGarlic

Today is Good Friday.  For me, this means a day spent contemplating the goodness of a Lord who was willing to suffer so greatly to save those who would believe in him.  I will spend the day in prayer and reverence.  I will spend time in church and I will spend some time alone preparing for the Glory or our Risen Lord.

I will also be fasting, this means that I will have 2 small meals and one larger meal with no snacks in between.  I will be abstaining from meat as well.  An easy way for me to do this is by making soup and bread for dinner.

These Quick and Easy Garlic Knots are perfect alongside soup but they are equally as good accompanying your Easter Dinner or Brunch and the fact that they are ready to serve in less than 30 minutes is music to every harried cook's ears.

We are still celebrating Easter Week with Holiday Fun with our Blog Friends , hosted by Christie of A Kitchen Hoor's Adventure.  You will find links to more great recipes at the bottom of this post.

I am also getting ready for National Garlic Day which is on April 19th.  I, and six other lucky bloggers, were chosen to host a giveaway and share recipes for all things garlic.  We are sharing garlicky goodness for a full six days.

I found this recipe at a blog called I Heart Eating written by Kate while doing a Google search.  I had never visited Kate's blog prior to this but I am very glad that I have found her. You will be too when you taste these amazing garlic knots that you can even make during the week after dinner if you get a hankering.

I used garlic provided by Melissa's Produce and minced it using the Garject from Dreamfarm that is a garlic lover's dream come true.  Six of our lucky readers will get an opportunity to win their very own garject.  You can find details and enter the drawing here.

I adapted the recipe a bit with the technique used to warm the milk and butter, using a microwave to get it to a temperature between 100*-110*.

I used a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment for the mixing and switching to the dough hook for kneading.  No need to let the dough rest before forming it into knots and placing them onto a parchment lined baking sheet.  Once the dough is shaped you will allow it to rest while your oven preheats.

They bake up in about 10 minutes to a beautiful golden brown.  That is just enough time for you to put together the garlic butter.  When  they come out of the oven and are still piping hot just brush that butter generously over the knots and you are ready to serve.

Quick and Easy Garlic Knots 

slightly adapted from I Heart Eating

1/4 c. butter

1 c. milk

2 T. instant yeast

1 T. honey

pinch of salt

1 egg

3-4 c. flour

Garlic Butter

2 T. butter, softened or melted

2 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 t. Italian seasoning

Place butter and milk into a 2 cup measuring cup and microwave in 30 second increments until butter melts and temperature reaches between 100*-110*.  If the mixture gets too warm allow it to cool to the proper temperature before proceeding.

Place the yeast and honey into the bottom of the large bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment.  Add the warmed milk and stir to combine.  Mix in salt and egg then add 2 1/2 c. of the flour mixing on low speed until combined.  Add the remaining flour by half cup increments until the dough forms into a ball and cleans the sides of the bowl.

Switch from the paddle to the dough hook and knead on med high speed for 2 minutes.  Divide the dough into 12 equal pieces and using floured hands form each piece into a knot.  Place onto a baking sheet lined with parchment and let rest for 10-15 minutes while your oven preheats to 400*.

Bake the knots for 10-12 minutes, until golden brown.  While knots are baking combine the butter, garlic and Italian seasoning.  When knots are completed baking, remove from oven and brush immediately with the garlic butter.  Print Recipe

More Exciting Easter Recipes

• Easter Egg Blondies by Cooking With Carlee
• Easter M&M Thumbprint Cookies by Family Around The Table
• Ham & Cheese Omelette Roll by Corn, Beans, Pigs & Kids
• Homemade Chocolate Lollipops by Caroline's Cooking
• Old Fashioned Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting by Jolene's Recipe Journal
• Quick and Easy Garlic Knots by A Day in the Life on the Farm

Disclosure: I  received complimentary items from Dreamfarm for the purpose of review and complimentary ingredients from Melissa's Produce for the purpose of recipe development. Dreamfarm also provided prizes for the rafflecopter free of charge. Comments are 100% accurate and 100% my own. I have received no additional compensation for these posts.

#4theLoveofGarlic

National Garlic Day is Wednesday, April 19th. a group of bloggers will be joining Camilla of Culinary Adventures with Camilla these days before in a veritable celebration of all things garlic!

Introducing the Garject

When Dreamfarm offered their new Garject to a group of bloggers to review*, I was excited and very happy that Cam included me in the bloggers invited to participate. We will be sharing garlic creations, reviewing the garject and hosting a giveaways for the next six days, leading up to National Garlic Day. Six of our lucky readers will win their very own Garject.

Melissa's Produce is also sponsoring #4theLoveofGarlic and shipped all the bloggers a huge box of garlic, including elephant garlic and black garlic, to use in their recipes.  I am a garlic fiend.  When all that garlic arrived Frank asked how I was possibly going to use it all.  I just smiled.......there is very little left.

The Bloggers

listed alphabetically

A Day in the Life on the Farm

A Kitchen Hoor's Adventures

Café Terra

Culinary Adventures with Camilla

Famished Fish, Finicky Shark

Kahakai Kitchen

Here's the schedule for the posts...if you're a garlic fan, you won't want to miss any of these recipes. Stay tuned! Oh, and several of us will be posting bonus recipes, so you'll have more than enough inspiration for those garlic cloves.

April 13: Culinary Adventures with Camilla

April 14: Café Terra

April 15: A Day in the Life on the Farm

April 16: Kahakai Kitchen

April 17: A Kitchen Hoor's Adventures

April 18: Famished Fish, Finicky Shark

April 19: event round-up with Culinary Adventures with Camilla

The Giveaway

One of our generous sponsors has contributed prizes for this event.

The giveaway runs from April 12th, ends on April 20th,

and is open to US residents only. No purchase necessary.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Sponsored by:

You can find Dreamfarm: on the web, on Facebook , on Twitter , and on Pinterest .

You can find Melissa's: on the web, on Facebook, on Twitter, on Pinterest, and on Instagram

*Disclosure: Bloggers received complimentary items from Dreamfarm for the purpose of review and complimentary ingredients from Melissa's Produce for the purpose of recipe development. Dreamfarm also provided prizes for the rafflecopter free of charge. Comments are 100% accurate and 100% our own. We have received no additional compensation for these posts.