Whole Roasted Chicken

Ever have dishes that you want to replicate at home, know they would probably be simple when you got down to it but it just intimidated the heck out of you? Roasted chicken was one of those dishes.

I acutally attempted two of them within a one week period and the first one was a bust. I cooked it in the crock pot and it just fell apart into mush and was non-flavorful. Not to be deterred, I decided to try again. Success.

Give yourself about two hours of it actively roasting in the oven and roast any vegetables you want in the pan with the chicken. I had originally grabbed a butternut squash at the store to roast with the potatoes and carrots but got to the check out and it rang up for $16. Ummm… I don’t know about you, but I just couldn’t bring myself to pay $16. So I nixed that vegetable and ended up buying 2 butternut squash this past weekend for less than $5 because they were major on sale this week. Sometimes you just gotta hold out. Like waiting for the 75% Kate Spade sales. Huh what? Did I just type that out loud?

Moving on… eat your first serving with your roasted veggies and save the rest to throw in a pot pie (which I also did last week), a hunk of a leg with a mound of mashed potatoes or toss it in a soup to celebrate the coming of fall.

Whole Roasted Chicken

adapted from Against All Grain

Ingredients:

Whole Chicken (around 5 pounds)

1 bunch sage

1 sprig rosemary

1 lemon, halved

6 cloves of garlic, peeled and crushed

Salt and pepper

Olive Oil

1 tsp Dijon mustard

1 Tbsp fresh sage

1 tsp chopped fresh rosemary

1 clove garlic, minced

1/2 tsp lemon juice

1/2 tsp dried thyme

1 tsp sea salt

1/4 tsp ground black pepper

6 large carrots, peeled and cut into pieces

6-8 red potatoes, quartered

1/2 onion, sliced

Directions:

Remove your giblets from your chicken, discard or save for a later use, like a broth. Rinse your chicken, pat dry and let sit out at room temperature for one hour.

Preheat your oven to 425 degrees.

Stuff the cavity of your chicken with your bunch of sage, rosemary, lemon and garlic cloves. Sprinkle as much salt and pepper as you like into the cavity of the chicken. Tie legs together with kitchen string.

In a bowl combine two Tbsp of your olive oil and your Dijon mustard, chopped sage, chopped rosemary, lemon juice, minced garlic, thyme, sea salt and pepper. Rub all over bird and under skin.

Toss your chopped roasting vegetables in a bowl with some olive oil and spread vegetables on bottom of roasting pan. Top with chicken.

Place chicken in oven and roast for 15 minutes, reduce heat to 350 degrees and roast for another 1 1/2 hours or until chicken is cooked through.

Remove chicken, place on platter and cover for 15 minutes. Slice and serve with your vegetables.

Enjoy!

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Baked Chicken Roll Ups

After vacation I made it a point to really put my mind into eating at home. It’s usually always healthier and most definitely always cheaper than eating out.

Let’s get real, eating out with an active 9 month old is just not as fun as it was pre-baby. But that’s neither here nor there.

I love getting recipes from blogs because it’s an instant visualization for me. I either will love the dish or not care for it based on how it looks. So when I saw these rolls up on Pinch of Yum, I figured I’d give it a shot.

This was actually a pretty simple dinner to put together which is right up my alley these days. And it always is extra rewarding when I can use up things in my own garden like fresh basil! The only thing I would add is some seasoning to the spinach and cheese mixture. It definitely needed a little flavor so an addition of salt, pepper and garlic salt should do the job.

I halved the recipe because I just wanted enough for Chad and I with no leftovers. It ended up being the perfect amount. Add a salad on the side and call it a day.

And just a little side note, Google Reader is now gone which is a sad day for many of us. I have been using Bloglovin’ for a few weeks now and really like it. I’ve also heard of people using Feedly as well. So if you want to get my blog posts then go on over to one of these sites and add this little ole blog. See you on the flip side!

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Baked Chicken Roll Ups

adapted from PInch of Yum

Ingredients:

4 thin sliced chicken breasts

1/2 c Italian style bread crumbs

3 Tbsp parmesan cheese

2-3 ounces fresh baby spinach (a couple handfuls)

1 clove minced garlic

Dash of olive oil

1/4 c part skim ricotta cheese

Beaten egg whites from 2 eggs

1/4 tsp garlic salt

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper

Fresh mozzarella

1/2 c marinara sauce

A few leaves of fresh basil

Directions:

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

Spray a baking dish with non-stick cooking spray and set aside.

Combine 1 Tbsp parmesan cheese and breadcrumbs in bowl and set aside.

To prep the filling, saute spinach with garlic and drizzle of olive oil for a few minutes until just wilted. Put into bowl and add ricotta, garlic salt, 1 Tbsp egg white, salt, pepper and 2 Tbsp parmesan cheese.

Divide filling among each chicken breasts placing a long strip in the middle, roll up chicken breast, dip in remaining egg whites and then coat with breadcrumb mixture.

Place in greased baking dish, seam side down. Careful not to overcrowd.

Bake for 20-25 minutes or until cooked through and golden on top. Take out of oven and top with marinara sauce and strips of fresh mozzarella. Place back in oven for about 5 more minutes or until cheese is melted. Remove from oven and top with chopped fresh basil.

Enjoy!