Rapid Roast Chicken

Cooking a whole chicken is another thing that makes me a little nervous. The whole digging out the gizzards part always makes me gag and the chicken I used in this recipe still had FEATHER on it! A FEATHER!! Plus, I'm always paranoid about the chicken being undercooked, so I end up overcooking it. I decided to try out THIS recipe I found online for a rapid roast chicken but I changed up the seasonings and I cooked it in an oven bag. Cooking it this way was amazing! Dinner was done really quickly and the chicken was juicy and delicious!

Rapid Roast Chicken

1 3 pound chicken

1 tablespoon olive oil

1/4 teaspoon basil

1/4 teaspoon thyme

1/4 teaspoon sage

1/4 teaspoon rosemary

1/4 teaspoon paprika

1/4 teaspoon oregano

Salt and pepper to taste

Remove all of the guts from the chicken (blech!), but leave the skin on.

In a bowl, mix the seasonings and olive oil. Gently seperate the skin of the chicken from the meat. Rub the seasoning mixture directly on the meat, under the skin.

Place chicken in a baking bag and slice three 1/2 in holes in the top of the bag for ventilation.

Cook in a baking dish at 450 degrees for 20 minutes. Lower temperature to 400 degrees and roast for an additional 40 minutes.

I stuffed my bird with stuffing mix before baking and then I removed the skin once the chicken was cooked.

Yum! This recipe has definitely been added into our regular meal rotation!

CrockPot Pork Roast

Cooking a roast has always made me nervous. There's a fine line between undercooked and overcooked when it comes to roast, so I don't attempt it too often. But, making it in the CrockPot is pretty much foolproof and it is SO delicious! The extremely tender roast literally fell apart when I poked it with a wooden spoon after about 9 hours of cooking and the veggies that had been cooking in the sauce all day were just to die for!

CrockPot Pork Roast

4 lb pork loin

3 celery stalks, sliced

6 new potatoes, quartered

1/2 white onion, sliced

1 cup baby carrots

3/4 cup red wine

1 cup water

1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

1 teaspoon low sodium soy sauce

3 cloves garlic, chopped

1 envelope dry onion soup mix

1 teaspoon rosemary

1 teaspoon thyme

1 teaspoon parsley

Salt and pepper to taste

2 tablespoons flour (if you want to make brown gravy)

Arrange the potatoes in the bottom of the CrockPot, followed by the onions, celery and then the carrots. Place pork loin on top.

In a bowl, mix the wine, water, onion mix, Worcestershire, soy sauce, garlic, rosemary, thyme and parsely. Pour mixture over the meat and veggies in the CrockPot.

Cook for 8-10 hours on low.

Once cooking is complete, remove meat and veggies from CrockPot, but leave the sauce behind. Add around 2 tablespoons of flour to the sauce, mix well and cook for about 10 more minutes. Sauce will thicken into a gravy.

I forgot to take an "after" picture because I was just too excited about successfully cooking a roast, haha! It was very pretty though! :)

The Big Sandwich!

So, this obviously isn't a groundbreaking "recipe" because you guys definitely know how to make a sandwich, haha! But, this is one of P's FAVORITE meals and it's perfect for college game day!

The BIG Sandwich

1 loaf French bread

1 can black olives

3 tablespoons sun dried tomatoes

3 cloves garlic

1 teaspoon Italian seasoning

1 tablespoon fat free Can't Believe It's Not Butter spread

1/4 white onion, sliced

Cheese (we used Muenster)

Your choice of lunch meat (we used ham this time)

Fresh Spinach

Blend olives, sun dried tomatoes, garlic, Italian seasoning, and butter spread in a food processor. Spread mixture over bread.

Top bread with meat (we used ham this time but we usually use turkey pastrami, which is amazing!), onion and cheese. Bake at 350 until cheese is bubbly and bread is lightly toasted.

Top with spinach and enjoy!

Meatball Soup

While I'm not a huge fan of cold weather, I do love cold weather foods.  I modified this soup recipe from my Better Homes and Gardens Cook Book, to make it low fat and I added a little more flavor. So yummy!

Meatball Soup

Meatballs:

2 egg whites

1 pound lean ground turkey

1 cup bread crumbs

1/2 finely chopped white onion

1/4 tsp garlic powder

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

1 tsp sausage seasoning (we got ours from a meat market in TX)

Soup:

4 cups beef broth

1 can tomato soup

1 cup diced tomatoes

1 15 oz can of great northern beans, rinsed and drained

1/4 tsp garlic powder

1/4 tsp sausage seasoning

1 cup water

1/2 cup pasta (we used some small curly noodles)

3 cups fresh spinach, rinsed and torn

Salt and pepper to taste

In a bowl, combine egg whites, garlic powder, onion, bread crumbs and pepper. Add ground turkey, mix well. Shape turkey mixture into 1 inch meatballs (makes around 4o meatballs).

Coat a large skillet with cooking spray. Cook meatballs over medium heat, turning often so that they brown evenly. Set meatballs aside.

In a large pot, stir together beef broth, tomato soup, tomatoes, beans, water and spices. Bring to boil then add pasta. Simmer covered for about 10 minutes, or until pasta is al dente.

Stir in meatballs and spinach. (I ended up only using half of the meatballs for the soup and I froze the rest after I cooked them.) Cook for about 2 minutes, or just until spinach wilts.

Served with a little parmesan cheese.

CrockPot Creamy Italian Chicken

My sweet friend Leslie gave me this recipe a few months back and it quickly became one of our favorites. This simple meal is hearty and delicious! We also love it because while it tastes very rich and creamy, it is really low in fat!

CrockPot Creamy Italian Chicken

4-5 boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 package Good Seasonings dry Italian seasoning
8 oz cream cheese
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 can milk (use empty soup can)

Salt and pepper to taste

Place chicken in crock pot (I always just throw the chicken in frozen and it turns out great!)

Sprinkle with Italain seasoning.

Cube cream cheese over chicken.

Add soup and milk.

Cook on high in CrockPot for 5 hours.

Serve the chicken over white rice. Enjoy!!