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!!

Spicy Honey Mahi Mahi with Chili Mango Rice

Ohhh, yum, yum, yum. This meal is all about sweet and spicy, which we love. I asked P what I should say about this meal and he said, "It's a little bit of spice with a whole lot of awesome!" Haha!

Spicy Honey Mahi Mahi

2 mahi mahi filets

2 tbsp soy sauce

2 tbsp balsamic vinegar

2 tbsp honey

1 tbsp sesame oil

1 tbsp chili garlic sauce

2 teaspoons crushed ginger

2 cloves of garlic, crushed

Salt and pepper to taste

(Please note that I very rarely ever use any sort of measuring devices, so these amounts are all guesstimates. I suggest tasting the marinade as you go along and just adding whatever you think it needs.)

In a small bowl, mix all ingredients except for the fish.

Pour mixture over fish and marinate for at least 30 minutes.

In a frying pan, warm up a little sesame oil over medium heat. Remove fish from marinade and cook for about 5 minutes on each side.

In a small sauce pan, reduce marinade to a glaze over medium heat.

Pour glaze over fish and enjoy!

Now for the rice. I'm seriously obsessed with all things mango. Just today I used mango shampoo, mango shaving cream, drank mango green tea, ate mangos for breakfast and then found a way to incorporate mangos into our dinner. At least I'm obsessed with something that is packed with vitamins and nutrients, right? :)

Chili Mango Rice

3 cups water

1 cup chicken stock

1 cup orange juice

2 cups brown rice

1/3 cup chopped fresh cilantro

1 cup cubed mango

2 tsp chili garlic sauce

Juice from one lime

Bring 3 cups water and 1 cup chicken stock to a boil. Add rice and cook as directed on package.

When rice is almost done cooking, add orange juice, mango, cilantro, chili garlic sauce, and lime juice.

Simmer until juice is absorbed and mango is heated through.

This made a lot of rice, so I can't wait to eat it again for lunch tomorrow!

BBQ Chicken Pizza

Last night, Patrick declared this "THE GREATEST PIZZA ON EARTH!"

That's a lot to live up to, people! So much pressure! ;)

But seriously, this pizza was absolutely delicious! The best part is, he left this morning for the weekend so the leftovers are ALL MINE! Hehe!

BBQ Chicken Pizza

1 package of pizza dough (I used Trader Joe's fat free garlic and herb pizza dough.)

2 chicken breasts, cubed

1 tablespoon sesame oil

3/4 cup bbq sauce (I used my homemade bbq sauce. Love it!)

2/3 cup pizza sauce

16 ounces mozzarella cheese (I used low fat cheese)

1/2 red onion, chopped

Italian seasoning

Red pepper flakes

Fresh cracked black pepper

Marinate cubed chicken in 1/4 cup bbq sauce for at least 30 minutes.

Spread pizza dough over lightly greased cookie sheet or place onto a pizza stone.

If you like crunchy pizza, bake dough for about 3 minutes without anything on it.

In a frying pan, heat the oil and then saute chicken until cooked through. Throw the onions in at the last minute to cook just a little. You can use any ol' oil you want for this, but I'm a big fan of the sesame oil.

Mix 1/2 cup of BBQ sauce and 2/3 cup of pizza sauce in a bowl. Spread over warm pizza dough.

Spread cheese over the sauce.

Add chicken and onion.

Sprinkle with italian seasoning, red pepper flakes and fresh black pepper as desired.

Bake until cheese is melted and dough is cooked through.

Now I'm starving! Off to heat up the leftovers! :)