Whole Roasted Chicken with Vegetables #SundaySupper

Whole Roasted Chicken with Vegetables is a comforting meal perfect for the fall season. In addition to the roasted chicken, this complete dinner also incorporates my favorite fall flavor, butternut squash, and Popeye's favorite veg, nutrient rich spinach all cooked together in one skillet. That's a lot of good-for-you stuff all in one pan!

Drunken Pumpkin Seeds #PumpkinWeek

Drunken Pumpkin Seeds for #PumpkinWeek are made with Jack Daniels Whiskey, bacon drippings, brown sugar and salt. This combo makes a sweet and salty treat you'll have a hard time putting down!

Roasted Parmesan Garlic Cauliflower

Roasted Parmesan Garlic Cauliflower are tasty little bites chock full of good-for-you-stuff and delicious fresh out of the oven or even as a cold snack. They are very garlicky, so keep that in mind if you have a hot date...

Roasted Chicken with Herb Butter

Roasted Chicken with Herb Butter

Simply beautiful and delicious! This roasted chicken is very easy to prepare and cooks up beautifully. It is moist and delicious too! Sadly, we didn't have any leftovers because Don gobbled this up. A roast chicken will pair nicely with just about anything, but to keep it simple I served it with a garden salad. It made for a delicious and nutritious meal! Economical too!

Ingredients

4-5 lb roaster chicken

1 medium onion, quartered

1/4 cup Sake or other dry white wine

6 tbsp butter at room temperature

3 tablespoons finely chopped parsley

1 teaspoon freshly minced garlic

1 tablespoon chopped fresh chives or scallions

1 teaspoon thyme

1/2 teaspoon lemon juice

salt and pepper to taste

Combine 6 tablespoons softened butter with 3 tablespoons chopped parsley, 1 teaspoon minced garlic, 1 tablespoon chopped chives or scallions, 1 teaspoon thyme, and a 1/2 teaspoon lemon juice. Stir until evenly combined. Add salt and pepper to taste and set aside until ready to use. 

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Prepare the chicken by placing 2 onion sections in the cavity of the bird and place the remaining onion sections in the roasting pan. Place the chicken on the rack in the roasting pan and slather on the herb butter being sure to cover the entire bird generously with the butter. Place chicken on rack breast side down. Pour 1/2 cup Sake (white wine) into the roasting pan.

Roast the chicken, breast side down, for 20 minutes or until browned. Turn chicken breast side up, baste with pan juices, and roast for another 60-70 minutes or until instant read thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the thigh registers 160 degrees F. Remove chicken from oven and wrap in foil for 15 minutes. Enjoy!

Chicken Pot Pie

posted by Marion@Life Tastes Good on 2012-09-05

Chicken Pot Pie - Good ole comfort food! This is definitely a family favorite, but we had to eat a lot of bad Chicken Pot Pie to get to this recipe!

I made the tried and true recipe on the biscuit mix box, and that was fine for years...until we branched out and tried Ms Paula Deen's recipe I saw on TV. 

There was no going back after that! Ms Deen's recipe is rich and delicious for sure, but it was almost too rich for me. Is it possible for chicken pot pie to be too rich? Apparently I think so, but what do I know? I'm also not a huge fan of a pastry or pie crust topping. What can I say there is clearly something wrong with me, but I just love a biscuit topping! Nothing beats a homemade biscuit topping!

After lots of experimenting and tweaking, the Myers family feels this is the best darn Chicken Pot Pie we've ever eaten. What sets this recipe apart is the Roasted Chicken. It really adds that extra dash of deliciousness! I encourage you to adjust the seasonings to your liking. This recipe is very adaptable and oh soooo comforting.

Roasted Vege Sandwich

Allrecipes.com California Grilled Vege Sandwich

In an effort to add healthier meals to our diet, I decided to add in a vegetarian meal once a week.  I really liked this sandwich and all of the yummy summer veges on top of a delicious piece of Tuscan Garlic Bread from the Publix Bakery.

Don, on the other hand, was not too thrilled with my idea of adding in more healthful meals. He kept asking "where's the beef?" Not that he doesn't want to eat healthy - he just didn't like this sandwich.  He LOVED the veges - we both agree the roasted veges are delicious and we should include them more often.  He did not like the garlicky spread and the Feta cheese on this sandwich. The once a week vege meals might be too much for him - I will have to ease into that a little slower and maybe do once every other week for now...

What does he know - the garlic was yummy and the feta added a nice touch.  I told him there was leftover pizza in the fridge he could eat if he preferred, but he suffered through and gobbled up all of his sandwich.  Usually he'll finish my meal for me, but lucky for him I was really hungry and didn't have any leftovers for him.

Of course, I can't leave well enough alone and made some changes to this recipe. I only made the changes because I don't have a grill right now - still researching which one I want to buy.  Also, I was originally planning to make homemade Foccacia Bread, but I got busy and ended up buying a Tuscan Garlic Loaf I found at the Publix Bakery - I think it was a fine substitution!

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup mayonnaise
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 1 cup sliced red bell peppers
• 1 small zucchini, sliced
• 1 red onion, sliced
• 1 small yellow squash, sliced
• • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • pinch of sugar
  • salt and pepper
• 1/2 loaf of Tuscan Garlic Bread from the Publix Bakery or your favorite bread
• 1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese

Directions

In a bowl, mix the mayonnaise, minced garlic, and lemon juice. Set aside in the refrigerator. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees (F). Place veges on a foil lined baking sheet. Salt and pepper veges. Pour 2 tablespoons olive oil over veges and add a pinch of sugar. Toss the veges around to coat well with the olive oil and sugar. Roast in the oven for 20-25 minutes until tender and the onions begin to caramelize. Spread some of the mayonnaise mixture on the cut sides of the bread, and sprinkle each one with feta cheese. Place on a foil lined baking sheet and place in oven for about 5 minutes or until bread is warmed and cheese begins to melt. Watch carefully so as not to burn. Remove from oven and layer with the vegetables. Enjoy as open faced sandwiches.

Roasted Vegetable Orzo

Allrecipes.com Roasted Vegetable Orzo

With a dish like this there is hope for me being a vegetarian someday!  This was so yummy! I made some changes to the recipe mainly because asparagus was $5.99/lb, and I just could NOT bring myself to pay that. As much as I LOVE asparagus, I really felt this dish would still be great without it...definitely more cost effective for sure!

I served this with Roasted Chicken Breasts and it made for a great pairing! Honestly, I think this would go nicely with just about anything or even on its own!  Here is how I made this dish:

Ingredients

• 1 zucchini, sliced
• 1 summer squash, sliced
• 1 red onion, cut into chunks
• 1 pound portobello mushrooms, sliced
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 pinch white sugar
• salt and black pepper to taste
• 1 teaspoon chicken base
• 1/2 cup Sake or dry white wine
• 1 1/4 cups water
• 8 ounces orzo pasta
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese

Directions

Preheat oven to 450 degrees

Place the zucchini, squash, onion, and mushrooms on a foil lined baking sheet; add in garlic, olive oil and sugar, and stir gently to coat vegetables. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Roast vegetables until tender, 20 to 25 minutes  

Meanwhile, melt butter in heavy skillet over medium-high heat. Stir in orzo and saute until lightly browned.

Mix the water, chicken base, and wine and slowly add to the orzo; bring to boil. Cover. Reduce heat and simmer until orzo is tender and liquid is absorbed, about 15 - 20 minutes.

Mix in roasted vegetables and Parmesan cheese. Season with salt and pepper to taste and serve warm. 

Be sure you taste this before adding salt. The Parmesan cheese will add salt and the veges have already been salted, so give it a taste to make sure you need to add more.

I really liked the Sake added to this dish - it really gave it a nice flavor, however, you can change up the liquid to suit your tastes. As long as you add 1 3/4 cups liquid in the end it can be the liquid of your choosing.  If you don't think the wine is going to be to your liking try reducing it to 1/4 cup and add 1 1/2 cups water (with the chicken base). If you prefer to use chicken stock instead of water and base - that is fine too. You can even try a vegetable base with water or vegetable stock.  Make it your own and enjoy!