Delicious Roasted Chicken

This is one of my favorite chicken recipes.  I first published in on my birthday in 2009.  I hope you enjoy it. :-)  If you don't like thyme try another herb that you prefer.  It would be good with sage or oregano or basil or other similar herbs.

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Here is a simple recipe that makes great tasting chicken! This is based on a recipe which I altered slightly by Marcella Hazan that was published in AARP magazine.

Roasted Chicken with Lemons

3-4 lb. chicken, washed and patted dry.

Salt

Pepper

Dried Thyme, crushed

2 small lemons

Butter

Preheat oven to 350°.

Cut excess fat off of chicken (Do Not remove the skin).  Rub with a generous amount of salt and pepper both inside and out.

Wash and dry the lemons. Soften by rolling back and forth on the county while pressing down firmly with your palm. Puncture it in at least 20 places with a fork or skewer. Place both lemons inside the chicken.  Close the opening with toothpicks or a trussing needle and string.  (Do not make it airtight.)  Tie the legs in their natural position with string, if desired. (This is mostly useful for making it easier to turn the bird.)

Butter a roasting pan generously and place the chicken in it breast side down. Dot the chicken with bits of butter. Sprinkle lightly (three or four pinches) with crushed thyme. Place it in the upper 1/3 of the oven and bake for 30 minutes. Remove from oven and turn chicken breast side up. Try not to puncture the skin, but don't worry if you do as it will still be good. Sprinkle top of chicken lightly with crushed thyme. (The top should be pretty well buttered with what you used to grease the pan. No need to add more.)

Cook another 30-35 minutes, then increase the temp. to 400° and cook 20-25 more minutes or longer depending on the size of the chicken. Use a meat thermometer in the thickest part of the meat (the breast) to check for doneness.  It should read 180°. Make sure you are not touching a bone when you use the tester. There's no need to turn the chicken again.

If it seems to be getting too well done on the outside and the inner temp. is not high enough yet, you may want to cover it lightly with aluminum foil to continue baking.

Serve the chicken whole and cut it up at the table. Leave the lemons inside until the bird is carved. They add a wonderful flavor to the broth in the pan.

I recommend serving this with a rice dish and pouring some of the broth over it at the table!  Delicious!

Yogurt Caraway Chicken

 

This is an original recipe that I invented after reading another recipe using yogurt as a chicken coating.  It turned out quite well.  We liked the way the yogurt and coconut milk powder baked as a coating for chicken.  You could alter the seasonings to achieve different tastes.

Yogurt Caraway Chicken

5-6 drum sticks.  Place chicken in an oiled 9x13 cake pan, leaving room for cabbage.

Mix together in a small bowl:

3/4 C. plain yogurt
1/4 C. coconut milk powder
1/2 tsp. caraway seed powder
1 tsp. garlic powder
1/2 tsp. salt

Spread over the top of chicken, dividing it evenly among all pieces.

Sprinkle with Cayenne pepper to taste (optional).

In the empty area place 3-4 large wedges of cabbage.  Drizzle with oil and sprinkle with garlic powder, caraway powder and salt.

Bake at 375F for 30 minutes or till chicken tests done.  Check occasionally and turn cabbage over if needed.  If the food is drying out too much you may cover the pan with aluminum foil to finish baking.  (If you wish to add liquid be sure to add boiling water to a hot pan, especially if it is glass.)

Makes 3-4 servings.

Of course, this dish can be prepared gluten free.

Note:  I don’t know if caraway can be bought in the powdered form.  I think my mom or I ground what I have.  We use a designated electric coffee grinder to grind up herbs/spices.  You don’t want to use the same grinder for herbs and spices that you use for coffee.  It might result in “interesting” and undesirable flavor combinations.  We’ve picked up our “spares” at second hand stores.

Random Recipe Links

 

I’ve been working on scheduling blog posts for the upcoming week at least, and since I’m still sick at the time of this writing, I’m making it easier on myself by using items that were previously written or that require less work. In this post I’m giving you a smattering of links that I saved for the blog or that I stumbled across. :-)

Enjoy!

These chocolate waffles were made by my husband. Here’s the recipe, only he made some changes, and we ate them with real whipped cream, peanut butter and real maple syrup (among other things).  YUM!  Our family breakfasts….words fail me. :-)

Handheld Blackberry Pies – (Gotta love the pun, people!)

Fresh Ricotta – Someday I want to try this, really….I think…maybe…

Chocolate Molten Cakes – I do want to try this one!

Chocolate-Coconut Angel Cupcakes – These sound really good too.

Flourless Chocolate Cookies – With special regard to my grain-free and gluten free friends. :-)

Flourless Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies – And another.

Runnemede Remembered Recipes – from my friend Judi.

Boudin Meat Balls – “Boudin, the king of Cajun food...”  I’ve heard this is really good and would like to try it sometime, but it’s probably not something I would make. 

And just to throw in something really odd for you all to ponder, in the category of strange ingredients we have -

Corn Smut – not your usual fungus.

Quick Meals – BLT Quesadillas

 

Here is a quick meal that does required a few precooked items.  You can use your own, previously cooked ingredients.  The amount of what you will need will vary depending on how many you are cooking for, the size of your tortillas and how much you like bacon. ;-) 

You will need:

Cooked flour tortillas  (We actually buy raw flour tortillas at Costco and I cook them at home because they have the fewest ingredients of all the store bought tortillas, they don’t bother my “attentive stomach”, and they taste and smell incredibly better this way.  See more info below)

You will need:

Cooked bacon – Plan ahead: Cook extra when you’re cooking bacon anyway, and reserve what you need to make this meal later (pre-cooked bacon can be frozen for later use).

You will need:

Fresh tomatoes
Lettuce
Cheese, sliced
Mustard and/or mayonnaise if desired
Garlic powder, optional

Fold the tortillas in half.  Spread the inside with mustard or mayo and sprinkle lightly with garlic powder, if using.  Add sliced cheese and bacon inside the tortilla.  Cook on a hot griddle or in a frying pan.  It should be fine to do this in a dry pan, but if the pan tends to stick at all wipe it with some oil first.

Cook, turning at least once, till the cheese is melted and all the layers are heated through.

Just before serving open one side and add the tomato slices and lettuce.

These would be great with guacamole on the side.

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Regarding the tortillas: The raw flour tortillas that we purchase from Costco come in a large quantity. (NOTE: We Do Not Recommend the corn tortillas.  We had a bad experience with those, but never with the flour ones so far)  To deal with this quantity, we take them out of the packages; separate the tortillas, putting a small square of waxed paper between each one; place them in freezer bags; date them and put them in the freezer.  The reason we go to all the trouble of inserting waxed paper between each tortilla is that we found they stuck together after they thawed if we didn’t do this.  With this method we’ve had little trouble with that and they keep well in the freezer for several months.

MMmm.  I think I need to make these again soon! :-)

Quick Meals – Chicken and Mint

 

This summer I’m growing several types of mint in pots.  One evening I was cooking boneless, skinless chicken breast and decided to flavor it with fresh mint.  I cooked it a bit first in olive oil and a little water (it was frozen when I put it in the pan), cutting it into bite size pieces when it got partly done (using tongs and a pair of scissors).  This speeds the cooking time.  Then I added snipped fresh mint and salted it.  I may have added some green onion tops and black pepper as well, I don’t remember now.  But, it was absolutely delicious!  So very simple and yet so tasty! :-)  I served it with vegetables (use fresh or cooked), and a carbohydrate (something easy – bread or toast?).  A super simple and quick meal.

Chicken breast
Olive oil
Snipped fresh mint
Salt
Green onion tops (optional)
Fresh ground black pepper (optional)

Mint and Chives Chicken

Quick Meals - Black Beans and Hominy

 

What do you do when you need a fast meal but you don’t eat “prefabricated food” much (if at all)?  Most of us in Western culture have been trained by experience and advertising to think that in order to get a really fast home cooked meal we have to buy something that we simply pop in the oven, wait and eat.  If your family, like ours, are trying to get away from this type of meal, you may wonder how you can make a good, quick meal without eating out or using a lot of frozen dinners and meals in a can.  I’d like to share some simple recipes and methods with you that I’ve found useful.  These mostly have evolved out the fact that I have had health issues in the recent past that tended to make me abnormally weak and tired and also dietary needs that made it impossible for me to rely on those frozen meals that make home cooking abnormally easy.

I do use canned foods, but not much of the sort that comes with seasonings and goos and gunks in it – supposedly to make it taste “just like homemade” (which it never does).  We also use plain frozen vegetables.  (Our “indiscretions” in the line of pre-made meals mostly runs towards one particular kind of frozen pizza to which I still add things to make it more nourishing).

Most or many of these recipes may be so simple that I don’t have any measurements for them.  You will have to take the challenge of learning to cook by the seat of your pants.  And, after all, this is the first step to learning to make quick and easy home cooked meals.  You need to learn to take a few ingredients and just fly with it. :-)  Once you’ve done a bit it will start to come naturally and you will start to invent your own, if you don’t already.

Today’s recipe is super simple, but my husband and I both find it very tasty and filling.
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Black Beans and Hominy

One can black beans and
One can hominy in the same size.  (I like golden hominy the best.)
Garlic powder
Onion powder  -- both to taste
Bacon or ham bits (optional – but it does improve the taste)

Heat all together in a medium to large sauce pan (depending on the size cans you use).  Serve with sour cream or grated cheese on top if desired.

For a spicier taste add red pepper flakes when cooking.

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That’s it!  How easy is that?  I suggest serving it with a simple side salad, but even that is not particularly necessary.  :-)

(And, yes, that is a paper bowl. :-)  I’d gotten away from paper quite a bit at one point.  Then last year we had a sever drought here in Texas.  I realized that I might as well go back to using some paper plates/bowls and all paper napkins at that time because it actually saved on water use.  The paper “dishes” also save me extra work when it’s necessary that I save my energy or strength for something more important.  You may not agree, but this is what is best for us now.) :-)

Barbecue Sauce Sweet Potato Chicken

I discovered that sweet potatoes taste very good cooked with meat.  I have cooked them with pieces of beef roast or steak, but here I cooked them with chicken breast.
This is one of those seat of pants recipes where I don’t have an exact recipe.  But, here’s the basic idea.
I cut the chicken breast in chunks, and probably cooked it by itself in oil a few minutes before adding the sweet potato chunks, adding water as needed to keep it moist and not burning.  I sprinkled them with onion powder and maybe a little garlic powder too, and added salt to my taste.  Then I covered them with barbecue sauce (and maybe added a teaspoon or so of brown sugar to sweeten it up if it was too sour) and cooked till done.  (This would also be good with pork, I think.)
I hope you try this out and enjoy it.  It was delicious! :-)  Try cooking sweet potatoes with beef too.  I suggest adding the sweet potato chunks a little after the meat has started cooking.  You don’t have to use the barbecue sauce with beef as it has a good flavor with just the sweet potatoes and some garlic and onion.

Red Lentil Ham Soup

 
This is a very easy soup to make.  Dried, split red lentils (really they are orange) cook very fast compared to most dried beans or lentils.  I think this is because they don’t have the skins on them.  I don’t know what the price for them is in a regular store.  We usually buy ours at an Indian store where they are called Masoor Dal.
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To make the soup:
Cook in a 2 qt. pot:
Chicken or vegetable broth
Lentils (I used at least 1 cup, probably more)
One ham bone
Onion
Garlic
Diced Carrots
Bring to a boil and simmer stirring at regular intervals till the lentils are almost done.  Remove meat from ham bone and discard bone.  Return the meat to the pot.  Finish cooking.  (The lentils are done when they are soft.)
Add salt and black or red pepper to taste.
Lentils are very absorbent, so use plenty of broth or water.  If you are unsure of how much to use start with a little less.  You can add more as you go along.  Lentils will stick to the bottom of the pan (especially when reheating), so do be sure to stir it regularly.
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Depending on the ham and broth you use this meal could be made gluten and lactose free.  If you can’t find safe ham, try some pre-cooked meat of your choice.  The taste will be different, but it will still be tasty.  You could add Cajun seasoning if you use another type of meat to make a very tasty soup!

Taco Soup

Well, the weather is actually getting a little cooler here in Texas.  It’s not exactly cool during the day, mind you, and I expect more hot days still, but it has moderated.  And, since a friend of mine was requesting my Taco Soup recipe recently, I started thinking about posting some soup recipes on here. :-)
Mary's Taco Soup
Canned refried beans
Chicken/beef broth or water
Fully cooked ground beef, or beef or chicken chunks (optional)
Garlic powder - to taste
Onion powder - to taste
Red chili pepper - to taste (mild, medium or hot)
Cumin (not as much as the onion or garlic)
Oregano (just a little)
Mix refried beans with broth over medium heat in a large pan.  Add seasonings and meat.
Cook, stirring often, till it is heated through or just coming to a boil.
Serve with chopped black olives, guacamole, sour cream, grated cheese and chopped tomatoes.  Chopped onions - optional.  Also, serve with warm tortillas, quesadillas, or tortilla chips.
Note: If you want a creamier soup, mix some sour cream into it while it is cooking.

As you can see, I don’t have exact measurements for this.  It is one of the recipes that I know “what” but not “how much”, so I make it “by the seat of my pants”. :-)  Make it agree to your family’s taste.
Also, I think this recipe could be made gluten-free.