Hello and Happy Saturday!
I just love Saturdays, but only when all of the house chores are done, then I can play all day!! By playing I mean shopping, hiking, baking and spend time with friends and family!!
Friday night was date night and I took the day off from work to finish those chores and to do some Target and Trader Joe’s shopping. I don’t even remember why I went to Target, but look what I got!!
I guess I see a lot of baking in the future. Oh, I remember why I went to Target, it’s next to the donation box for clothing and shoes. I donated a lot of jeans today. It stinks being tall, whenever I wash my jeans, they shrink! If I hang dry them they get to baggy. So off to the donation box they go! Then after Tar’get I went to my fav, Trader Joe’s! Look what I bought!
Aren’t they pretty?
As I was unpacking my groceries, this came to my door from UPS.
I think someone was telling me, if I plan on baking you better start to workout. Eck! I’m afraid to try this, I heard it’s hard! I’ll let you know how it goes, once I build up enough courage to do try it.
Before I started dinner, I needed to put away my stuff from Tar’get, so I started to clean out my junk drawer.
What a mess. I cleaned the drawer and two hours later, I had done the all the cupboards and drawers. I’m all organized now! Isn’t it pretty?
I didn’t realize how many sprinkles I have. Now that I wasted my vacation day doing this, I better start dinner. Look at what I’m making!
I haven’t roasted a bird since Thanksgiving, so I looked up recipes and found this one from Ina Garten. http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/perfect-roast-chicken-recipe/index.html
Here are my steps I took.
I cut my veggies first and placed in the bottom of my pan, added a drizzle of olive oil, salt, pepper, rosemary and sage.
Pulled out the ickies, giblets and something else in a bag, I don’t want to know what’s in that bag! Washed the bird, patted dry and sprinkled the cavity with salt and pepper. Then Stuffed the bird with a lemon, cut in half, 6 cloves of garlic, rosemary and sage. I don’t think I ever thought I would take a picture of a stuffed bird ass!
I buttered him up, added salt and pepper, then I placed him in a 425 degree oven to cook for 90 minutes. I’ll tell ya, it smelled so good!!! I’m hungry!!
Out of the oven! Smells so good!!! Nice crispy skin!
Side profile, shall we?
On the table!
Even the dark meat tasted good, and I don’t even like dark meat! This turned out excellent!
Roasted Herbed Chicken – adapted from Ina Garten
Ingredients:
- 1 (5 to 6 pound) roasting chicken
- Kosher salt
- Freshly ground black pepper
- 1 large bunch fresh thyme, plus 20 sprigs
- 1 lemon, halved
- 6 cloves of garlic
- 3 stalks of celery,chopped in 2″pieces
- 2 tablespoons (1/4 stick) butter, melted
- 1 large yellow onion, thickly sliced
- 4 carrots cut into 2-inch chunks
- 1 bulb of fennel, tops removed, and cut into wedges
- Olive oil
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.
Remove the chicken giblets. Rinse the chicken inside and out. Remove any excess fat and leftover pin feathers and pat the outside dry. Liberally salt and pepper the inside of the chicken. Stuff the cavity with the bunch of thyme, both halves of lemon, and all the garlic. Brush the outside of the chicken with the butter and sprinkle again with salt and pepper. Tie the legs together with kitchen string and tuck the wing tips under the body of the chicken. Place the onions, carrots, and fennel in a roasting pan. Toss with salt, pepper, 20 sprigs of thyme, and olive oil. Spread around the bottom of the roasting pan and place the chicken on top.
Roast the chicken for 1 1/2 hours, or until the juices run clear when you cut between a leg and thigh. Remove the chicken and vegetables to a platter and cover with aluminum foil for about 20 minutes. Slice the chicken onto a platter and serve it with the vegetables.
I promised my husband Scalloped Potatoes for dinner, but I didn’t want any, I wanted Butternut Squash, so I decided to make him his own little crock pot full. This will serve two people, but he loves the stuff, so he’ll eat it all himself. If there’s left overs it will turn into hash browns in the morning. Here are the steps.
Cut one large rustic potato and onion into thin slices. You can use a mandolin, but I was to lazy, so I cut them with a knife. Layer potato add a sprinkle of flour, then top with onion, next layer add potato, sprinkle with flour add onion, and so on. You get the picture. In a small sauce pan add 1/2 cup of non-fat milk and 1 tbsp. of butter and warm until butter is melted. Pour milk and butter mixture over potatoes and sprinkle with cheese.
Cover, and place in a 350 degree oven for 60 minutes. Take cover off and bake for another 30 minutes. You can triple this recipe to serve 6 people. I normally make this but use half white potato and half sweet potato.
My Husband loved it! He ate the whole thing, I guess no hash browns in the morning!
Scalloped Potatoes for two
1 Large Rustic Potato – sliced supper thin
1/2 Large Onion – sliced super thin
1 Tbsp of Whole Wheat Flour
1/2 Cup of Non-fat Milk
1 Tbsp. of Butter
1/4 Cup of Cheddar Cheese
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees
In a casserole dish, layer potatoes and onions, sprinkling flour between each layer.
Heat milk and margarine and season with salt, pepper, and parsley. Pour sauce over all layers.
Sprinkle with cheese
Bake 1 hour covered. Remove cover and bake additional 30 minutes.
I also made Butternut Squash for me!
All I did was add butter, olive oil and sage in a frying pan, sauteed it until it browned and then add the Butternut Squash. Cook until tender about 10 minutes.
My dinner plate. I had two pieces of raisin bread from the bakery. The vegetables were so good, a little oily from the olive oil and chicken, but the flavor was out of this world! This was a great dinner!!
I love Ina’s roast chicken! It’s my favorite 🙂
I have to say I was impressed by it! It was juicy and tender! My Husband who is not a chicken lover, really liked it! He couldn’t believe how moist it was!
Your photos look amazing!! that chicken ic nice and crispy. It’s in my to do list. Thanks
Thank you so much!! If you make it let me know what you think!