Roast Chicken!

Yesterday I embarked on a cooking adventure - Roast Chicken.  I love chicken.  I hate cooking chicken.  It's hard, turns out rubbery, and is generally dissapointing when I cook.
I used the Jamie Oliver recipe to a T.  Questions I had that were not answered in the recipe:

1)  Covered or not?  I did not cover and it turned out fine
2)  What to baste with?  There were not a ton of juices at that point, so I basted w/ a bit of water.

I let the chicken cook a bit too long - my probe thermometer was reading 155 degrees, then I realized I had it in the cavity of the chicken, not in the meat.  D'OH.  To accompany the chicken, I made some roast veggies at the same time the chicken was cooking (Potatoes, carrots, turnips), and tossed together a small green salad.

Verdict?  AWESOME.  Super easy to prepare, made the kitchen smell great, and there are a ton of leftovers.  The meat was super tender - when I went to move the drumstick to cut the thigh off the body, the entire bone just came out without any meat! 

To be honest, by the end, I was more excited to kick off my chicken stock making than to eat the chicken!  Nerd, I Know.

I got the majority off the bones & body.  While carving, I had a serving plate and a bowl for 'stuff' that was to go into the stock mix.  I threw both wings in there, the bones, carcass, and a bit of skin.  I scraped out the herbs and garlic from the cavity.  Then, all of it went into the crock pot for a few hours with a few tbsp of white wine vinegar.  AndreAnna says to use apple cider vinegar, but I didn't have any. 

After a few hours, I tossed in all of the veggie bits I've been saving for the last week (knowing this was coming up), chopped onion, bay leaf, and thyme in & set on low. 

I had dreams ALL NIGHT of food because the house smells so good!  I can't wait to go home and get a straining!  My one concern is that I don't have jugs or jars for the stock - my plan was to foodsaver-bag it, but I'm not sure of how that will work.

Weekend Food Plans

This weekend is the last before Christmas, and I plan on cooking all day Sunday.  Normally, I would go on a baking spree, but since I'm calorie-conscious at the moment, that sounds like a not so great idea.

My biggest challenge on Sunday will be a whole roast chicken.  I'm using the Jamie Oliver recipe (http://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/chicken-recipes/perfect-roast-chicken), and plan on freezing 1/2 the meat once cooked as an easy add on for dinners in the future.  I also want to make some sort of chicken-bake.

In my Amazon Fresh order today I included Rainbow Chard.  I've never had Chard before, and I'm not the biggest fan of fresh spinach.  We'll see how this goes, but I plan on having that as a side w/ garlic and nuts for Sunday dinner.

I'm also making another batch of Taco Soup - I've been living on it for most of two weeks and I'm still not sick of it!  As long as I have a pinch of cheese and cilantro I can't get enough of it.

My plan for the new year will be to have homemade dinners (fresh or frozen) 5/7 nights a week.  We're already near this goal, but I want to expand past my normal 5-10 recipes. 

Brightening Up Frozen Meals

I love freezing soups & stews .  The trouble is, sometimes I want the taste of something fresh in them.

Fixing that is easy - I just dice up some green onion, scallion or other bright veggie and toss in.  It may not be perfectly normal - but it's delicious!

Chicken Taco Soup

2 Cans Muir Glen Organic Diced Tomatos (14.5 oz ea)
1 can Muir Glen Organic Tomato Paste (8oz)
2 Cans diced Green Chiles
1 bag frozen corn
3 chicken breasts, skin off
1 packet taco seasoning

1 can black beans, rinsed
1 can pinto beans, rinsed

Fresh cilantro
Cheese
Sour Cream

Makes 8-10 1 cup servings

Toss first set of ingredients into crock-pot.  Leave on low for 6-8 hours.  Make sure chicken is covered with tomatoes, etc. 

Pull out chicken, shred with two forks.  Put back into crock pot.  Add beans at this point.  Return to crock-pot and warm for an hour or until ready to serve.

Serve w/ fresh chopped cilantro, shredded cheddar, and a dollop of sour cream.

Note - I used 2.5 of the chicken breasts in the soup and saved the other .5 for other random eating throughout the week.  NOM!