Slow Cooker Lemon Thyme Whole Chicken

I finally bought myself a crock pot. After having borrowed Mama's for almost a year, I figured it was time to give it back to her and get my own. Plus, hers is the enormous, feeds an army size and I need something that will fit snuggly on teeny tiny counter space.

Now that I have my own, I've been trying to find tons of recipes that allow me to use it as often as possible. The latest one is this Whole Chicken recipe. I put the whole chicken in the crock pot with chicken stock, lemons, thyme and garlic and just let it cook. It turned out great. It was moist and fell apart and with a veggie and mashed potatoes, would make a nice mid-week meal.

Slow Cooker Lemon Thyme Whole Chicken

1 whole chicken
2 lemons, sliced
6 sprigs fresh thyme
3 large garlic cloves sliced thin
salt and pepper
Trader Joes Everyday Seasoning or a poultry seasoning blend

To prepare chicken, remove the insides (eww) and I like to rinse it off and pat it dry with paper towels.

In my crock pot, I poured about a cup of chicken stock, then placed the chicken, breast side up into the crock pot.  Pull the skin up away from the chicken breast and slide 1 sprig thyme,  2-3 slices of lemon and 3-4 slices of garlic onto each breast under the skin. Place the remaining slices of lemon, garlic and sprigs of thyme over the chicken on top of the skin and around the chicken. I roughly chopped a couple more cloves of garlic and tossed them in too for a more enhanced garlic flavour. 

Season with salt and pepper, and the everyday seasoning.  Cover your crockpot and cook according to manufacturer's directions. I cooked mine on high for about 4 hours. Check to make sure that your chicken has reached a temperature of 165 degrees. Serve with a salad, or veggies and potatoes.
I served it on a bed of garlic butter spinach.

Spinach Strawberry Salad

A few weeks ago, we ate at this little hotel restaurant with barely anyone in there and no front door. You actually had to go into the hotel entrance and down a long hallway to even get to the restaurant. I was not expecting much. But since it was late, we were staying at this particular hotel, and we did not feel like driving all over, we ate there. More proof, if proof were needed, that you shouldn't judge a restaurant by it's entrance. It was incredibly delicious and super fast. Their portions were also enormous and forewarned by our friendly waitress, we easily split an appetizer and entree between the two of us.

On a side note: This is our standard we're-not-that-hungry or let's-save-money-but-still-eat-out strategy. If you both have similar tastes, this works especially great when away on vacation or at restaurants that serve huge portions.

Anyway, the appetizer we ended up getting was a spinach and strawberry salad with pecans and goat cheese. It was so tasty and looked so simple that as soon as I got home, I tried it myself. The only difference is that I added chicken. It is just as delicious and such a simple and quick, but still healthy meal that I had to share it.

Strawberry Spinach Salad

1 bag baby spinach
10 large strawberries, washed and sliced
1/2 cup pecan pieces
2 chicken breasts, cooked and sliced
1 small log goat cheese, broken up into bite size pieces
Trader Joe's Champagne Vinaigrette or favorite light vinaigrette


After dividing the spinach onto two separate plates, line each plate with strawberries. Any extra strawberries place on top of spinach bed (or eat them yourself).

 
Place chicken pieces on top of each spinach bed, followed by pecans and goat cheese pieces. Lightly pour vinaigrette over the top. Enjoy.

Notes: I cooked the chicken on the grill pan with a little bit of olive oil, basil, rosemary and thyme, salt and pepper; 3-4 minutes per side until cooked through. It is packed with flavour and so easy to make that I make a bunch of it at once and use it in everything. Also, goat cheese is creamier than feta so it doesn't really crumble, just so you know.

Jalapeno Poppers

A while ago, we visited my sister-in-law and family. As you've probably noticed, everything in our family seems to revolve around food. In fact most of the things we do seem to revolve around food. Anyway, when we went to visit, we ate at this restaurant called McAllister's that served loaded baked potatoes that are the size of a loaf of bread. Seriously, they were enormous potatoes and they were amazingly delicious. I must go again.

Anyway, onto the jalapenos. My brother-in-law made these awesome jalapenos on the grill. He filled each jalapeno half with cream cheese and cheddar cheese and wrapped each one with a strip of uncooked bacon and then cooked them on the grill somehow. I'm not really certain exactly how he did it but it was quite delicious.

Being that we live in an apartment whose builders did not see the benefit of putting a window in the kitchen, I am unable to cook anything that is going to smoke badly. This unfortunately includes cooking bacon on the stove. (I can cook it in the oven in the Alton Brown method) So how to recreate these delicious morsels without having the fire department called to my house...again?

Apartment Friendly Jalapeno Poppers

warning: I strongly suggest wearing food grade vinyl gloves when making this recipe. There is nothing worse than getting jalapeno juice on your fingers and then itching your eye. Trust me.

5 jalapenos, sliced in half lengthwise and without stem
1/3 cup cream cheese, room temperature
2 handfuls grated Cheddar cheese
1/4 cup chopped pancetta or bacon pieces

Preheat oven to 350.

Cook pancetta or bacon in a small frying pan dusted with a little olive oil spray over medium heat until cooked and fragrant and a little crispy, about five minutes depending on the size of each piece.
(Our local Trader Joe's sells chopped pancetta. Most grocery stores will sell either slices of pancetta or a small hunk of pancetta that you can chop yourself.)

Meanwhile, scoop all of the seeds and the little vein-y things that the seeds attach to out of each jalapeno. (I use the edge of a melon baller for this, it seems to work well) Set jalapeno halves aside.

In a small bowl, mix cream cheese, cheddar cheese and the cooked pancetta together until the ingredients are evenly distributed. The heat from the pancetta will cause the cheeses to melt a little but that's okay.

With a spoon or spatula, fill each jalapeno half with about a tbsp of cheese mixture. Place all halves  on a cookie sheet and bake for about 15 minutes until the jalapenos get a little wrinkly and golden brown on top.  Remove from oven and allow to cool slightly before serving.

You could also sprinkle more cheddar cheese on top of each half either before or after they come out of the oven.

Enjoy!

I'm sorry I didn't take more photos of the process or the finished product. I got busy making them and forgot and then we were too busy eating them to care about photography.

Spaghetti Sqaush - Coolest Thing Ever

Okay, any fruit or vegetable (I think it's classified a fruit but whatever) that when cooked, tasted remarkable like pasta gets a gold star in my book. Since we've been trying to eat less carbs on a day to day basis (not the easiest thing for me to do), I've given up cooking pasta for dinner. And with that decision, all of my quick and easy pasta recipes went out the window.

However, Mama called and told me that she had made spaghetti squash and that even Daddy really liked it. Now, I've heard of this squash that actually tastes like pasta before and really couldn't believe it. I don't like acorn squash. I only like butternut squash if it is pureed to oblivion in soup form. I am not a fan of zucchini, or as the grocery store insists on calling it with incredible lack of imagination: green squash. Therefore, the idea of spaghetti squash was not exciting to me, though when mama called I figured, 'If Daddy could eat it, so could I.'

I humbly admit that I misjudged this fruit/vegetable thing. It - is - Delicious. It has the just the right texture and shape and it holds up to sauces just like pasta would. It is also a fairly easy thing to make. Hence, I submit to you my first try with spaghetti squash which was a huge hit:

Spaghetti Squash in White Wine Lemon Sauce

1 spaghetti squash
1 pkg Italian sausage, cooked and sliced
3 tbsp olive oil
2 cloves garlic, crushed
2 tbsp butter
1/4 cup lemon juice
1/2 cup white wine
2 tsp thyme
1/2 tbsp flour
Parmesan Cheese


First of all, you need to roast the squash.

How To Roast a Spaghetti Squash

1. Remove sticky label that grocery store adhered to said squash.
2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
3. With a fork, prick squash all over.
4. Roast in 350 degree oven for 1 1/2 hours.
5. Remove from oven carefully and allow to cool slightly (15-20 minutes just so you can handle it without burning your hands)
6. Slice open lengthwise with sharp knife and scoop out all seeds.

7. Run a fork through the flesh of the squash and stare in wonderment as it separates into "noodles".

Okay, now you are ready to continue with the recipe.

While your squash is cooling, cook your choice of Italian sausage according to package directions. I cooked mine in a large saute pan. When they were fully cooked, I removed them to a plate. In the same saute pan, add olive oil and garlic and cook until garlic is golden brown and fragrant.

Add butter, lemon juice, white wine, thyme and flour to garlic. Cook, stirring a little to incorporate the flour for about three to five minutes until sauce has thickened a bit.

When you've separated your "noodles", add them and the sliced sausage to the lemon sauce and stir to fully incorporate sauce into "noodles".

Remove from pan to plates and sprinkle on Parmesan cheese.

Enjoy!

A Better Chicken Noodle Soup

As I have previously mentioned, I don't like chicken noodle soup. Mike does though and sometimes one makes things one does not like for a person one loves. I figure if I really don't like what I made, I can always eat toast with jam for dinner like his grandmother used to.  The traditional carrot-celery-onion-chicken-in-broth soup recipe is frightfully boring so I started throwing in stuff that I saw in other soup recipes. I figured that all the ingredients came from soup recipes so they should all taste good together. I do realize that this method of cooking does not always work out for the best. I have first hand experience with the times that it has failed miserably. However, in this case, it worked beautifully. I even thoroughly enjoyed it.

Better Chicken Noodle Soup


olive oil
one yellow onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1/4 c white wine
1 small can diced tomatoes
8 cups chicken broth or 8 cups water with bouillon cubes (follow package directions)
4 boneless skinless chicken breasts, cooked and cubed (I baked the chicken in garlic-Parmesan olive oil at 350 for 30 minutes)
3 zucchini, cubed
4 carrots, sliced into rounds
fresh or dried thyme
fresh or dried rosemary
salt and pepper, to taste
1 large can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
2 cups noodles of choice (I used pappardelle)
1 bag fresh baby spinach
grated Parmesan cheese

Coat the bottom of a large pot with olive oil; heat over medium heat. When oil is heated, toss in onions. Cook, stirring occasionally until onions are translucent and beginning to brown. Add garlic and cook until fragrant, about a minute. Add white wine and cook for another minute or two. Add tomatoes and continue to cook, stirring occasionally.

Add broth, carrots, zucchini, chickpeas and herbs (I had fresh thyme and rosemary from another dish I made but if you only have dried I'm sure that will work too. I used three stems of thyme and one stem of rosemary. The rosemary I chopped up but I just picked the thyme leaves off the stems and threw it in without bothering to chop it. If you are using dried, I would use about 2 tsp of each.) Continue to cook until zucchini and carrots are soft, about ten minutes. Stir occasionally. Add noodles and cubed chicken.

*Note: I used pappardelle noodles from Trader Joe's because they looked very pretty in the package. However, because these noodles are so wide and long, they need to be broken into smaller pieces. I suggest that you do this in your hands over the soup pot. Do not try to cut dried noodles with a knife on a cutting board. The noodles break into little noodle shards that rocket all over the kitchen.

After adding the noodles, I left the pot on the stove, cooking on very low heat, for about twenty minutes more until we were ready to eat. Just before serving, add spinach and stir well so that the heat from the soup wilts the spinach.

Serve in bowls topped with Parmesan cheese.

Ratatouille (my quick version)

Ingredients and a cup of tea

I realize this is more of a winter meal but spring can have its chilly days too when you want a hearty bowl of something warm and mildly spicy that doesn't take all day to make. This would be that kind of meal. If you prep the veggies earlier, it's even faster.

The recipe calls for garlic and onions. Of course, as I began making this I realized that I was out of both of those. So I substituted garlic powder and onion powder. Granted, the dish tastes far better with the actual garlic and onions but in a pinch, powder works.

Ratatouille

2 tbsp olive oil
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 medium onion, diced
1 medium eggplant, peeled and cubed
1 yellow squash, cubed
2 zucchinis (or as my grocery store insists on calling them: green squash), cubed
2 bell peppers, seeded and cubed
1 package sliced mushrooms
 1 large can diced tomatoes
1 tbsp basil
1 tsp thyme
3/4 cup good red wine (if you wouldn't drink it, don't cook with it)
1 package Italian hot sausage

In a small saute pan, cook sausage over medium heat until cooked through.

Meanwhile, in a stock pot, combine olive oil with garlic and onions. Cook over medium heat until onions are golden and garlic is fragrant (about 2 minutes) Add eggplant, squash, zucchini, bell peppers and mushrooms. Stir to combine and cook for two minutes more. Add can of tomatoes, red wine, basil and thyme. Stir, cover and simmer for about fifteen minutes, stirring occasionally.

When sausage is cooked through, slice into bite size pieces and add to stock pot, stirring well, remove cover and simmer for five more minutes.

When veggies are soft (after about twenty minutes) and stew is fragrant, remove from heat.

Serve as is, or covered in Parmesan cheese or over rice. This could even be tossed with angel hair pasta. It's very versatile. According to Mike, it also makes a great lunch the next day.

Gluten-Free 'Pancakes'

I apologize for the horrible photo . The camera is broke so I'm using my phone.

As I said before, we are trying to eat a little healthier in this household. Pancakes with butter and peanut butter and maple syrup and chocolate chips really don't fall under the healthy eating category, although every now and then, they still make for a great indulgent breakfast. But what if you want pancakes but still want to be a little healthy, or what if you don't want/can't have the wheat in pancakes? I happened to find this great gluten-free pancake recipe. With some blueberries in the batter and a little almond butter on top with a little maple syrup, it's still mildly indulgent without the guilt.

Gluten Free Pancakes

2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract or gf vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups almond flour
1/2 cup all natural unsweetened applesauce (Trader Joe's has a really delicious brand)
1/4 tsp salt

1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp fresh ground nutmeg

1/2 cup fresh or frozen blueberries

In a medium bowl, beat eggs. Add almond flour, applesauce, salt, baking soda, cinnamon and nutmeg to eggs and mix well. Stir in blueberries, gently. Meanwhile, heat a skillet sprayed with a little bit of olive oil. When skillet is hot, ladle about a 1/4 cup of batter onto the skillet. Repeat with as many as your skillet will hold.  Cook until little bubbles appear and you can easily flip the pancake. (Time will vary depending on your stove) Flip pancakes. Continue to cook until each pancake is cooked through. Remove to warm plate. Serve with a dollop of almond butter and maple syrup and a few berries on the side. 

Much thanks, again, to my cousin for her help with my gluten-free recipes!

Gluten-Free Apple "Crisp"

So many are doing the gluten-free thing including a cousin of mine, so I decided to try some gluten-free recipes. Cutting down on the wheat isn't necessarily a bad thing anyway. I really love apple crisp but the topping is very carb and gluten heavy so I came up with a topping that isn't. And it turned out surprisingly good. It was crunchy and sweet and perfect on the cold snowy days we've been getting so much of.

Apple "Crisp"

2 granny smith apples, peeled, cored and sliced
2 gala apples, peeled, cored and sliced
1/2 cup almond meal
1/4 cup sliced almonds
1/4 cup chopped hazelnuts
1 1/2  tsp cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg
1 tbsp butter, melted
1 tbsp maple syrup
1 tsp vanilla or gf vanilla

Spray a baking dish with Pam spray (or its equivalent). Layer apples in baking dish and sprinkle with 1/2 tsp cinnamon and 1/2 tsp nutmeg.

In a bowl, combine almond meal, almonds, hazelnuts, 1 tsp cinnamon and 1/2 tsp nutmeg. Mix well.

In another small bowl, combine melted butter, maple syrup and vanilla.

Pour butter mixture over almond mixture and mix with a fork until it resembles coarse crumbs.

Dump the mixture over the apple and spread evenly.  Bake at 350 for 40 minutes or until the topping is golden brown and the kitchen smells of beautifully baked apples! Enjoy.

Since this is very healthy, it would make a great breakfast too.

Eggplant Rollatini

 
There really isn't any anecdote to this recipe, sorry. We had a friend over this weekend and I wanted to make something I hadn't made in quite a while. Since she likes eggplant also, I decided to make this one. It came out quite well, if I do say so myself, and as many things, was even better the next day for lunch. Enjoy.

Eggplant Rollatini

2 eggplants, peeled and sliced lengthwise, into 1/2 inch slices
salt and pepper
3/4 cup olive oil
16 oz ricotta cheese
1 egg
1/2 cup shredded mozzarella
3 tbsp grated Parmesan
20 basil leaves, thinly sliced or 1 tbsp dried basil
2 cups tomato sauce (recipe follows)

On a large baking sheet, arrange eggplant slices and sprinkle with salt. Set aside for 15 minutes. Rinse the eggplant and pat dry. Brush each slice with olive oil

Using a grill, or in my case the grill pan from Crate and Barrel, grill slices, about 4 minutes per side.

Spray a large casserole dish with olive oil and spread 1/2 cup of tomato sauce on the bottom. In a bowl, mix the ricotta, egg, mozzarella, Parmesan and basil. When the eggplant slices are cool enough to touch, place about a tbsp of cheese mixture at one end of each slice and roll. Place, seam side down, into the casserole dish. Continue with remaining eggplant slices. Spoon remaining tomato sauce over the eggplant and sprinkle with mozzarella and Parmesan cheese, if desired. At this point, decide whether you want to cook it now or cover and refrigerate it, for up to 8 hours)

Bake, uncovered, at 375 degrees for 15 - 20 minutes, until bubbly. Serve.

Tomato Sauce (adapted from a recipe from Giada De Laurentiis)

1/2 cup olive oil
2 smallish onions, chopped small
2 garlic cloves, crushed
2 celery stalks, chopped small
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp fresh ground pepper
2 32oz cans crushed tomatoes
2 dried bay leaves
1/2 tsp basil
1/2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes

In a large pot over medium high heat, saute onions and garlic in the olive oil. When onions are translucent, add celery, salt and pepper. Saute until celery is soft. Add tomatoes, bay leaves, basil and red pepper flakes. Simmer, uncovered, for about an hour or until sauce is thickened. Remove bay leaves (hopefully you can find them)

Use in a recipe immediately, cover and refridgerate or freeze for a later date.

Feta Stuffed Chicken (low-carb)

To continue the low-carb/almond meal kick I've been on, I made chicken again last night. I always make chicken and sometimes the same old thing gets boring. I wanted something different and kind of exotic and fortunately a friend had just brought me a brick of really amazing feta cheese. I decided to stuff the chicken breasts with feta and herbs and bake them in the oven. They were amazingly delicious. The feta didn't really melt so much as just become warm and crumbly. I also had the leftover chicken cold the next day; equally as delicious!

Feta Stuffed Chicken

3 boneless skinless chicken breasts, filet in half (or you could get 6 thin sliced chicken breasts)

1 small brick good feta, sliced into 6 1inch by 2inch pieces

2 tbsp olive oil

2 garlic cloves, crushed

1/2 cup almond meal

2 eggs, beaten

1/2 cup white wine

1 tbsp butter

2 tsp Dijon mustard

1 tbsp cream

dried oregano

In a small bowl, combine the olive oil, crushed garlic and a sprinkling of dried oregano. Set aside. Spray a large glass baking dish with olive oil.

Coat one side of each chicken breast with egg and then almond meal and lay, almond meal side down, in the baking dish.  Place one feta piece on each chicken breast and sprinkle with dried oregano.

Roll the chicken breast over the feta and arrange, seam side down, in baking dish. With a basting brush, brush each breast with the garlic olive oil (liberally). 

Bake at 350 for 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, in a small pan, combine butter, white wine, Dijon mustard, cream and a little dried oregano. Simmer to reduce.

To serve, pour white wine sauce over chicken.

It was fabulous!

Eggplant Parmesan (low-carb)

I am attempting to write this post as my cat battles the laptop for supremacy over my lap. It makes it very difficult to type.

Moving on, as I said, I am on a six week very low carb diet under the supervision of a nutritionist. Six weeks of no bread, pasta and sugars makes one very creative. For one thing, this means there is no breading that I can have on meat, or in this case aubergine. However, I can have all kinds of nuts including almonds. Almond meal is readily available at grocery stores, Trader Joes and health food stores. It's very finely ground, similar to fine breadcrumbs, which makes it a great substitute. My husband can't tell the difference between the almond meal breading and other breadings. And I think that the almond meal gives whatever it's on a nuttier flavor and a nice crunch.

Eggplant Parmesan

1 medium sized eggplant, peeled and sliced into 1/2 inch disks

2 eggs, beaten

1/4 cup olive oil

1 cup almond meal

1 28 oz can crushed tomatoes

2 garlic cloves, crushed

1 tbsp basil

2 tsp oregano

1/2 tsp cayenne pepper

mozzarella cheese, shredded

Parmesan cheese, shredded

In a large saute pan, heat olive oil on medium low heat. In a medium saucepan, heat 1 tbsp olive oil. Add crushed garlic and allow to cook until just golden brown. Pour the crushed tomatoes into the saucepan. This WILL spit and sputter so please be very careful. Add basil, oregano and cayenne to tomatoes, stir and allow to simmer. Meanwhile, on a large plate or shallow bowl, beat eggs. On another plate or bowl, pour almond meal. Dip slices of eggplant first into the egg and then into the almond meal, shaking off the excess gently. Place 'breaded' slices in the saute pan. Work in batches so as not to over crowd the eggplant. Cook on one side for about two minutes or until that side is golden brown, then flip. Cook for another two minutes. Remove to a platter to keep warm.

To serve, I pour a little sauce on the bottom of my plate and place the slices on the tomato sauce net to one another instead of layered. I add more tomato sauce on top and top with the cheese (the amount if cheese is at one's own discretion). I like to put the plates under the broiler for a minute so that the cheese gets a little burnt and bubbly.

This isn't the greatest picture, sorry.

Low-Carb Crackers

Since I am currently on a low carb, very very low carb, diet, I have to get a little creative. Since regular crackers are off-limits, I have improvised with almond meal. Most grocery stores carry Bob's Red Mill Almond Meal or if you live near a Trader Joe's, they carry it also.

Almond Meal Crackers

1 1/2 cups almond meal

1/2 tsp garlic powder

1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

2 tbsp water, plus more if necessary

In a food processor (I use my teeny one for this), combine almond meal, garlic powder and cayenne. Pulse to combine. Add 2 tbsp water. Pulse well. Mixture should be slightly wet and sticking together to the walls of the food processor bowl but not be soupy. It might need a teeny bit more water, I'd add it in teaspoon fulls and continue to mix between additions.

Dump mixture onto a piece of parchment paper and cover with another piece of parchment paper. With a rollong pin. roll out dough between the two pieces of parchment. When dough is 1/8 of an inch thick, peel top piece of parchment paper off and discard. Slide the bottom piece of parchment with dough onto a cookie sheet.

Bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes, then start checking every couple of minutes. There is a fine line between cooked and burnt. Burnt crackers are NOT a nice kitchen smell.  When crackers are golden brown, remove from the oven and allow to cool.

These are great with cheese and pepperoni; a piece of lunchmeat or even peanut butter. Yum!