Category Archives: Veggies

Roasted Chicken and Vegetables

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This winter, while long, has provided endless reasons to use my oven for more than just brownies!
Besides roasting chickpeas, all sorts of vegetables and pork roasts, I’ve also enjoyed a few roast chickens.

roast chicken and veggies


I used to purchase only the white meat of the chicken, but new research is telling us that there are different nutrients in the dark meat and that it really isn’t that much fattier. My husband loves dark meat, making this another good reason to roast an entire bird.

And of course, the cost benefit is great. An entire chicken is about $5-$7.00 and although you cannot serve an army with one chicken, you can enjoy several meals. I love making soup with the left overs.

add lemon wheels


There are many ways to season your chicken, but I’m going to give you an easy one to get started.

Ingredients for roast chicken
1 whole chicken, with giblets removed
Salt and pepper
1 lemon cut into wheels
2-3 sprigs of rosemary or another herb of choice
2-3 TBS olive oil

cover with foil


Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Wash your chicken inside and out and let it drain. (Be sure to carefully clean your sink after this.)
Sprinkle the inside of the chicken with salt and pepper.
Place the lemon wheels inside the chicken, along with the rosemary.
Rub olive oil over the enire outside of the chicken and then sprinkle with salt and pepper.
If you have twine, you may want to tie up the legs and tuck in the wings. But your bird will be just fine if you don’t have any twine on hand.
Place chicken in a roasting pan breast side up and cover with lid or foil.
Bake about 45 minutes.
Add vegetables to the roasting pan or add a pan of veggies to the oven at this point.
Continue roasting until the juices run clear.
Chicken will take about 20 – 30 minutes per pound.
Let the chicken rest for ten minutes before you slice into it. This will help the juices stay in the chicken.
While the chicken is resting, you may want to make a simple gravy. Or save some juices for soup.

add veggies to pan after 45 min

roasted veggies in a separate pan

done

Note on vegetables
You can add cut up potatoes, carrots, onions and other vegetables to your roasting pan if there’s room.
You may also want to place other veggies, including brussels sprouts, sweet potatoes and peppers on a separate baking sheet. Drizzle a bit of olive oil over them and sprinkle with garlic salt or regular salt and pepper.
This way the entire meal is in the oven and you can put your feet up and feel smug.

This is a meal fit for company or for a cold winter’s night. Your house will smell divine and you and your family will enjoy a classic meal.
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Roasted Chickpeas

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We’re all looking for snacks that are healthier, right? Well these little peas, which are really garbanzo beans, can be roasted until crisp and flavored any way you like to create your own fun food. Seriously!
This little jewel comes from my daughter, the fitness guru, Rose. Naturally, I had to try them.

roasted chickpeas


Of course, she starts with a bag of dried chickpeas, soaks them overnight and then boils them for another hour or two.

I started with a can of chickpeas. You do as you like, but I hope you try these.

roast on parchment paper


It took about a minute to prepare them (my way) for the oven and then came the wait to see if they’d really be snack worthy.

roast till golden


While I was waiting I prepared some roasted kale. Why not fill up the oven, right? Besides now Dr. Fuhrman and Dr. Oz and the DASH diet and others are saying we need FIVE servings of vegetables each day. So the Kale chips can help reach that. But they are addictive. I blogged about them earlier, but basically, just wash the kale and cut off the stems and toss that. Put the kale leaves on a bar pan lined with parchment paper. Sprinkle with a small amount of olive oil and garlic salt. Bake about five- ten min and you’ll have an irresistible snack. When I blogged about them last time I didn’t use the parchment paper and they got much darker. This time they baked more evenly.

roasted kale chips


But back to our chickpeas, err garbanzo beans. I’ve always loved them because they hold their shape and texture in soups. And they’re so cute! Well now the cuteness level has been amped up.

ready for snack attack


Ingredients
Chickpeas – 1 15 oz can
1 TBS olive oil
Paprika
Garlic salt

Directions
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
Line a bar pan with parchment paper. (Don’t use a cookie sheet with no sides or they’ll roll all over your oven or kitchen floor.)
Spread the canned (or cooked) chickpeas onto the pan.
Drizzle olive oil over peas.
Sprinkle with paprika and garlic salt or whatever else you’d like to try.
Bake about 30 minutes. Check on them now and then and roll them around.
That’s it. You’ll have little snacks that are full of protein and fiber but taste a bit like nuts.
If you want your peas (beans?) to be crunchier, bake them longer. If you prefer them softer, lessen the oven time.

So easy. A great little snack that will be paired nicely with kale chips. Rose says you can toss these on a salad to add more crunch.

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Baked French Fries

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Roasting a pan full of vegetables has become an obsession with me.

roasted veggies


At least once a week I find myself chopping and chunking various veggies together and roasting them with olive oil and a bit of garlic salt. The combination of carrots, sweet potatoes, Yukon Gold potatoes, brussel sprouts and onions is one of my favorites.

spread out on pan


I admit I seek out the crispy chunks of potatoes that remind of the fries that I usually shun in restaurants.

baked potato wedges


When my kids were little – back in the 1670′s – I found a magazine with recipes that showed us how to make “junk food” at home. I made my own corn dogs and Hostess cupcakes using these recipes. And of course, there were baked fries.
But I always had trouble with the fries sticking to the bar or roasting pans. And then I would dump in more oil and pretty soon they’re swimming in the very stuff I was trying to avoid – fat. Even if it is “healthy fat.” The last time I tried this I also used russet potatoes and I think they’re too starchy.
See pics at left.

bake on parchment paper


OK, so I’m not a genius, but this week I tried putting my “fries” on parchment paper to bake and I love love LOVED the results. I also used my favorite spud – the Yukon Gold which is a moist potato that holds up equally well baked or mashed. So why not fries? I used less oil and the results were fabulous.

And it only took me 40 years to figure this out! Genius.

no more sticking

baked fries

Ingredients
2 Yukon Gold potatoes
2 TBS olive oil
2 tsp garlic salt (or regular salt to taste)

Directions
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
Cut the potatoes into strips.
Put them into a bowl and pour on the oil and sprinkle with the salt. Mix well.
Place parchment paper onto a bar pan and then dump the wanna-be-fries onto the paper.
Bake about 15 minutes and then turn them over.
Bake another 10 – 15 minutes until brown and crisp.

No point spending life feeling deprived. If you love fries, treat yourself and your family. And clean up is a snap.

Red Swiss Chard and Chicken

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Do you ever walk by the endless aisle of multi-colored vegetables at the grocery store and wonder who buys all of it and what they do with it?

Red chard and chicken


Over the past year I’ve adopted a new vegetable occasionally to play with it in my kitchen. Recently, the red color of Swiss Chard drew me in and it landed in my grocery cart. Once home, I ate a bit of it raw and discovered it was rather bitter raw.

cut ribs and stems and chop


So I went looking for ideas and didn’t find too many online. But eventually, I came up with this idea to make it a main dish with chicken.

*Tip: Remove the stems and ribs of the chard and chop them separately. They are edible and do add a great texture, but if you cook them a bit longer than the leaves, it helps to soften them.

stirfry chicken first

gently cook veggies

add chicken and chard leaves

walnuts for garnish

Ingredients
2 TBS olive oil
1 onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced, or 1 TBS
2 chicken breasts, cut into bite sizes
Salt and pepper to taste
1 bunch of Swiss Red Chard, with stems cut into small pieces* and leaves coursely chopped
1 TBS lemon juice
1/2 cup white wine
4 oz lowfat cream cheese
1 TBS lemon juice
Parmesan cheese
1/2 cup walnuts, toasted

Directions
In a large skillet, heat the olive oil.
Sprinkle salt and pepper on chicken and stir fry until it is almost cooked. Remove it to a bowl.
In the same pan, add onion and garlic.
Stir in stems and ribs of the chard and cook until softened.
Add wine, cream cheese, lemon, salt and pepper and cook until blended.
Add the leaves of the chard and the chicken back into the skillet.
Cook until leaves are wilted and chicken is finished cooking – about five minutes.
Sprinkle parmesan cheese over the dish as it is served.
Garnish with toasted walnuts.

The color will amaze you. The red from the chard seeped into the rest of the dish, but it was very tasty and really quite pretty.

Another new and scarry vegetable decoded and made into an elegant dinner.
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