Perfectly Roasted Chicken – Comfort Food At It’s Best!

Whew. What a looong weekend/week. After everything we’ve all been through, I thought we deserved a little R&R and a deliciously comforting meal. This roasted chicken takes about 10 minutes to prepare so it’s in the oven in no time. It also makes your entire house smell like a cozy diner on a winter’s day.

While it roasted away in the oven, I got in a load of laundry, took the dogs on a w-a-l-k, (can’t say it in front of them, ya know) and took a much deserved bath. This is my go-to recipe for roasted chicken and it delivers time after time. I hope you like it.

The two of us can typically get about 4-5 meals out of one chicken so buy them when they’re on sale and keep them in your freezer to roast later. You can also freeze the cooked meat. That’s what I did tonight. We ate the chicken legs for dinner and I froze a bag of the breasts and two bags of shredded meat. That will come in handy later on when I’m in a hurry and need to make a quesadilla or a quick casserole.

Perfectly Roasted Chicken

Servings: 8
Time: 1 hour and 30 minutes total
Level: Medium

1 whole chicken (3-4 lbs.), thawed
3 cloves garlic, smashed
1 onion, chopped
2 stalks celery, cut into thirds
1 Tbsp. margarine
2 Tbsp. canola oil
1 Tbsp. poultry seasoning
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. pepper
1 tsp. chicken seasoning (such as Weber’s Kick’n Chicken)

Preheat oven to 400°. Remove innards from chicken. Dry off chicken, inside and out, with paper towels. Fill cavity with garlic, onions, celery, and margarine.

Rub outside of chicken with oil. Sprinkle seasonings all over. Tuck wings and tie legs together with kitchen twine, if desired.  Place any leftover onion or celery pieces in the bottom of a large cast iron skillet. Place chicken on top.

Roast in the oven, uncovered, for 1 hour and 15 minutes, or until a meat thermometer reads 180° when inserted into the thickest part of the breast. Remove from oven, let rest for at least 15 minutes, and serve. Yum!

Tips
– If you don’t have kitchen twine, you can use unwaxed and unflavored dental floss or upholstery thread.
– Instead of using chicken seasoning, use your favorite fresh herbs, like rosemary or thyme.

In Honor of the First Day of Summer: A Delicious Chicken and Veggie Marinade for the Grill

It has felt like summer for a month now. But today marks the summer solstice and the official first day of summer. To honor the longest day of the year we’d better fire up the grill!

This marinade is one of my favorites. It is so simple… just two ingredients! And it packs a serious punch after marinating for only 20 minutes. It simply can’t be beat.

Grilled Chicken and Vegetables Marinade

Time: 5 minutes to make, at least 20 minutes to marinade.
Servings: I marinated 2 big chicken breast and about 3 c. of chopped veggies.
Level: Easy

2/3 c. Zesty Italian dressing (you can use lite or fat free)
almost 1 Tbs. Weber Grill Kick’n Chicken seasoning

Mix ingredients together in a large zip-loc bag. Add whole chicken breasts and various chopped veggies. Seal bag and rub marinade all through chicken and veggies. Lay bag flat on the counter and let marinade sit for at least 20 minutes, turning bag a few times.

Grill over medium heat for 15- 20 minutes, depending on the thickness of your chicken breasts. Yum!

Tips
– I had leftover red and green bell pepper, cherry tomatoes, and white button mushrooms from my Steak and Veggie Kabobs. I used those veggies plus a roughly chopped onion.
– I grilled my veggies in a grilling basket.

BBQ Chicken and Bacon Mini Tarts

These little appetizers are delicious hot out of the oven and at room temperature so they are perfect for tailgating or entertaining. You can switch up the filling to include anything you want. I once used pizza sauce and pepperoni instead of BBQ sauce and chicken. The options are truly endless.

One filling I would like to try is cream cheese mixed with a little sugar and lemon juice topped with sliced fruit. Doesn’t that sound great?

BBQ Chicken and Bacon Mini Tarts

Servings: This recipe made 24 tarts
Time: 20 minutes
Level: Medium

1 tube crescent rolls
6 chicken strips, cooked and cut into tiny bite sized pieces (I used Tyson 100% white meat chicken nuggets… I keep them around to throw on salads)
3 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled (I used turkey bacon)
1/4 c. BBQ sauce
jalapeños, sliced
1/3 c. cheese, shredded

Preheat oven to 375°. Grease a mini muffin tin. Unroll crescent rolls and smoosh together to make one big rectangle of dough. Cut into 24 small squares.

Stretch each square a little and press down into each muffin cup.

Bake for 5 minutes.

Remove from oven and fill each cup with a tiny amount of BBQ sauce, a piece of chicken, a few bacon crumbles, a piece of a jalapeño slice, and a little shredded cheese.

Bake for 2 more minutes. Yum!

Tips
– Jason likes to dip his in ranch dressing. Go figure.

BBQ Pineapple Luau Pizza

Tonight’s dinner was AMAZING! I will definitely be making this pizza again and again. I had a little fresh pineapple (fresh pineapple… oh, how sweet!) left in the fridge and a hankering for Hawaiian Pizza. The only problem  was that I needed to make more pizza sauce and I wanted dinner to be quick tonight. No pizza sauce? No problem! I decided to use BBQ sauce instead.

I came across a recipe earlier this week that had me thinking. The recipe was for chicken and pineapple quesadillas and it looked divine. I will HAVE to try it soon.

But tonight, I wanted pizza. Fast. So I used this recipe as my inspiration and what I came up with was truly delicious. This is seriously a must try recipe!

Luau Pizza

Time: 25 minutes
Servings: 4-6
Level: Easy

Pizza dough/crust
BBQ sauce
Ham, chopped
Pineapple, thinly sliced
Green bell pepper, diced
Onion, cut into thin rings
Jalapeños, diced
Cheese, shredded

Pre-heat oven and make/roll out dough according to pizza dough directions.

Pre-bake dough for 5 minutes. Top with BBQ sauce and remaining ingredients, ending with cheese.

Bake pizza for an additional 10-15 minutes until crust is golden brown. Yum!

Tips
– Use a pre-made crust for a faster dinner.
– Top with a little crushed red pepper for more of a kick.
– I used a packaged dough mix that mixes with water. For 57¢ you can’t beat it if you like thin crust!
– Use as many or as little of the above ingredients. Tonight, I only put onions on 1/2 of the pizza. Jason LOVES them… Me? Not so much…
– Jason dipped his in a little ranch dressing. He’s obsessed with ranch.
– You can substitute the ham for Canadian bacon, bacon, turkey bacon, or even chicken.

Winner Winner Chicken Dinner – Jerk Syle

When the weather is nice, grilling always seems to be the greatest and most enticing way to get dinner on the table. You can sit outside and hang out with friends and family all while dinner is cooking away. Not to mention how jealous it makes your neighbors when the wonderful smell of the grill goes wafting over the fence.

We decided to use Jamaican jerk seasoning on our chicken because my mother-in-law gave us some wonderful Mississippi sweet potatoes and sweet potatoes compliment jerk seasoning very well.

Needless to say, this was delicious. It was a perfect way to end our trip to Sarasota, Florida. If you ever feel like a Hawaiian vacation but would rather stay state side… check if out. Siesta Key is AMAZING!!  Thanks for everything mom and dad! We miss y’all already!

Jamaican Jerk Chicken

Time: 50  minutes
Servings: 4
Level: Easy

4 chicken breasts
1/3 c. Jamaican jerk dry seasoning
2 tbsp. olive oil

Preheat both sides of the grill to medium high heat. Brush olive oil on both sides of chicken breasts. Sprinkle generously with jerk seasoning. Put chicken on the grill.

 Half way through grilling, turn off one side of the grill and move chicken over to that side. Continue grilling over indirect heat until no longer pink inside. Yum!

Roasted Sweet Potatoes

Time: 45 minutes
Servings: 4
Level: Easy

3 medium sweet potatoes
1/4 c. olive oil
1 tbsp. Jamaican jerk seasoning
1 tsp. chili powder

Preheat oven to 425°. Peel and cube sweet potatoes. In a zip-loc bag, combine potatoes, olive oil, and seasonings. Shake until potatoes are covered in oil and spice mixture. Pour potatoes onto a baking sheet and bake for 45 minutes, turning once. Yum!

Tips
– We used Capt. Rodney’s dipping sauce with our chicken. It tastes like a spicy version of honey.
– As a rule of thumb, I usually use one less potato than people I’m feeding, if they are a decent size.

Steak Fajitas

Well, after a WONDERFUL dinner of Signature Steaks we had a ton of leftovers. Our rib eyes were bigger than our stomachs, I guess. Anyway, we decided to make steak fajitas and they turned out delish! Ya gotta love a Mexican fiesta on a weekday night.

Steak Fajitas

Time: 1 hour and 30 minutes
Level: Easy
Servings: 4

1 large rib eye (or honestly, just enough cooked steak to feed 4 people, whatever the cut)
juice of 1 lime
2 tbsp. olive oil
1 garlic clove, minced
1/2 tsp. cumin
1 fresh jalapeño, finely diced
1/2 green bell pepper, sliced
1/2 red bell pepper
1/2 onion

Slice steak, bell peppers, and onion thin.

Mix lime juice, olive oil, garlic, cumin, and jalapeño together and pour over sliced steak.

Marinate at room temperature for 1 hour. Wipe off garlic and jalapeños before cooking if desired. Cook steak, peppers, and onions in a skillet over medium-high heat until peppers and onions are tender but still crisp. Yum!

Tips
– You can use chicken instead, or mix both!
– Serve in warm tortillas with cheese, sour cream, salsa, and other traditional fajita toppings.
– Squeeze a little lemon or lime juice over the top of the finished product for a fresh twist.

Crispy Onion Baked Chicken

My dad, a self professed onion hater, would totally disapprove of this recipe. I, however, think it is delicious. The crispy onions make the chicken crunchy and flavorful and make a solid breading for this baked chicken recipe.

I created this recipe from a recipe I saw on French’s website. The recipe calls for chicken drumsticks, which I didn’t have. Drumsticks also take a long time to bake and time is something else I didn’t have. So I attempted the recipe with chicken breast tenderloins and it turned out great.

French fried onions aren’t just good for green bean casseroles! Other than this recipe, they are great as a salad topper and excellent on a grilled burger with BBQ sauce.

Crispy Onion Baked Chicken

Time: 30 minutes
Level: Medium
Servings: 4

3 cups (6 oz.)  French fried onions

6 large chicken breast tenderloins

1/4 cup all-purpose flour

2 large eggs, beaten

Heat oven to 350°F. Pour French fried onions and flour into a zip-loc bag. Crush onion mixture. Transfer to shallow bowl or plate.

Dip tenderloins into beaten eggs, then coat in crushed onions and flour mixture.

Place tenderloins in greased baking dish.

Bake 20 min. or until no longer pink inside. Yum!

Tips
– You don’t have to transfer the onion and flour mixture to a shallow dish. You can put the egg coated chicken in the zip-loc bag and shake it around to coat if you want fewer dishes to wash.
– You can also add a little cayenne powder to the onion and flour mixture if you want you chicken to have a kick.

– Jason dipped his in BBQ sauce… he said it was yum!

BBQ Chicken Pizza

Ahh, pizza. Pizza is cheap, fast, and easy. It is also a fabulous way to use any leftovers you have in the fridge.

This particular pizza is one of my husband’s all-time favorites. Every time I ask him what he wants for dinner, this pizza, inevitably, comes up. He loves it because of the smoky bacon and creamy ranch and I love it because it uses ingredients that I always have on hand.

You can tailor this recipe to whatever you have in your pantry or fridge. Leave ingredients out, add some in, it doesn’t really matter. It’s gonna taste great anyway. Trust me!

BBQ Chicken Pizza

Cook Time: 25 minutes
Level: Easy
Servings: 4-6

pizza dough
1/3 c. BBQ sauce
1/2 c. shredded chicken, cooked
2-3 strips of turkey bacon OR bacon, cooked and crumbled
1/3 c. corn, drained and rinsed
1/3 c. black beans, drained and rinsed
1/3 – 1/2 c. shredded cheese
jalapeños, chopped, to taste
red onions, sliced, to taste
ranch dressing, to taste

Pre-heat oven according to pizza dough directions. If using a dough that needs rolling out, roll out onto a greased cookie sheet, pizza pan, or baking stone. Bake dough for 8 minutes. Take it out of the oven and top it with BBQ sauce and next 7 ingredients.

Bake for and additional 4-6 minutes, or until dough is golden brown on the bottom and slightly browned on the edges. Take out of the oven and top with ranch dressing, if desired. Yum!

Tips
– Using shredded chicken, instead of sliced or cubed, will cause you to use less meat. The same goes for shredded cheese. It will cover more ground with less ingredient.
– Ever thought about using a  rotisserie chicken to get dinner on the table faster? They save really well in the fridge and can be used in a million different recipes!
– You can add tomatoes if you have any but make sure you squeeze out the pulp first. The pulp can make the pizza soggy.
– Save any leftover chicken, corn, or black beans in the fridge for use on a later date. Those three ingredients are great thrown into a salad or in a quesadilla for a last minute lunch or dinner.
– Economically speaking, the bag of pizza dough mix is the way to go. You can get it for around 60¢ per bag and all you need to mix with is water. The tube of refrigerated dough and the fresh dough balls from the bakery section also work well in this recipe. You can even opt for a pre-made dough, like a Boboli crust.
-Rinsing vegetables from a can removes up to 25% of the added sodium. Try to buy the low sodium versions and rinse those as well.

– Don’t forget! You can add different ingredients to different parts of a pizza to help please everyone. Tonight, my half of the pizza was sans onions and double jalapeños!