Chicken… There are so many ways to cook chicken. Roasted chicken is something that is great for this time of year because it takes enough time in the oven to really warm up your kitchen. Sometimes I choose the lazy way to make a whole chicken, which is just to throw it in a crock pot, but it really does make a difference to take the time and roast it in the oven. If a chicken is cooked correctly, than the skin will be nice and crisp and the meat with be nice and tender.
I have one goal anytime I cook a chicken, maximum juiciness!No matter which way I cook it, I ALWAYS use an herbed butter to make it very juicy. You want to place the herbed butter between the skin and the meat to get the best results, but if I have extra, then I always put it on top of the skin also.
If you are roasting the chicken in the oven, you want to make sure the temp is set at 350, and allow a cooking time of 20 minutes per pound.You also want to remove anything that may be inside the chicken before cooking, and rinse the bird out with a little bit of salt water.
Ingredients:
4 tbsp butter
1/8 tsp dried rosemary
1/8 tsp dried Thyme
½ tsp Garlic powder
Pinch of salt and pepper
¼ tsp parsley
4lb chicken
Preheat oven to 350.Clean out chicken and rinse with some salt water. In a small bowl combine herbs and butter,mix until incorporated. Then, gently massage the herb butter between the skin and meat. Place in the oven for 20 minutes per pound of chicken. Make sure to baste the chicken at least once half way through the cooking process. Remove from oven when it’s completely cooked and let rest for about 5 minutes to give it time to redistribute the juices. Then, carve and eat J
Holy cow, I haven't posted anything in so long, sorry about my absence. I had a terrible pain in the right side of my face that left me pretty much debilitated for the last two weeks! We still don't really know what it's from, but I have definitely fallen back in love with my slow cooker since I've been pretty much out of commission. (I'm sure my husband appreciates it also).
Since I haven't been feeling very well, I have depended on my slow cooker to help me out, and oh boy has it really come through for me! I have been cooking for my husband by throwing things in this wonderful machine and letting it go until he's hungry! I have a couple of recipes that I've done this week that I felt the need to share. These are the easiest recipes and from the rave reviews from my husband, they are also quite tasty.
The first is a spin off on a bbq pulled pork sandwich. I, of course, had not been grocery shopping, so all we had were some misc. chicken parts, so I created bbq pulled chicken sammies!
B-B-Q Pulled Chicken Sandwiches
Asst. chicken parts: legs, thighs, whatever is on hand
Your favorite barbeque sauce
Vegetable stock
White wine
Salt and Pepper
Add your chicken parts to a 5-7 quart slow cooker. Sprinkle with salt, pepper and enough b-b-q sauce to coat each piece of chicken. Then add vegetable stock until the liquid covers half of the bottom layer of chicken. Toss in a couple slashes of white wine, and put the lid on the slow cooker. Turn the slow cooker on low heat and cook for 8hrs. Once the chicken is done, simply pull the meat off of the bone with a fork and place on bread. My hubby likes it drizzled with a little more b-b-q and topped with melted cheese.
The next recipe is for another chicken dish...in my house there is always an abundance of frozen chicken :) and this recipe is even easier than the last one!
Cream Of Mushroom Chicken
2 frozen boneless chicken breasts
3 cans condensed Cream of Mushroom Soup
Salt and pepper
Egg Noodles
In a small slow cooker, place 2 frozen chicken breasts. Add 2 cans of soup (do not add water), salt and pepper. Place lid on cooker and turn on low heat for 8 hours. After 7 1/2 hours, add in the final can of condensed soup and stir. Then place lid back on for another half and hour. In the meantime cook Egg noodles according to the directions on the bag. Once noodles are done, remove the lid to the slow cooker and turn off the heat. Take 2 forks and pull the meat, then place meat and sauce on top of the egg noodles.
To me, this does no look super appetizing, but from the rave reviews I received, this meal tastes much better than it looks!
I am constantly trying to find more healthy versions of the foods that I love so much. I have a serious soft spot for fried chicken, but the amount of fat and calories in it are enough to give me a heart attack just thinking about. I do always use boneless, skinless chicken breasts, but the act of frying them in oil still makes it super unhealthy. I have seen many recipes for coating the chicken in other ingredients besides bread crumbs, but the one that I love the most is a pretzel coated chicken. Coating the chicken breasts in pretzels is unique because there are so many different types of pretzels, and yesterday when I was feeling super healthy, I stumbled across a whole wheat pretzel and decided to give those a try.
This recipe is just as easy to make as regular fried chicken, but it has 83 percent less saturated fat, and 54 percent fewer calories!
Ingredients
4 4-ounce skinless, boneless chicken breast halves, beaten to an even thickness
2 egg whites
2 tablespoons honey mustard
1 1/2 cups pretzels, crushed
pinch of thyme
pinch of ground rosemary
pinch of garlic powder
nonstick cooking spray
Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
Place egg whites and mustard in a dish and whisk until combined.
Put pretzels on a plate and toss together the rosemary, thyme and garlic powder.
Dip chicken into the egg mixture and then press into pretzel mixture until it is fully coated.
Place chicken onto a foil lined baking sheet that has been sprayed with nonstick cooking sheet. Finally, place baking sheet into the oven for approximately 15 minutes.
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