Roast it!

Certain days I struggle with staying on my feet long enough to cook a meal.  I have found the simplest solution - other than ordering take out - have some easy meals to put in the oven around lunch time and just let it roast or braise all day.  Let's be honest, I cook meals like this at least twice a week!  They are tasty, nutritious, and cost affective too! 

Plenty of times when my husband sits down to one of these meals he looks at me like I am Wonder Woman.  He doesn't know how I do it, pull off a meal like this while hurting and taking care of the kids.  A few times I tried to let him in on the secret, these are simple meals that take little to no effort but he does not believe me. 

When every minute standing up counts then you have to be frugal with your time.  Standing at the stove for 30 minutes does not cut it!  You need to find a meal that takes you about 10-15 minutes prep time and to be able to walk away for at least an hour. 

Roast it!  I like to roast a chicken that can feed my family two seperate meals.  For us this means 6lbs roughly of a whole chicken.  A day or two before pull the chicken out of your freezer and into the refriderator to thaw.  I usually pull it out on a Sunday knowing that I will need it by Wednesday.  The day I want to roast it I pull it out of the fridge to come to room temperature, about 2 hours because my fridge is really cold.

Roast Chicken done my way: 

 Preheat oven to 450 degrees.  I like to use a 5-7 pound chicken, depending on how much leftovers I want.  You will need about 3-4 tablespoons butter, salt, pepper, garlic powder, garlic cloves, 1 cup white wine or chicken broth, onion, carrot, and celery.  I also like to use paprika.  In a dish soften 3 tablespoons butter and mix in salt, pepper, garlic powder and paprika.  Use your finger to make a pocket between the breast and skin on either side of the breast bone.  Rub the butter mixture into each pocket and on the skin.  Inside the cavity add one tablespoon butter, half onion, one carrot cut in half, one celery cut in half and a garlic clove. 

In the bottom of your roasting pan add your liquid, quartered onion and tablespoon butter. Put chicken in the oven and immediately reduce temperature to 400 degrees. Roast for one hour - do not open the door! Check the chicken and baste with juices (if your pan is dry add another cup of liquid basting as you add). Reduce temperature to 350 degrees and resume cooking till a meat thermometer registers 160degrees, this may take about 45-90 additional minutes depending on the size of your chicken. Remove from oven and cover to finish cooking through and to allow the juices to redistribute, about 30 minutes. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If you cannot stand for 30minutes to make your side dishes then roast your veggies! After I put the chicken in the oven I sit at the table with a cutting board, knife, and veggie peeler. In a bowl I have potatoes, onions, and carrots. I have an additional bowl for the scraps of food and my roasting pan. Depending on how I feel this process can take me 30 minutes but at least I am off my feet. When done cutting my vegetables I take the pan into the kitchen and toss them with some olive oil, salt and pepper. When it is time for me to check the chicken I place the pan on a rack below the chicken. When it is time to pull the chicken out of the oven I place the pan under the broiler to get my veggies nice and brown, about 2-5 minutes keep an eye on them, pull out of oven and cover with foil.   If you are feeling ambitous because you now have saved a lot of energy then go ahead and use the drippings from the chicken to make gravy!  Add some crusty bread and you have a meal fit for company! 

ps.  Leftover chicken can be diced and used in many different casseroles, my favorite is chicken pot pie that also makes good use of your left over gravy and veggies!