Roasted Chicken and Potatoes with Lemon and Rosemary

This week I knew I wanted to stick with my fall comfort food theme for my next post. After crock-pots the next thing on my list was roasting. I love roasting meats and veggies for fall. The texture and taste is perfect for colder weather. It's also super easy (you may be noticing a trend with my meals - ease is key). What I love is that you just throw everything together in a pan, toss it in the oven and wait for dinner to be ready. 

Here's what you need for tonight's dish:

- 1 lb Chicken (I used breast because I had it on hand, but if you have thighs that works too)

- 3 lemons

- Rosemary 

- 1 onion

- 3 cloves of garlic

- 1/3 cup olive oil

- Red pepper flakes

- 8 - 10 baby red potatoes

- salt and pepper to taste

To start, pre-heat your oven to 400 degrees and spray a pan with non-stick cooking spray and lay your chicken flat across.

After your chicken is in the pan you can add the potatoes and onions. I chopped both into large pieces and scattered across the pan.

From there take one of your lemons and slice it thinly. Then take the slices and add them on top of the chicken along with some of the rosemary sprigs.

Now that all of the basics are in pulled together, it's time to work on the sauce. In a small bowl whisk together the lemon juice (from the remaining two lemons), olive oil, rosemary, garlic and the red pepper flakes. Pour this mixture evenly over the chicken and pop in the oven for an hour, or until the chicken and potatoes are done.

Once the food is done just plate and enjoy! You'll love how flavorful the chicken is with just a few simple ingredients! The lemon really adds a nice citrus taste to the chicken and is complemented with the spice of the red pepper flakes. The potatoes and chicken will have just a nice crisp to them from the sauce, but is super juicy on the inside. 

If you're looking for other chicken dishes click here or comfort food dishes click here.

If you give this recipe a try let me know what you think. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did! 

Crock-Pot Loaded Baked Potato Soup

Well friends, I hate to say it but summer is officially over. Well, at least here in Minnesota. But you know what, let's focus on the positive shall we? Fall brings a lot of my favorite things: apple picking, pumpkin patches, leaves changing colors. But more than any of that, my favorite thing about fall has GOT to be.... my crock-pot. After receiving one for Christmas last year the world of crock-pot recipes has been opened and it truly is endless. From chili to roasts to pastas. You can really make anything in one of these. 

With that, it only seemed appropriate that my first post of the fall (and in quite some time as well) would be a crock-pot recipe. My mind went immediately to one of my favorite soups - loaded baked potato. Does anything say fall comfort food like a cheesy potato soup? Other than mac 'n cheese, I don't think so.

What's great about this recipe, and any crock-pot recipe at that, is that they are so easy and don't take much time to prep. All you need to do is gather all of your ingredients, throw them in the pot, and then let you home fill with the delicious aroma. When you lift the lid a few hours later all the magic of the crock-pot comes to life.

This recipe is super simple and only requires a few ingredients, most of which you may already have on-hand:

6 potatoes

1 white onion

1/4 stick of butter

1 quart broth (I used low sodium vegetable broth)

1 cup cream (I used half and half)

3 cloves minced garlic

2 cups cheese (I used 1/2 cheddar and 1/2 colby jack)

Salt and pepper to taste

To start, simply peel your potatoes and dice your onion. They can go directly into the pot.

Next, pour in your stock of choice and butter. There's no need to melt the butter, you can just cut it up and drop it in.

And then, that's it! Now you can kick-back and enjoy the rest of your day. If you're like me, you're crockin' on a Sunday and can finish the rest of your chores like laundry, cleaning, etc. All the while, magical things are happening under the lid. There's no need to check, but I can't help but lift the lid and stir every couple of hours... mostly to smell what's cooking. 

You can let this cook for 8 hours on low, or 4 hours on high. Just so long as the potatoes are tinder and break-apart with the touch of a fork.

Once finished, you'll need to mash the potatoes a bit to your liking. I prefer my soup a little chunky so I just mashed them coarsely. Once finished mashing, this is when we add the cheese and cream. Don't worry if the soup seems very watery before adding the cheese and cream. These ingredients will help thicken it up.

After adding the final ingredients, all that's left is to garnish and serve! I added sliced green onions and bacon to mine. I also tried topping with croutons to add a little crunch and it was delicious!

And there you have it! It doesn't get much easier than this guys - so you have no excuse to skip out on Sunday dinner next weekend. Crock-pots can be such a huge life-saver and the options are honestly endless. You'll see throughout the fall and winter as I post some of my favorite recipes. Check out my last post for pot roast.

Hope you enjoy! Until next time, happy cooking! 

Chicken and Bacon Fettuccine

Sometimes on a Monday night you just need to embrace comfort food. Not necessarily because it was a hard day (aren't all Mondays?), but more because making it through the first day back from the weekend is a real accomplishment. Especially after 6+ inches of snow... thanks again Minnesota.

Tonight on the menu was Chicken and Bacon Fettuccine. Yes you read that right, BACON. This simple twist on a classic really adds a nice depth of flavor. Check out the delish photo and recipe below. Enjoy!

INGREDIENTS

4.5 oz fettuccine noodles

2 tablespoons butter

2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1 cup chicken broth

1/4 cut half and half

3/4 cups diced chicken

3 slices bacon (cooked crisply)

DIRECTIONS

Turn your oven to 400 degrees and place the bacon on an un-greased cookie sheet. While the bacon is cooking, boil the fettuccine noodles and sear your chicken in a pan. Instead of using chicken breasts, I really like to used the pre-cut frozen Tyson chicken - it's a lot easier and tastes exactly the same!

While all the ingredients are doing their thing, you can begin to build the sauce in a separate pan. If you don't want to make your own sauce, you can of course use your favorite Alfredo sauce from the jar.

Once everything has finished, simply just combine it into one pot, add some oregano/basil/parsley and you're done! Don't plan on having left-overs - it's THAT good! 

Cheesy Chicken Orzo

These past few weeks I have been making a conscious effort to meal plan. Instead of just buying the same things each week at the grocery store and hoping for different results, I dedicated 30 minutes to my Saturday afternoon to think of meal options for each day of the week. I really liked doing this because I could make sure we have a variety of meals throughout the week and we rely less on the frozen varieties... You can also try to pick recipes that leverage some of the same ingredients to try and be more cost effective.

One of the meals from this plan was a tasty Cheesy Chicken Orzo. I'd never cooked with orzo before, so this was a first for me. For those of you that don't know, orzo is basically in between rice and noodles. It's a pretty fun alternative to your pasta game if you're looking to mix it up.

This recipe is VERY simple and quite yummy. The base ingredients are pretty neutral so you can flavor to your liking. For this meal my Mom was over and she doesn't like much spice. If it were just T and I, I probably would have opted for some red pepper flakes or cayenne pepper. Instead, I went with the 'safe' Italian seasoning.

Check out the recipe below and give it a try! It's a nice rotation into your weeknight meals that's a synch to make and only takes about 20 minutes!

INGREDIENTS

2 tablespoons olive oil
2 whole chicken breasts cut into 1-inch cubes
salt and pepper to taste
1 cup orzo
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
2 tablespoons butter
1/4 cup milk
2 tablespoons italian seasoning 

Instructions

Heat olive oil in a large skillet.

Add chicken pieces to the skillet, season with salt and pepper, and cook over medium heat until done; about 10 to 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Set aside.

Bring a pot of water to boil, and stir in the orzo.

Cook for 5 minutes, or until orzo is tender.

Drain.

Put the orzo back in the pot and stir in the cheese, butter, and 1/4 cup milk; add more milk if needed. Continue to stir until smooth and well combined.

Stir in the cooked chicken.

Taste for salt and pepper and italian seasoning.

Serve.