Monday- Meal #1

The first dinner I prepared was using the whole chicken and left over Basmati rice. I butterflied the chicken and oven roasted it with herbs and olive oil. I then sauteed onion, garlic, zucchini & yellow squash until soft, added the rice and steamed it all together with some herbs.

Here is the chicken butterflied. It was easy to cut through the breast with my kitchen shears. You can also cut through the back, but I found it a bit more difficult.

I used a mixture of herbs I had on hand along with a few squeezes of lemon juice and a drizzle of olive oil to cover both the inside and outside of the bird. I used a cookie sheet with a cooling rack inside it to elevate the chicken and allow air to circulate all the way around. It went into a 450° oven for 30 minutes. Cover it with a foil tent to prevent burning and bake another 10-15 minutes until the internal temperature at the meatiest part of the the thigh reads 175-180°.

I put the foil back over the chicken while it rested and I finished up the rice.

Saute the veggies in a little bit of coconut oil, or what ever oil you like. I added a little bit of bacon grease for flavor. I'm sorry, I just cannot cook without my bacon grease. 

I added the rice and some frozen chunks of homemade vegetable broth I had in the freezer. Once the broth was melted and incorporated, I seasoned everything with sea salt, pepper, thyme and about 2tbs of butter. I turned the heat down and covered the pan.

This step I learned from my Persian step-father. Covering the pan lid with a clean towel absorbs the steam from the basmati, which allows for a nice crispy, crunch crust to form on the bottom of the pan. This type of rice is called Tadig and it's the most amazing rice ever. Try it and you'll be hooked, I promise. This particular batch did not turn out exactly like traditional Tadig, but I did get a few bits of crunchy rice which added a nice flavor and texture to the pilaf.

Here is the chicken and rice plated and ready to serve. It turned out excellent and there will be plenty of left overs for lunch tomorrow.

The skin on the chicken is nice and crispy, while the white meat is tender and juicy. Left over chicken will be turned into a chicken pie for dinner tomorrow night and the bones will go into a pot for a batch of bone broth.

Recipe:

Butterflied Herb Roasted Chicken w/ Zucchini, Yellow Squash & Basmati Rice Pilaf

Chicken

1- Whole chicken, butterflied

Any mixture of herbs and spices you have on hand, I used the following

1 sprig of Rosemary

4 small cloves of Garlic

1 T Tyme

1 T Garlic Powder

1 T Cajun Seasoning

Sea Salt & Pepper to taste

Juice of 1 lemon

Drizzle of olive oil

Preheat oven to 450°

Pour a tablespoon or so of olive over the inside of the chicken, squeeze 1/2 lemon & sprinkle with your herbs, salt and pepper. Repeat process on the back of the chicken and rub everything together. You can let this marinate in the fridge for a few hours or roast right away. 

Bake for 30 minutes then cover with foil and bake another 10-15 minutes until internal temperature at the meatiest part of the thigh is 175-180°.

Remove from oven and rest 5-10 minutes

Rice

4 cups cooked Basmati Rice

1/2 zucchini chopped

1/2 yellow squash chopped

1/2 sweet onion

3 cloves garlic

1 cup broth

2 tbsp butter

2 tsp tyme

Sea Salt & Pepper to taste

Olive Oil

Saute veggies in olive oil and season with thyme, salt and pepper over medium heat. When onion is translucent add rice and broth. Cover with lid (use towel over lid to create a crispy bottom to the rice) and cook over low until liquid is absorbed and rice is tender. 15 minutes or so. The towel on the lid will also prevent the rice from becoming soggy.

A Week of Whole Food on $54

Thursday of last week I found myself with an empty refrigerator, two hungry teenagers and only $60 in the bank. So I headed out to Aldi and our local grocery outlet store, Go Grocery, with my reusable shopping bags, a basic list of items we were out of and calculator in hand. I had already seen the current Aldi ad and knew they had some great prices on fruits and veggies. It was tough to get past the first isle which is filled with all the "extras" that were not part of the budget; however, I did cave and throw 1 bag of kettle cooked chips into the basket. It is summer after all. After finishing at Aldi I hit Go Grocery for the 2.5lb bag of organic, uncured bacon I knew they had along with some chicken, ground beef and a $2 carton of ice cream. Again, it's summer, right? So my total grocery trip cost $54 and some change. Here is a list of my haul.

1-whole chicken 
1lb- ground beef
3.5lb- chicken thighs
2.5lb organic uncured bacon
4oz-goat cheese
3oz- sea salt w/ grinder
4 cans diced tomatoes
1 can black olives
1 package bagel thins
2- avocados 
4- nectarines
3lb bag gala apples
3- beefsteak tomatoes
4- zucchini 
3- summer squash
3-heads of garlic
1bag mini sweet peppers
2lb bag sweet onions
1 bag spinach 
1 carton of grape tomatoes
1 lg sweet potato
1 gal. Milk
4lb sugar
1 bag kettle chips
1 carton ice cream

The first couple things I made were breakfast frittatas on Saturday and Sunday with eggs & linguica I already had in the fridge. That was nothing more than sauteing what ever veggies I had, ( spinach, grape tomatoes, zucchini & yellow squash) with some onion then pour over scrambled eggs, grate some cheddar cheese then salt and pepper to taste. Place a lid over your pan turn heat to low and let steam for a few minutes until eggs are done to your liking. I used 5 eggs and about 1 cup of veggies to make 4 servings.

We have also been snacking on apples with peanut butter all weekend.