Love the one you’re with! The people AND the food choice

Click this, allow it to play in the background while you read through this amazingly simple yet impressive Dinner.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_5IVuN1N6-Y

Today is a great day for you to love whoever it is you are with, and love your food. This menu is easy people. I will walk you through step by step just in case I have any tips that might serve you well. Most of the time I post a recipe for a side dish, an entree, or maybe a salad that is an entree. This post is long. Hang in there, it is worth it. This is a full meal.

Balsamic Roasted Chicken with Cripsy Seasoned Potatoes and Spaghetti Squash tossed with red peppers.

The roasted chicken recipe was inpsired by the Balsamic Roast Chicken recipe found in the Clean Eating Magazine, May/June 2010 edition. The basic spaghetti squash instructions can be found here: http://killyourcoward.blogspot.com/2010/10/eat-some-spaghetti.html
The Crispy Potatoes are based on a recipe found in the Cusine at Home Magazine.

Love your Food Plan. Love this Menu. Love how easy it is to prepare. Share it with someone you Love!

I would say this takes an hour and half to prepare. Enjoy the adventure! (Servings - 3/4 cup chicken, 1/2 cup potatoes, 1/2 cup spaghetti squash)
For that effort you will get about: 319 calories, 10 g total fat (3 g saturated fat and 5 g monosaturated fat, 5 g polyunsaturated fat), 93 mg cholesterol, 537 mg sodium, 23 g carb, 4 g fiber, and 34 g protein.


Gather the Goodies!

For the Roasted Chicken

1. One whole chicken. About 5 pounds is plenty big.
2. Aluminum Foil
3. Large Roasting Pan, and a rack if you have one.
4. salt
5. 1 1/2 tsp dried thyme
6. About 3 feet of cooking string (butcher's twine) (Kid's kite string will work great, if it is clean.)
7. 1 1/2 tsp dried rosemary
8. Black pepper
9. 4 tsp olive oil
10. Small bowl
11. 3 tbsp balsamic vinegar

For the Spaghetti Squash

1. 1 spaghetti squash
2. Baking dish with cover.
3. Olive Oil
4. Salt and Pepper
5. 1 tsp. garlic
6. 1 red pepper

For the Crispy Potatoes

1. 1 1/2 pound of russet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1-inch cubes. (If you do this prep in advance, store them in water so they do not brown in the open air.)
2. 1/3 cup vegetable oil
3. Large non stick skillet
4. 1 tsp dried thyme
5. Salt and pepper to taste
6. Collander to catch your boiled potatoes
7. Clean kitchen towel to rest your boiled potatoes on so they dry
8. Large pot of cool and salted water

Get Cooking!

1. Get the chicken out of the fridge, out of its bag and rinsed well inside and out. You need to get your hand all over the inside of that bird and make sure you remove any hearts, giblets, livers, and whatever else the butcher stuffed in there. If there is a neck still hanging on, cut it off. Allow your bird to air dry for a bit while you work on your oven. Wash your hands please.
2. You are going to need room in your oven to cook that bird in a roasting pan and the squash in a covered dish. Arrange your racks accordingly before the oven gets hot. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
3. Start by prepping your spaghetti squash. Follow the previous post listed above. Cut it in half, remove seeds, place in a large baking dish, add about a half inch of water to the dish to make the cooking process go quicker, drizzle olive oil and spread, season with salt and pepper, and add garlic if you want.
4. Clean and chop that red pepper. Set it aside for now.
5. Next, work on getting your chicken in the oven. Your bird is clean, empty of extra parts, and no longer dripping wet.
6. Line the chicken roasting pan with aluminum foil. You will hate me if you skip this step. Ask my mom.
7. Rub the bird all over, front and back, with 2 tbsp of olive oil. On the breast side, loosen the skin by poking your fingers in and around. Go easy, but keep at it. Wash your hands now please.
8. In a small bowl combine the thyme, rosemary, 1 tsp salt and several grinds of pepper. Pour half of your herb mixture into your hand and rub that under the breast skin right onto the actual breast meat.
9. The remainder of your herb mix goes all over the outside of your bird, front and back. Feel free to put a little inside the chicken, too.
10. Drizzle the chicken with the balsamic vinegar.
11. Ok, the chicken is almost perfect for roasting. Put it in your roasting pan, on the rack if you have it.
12. See how his wings and drumsticks are loose and could flop around?
13. To make this bird cook evenly, you do need to truss it. The idea is to tie him all together. Never done that? Go here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KECQggg-Rvk
14. It is finally time to cook. Get the bird and the squah in your oven. Set a timer for 25 minutes.
15. The bird and squash are cooking, and you have the chopped red pepper set aside. We need to work on those cubed potatoes now.
16. Boil the potatoes in the salted water for about 5 minutes. You want them to be fork tender.
17. Drain them well and then dry them.
18. Now you get to wait for that timer to go off. When the timer does go off, check on your chicken. Is it pretty and brown? If not, continue cooking uncovered until it is. This may take another 10 minutes, but not much longer than that.
19. Once the chicken is browned well, cover with aluminum foil and set the timer for 25 more minutes.
20. Add the red peppers to the wells of your spaghetti squash.
21. Again, you are on a break. Start cleaning up your kitchen and setting your table. If get your beverages prepped and update your FB status. By now your kitchen should smell amazing and you should feel all proud of your Betty Crocker self.
22. When the timer goes off again pull the squash out of the oven carefully. Don't forget about that water that is in the bottom of the pan; don't let it splash you. Is the squash fork tender? If not, put it back in the oven. If your water has evaporated, add more.
23. Check the chicken to see if it is done. Mom taught me a cool trick so I did not have to use a meat thermometer. (Sticking a thermometer in the bird releases juices, making them dry.) Twist the drumstick. Gosh, be careful. That bird is HOT! The drumstick is probably tied up but it will still twist only a bit. Just rotate it clockwise. Does it release easily from the joint or does it resist? I promise, when it releases you will know it. If it resists then not much is happening and you may feel unsure. That means it is not done. Bake it longer.
24. When the Chicken is done, pull it from the oven and leave it covered.
25. When the squash is done, pull it from the oven and remove it from the baking dish. Let it cool while you start crisping those potatoes.
26. In a large nonstick skillet on medium high heat, add vegetable oil. Add the parboiled potatoes and allow them to sautee WITHOUT stirring them for five minutes.
27. This is a great time to prepare your bowl of spaghetti squash. Scoop out the red peppers into your serving dish.
28. If you have time start forking the squash off of its rind.
29. Once the potatoes sauteed for 5 minutes it is time to turn them and cook another 7 minutes or until they are golden brown.
30. Keep working at the squash and toss well to distribute the red peppers throughout. Taste, and add salt and pepper if desired. Congrats, the squash is ready.
31. Place that beautiful bird on a platter. Yeah, you should probably pat yourself on the back now.
32. Once the potatoes are done cooking, transfer them to a serving dish and season them with thyme, salt, and pepper.

It does not matter if you are cooking for you and a parent, you and a loved one, or you and some yummo leftovers. Love where you are, celebrate it. Do it in a healthy way!


Eat up!