Best Roasted Chicken I've Ever Tasted

On a recent trip to Pier1 I found a roasting pan on clearance for just $25. I had only cooked a full bird once before. When I was 16 my mom had me cook our family's Thanksgiving dinner. It was a lot of fun but whole poultry just seemed a bit too daunting with out my mom in the kitchen to answer my questions.   I thought it was time to give it a try on my own, get some good use out of my new  roasting pan, and hopefully find another healthy meal to enjoy on a regular basis.

I did a quick search online and discovered Eating Well's Simple Roast Chicken Recipe. It didn't have too many ingredients, simple cooking instructions, and even had calorie information. I followed the recipe exactly instead of my usual glance and do whatever I want type of cooking. I'm glad I did. Even though  I was hesitant about using tarragon in the stuffing (I don't like the smell of it) everything turned out delicious! 

Nothing is so satisfying as a perfectly golden brown meat.

I served the roasted chicken, minus the onion herb stuffing, with roasted vegetables and a box of Stove Top Chicken Stuffing. I cooked on the rack above the chicken for the last 30 minutes. Just drizzle with olive oil and throw some extra tarragon and thyme with some carrots, pearl onions and mushroom caps.

Perfect side dish: oven roasted vegetables with thyme.

Want to try it for yourself? Visit Eating Well's Simple Roast Chicken Recipe.

A Valentine's Day Salad full of Heart

This Valentine's day my husband and I had our traditional home cooked meal of Chicken Parmesan.  It's his favorite meal but I don't make it too often. I still haven't found a recipe that I like enough to keep in our standard rotation of meals.

I did a bit of research to see what new recipe I could try this year and I found the Hungry Happenings blog.  Beth has some great recipes but I especially like how she creates themed meals. She won me over with her heart shaped Chicken Parmesan recipe but her Salad with Tomato Hearts completely made the meal!  You can see how our Valentine's Salad inspired by Hungry Happenings turned out this year.  The instructions how to create the hearts are so simple I might be adding grape tomato hearts to all of our salads through out the year.

The best part was the look on my husband's face when he saw the tomato hearts.  It was the icing on the cake... or the tomato heart on the salad ;)

In-Law's Thanksgiving Left Overs Spinach Salad

I'm really particular about left overs.  There are only a few things I like left over, some of them are Thanksgiving goodies like mashed potatoes, stuffing and pearled onions. But once they are gone I'm usually left with lots of turkey and you can only have sandwiches so many times.

Thankfully my mother-in-law shared a new salad that is perfect for Thanksgiving left overs. It looks and tastes vibrant and fresh, completely opposite of usual beige left overs! 

INGREDIENTS

Spinach
Turkey or Chicken meat, cubed or flaked
Cranberry sauce (Trader Joe's Cranberry Orange Relish is delicious!)
White Stilton cheese with Cranberries
Pepitas (Pumpkin Seeds) or Candied Pecans
Balsamic Vinaigrette

What's your favorite way to have Thanksgiving left overs?

Spinachless Spinach Dip

Ever tried Knorr's Spinach Dip? It's delicious!  But I'm not a big fan of spinach, I used to spend 20 minutes defrosting the spinach and chopping it finer and finer, and then I'd only put in half of the spinach.  Then a couple times later I only used a quarter of the spinach. Then I realized, why even add spinach?  Since then I've never gone back!  And the amazing part is I get much more compliments with my adaptation.

My spinachless spinach dip is made from a double batch of Knorr's basic recipe with extra scallions (green onions) and water chestnuts. I also use less mayo mainly because I don't like mayonnaise.  If you like it you can double it following the ratios of Knorr's original recipe.

Makes about 6-7 cups.

INGREDIENTS

2 packages Knorr Vegetable recipe mix
2 16oz sour cream
1 cup mayo
3 8oz cans water chestnuts, drained and chopped
3 bunches of scallions (green onions), chopped
1 large bread bowl, hollowed out
1 french bread loaf, cubed

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Mix all ingredients together.
2. Place dip into bread bowl.
3. Chill at least 2 hours.
4. Serve with cubed bread or sour cream and onion chips (Lays with ridges taste great and are thick enough to handle this chunky dip).

Homemade Onion Rings

I love surprising my husband with yummy food. When I asked if he wanted onion rings he looked at me a little hesitantly and said he'd never had homemade onion rings before.  I had to remind him that I had made them for him when we were dating. I guess it wasn't all that remarkable the first time so I wanted to include him in making them so he would remember them this time.

The ingredients are simple but the process takes a a lot of space and time to cook everything... but its all worth it! They go great with burgers. We made turkey burgers with Everything Thin Bagels and even put some onion rings in the burgers. Super yummy!

INGREDIENTS

Onions
2-3 cups flour
4 eggs or 2 Egg Beaters cartons
3-4 cups Breadcrumbs
3 Tbsp Italian Seasonings
Salt & Pepper
4-6 cups of oil

Simple Yet Sophisticated Fillet Mignon

My mother and I love to cook...
But, like in everything, we approach it with our own unique style. Jeanine strictly follows recipe, enjoying the pleasure of nurturing her family and friends.  Jenn, on the other hand, loosely follows recipes, loving to mix up the flavors and enjoying the calm that comes from stirring a slowly simmering sauce.  Most of the recipes I'll share here will have a Jeanine 'Traditional' version and a Jenn 'Creative' version.  (Isn't our company name just perfect for us?)  That way you can choose the recipe that works best for you. They will both be yummy, though in my biased opinion most of the Jenn recipes are yummier. ;)

However, for the first Creative Tradition recipe it's a Jenn Original recipe!  It's what I made for my husband and I for Valentine's Day this year.  I took a picture of it to share with my friends on Facebook then suddenly I was sharing the recipe in the comments. So really this recipe is what led to me finally getting around to starting our blog. So let's get to the good stuff...

Simple Yet Sophisticated Fillet Mignon
Doesn't this meal look so sophisticated and yummy?  Can you believe it only takes about 30 minutes?

INGREDIENTS

2 fillet mignons
1 bag of baby carrots with caps
1 bag of frozen Ore-Ida Steam-N-Mash Russet Potatoes