.roast chicken w/ sausage stuffing.

Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays and not for just the food. Tradition in our home, since we live so far from our families, is to invite other military friends who are without their families as well. We've been doing this for almost 15 years now and have built strong bonds with a lot of these people.

Since we will be in the middle of our big household I wasn't sure if I would actually get the chance to have Thanksgiving dinner this year and I figured we might as well enjoy something close to it right now. I had a roasting chicken in the fridge and decided, while at the commissary yesterday, to make a mini Tday dinner, but with chicken instead of turkey.

If you're doing this recipe for your own Thanksgiving this year, make sure you double the recipe. Nothing like having a little leftover stuffing to go with the leftover turkey. :)


Peel and chop 1 carrot.


Dice half an onion.


Chop 2-3 stalks celery.


I use Jimmy Dean sage seasoned sausage. We only need half of this tube. For a full turkey dinner, use all of it.


Put a little olive oil in a skillet and crumble in the sausage. Add a bay leaf.


When the meat is halfway browned, add your veggies.


Season well with salt and pepper. Then add a little (don't go crazy with this!) sage.


And then a little thyme.

Cook until the sausage is nice and cooked and the veggies are just starting to cook. You don't want to let them go too long because they'll turn to mush in the oven.


Take a bag of herbed seasoned stuffing. I find these really aren't seasoned that well. This was the smaller bag they sell. Buy the bigger bag if you're doing turkey so you have enough to fill the cavity.

Dump it into a large bowl.


Dump the cooked veggie/sausage mix right into the bowl. Season again with a little salt and pepper. Remove the bay leaf.


Make sure after you pull the chicken from its bag, that you rinse the outside and inside well with cold water. Reach in the body cavity and pull out the innards. Make sure you check the neck cavity as well. Sometimes they surprise you by putting stuff in there too.

A really easy way to stuff a bird is to put it in a bowl. There's nothing worse than a bird on the loose when you're trying to fill it.


Season the inside of the chicken well with salt and pepper.


Take handfuls of stuffing and fill the bird right up. Do not overstuff. It will take longer for the chicken to cook.

I know a lot of people say don't stuff because you could get salmonella. I have *never* had a problem with food poisoning. Ever. You can't beat stuffing that has been cooked in the bird, soaking up all of the juices. Completely divine.

You will more than likely have a lot of stuffing leftover. Add some chicken stock to the bowl and mix. When the breading is a little moist, pour it into a baking dish, cover with foil, and bake right along with the chicken.


Once the chicken is stuffed. Lay out on your cutting board and pull the skin around the cavity closed. Tack down with toothpicks. With a turkey, you might need to use skewers, or stitch closed with butchers twine.


Tuck the wings under the bird and put in a roasting pan. Drizzle lightly with olive oil and rub all over the body with your hand.


Without being repetative, season the body well with salt and pepper, then a little sage and thyme. Rub everything all over the coated chicken.

Put the chicken in a 350* oven for about 1 1/2 hours.


You will know the chicken is done when the skin is beautifully golden and crisp.

**NOTE: When roasting a turkey, make sure you follow the directions on the package. Turkey needs to roast at a lower temp to ensure everything is cooked all the way through.

To serve, pull out the toothpicks and scoop out the moist stuffing. I usually add the stuffing cooked in the bird to the baking dish with the reserved cooked stuff so everyone gets a little of both.

Carve your bird and serve with whatever sides you like. Are you craving Thanksgiving dinner yet? :D

.cajun chicken pasta w/ roasted red pepper sauce.

I received an email the other day asking if I had a cajun chicken pasta recipe that I would be willing to share. Well, I didn't, but I am *always* looking for new dinner ideas and thought this would be a good one. I didn't want to do a basic cream sauce so I took it one step further and made a roasted red pepper cream sauce that was out of this world! A little kick and oh yah..

This recipe doesn't take that long to make. You just have to remember to make your rub and coat the chicken the night before so it has enough time to marinate. You can have this on your table in under an hour!


In a large ziploc, put 4 Tbsp paprika, 2 Tbsp salt, 2 Tbsp garlic powder, 1 Tbsp black pepper, 2 Tbsp onion powder, 1 1/2 Tbsp cayenne pepper, and 2 tsp thyme. Shake it up to mix everything together.

Put two chicken breasts in the bag and shake to coat. Seal well and hold in the fridge overnight.


Before grilling, scrape off some of the rub so it's not all caked on. Grill on high to sear each side, then lower the temp and cook through. Once cooked, pull from the grill and bring inside.


Once the chicken has rested for a few minutes, shred using two forks. I left the pieces in bite sized portions. I didn't want it *too* shredded. Set aside.


Mince one shallot.

Mince 3-4 cloves garlic.


Take a jar of roasted red peppers and drain completely. Roughly chop the peppers.


This is the pasta I used. You can use fettuccine or any kind you want.


Bring salt water to a boil and cook the whole box of pasta for 12-14 minutes. Once cooked, drain well.

While that cooks we're going to make the sauce.


Heat 2 Tbsp butter and 2 Tbsp olive oil in a skillet over medium heat.


Add the shallot, garlic, and peppers. Cook over medium heat and let them sweat for about 5 minutes. You don't want the heat too high. Sauteing (like I usually do) seals in the flavor. Sweating the garlic and shallots releases and mellows the flavor. That's what we want!


Season with a little salt, pepper, and crushed red pepper. Don't use too much pepper! You want a little heat, not too much.


After those 5 minutes, put everything into a blender. Put the lid on and start blending.


Make sure you're careful with this step! Slowly add a pint of cream through the top hole. Make sure you keep the cap on and drizzle that cream in because it will shoot up at you.


Pour the sauce back into the skillet and put over low heat to reheat a little.


Grate about 1/2 cup parmesan cheese.


Add the cooked pasta and parmesan to the sauce and toss everything together well.


Add the shredded chicken. Toss well.


Chop a little parsley and add to the pan. Toss well again.

Plate up and garnish with a little more grated parmesan and a sprig of parsley.

Thank you Celeste for the email and I hope your family enjoys this dish as much as we did. It's definitely going to be made again and again here! If you're low carbing like I'm doing, you can just leave out the pasta on your plate. The chicken and sauce are great by themselves.

Serve with salad.


Printable version:
http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dg2vfjqm_107dr5m2mcg

.curry chicken with rice.

When I was a teenager, my mom got a recipe from my great grandmother for curry chicken with rice. She called it curry chicken.. but that is too undescriptive. It conjurs images of the soupy indian dish, which this isn't. About a year ago, I emailed my mom asking her to get me a copy of it, because I was craving it. I don't like curry normally, but this has very subtle flavor, which paired with the veggies and chicken is perfect!

She told me she had no idea what I was talking about, but checked anyway. She couldn't find it. Well, fast forward to about a month or two ago, I get a card in the mail from my mom and tucked inside was..... THE RECIPE! She really DID have it! HA! (see mom, it WASN'T just my imagination!) Not only did she give me a typed copy of the recipe, but she attached a copy of the original written by my Grandma's own hand! She passed away almost 7 years ago so this is something I'll treasure.

I needed to take a dish to a potluck and thought I would make this. I doubled the recipe so what you see in the photos? Cut in half. :)



Cook 2 chicken breasts.


Chop up when cool to handle.


Cook up some rice. You can use white or brown. You'll need 2 cups (cooked).


Cut up some green bell pepper. 1/2 cup worth.


Dice up 1 cup onion.


Chop 1 cup celery.


Mince 2 cloves garlic.


Slice 1 cup mushrooms. You can take the easy way and buy them presliced like I did.


Heat a little oil in a skillet and saute the garlic for 30 seconds.


Add the onion, pepper, and celery.


Season with salt and pepper.


When the onions are soft and transparent, add the mushrooms and saute for another 2-3 minutes.

Add 2 tsp curry powder. Mix well.


Put the rice in a large bowl.


Add the chicken and sauteed veggies. Mix well.


Add 1 can cream of mushroom soup.


Mix everything together really well. If you want, add 1/2 cup blanched slivered almonds. It gives this dish a little crunch.


Dump everything into a casserole dish and bake at 350* for 1/2 hour.

Printable version:
http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dg2vfjqm_99c4j5t7gp