Garlic Lemon Roasted Chicken

Daniel and I tend to have our 'Sunday Dinner' on Saturday. I have a lot more cooking time on Saturday, when church gets out at four, your dinner options are limited. The 'fancy' meal I make on Saturday, usually gets transformed into an easy meal on Sunday. It allows me to actually rest on the day of rest, instead of slaving over a feast. This past Saturday, Daniel had some friends coming over, so I opted to make the whole chicken that has been sitting in my freezer. I prepared it as follows.

Ingredients:
1 whole chicken
1 lemon
4 cloves garlic
1 1/2 tsp of lemon pepper
1/4 cup oil

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees, see I'm getting better at remembering that step! Wash your chicken and pat it dry. Put the chicken off to the side and cut the lemon in half. Squeeze about 1 TBS of juice  from the lemon into a bowl. Take the remainder of the lemon, plus 2 cloves of garlic and stuff them into the chicken cavity.

Filled up cavity.

Place the chicken into a roasting pan (okay..mine was a cake pan, either should work), and tie it's little feet together. I used from beading string from my craft stuff, though most any type of string would work. Now, prepare the...rub. Dice the remaining 2 cloves of garlic, and add them, the lemon pepper, and the oil into the squeezed lemon juice. Stir until everything is evenly distributed.

Now we get a little messy. Use your hands to rub the lemon-garlic oil all over the chicken. Both the top and the bottom and both under and on top of the skin.

I broke the skin, try not to do that.

Roast the chicken in your pre-heated oven for 20 min per pound, or until the juices run clear. I basted mine about every 30 min, you can skip basting if you are busy.

Completed Chicken.

It would look better if I hadn't broke the skin...oh well. It was still tasty. I served it with whole grain fettuccine in butternut squash Alfredo(I don't currently have a recipe for that, but I could develop one), steamed broccoli, and sliced fruit. It made for a nice 'Sunday Dinner'. This chicken also makes a pretty good chicken salad, if you have leftovers.

It's all Shiny and New!

Hello Tasteful People! As you can tell, the blog has had a bit of a renovation. I was seriously considering shutting down this blog altogether. After some serious thought, I decided to do a complete overhaul instead. There many new features on the blog, so I think I will take a little time to explain some of the changes.

We now have blog categories at the top of the page. In each category (other than About), there will be a list of icons. If you click on an icon, it will lead you to the corresponding blog post. Pretty nifty, right? The categories are as follows:

Home: That one really isn't hard to figure out. It is the main page...the home page.

Original Recipes: Most of my post so far have been this category. This is where all the recipes I think of and create will be housed.

Food Challenge: Food challenges are when people ask me to make a specific food for them. They will be things that I make recipes for, but did not think of the idea for. I am always willing to accept food challenges.

Recipe Renovations: This is a new addition to the blog. For this, I am going to take recipes I have already created, and either show you how to use them in another application, or tweak the recipe to create something new. For example, I plan on showing you how to turn my Honey Whole Wheat Bread into hamburger buns, and my Butternut Squash Ravioli into wontons.

Restaurant Reviews: The poll results have shown that restaurant reviews would be a good addition, so here they are. All my reviews will be placed in this section.

Fun & Games: This post is going to be considered a fun &games post. Any contests I have, any fun facts I give, etc. will be considered fun & games.

About: This is what it sounds like. A little section talking about me, the blog, and why I decided to keep it going.

You may also notice a few other modifications to the blog. At the end of every post there is a "pin it" button. Pinterest is becoming more and more popular, so I thought this would be a useful addition. It allows you to pick a photo and then pin it on your board. On the left hand side, is my new button! Copy and paste onto your blog, (or other location) if you want to do some advertising for me. I have also added a search bar, to find recipes more easily and a label cloud...oooh fancy.

There are a bunch of new posts, so take a look around. Enjoy the shiny and new Tasty Food for Tasteful People!

Recipe Renovation: BBQ Chicken Sandwiches

There are lots of fun new things happening on the blog, and this post is one of them. This is the first in my recipe renovations, taking one of my old recipes, and showing you something else to do with it. This one is a very easy application using my Sweet and Tangy BBQ Sauce, let's go!

Ingredients:
Chicken breasts
BBQ Sauce (mine, or some other kind, if you wish)
Hamburger buns

Yes, I realize that none of these ingredients have specific values, and I will tell you why. This recipe is meant to be easily adjusted to the amount of food you need. It's simple really. Just your desired amount of chicken breasts (mine were actually chicken tenders, same concept) into a crock pot. Pour in BBQ sauce until it reaches the top of the chicken.

Your chicken to BBQ sauce ratio should be similar to this.

Put the lid on your crock pot and cook the chicken, on high, for 3-4 hours. At this point, it should be nice and tender. Take a spoon and proceed to beat up the chicken. It should be tender enough that it falls apart pretty easily when you start attacking it.

My pulverized chicken.

Keep the lid off the pot, and let the mixture cook 15 minutes longer. This step helps to cook out some more of the liquid, so that you don't end up with a soggy mess for a sandwich. Once the chicken has reached a desirable consistency, place it on a hamburger bun. "Paint" some BBQ sauce (some not used on the chicken) on the opposite side of the bun. Put them together, and enjoy.

Ready to eat.

If the pictures are bad, I'm pretty sure Daniel took them. Normally, I make my own buns, but the child was still being a screamer. (She is feeling better now though, I can tell because she has been wandering around destroying stuff.) It can be nice to have a simple, pretty much hands off, dinner sometimes, and this certainly fit the bill.

Fudgy Peanut Butter Brownies

A few weeks ago I had this really awesome dream. I was in some sort of brownie baking competition (probably for the Food Network, since I'm obsessed with them). The brownies I made were a peanut butter swirl brownie, topped with a layer of peanut butter, and finished with a chocolate marshmallow frosting. They were really awesome, and were set to win the competition. When they announced the winner, it wasn't me; I got 2nd place instead. I later came to find out that the winner had paid the judges to pick his brownies. What a corrupt world we live in when we can't even trust brownie judges. Anyway, I mentioned this dream on Facebook, and was encouraged to make the dream brownies, so, here we are. They turned out pretty darn good, competition winning, I'm not sure, but tasty nonetheless.

Ingredients:
For the Brownies:
1/2 cup chocolate chips
4 eggs
1/2 cup butter
2 TBS shortening
2 cups sugar
1 1/4 cups flour
1/4 cup chocolate pudding mix (I don't know how that translates as far as boxes go, I have a giant container of the stuff for baking purposes)
2 TBS cocoa powder
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
another 1/2 cup chocolate chips (optional)

For the swirl:
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
1/4 cup sour cream
2 TBS milk

For the toppings:
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
3/4 cup marshmallow creme
1/4 cup butter (softened)
2 cups powdered sugar
3 TBS cocoa powder
1 tsp vanilla
2-3 TBS milk

To make your brownies, start by melting the first 1/2 cup of chocolate chips. Mine was a bit of a heaping 1/2 cup, but I'm sure a level one would work okay too. I heat mine in the microwave, just long enough until a few chips look melty, then I stir until the rest of them join suit.

Heaping Half Cup

After the chocolate is melted, set is aside and let it cool. Crack the eggs into a large bowl and beat until they start to get foamy. After the foam forms, add the sugar, butter, and shortening and beat them all until smooth.

Foamy eggs, starting to get some additions.

Add the remaining brownie batter ingredients to the bowl, including the melted chocolate, but not including the second 1/2 cup chocolate chips, and mix until well combined. Fold in those remaining chocolate chips, if desired. I like the little chocolate chip pieces, you may not. I made them optional so that you have to decide instead of me. I sometimes suck at making decisions.

Completed Batter.

Once your batter is complete, pour it into a greased 9X13 pan and start to make your swirl. Since the swirl calls for peanut butter, and it can sometimes be a pain to measure, I have a little helpful hint. Spray your measuring cup with non-stick spray before adding the peanut butter. It will slide right out, making much easier clean up.

Greased cup for easy peanut butter removal.

Do be careful though, because sometimes the peanut butter slides out a little too easily...

Peanut Butter Floor.

And it ends up all over your floor. Then you get cooking, forget it is there...

Peanut Butter Foot.

And it ends up all over your foot! Anyway, back to the recipe. Place all three ingredients for the swirl in a small sauce pan. Mix them together, over medium-low heat until they are all combined. Don't worry, it is supposed to look like a goopy mess.

Swirl Goop.

Take the goopy mess, and drop globs onto the brownie batter.

Peanut Butter Drops.

Then take a knife and swirl the globs around.

Swirled Batter.

Bake, at 350 degrees for 40-45 minutes, or until the edges start to pull away from the pan (learned that one from Betty Crocker, which I used to help me get started on this recipe).

Baked Brownies.

While the brownies are still hot, spread the peanut butter (from the topping ingredients) over top. You want to do this while the brownies are warm, so that the peanut butter melts a little bit therefore makes it easier to spread.

Peanut Butter Topped.

While the brownies are cooling, it's a good time to make the frosting. It's really not very difficult. Mix together all ingredients, other than the milk. Once everything is well incorporated, add the milk, one tablespoon at a time, until you reach your desired consistency.

Completed Frosting.

Now the real hard part comes. You have to wait until the brownies are completely cool before you frost them. Once they reach cool status, spread the frosting on top, cut the brownies, and enjoy.

Brownie Deliciousness.

These brownies are both moist and chewy, that's pretty awesome if you ask me. While I enjoyed the brownies as is, they would be great in several other ways too. If you are not a peanut butter fan, just leave out the swirl and the peanut butter layer on top. Want a different frosting? Go for it. In fact, I think they would be good totally frosting-less. They are multifunctional brownies and can be molded to fit your needs.

Restaurant Review: Wok Lin

Okay, I have a riddle for you. What do you have for dinner when your baby is sick and screams unless she is being held by you? That's right: Chinese take out delivery. I didn't know Chinese places delivered..major plus.

Wok Lin

Chain Restaurant: No. 

My Location: 325 S 500 W, Bountiful, UT

Have I ate here previously: No

Category: Chinese

My rating (out of 10): 7

Would I eat here again: Yes.

What I ordered: Szechuan Chicken and Crab Rangoon.

My thoughts:
First off, the place delivers. For free. Majors kudos in my book. Not because I am lazy, but because loading a sick, screaming baby into the car to get food is a pain in the butt. Sometimes, I want delivery, and it's nice to not have to have a pizza. The crab Rangoon (those tasty cream cheese won tons that most Chinese places have)  here was really good. It was a lot sweeter than I expected, but I really enjoyed the sweetness. The Szechuan chicken had good flavor overall (and I'm a slight expert, my friend, Phil, and I used to sing a song about the stuff, because we love it so much), but there was way too much celery in the mix. I'm not a celery hater, but I'm also not a celery lover. I expected the chicken to be breaded, but it wasn't. That is a huge calorie savor, and normally a huge plus. I kind of felt like some breaded chicken that night though...I can't win can I?

Pros:  Free Delivery, Good Flavors, No Fatty Breading.
Cons: So Much Celery, No Fatty Breading. (I'm putting it on both lists...just try and stop me!)

Daniel's take on things:

The Chinese restaurant we ordered from has a very simple menu.  We ordered an appetizer (some crab and cream cheese wonton) that was really rich and tasty.  I also ordered a chicken curry dish.  I don’t usually like spicy foods, but curry is an exception with me (especially since I have never successfully made it myself).  The curry was very flavorful but not nearly as spicy as I was expecting.  The only major problem I had was I don’t think they provided enough steamed rice to go with two meals (I like my rice to curry ratio about 1:1, but they only provided half as much rice as other food between Becky and I).  

PROS: The meal was pretty tasty, the delivery was fast (around 15 minutes).

CONS: Not enough rice for me, portions could have been a little bigger.

Sweet and Tangy BBQ Sauce

Does everyone remember the guess the recipe contest from...just about forever ago? It was so long ago that some of you may not even remember that it happened, or at least thought I completely forgot about it, and wasn't going to ever publish the recipe..wrong! The recipe was BBQ sauce, and here it is. It's a really honey of a recipe too (ha, I slay myself...it is a honey BBQ sauce..at least I think I'm funny).

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups ketchup
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup vinegar
1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce
1/4 cup syrup (I used cherry syrup for myself, but maple syrup for my recipe winner, since she has allergic reactions to the cherry. Any flavor will probably work)
1/4 cup honey
1/4 molasses
2 TBS mustard
1/2 tsp garlic salt
1/2 tsp onion powder

This recipe is is simple one. Measure all of your ingredients into a medium sauce pan. See how pretty much everything is 1/4 cup...you can use the same measuring cup for all of those, but I suggest doing it in the right order. What is the right order? The order I wrote them in. It will make a world of difference, trust me. The ingredients will look like ketchup (and mustard)floating in brown liquid.

Appetizing, right?

Wisk all your ingredients together and it will look a lot more pleasant.

Pre-cooked Sauce.

Cook the mixture on medium heat,stirring intermittently(I love using words like intermittently)until it reaches a rolling boil.

Boiling sauce.

You can do several things with your sauce. Use it now(though it is quite a lot to use in one application), refrigerate it, or do a nifty canning trick I learned from my mom. Pour the hot contents into a pint jar(there may be a smidgen left over). Really tightly screw on a new lid, and flip the jar upside down.

Waiting to seal itself.

In about an hour, the jar will seal itself, and walla! you have canned BBQ sauce. If you do plan on using it now, the recipe is easy to half, and that would be a lot less sauce to have to deal with.

This BBQ sauce has a nice zip after it is finished...if you think it is too zippy, don't worry, just cook it longer (either by itself, or with your desired food application) and more of the vinegar will boil out. Personally, I like the zip, and tend to try to not overcook it..to each his own.

P.S. See that bottle up there? The upside down one? That is actually our contest winner, Melinda's sauce. It will be on it's way soon.

Restaurant Review: Five Guys

Here is the first of my restaurant reviews. They are all going to be set up in a similar fashion. I'll say a little about what I think, and sometimes I might even get Daniel to say a little about what he thinks. It should be fun.

Five Guys Burgers and Fries

Chain Restaurant: Yes

My Location: 255 North 500 West, Bountiful, UT

Have I ate here previously: No

Category: Fast Food

My rating (out of 10): 7.5

Would I eat here again: Yes.

What I ordered: Little cheeseburger (with grilled mushrooms and ketchup), and fries.

My thoughts:

The burger seemed pretty fresh. I could tell it was formed on the premises instead of being pre-made. I really enjoy that all the toppings are free, yay for supporting my mushroom addiction!  I ordered a little cheeseburger.When I hear little I think "oh it's so little and therefore cute",  but in this case little doesn't mean small, it just means one patty instead of two. It's not the best burger I have ever had, but it is fairly high quality for the price.  I do think more restaurants should make their own buns...but that might just be me.  As far as fries go, they are really good, but don't order too many, since they give you enough to feed a small village. I love fries, but seriously, it's ridiculous. Daniel and I weren't aware of the whole mountain of fries thing...so we ordered two regular sized orders... Needless to say we had a bag full of fries to take home with us...unfortunately they seemed to go soggy pretty fast. 

Pros: Tasty Food, Decent Prices, Free Toppings.

Cons: Huge Portions, Doesn't Keep Well.

Daniel's take on things:

I got the Cheeseburger.  The Cheeseburger came with two patties and one (decently sized) slice of American cheese.  Since all the toppings were free I also added: tomatoes, lettuce, onions, mushrooms, and A1 sauce.  The patties were pretty juicy and combined with the tomato and A1, the burger was plenty moist.  It really didn’t make a huge mess though (it was messy, just not really messy).  I couldn’t identify one flavor overpowering the others (like the A1), all the flavors worked really well together.  I’m not a big fry person but I can eat a NORMAL regular size.  We didn’t realize that a regular here was equal to two larges and a small fry at McDonalds.   The price for the burger was good and the price for the fries was great.  I enjoyed the ambiance of the restaurant too.  It was a lot of fun.

PROS: Filling portions, good taste, free drink refills.

CONS: I like food a lot.  It is hard to think of cons.