Two for one hump-day special: Experiments 3 & 4

Experiment 3: Roasted whole chicken. Now I can’t take full credit for this one, but I did find the recipe….and I did sit, drink wine and observe Corey prepare it, you know, as moral support. Anyways, he made a whole chicken with veggies. We used a turkey roaster but you can also use a crock-pot. It turned out so juicy and flavorful! And the best part is we had left over chicken for sandwiches the next couple days. This is a great one to try, highly recommended!

INGREDIENTS

- 1 tbsp olive oil

- 4 lb whole chicken

- Sprigs of fresh thyme

- Sprig of fresh rosemary

- 1 tbsp salt

- 1 tbsp black pepper

- 1 lb carrots

- 1 lb assorted bell peppers

- 1 large fennel bulb

- 1 lb celery

Directions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Season chicken with half the salt and pepper and place springs of fresh thyme and rosemary on top and in the cavity. Lay chicken on a roasting rack and place in the oven. Meanwhile, chop the carrots, bell peppers, fennel and celery into 2 inch pieces and combine in a large bowl with the remaining salt, pepper and olive oil. Toss to coat. After the chicken has roasted for approximately 45 minutes place the veggies in the roasting pan and return to the oven for another 35 minutes stirring once. The chicken should register 160 degrees on a meat thermometer and the vegetables should be tender. Allow the chicken to rest for 10 minutes so that the juices redistribute and serve the chicken sliced on a bed of the vegetables.

Experiment 4: Eggplant Pizza Casserole, courtesy of Ali from Live Laugh Eat.

INGREDIENTS

- 1 large eggplant

- 1 jar pizza sauce

- 1-2 cups spinach

- 1 large tomato

-Cheese (I used mozzarella; Ali used goat; I want to try low fat feta next time)

Directions

Preheat oven to 375* F. Wash and cut eggplant and tomato into round discs. In a glass pan/casserole dish, layer ingredients in the following order starting at the bottom 1) eggplant discs 2) pizza sauce 3) spinach 4) tomato discs 5) pizza sauce 6) eggplant discs 7) pizza sauce 8 ) cheese. Cover pan with aluminum foil and bake for 65 min. or until eggplant is soft. Remove foil for the last 10 minutes.

P.S I added basil underneath the top layer of cheese and a sprinkle of garlic salt. I also didn’t put the cheese on until the last fifteen minutes because my experience with homemade pizza has been that it burns. It came out perfectly browned on top so I think it worked!

**Photos courtesy of Google images (I will have my camera back next week!!)