This roasted chicken recipe is moist and has depth of flavor due to brining the chicken for the majority of the day. The mustard-thyme sauce for this roasted chicken is out of this world!

The original recipe calls for a lot of sitting around for the chicken – which translates into starting this recipe early in the morning or the day before. I trimmed it down a bit since I started around noon that day (the recipe below includes my modifications).

You could easily take the approach of a slow cooker for this recipe. Boil the brine first thing in the morning, then dump your chicken in it to sit for the day. When you get home after work, follow the rest of the instructions. Or, if you don’t have time to let the chicken sit for an hour and then cook for another hour, you can use a blow dryer to dry it out after removing from the brine.

Serve this chicken with Green Salad with Olives and Roasted Mediterranean Potatoes for a complete meal. For an accompanying wine, a good syrah works well. You could also go with white wine and try an albarino or dry Riesling.

Roasted Chicken with Mustard-Thyme Sauce
serves: 6

Ingredients
Brine
10 1/2 cups water
1/2 cup coarse kosher salt
peel from 1 lemon, using a vegetable peeler
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
3 tablespoons honey
3 large sprigs fresh thyme
1 bay leaf
4-1/2 pound hormone-free chicken

Cooking the Chicken you will also need
2 cups low-sodium chicken broth

Mustard-Thyme Sauce
1 tablespoon butter at room temperature
1-2 tablespoons flour
3 tablespoons whole grain mustard (dijon is fine if that’s all you can find)
1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves

Directions
1. To make the brine: in a 3-quart pot, bring 10 1/2 cups water, 1/2 cup kosher salt, peel from 1 lemon, 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice, 3 tablespoons honey, 3 large fresh thyme sprigs and 1 bay leaf to a boil. Stir once or twice once getting hot to make sure the ingredients are dissolving.

2. Once boiling, remove the brine from heat. Pour into a 6-quart pot and cool slightly – about 5 minutes. Add the chicken to the brine and put in the refrigerator for 4-6 hours. Remove chicken from brine then rinse and pat dry. Return to the fridge, uncovered on a plate, for an additional hour. This will dry the chicken. If you’re pressed for time, use a blow dryer to dry the chicken.

3. Heat oven to 375 degrees F.

4. Place dry chicken in a roasting pan. Bake for 20 minutes then add 1 cup of broth. Bake for another 20 minutes then add another 1 cup of broth. Bake for 45 minutes. Remove from oven and pour out the broth to get 2 cups of cooking liquid. Let the chicken sit for 10 minutes while you make the sauce.

5. To make the sauce, heat 1 tablespoon butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Once the butter starts bubbling, about 1 minute, add 1 tablespoon flour and whisk together. Add the reserved cooking liquid, 3 tablespoons mustard and 1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves. Whisk together and bring to a simmer. Simmer the sauce until it starts to thicken, about 5 minutes. I suggest adding another 1 tablespoon of flour after the sauce simmers for a few minutes to continue thickening. Season with salt and pepper to taste only if needed.

6. Cut the chicken and serve with the sauce. Enjoy!

recipe from epicurious

If I’m not making tacos, I’m thinking about tacos. And if I’m thinking tacos aren’t quite the right dinner option, I’ll figure something else out along the same lines: enchiladas, burritos, quesadillas. Last night, quesadillas won!

These quesadillas have a great balance of smoky, spicy, sweet and savory. Plus, there’s extra peach salsa left over to dip chips in. This recipe is a pretty healthy quesadilla if you make sure you purchase part skim mozzarella cheese.

Peach Salsa

Chipotle Chicken and Peach Salsa Quesadilla
Makes 2 quesadillas

Ingredients
Chipotle Chicken
1/2 pound hormone-free, skinless, boneless chicken breasts
1/2 Tablespoon canola oil
1 chipotle pepper in adobo sauce, diced
1 Tablespoon adobo sauce
2 teaspoon ground cumin

Peach Salsa
1 ripe peach, diced
1 medium tomato, diced
1/2 small yellow onion, diced
1/2 jalapeno, minced (remove seeds for less spice)
1 Tablespoon chopped fresh cilantro
juice of half a lemon
salt and pepper to taste

Quesadillas
2 8-inch tortilla shells (flour or spelt)
1/2 cup shredded part skim mozzarella cheese
olive oil cooking spray

Directions
1. Cut 1/2 pound of hormone-free, skinless, boneless chicken breasts into 1/2-inch dice.

2. Heat 1/2 tablespoon canola oil in a medium sized skillet over medium-high heat. When canola oil is shimmering, add diced chicken breast. Cook chicken breasts until cooked through, stirring frequently, about 8 minutes.

3. When chicken is about done, add 1 diced chipotle pepper, 1 tablespoon adobo sauce, and 1 teaspoon cumin to the skillet. Stir to combine and cook an additional minute. Salt and pepper the chicken mixture to taste.

4. While the chicken is cooking, make the salsa. Combine 1 diced peach, 1 diced tomato, 1/2 minced jalapeno, 1 Tablespoon chopped cilantro, juice of half a lemon, and salt and pepper to taste. Combine and let sit to allow flavors to meld. (This is a good opportunity to snack with chips too.)

5. Once the chicken is done cooking with the spices, remove from heat. Heat a medium-sized nonstick skillet over medium heat. Assemble the quesadillas like this:

• Lay tortilla on a flat surface
• Add 1 handful of cheese to half of the tortilla
• Add half of the chicken on top of the cheese
• Add 2-3 tablespoons of salsa on the chicken
• Add 1 handful of cheese over the salsa
• Fold the other half of the tortilla over
• Spray with cooking spray

6. When the nonstick skillet is hot, add one quesadilla to the pan, cooking spray side down. Lightly spray the top of the quesadilla (this is the half without the cooking spray). Cook the quesadilla for about 2-3 minutes per side. Remove from heat and repeat with the second one.

7. Allow the warm quesadilla to sit for a couple of minutes to let the cheese hold everything together. Enjoy!

note: peach salsa recipe inspired by this recipe

If you’re worried about the blue cheese overpowering the flavor in this sandwich, I wouldn’t worry. Mixing it with the mayo mellows the flavor. You can also choose a milder blue cheese such as gorgonzola. Even blue cheese haters at the table loved this sandwich! This would also be a great turkey sandwich with leftover turkey from Thanksgiving.

We served these with Lemony Grilled Asparagus with Goat Cheese.

I realize that damn green tray shows up in a lot of my pictures – as pointed out by the owner, Maxine. Apparently because it sits on top of her microwave, it tends to be the first thing I reach for. Oh well.

The sandwiches before hitting the grill

Grilled Turkey, Bacon and Blue Cheese Sandwiches

makes: 12 sandwiches

this can easily be cut in half to make only 6 sandwiches

18 slices bacon (not thick cut)

1/2 cup mayonnaise

1/2 cup crumbled blue cheese

1 1/2 pounds of thinly sliced turkey

1 small head of radicchio

12 large slices good bread (ciabatta works well)

1 stick of butter at room temperature

Directions

1. Cook bacon until crispy. I like to bake it in the oven at 400 for about 12-15 minutes. Drain on a paper towel.

2. Mix mayo and blue cheese together.

3. Create an assembly line to put the sandwiches together in this order:

• First, butter one side of all bread slices.
• Second, spread blue cheese mixture on the other side of all bread slices.
• Third, divide turkey slices evenly among 6 slices of bread.
• Fourth, add 2-3 pieces of radicchio on top of the turkey.
• Fifth, add 3 pieces of bacon on top of the radicchio.
• Lastly, top each sandwich with the other side of bread.

4. Heat your grill to medium (about 350 degrees). When it’s ready, put the sandwiches on the grill. Grill each side for about 5-6 minutes or until bread is nicely toasted.

5. Cut each sandwich in half and serve.

recipe from epicurious

Last night I made a new recipe for chicken tacos that were just beyond delicious. These tacos were pretty healthy too – full of vegetables and fruit. Use light sour cream for the chipotle cream and you’ve got a light taco recipe full of flavor.

Spice Rubbed Chicken Tacos with Chipotle Cream and Pineapple Slaw

Serves: 6

Time: under 60 minutes (less if you purchase pre-sliced pineapple)

Get the recipe

Ingredients

Chicken Tacos

1 pound hormone-free, antiobiotic-free skinless boneless chicken breasts or thighs (I used thighs this time)

2 small zucchini, quartered lengthwise

1 red bell pepper, seeded and sliced into 3/4″ slices

1 t canola oil

2 T light brown sugar

1 T smoked paprika (sweet paprika works too if you have that)

2 1/4 t adobo chili powder

1 1/2 t salt

1 1/2 t garlic powder

1 1/2 t onion powder

12 6 inch corn or flour tortillas

Chipotle Cream

1 cup light sour cream

2 chipotles in adobo sauce chopped

Pineapple Slaw

1 fresh pineapple, peeled, cored and diced

1 pound jicama, peeled and shredded

1 jalapeno, diced (remove seeds if you don’t want it spicy)

1 cup coarsely chopped fresh cilantro

3 scallions, thinly sliced

3 T fresh lime juice (I used key limes and it was extra delicious)

salt and pepper to taste

Directions

1. Preheat the broiler on low heat. You can also grill the chicken and vegetables too.

2. Line a baking sheet with foil. Toss the vegetables with the canola oil and sprinkle the spice rub over them. Rub the chicken with the spice rub and put on the same pan. Broil for 10-12 minutes, turn over and broil for another 10 minutes. The brown sugar in the rub makes the chicken nice and crispy.

Spice Rubbed Chicken and Vegetables

3. When you turn the chicken, put the tortillas in the oven for the remaining 10 minutes. Just wrap them in foil and they will be perfectly warm when the chicken is done.

4. Meanwhile, prepare the pineapple slaw. While the chicken and vegetables are cooking, prepare the pineapple, jicama, and herbs. Toss together in a bowl and set aside.

Pineapple Jicama Slaw

5. Make the chipotle cream: mix together the sour cream and the chopped chipotles. Set aside in a serving bowl.

6. When the chicken and vegetables are done, remove them and the tortillas from the oven. Slice the chicken and chop the vegetables in big chunks. Mix together in a bowl and place with the other ingredients.

7. Set out all the fixins and let people assemble tacos: chipotle cream, then chicken and veggies, then pineapple slaw. Enjoy!

This tastes extra good with a Valoma.

This recipe based on Spice Rubbed Chicken and Vegetable Tacos on epicurious

I’ve never cooked pressed chicken before, and I have no idea why because this is a really great way to cook chicken. Often when I cook chicken breasts in a skillet on the stove, it splatters all over the place. This cooking style avoids all of the splatter and it cooks the chicken evenly while adding a nice crust without having skin.

Here’s another healthy and low fat recipe that is full of flavor.

Pressed Chicken Breasts with Squash and Tomatoes

Makes: 6 servings

Time: 35 minutes

Ingredients

6 boneless, skinless hormone-free chicken breasts (about 4-6 ounces each)

2 T olive oil

4 cloves garlic, minced

1 package cherry tomatoes, halved

3 medium yellow squash

zest from half a lemon

3 T chopped fresh marjoram or thyme

Directions

1. Cut out a circle of parchment paper that will cover a large skillet.

2. Heat 1 T oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Sprinkle one side of the chicken breasts with salt and pepper. Add chicken breasts to the pan seasoned side down. Sprinkle the tops of the chicken with salt and pepper. Cover with parchment paper, then top with another heavy skillet (like a cast iron pan), and top with about 2 pounds of weight (broth cans work well).

3. Cook chicken breasts for about 8 minutes on first side, then turn. Place parchment paper, skillet and weights on chicken again. Cook for another 8 minutes or until done.

4. When chicken is fully cooked, remove from the pan and keep warm. You can either put them in a 200 degree F oven, or put them on a plate and cover with foil.

5. Heat the remaining 1 T olive oil in the same pan that you just removed the chicken from. When hot, add garlic, tomatoes, squash, lemon zest, and 2 T marjoram. Saute for about 4 to 5 minutes or until soft. Toss with remaining 1 T marjoram and pour over chicken breasts.

Recipe adapted from Epicurious

These turkey burgers are “green” because they have lots of delicious green ingredients added to them for extra flavor.

Garlicky Green Turkey Burgers

Makes 4

Time: under 30 minutes

Ingredients

1 pound hormone-free ground turkey breast

4 green onions, thinly sliced

4 garlic cloves, minced

1 jalapeño, minced with seeds

2 T chopped cilantro

1 t salt

1/2 t fresh ground pepper

4 hamburger buns

1 T butter, softened to room temp

4 pieces romaine

1/2 avocado, sliced lengthwise

1. In a large bowl, combine the turkey, onion, garlic, jalapeño, cilantro, salt and pepper. Form into 4 patties.

2. Heat grill to medium high heat. Put the burgers on the hot grill and close cover. Cook about 5 minutes on each side.

3. While the burgers cook, spread each half of the buns with butter. After turning the burgers, place the buns on the top shelf of the grill to slightly toast them.

4. When the burgers are done, place them on the toasted buns with a slice of romaine and some avocado.

For a complete quick and easy grilled meal, serve these turkey burgers with Chili Lime Grilled Corn on the Cob and Strawberry Citrus Salad.

This version attempts to make lasagna a bit healthier than the traditional beef and cheese version. I’ve substituted ground chicken, added a ton of veggies, and cut down on the amount of cheese.

With all these veggies layered in between pasta and cheese, this becomes hearty and good-tasting to the bone.

Serve with garlic bread and Caesar salad for a complete meal.

4 Layer Hearty Chicken & Vegetable Lasagna
Makes 8 servings
Time: about 1 hour and 45 min

Ingredients
12 uncooked lasagna sheets
2 T olive oil, divided
1 # ground chicken
1 zucchini, diced
1/2 white onion diced
1 serrano pepper minced with seeds (optional)
5 cloves garlic minced
1 cup quartered baby bella mushrooms
26 oz jar tomato-basil pasta sauce
1 T chopped fresh oregano
1 t salt
1 t fresh ground pepper
2 cups shredded part skim mozzarella cheese, divided
15 oz container part skim ricotta cheese
2 eggs
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Directions
1. Heat oven to 350 degrees F.

2. Boil 6 quarts water in large pot. Add 1 T salt when boiling. Add lasagna to pot, stir, and cook for about 6-7 minutes, or according to package. When cooked, drain and set aside.

3. Meanwhile, heat 1 T olive oil over medium-high heat in a large skillet. Add ground chicken and cook, breaking it up with a wooden spoon as it cooks through. When fully cooked, remove from pan and place on a plate.

4. Heat remaining 1 T olive oil in skillet over medium heat. Add zucchini, onion, garlic, serrano, and mushrooms. Cook for about 5 minutes or until onion is translucent.

5. Add chicken back to skillet with pasta sauce, oregano, salt and pepper. Bring to simmer and let simmer while mixing remaining ingredients.

6. Combine 1 cup mozzarella, ricotta and eggs.

7. In a lightly greased 9 x 13″ pan, add 1 cup sauce mixture to bottom. Place 3 lasagna sheets on top of sauce. Add 1/3 of the cheese mixture, then 1/3 of the remaining sauce. Repeat layering pasta, cheese, and sauce. Top with Parmesan then remaining 1 cup mozzarella.

8. Cover with aluminum foil and bake for 45 – 50 minutes. Remove foil and bake for another 10 minutes. Remove from oven and let stand 15 minutes. This is important because it gels together, making it much easier to dish out. Cut into 8 pieces and serve hot.

This is another recipe that I whipped up from stuff I had on hand at home when I didn’t feel like going to the grocery store.

This recipe is vegetarian, but you could easily add shrimp or chicken to it if you like. Just add protein after the garlic and onion, cook for a few minutes till brown, then add the tomatoes and stew for about 5 minutes, then add the remaining ingredients and follow the instructions.

Light Creamy Pasta

serves 4

time under 20 minutes

8 oz egg noodles

1 T olive oil

2 garlic cloves, minced

1/2 small onion, sliced

14.5 oz canned whole tomatoes, crushed by hand

1/4 cup sour cream (any variety – soy, light, fat free, etc)

6 oz artichoke hearts, quartered, not marinated or packed on oil

1 T fresh chopped thyme

salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

1. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Cook egg noodles for about 3 minutes (they should be al dente). Reserve the pasta water when draining.

2. Heat 1 T olive oil over medium heat in large skillet. Add garlic and onion – saute for 1 -2 minutes or until soft.

3. Crush tomatoes in a bowl by hand just to break them up so you don’t have huge chunks of tomatoes. Add to the pan with the sour cream. Mix well to distribute the sour cream.

4. Add artichokes and pasta. Continue to cook until everything is heated through and the pasta is cooked – about another 3-4 minutes. Add additional pasta water if you need more liquid.

5. Sprinkle with fresh thyme and add salt and pepper to taste.

So last night I was rifling through some CSA veggies and trying to figure out what to do with a lot of stuff I have on hand. The list was fairly random: potatoes, winter squash, parsnips, dried cherries, beets, carrots, garlic, and on and on.

What I found out was I don’t have to sacrifice flavor or quality when making a dinner from what I have on hand. I did end up making a trip to the grocery store but only to pick up 3 items: chicken, onions (which were on sale yay!), and canned tomatoes.

This recipe is fairly easy and dinner can be on the table in under 60 minutes – and it’s all in one pot so clean up is super easy. You can vary the spices if you want, and I might even try adding a little vanilla bean next time since I have some in my pantry, but we’ll see since I rarely make the same dish twice.

I also thought this would only make 2 servings, but it made quite a bit more than I expected and easily serves 4. Round it out with a green salad for a complete meal, but to be honest there’s enough veggies in here that you’ll get plenty of vitamins.

The best thing about this is that you can vary this depending upon what kind of veggies you have around – root veggies would work the best since they can stew for awhile. And the chicken stays nice and tender. Oh, and it’s very healthy! It’s only 3 Weight Watchers points per serving.

One Pot Moroccan Chicken

Serves 4

Time: under 60 minutes

1 T olive oil

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 small onion, cut in half then sliced

1/2 pound organic skinless boneless chicken breast, cut into strips

1 t chopped fresh thyme

1 t ground cumin

1/4 t salt

1/4 t pepper

1 large potato, peeled and diced (about 1 cup)- I used purple Peruvian potatoes and the color was just amazing

1 small (bordering on teeny) winter squash, peeled, seeded and diced (about 1 cup) – I used Delicata and left the skin on

1/4 cup dried cherries

14.5 oz canned diced tomatoes

1 cup chicken broth

2 cardamom pods

2 whole cloves

salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

1. Heat 1 T oil over medium heat in large deep skillet. TIP: if you use stainless cookware, remember “hot pan, cold oil” to keep food from sticking to the pan – heat your pan and when you’re ready to start cooking, add the oil then immediately add the food. It works really well.

2. Combine 1 t fresh thyme, 1 t cumin, 1/2 t salt and 1/2 t pepper. Coat the chicken with this mixture.

3. Add 2 cloves minced garlic and 1 small sliced onion to the oil in the pan. Saute for 1 – 2 minutes or until starting to soften. Move the onion and garlic mixture to the side of the pan and add the chicken to brown it, turning once and cooking about 2 minutes on each side.

4. Add the squash, cherries, potatoes, tomatoes, broth, cardamom and cloves to the pot, combine. Bring to a boil then cover and reduce the heat and simmer for 30 minutes or until veggies are tender and chicken is cooked through.

Serve with rice. A new thing I tried for cooking rice and really like was instead of using water, I made African Rooibus tea and cooked my basmati rice in that. It added a lot of flavor and was quite delicious. Just heat 2 cups of water, add 2 teabags and let steep for 3-5 minutes. Then add 1 cup basmati rice and cook like normal.

It calls for 6 cups of Jimtown All-Purpose Shredded Roast Chicken (another recipe in the book) but instead I bought a ready to eat rotisserie chicken. Saved lots of time and it was still delicious. I also cut the recipe in half since I was just feeding myself. But leftovers are great!

The cookbook suggests serving this with rustic, crusty bread and a green salad tossed with vinaigrette and Basque smoked sheep’s milk cheese called Idiazabal. I bought a sheep’s milk cheese that is similar to manchego and it was quite good. Also, suggested to have this with chilled hard cider (it’s gooood). Instead of crusty bread, I served this with rice.

Basque Chicken Ragout with Sausages & Sweet Peppers

serves 8

total time: about 35-40 minutes

1/4 cup fruity, good-quality Spanish olive oil

1 pound cooked spicy sausage, such as Spanish chorizo or andouille (cut on the diagonal into 1/4 inch slices or if ground, simply left ground)

1 medium-large yellow onion, thinly sliced

6 garlic cloves, chopped

2 1/2 pounds (6 to 8 ) large sweet peppers, mix of red and yellow, stemmed, cored, and cut into 1/2-inch wide strips

1 cup dry white wine (or substitute chicken broth)

1 (28-oz) can plum tomatoes with their juices

Kosher salt

2 t hot Spanish pimenton or Hungarian paprika

1 t freshly ground black pepper

1/2 t sugar

6 cups Jimtown All-Purpose Shredded Roast Chicken (or 1 ready-to-eat rotisserie chicken)

2 T finely chopped flat-leaf parsley.

Directions

1. In a large deep skillet, over medium-high heat, warm the olive oil. Add the sausage and cook, stirring once or twice, until lightly browned, 8 to 10 minutes. With a slotted spoon, remove and reserve. Do not discard the oil or clean the skillet. While the sausage browns, cut up the onions, garlic and peppers.

2. Set the skillet over low heat. Add the oinon and garlic and cook, uncovered, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables have softened and are beginning to brown, about 10 minutes – make sure to watch them so they don’t burn (if your heat is too high, they will start to burn).

3. Add the peppers, raise the heat to high, and cook, uncovered, stirring occasionally, until the peppers begin to brown, about 15 minutes. Start shredding the chicken as the onions, garlic and peppers cook. Just pull off the bone and pull it apart with your fingers.

4. Stir in the wine and bring to a simmer, scraping the browned deposits from the bottom of the skillet. Add the tomatoes and their juice, thoroughly breaking the tomatoes up with the side of a metal spoon. Stir in 2 t salt, the pimenton, black pepper, and sugar, then the chicken and chorizo, and simmer for 10 minutes. Stir in the parsley. Adjust the seasoning.

*The ragout can be prepared up to one day ahead. Cool, cover, and refridgerate, rewarming it over low heat until steaming.