Thanksgiving Leftovers!!

Ah yes! Something often feared by many Thanksgiving dinner hosts is a fridge full of the traditional fixings and the remains of a 20+ pound bird. So the first few days after the big meal you decide to have some turkey with a few of the sides. You may even resort to a turkey sandwich or chop up some of the turkey and make some soup. But soon, you find yourself longing for something else. It's food you do not want to waste but you just don't want it anymore! Freezing it is always an option but then you have to find something to eat. Catch 22!

I've done a little digging and have found some clever recipes to take the monotony out of your post turkey day meals. Let me know if you make any of these recipes! I will admit, some of them of them are a little on the heavy side so use your own discretion. And don't forget that you can always go for a 30 minute walk after you've finished you meal. Enjoy!

Stuffed Thanksgiving Meatballs by The Kitchenista Diaries

Stuffing Stuffed Mushroom by Food Network

Vegetable Samosas by Food Network Magazine

Turkey and Mushroom Creamy Tomato "Gravy" with Gnocchi by Rachael Ray

Second Day Fried Stuffing Bites with Cranberry Sauce Pesto by Sunny Anderson

Second Day Turkey and String Bean Pot Pies by Sunny Anderson

Turkey & Corn Quesadillas with Guacamole by Fine Cooking

Turkey & Sweet Potato Hash by Fine Cooking

Turkey & Snow Peas with Coconut Rice by Fine Cooking

Leftover Turkey Spring Rolls by The Pioneer Woman

Healthified Turkey-Apple Salad Wraps by Gluten Freely

Isn't She Lovely!! My Roasted Chicken

You've seen her on facebook, pinterest, and twitter! And some of you have even seen her attached to text messages! But you can only get the scoop on her, right here! Ladies and gentleman, please welcome...............................................................my roasted chicken!!!!!! (applause, applause)

A friend of mine has been asking me about my roasted chicken since I showed her a picture of it. So I dedicate this to my dear friend EP aka A.A.

Before we dive in, just a few notes about purchasing a chicken. I'm quite particular about the quality of the food that I buy, especially poultry. Nowadays you see all kinds of labels such as "natural" and "hormone free" in order to describe the quality of the chicken. Some of these labels, however, do not mean much. Here's an excellent article that breaks down all this label mumbo jumbo: Supermarket Guide to Buying Chicken

I write(say) all that to advise you to be sure you know what you are putting into your body. It is your temple, and you only get one.

Well, let's get started!

1 3-4 lb. chicken
olive oil
1 Tsp. salt
1 Tsp. pepper
1 Tsp paprika 
20-25 stems of thyme
1 Tsp. nutmeg
5 stems of rosemary
9 cloves garlic
2 shallots
1 1/4 cup chicken broth

Preheat oven to 375°F. Wash chicken thoroughly. Remove any excess fat or skin from the neck and bottom.

(Before washing)

(After washing and cutting away excess fat and skin)

Prepare your shallots and garlic by cutting them length-wise. Only cut 5 of the garlic cloves and one of the shallots.

The garlic should look like little chips. Place them in a cast iron skillet with 3-4 tablespoons of olive oil.

Add the shallots and let them start to brown slowly (keep the heat on a very low temperature so they do not brown to quickly while you finish preparing).

Now let's move back to our chicken! 

Grab 3 stems of rosemary and 7-8 stems of thyme and stick them inside the chicken.Take the remaining shallot (cut into three to four large length-wise pieces) and the four cloves of garlic (not cut) and stuff them in side the chicken as well.

Wash your hands! And turn up the temperature on the garlic and shallots slightly so they can start to brown a little more. Now let's season the outside of the chicken.

Put the salt, paprika, pepper and nutmeg on the chicken. Then pull the leaves off of the remaining thyme stems.










Pull the needles off of 2 rosemary stems and place on top of the chicken.

 Pour 1/4 cup of olive oil over the chicken.

Time to get a little messy! Use your hands to rub the spices into the chicken. Make sure you rub under the skin of the chicken as well. And make sure everything is coated. 









Use some tongs to lift your chicken (one of the tong arms should be on the inside of the chicken) and place in the skillet.

Sear both sides of the chicken on medium heat for 3-5 minutes on each side. The skin of the chicken should be slightly brown. The purpose of this is to lock in some of the flavors. 

 This is what one seared side should look like.

After you have seared both sides, pour the chicken broth in the skillet and transfer this little lady into the oven.

 Let her hang out in the oven for an hour.

MEANWHILE, take sometime to clean up your prep areas.

After an hour, take the chicken out and baste the chicken with some of the broth that the chicken has cooked in for the past hour. Put it back in the oven for an additional 35 minutes.

And there she is! She's finished! 

Let her rest for at least 20 minutes before you dig in and don't be afraid to use the broth in the bottom of the pan. I like to put it over Brown Rice.

Try to resist the temptation to play Stevie Wonder "Isn't She Lovely" when it comes out the oven. 

Roasted Zucchini

Zucchini! Did you know it has more potassium than a banana? It's also low in calories, fat free, cholesterol free, low in sodium, rich in manganese and vitamin C (Sources: Food Channel; Friend Seat Blog). 

Trader Joe's has these great little baby zucchini and I love roasting them. So here is a simple recipe for roasting them with a little Parmesan cheese. And no worries if you can't find the baby zucchini. You can use regular zucchini and cut them into smaller pieces. The baby zucchini are about $4 a bag. 

Ingredients

2 bags of baby zucchini
OR 
1 lb zucchini, each cut lengthwise twice, and then cut in half across the middle
3/4 cup olive oil
3 Tbsp Kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1 1/2 cup of grated Parmesan cheese (optional)





Preheat oven to 400°F. Cut the baby zucchini in half (if you have regular zucchini then cut each of them down into about eight pieces). Align the zucchini pieces on a cookie sheet lined with a piece of foil.

Drizzle the olive oil over the zucchini. Next, sprinkle the salt and pepper over them.

Lastly, put the Parmesan on top (this again is optional).

Place in heated oven on the top rack and cook for 15- 20 minutes.

 And there you have it! How does it taste?

Make Use of Your Weekends and COOK

My favorite comment from people that would like to cook more but don't is................................I don't have time. I'm here to tell you that you do! And I don't want to hear otherwise. So let's talk about how you can MAKE time to cook.

First off, let's think about is from a financial standpoint. Start adding up how much you spend each week on eating out/picking up food? According to the Center for Science and Public Interest, Americans spend about $222 billion dollars eating out (Source: Calorie Costs). I challenge you to keep your receipts for the week to see how much money are you spending. I would estimate you (if you buy a lot of your meals out) spend about $25 every day on food (that's a conservative estimate).

So now let's talk about how to keep some of these dollars in your pocket so you can save for that island vacation AND take better care of your health. I actually looked for an article on why cooking on the weekend is beneficial and there isn't one! Looks like a job for the Single Sista!! The inspiration for encouraging people to cook on the weekends actually stems from my southern upbringing. The big Sunday feasts were not made on Sundays alone. My grandmothers cooked and prepared things on Saturdays so that after church all they had to do was warm the food.  

According to the Single Sista (that's me), by cooking on either Saturday or Sunday you:

1. Eliminate the post-work conundrum of wondering what you are going to have for dinner
2. Are less likely to pick up something from a fast food restaurant
3. Can eat dinner early in the evening and give your food time to digest
4. Can sit down with friends or loved ones and enjoy a real meal
5. Have food that you can take to work for lunch
6. SAVE MONEY!

And now for some tips!

1. Spend a few minutes thinking about what you would like to make BEFORE you head to the grocery store so you can make a list. Better to go to the grocery store armed with a list than to figure out what you think you want when you get there. Also keeps you on YOUR BUDGET. 
2. Make sure it's a balanced meal as. Refer to Choose My Plate for more on what your portions should look like. Make sure there are some veggies on your plate. 
3. Figure out the best time for you to cook. Is it Saturday morning? Sunday while watching football (my favorite time to cook)? Set aside the time on a weekly basis and do your best to commit to it.
4. Prepare meals for both lunch AND dinner. You quite honestly will get tired of eating the same thing for lunch and dinner. For lunch, you may want to have a different vegetable/side from the one you are planning to have for dinner. For examine, if you bake some chicken, you can have that with a salad at lunch but have it with some brown rice and some roasted asparagus for dinner (just as an example). 
5. Consider one pot/one pan meals. A stew or a baked pasta (with veggies and whole wheat or gluten-free pasta of course) are always a bonus. AND let's not forget our old buddy the crock pot. Crock pot meals are wonderful because you do not have to stand over the stove and watch it.
6. Explore various resources for ideas on what you should make. Basically, have a game plan! Here are some suggestions for where to get recipe ideas:

• Watch some cooking shows. I often watch a few cooking shows on Saturday mornings to get inspiration for what I may want to prepare. It's easy to go online to get the recipe so that you can see all the ingredients and prep needed. Obviously you should remember to be reasonable and don't pick something that will have you buying random and expensive spices and ingredients. Some seafood dishes, for example, can become quite pricey (unless you are talking about tilapia or shrimp).  
• Subscribe to a few cooking/food blogs (like Single Sista's Dish) for free recipes. 
• Pick up a magazine at the grocery store. I have often done this, especially when I see a recipe for something I want to make on the cover. There are several that are geared towards specific dietary needs like weight loss, low-sodium, etc.
• Ask your friends and family. I often get inspiration from them.

Try cooking on the weekend a few times and let me know if you run into any issues. I would love to hear from you!

All the BEST!

Another Fall Classic - Acorn Sqaush

So the researcher and public health professional in me feels the need to give you a few nutritional facts about acorn squash. Similar to its winter squash cousin the butternut squash, acorn squash, according to Fruits & Veggies More Matters, is fat free, cholesterol free, sodium free and a good source of vitamin C (source: Fruits & Veggies More Matters). It's also a source of antioxidants and has potential blood sugar regulating properties (source: World's Healthiest Foods). And last, but certainly not least, it's an affordable item! They are roughly $1.29 each and your will get two servings out of each squash. So for the single folks out there, you'll spend LESS than $3.00 on two and you've got four side dishes for the week!

So there recipe I have for you is fairly simple. The cook time on these however is over an hour so make sure you give yourself some time before you settle down to eat.

Ingredients

2 Acorn squash

4 Tsp Cinnamon

2 Tsp Nutmeg

2 Tsp Cardamom
4 Tsp Butter
2 Tsp Brown Sugar
4 Tbsp Maple Syrup

Let's get cooking! Preheat oven to 400°F.

Using a strong chef's knife cut the acorn squash in half, lengthwise. Be very careful doing this and make sure you have a good knife.

Scoop out the seeds and pulp (the stringy stuff) with a spoon.

Score (cut horizontal and vertical lines) into the insides of each half several times with a sharp knife.

Add your "butter" (I used Earth Balance), then add your spices (cinnamon, cardamom and nutmeg), the brown sugar, and the maple syrup. Sorry I forgot to get a picture of the squash halves all dressed up before I put them in the oven. Place each half in a baking pan, cut side up. Add about a 1/4 inch of water to the bottom of the baking pan. This is to keep the outside of the squash from drying out.

Bake in the oven for 1 hour 15 minutes, until the squash is very soft. It can take up to 1 hour and 30 minutes. When it is done, you will be able to insert a fork into into the squash with ease. Do not undercook.

When finished, remove from oven and let cool a little before serving. Spoon any buttery sugar sauce that has not already been absorbed by the squash over the exposed areas. I went ahead and mixed mine together so that flavors could be absorbed into the squash.

For storage I just wrapped each of the squash halves in foil. That way, when you are ready to eat one, you can just turn your oven on to 350 and warm it up in the oven! TADA!