Meal Plan: Lemon, Italian Chicken, Green Beans, Sweet Potato, and Honey Bread and Butter

 

This zesty, lemon Italian chicken was delicious.  Recipe will be at the bottom of the post.

First, I gathered all the things I needed to try this recipe.  I needed lemon juice, soy sauce, minced garlic (garlic powder will work in a pinch) cayenne pepper, Italian seasoning, and of course, a chicken.  My chicken was just under 6 pounds.

I coated the bird in the ingredients and turned it around so it was sitting breast down in the liquid.  I let it sit on the counter for one hour.  I would have rather done two, but I got a late start.  We are just getting over the flu, so not only was I sick and tired, my two toddlers were fussy.  I then preheated the oven to 350, flipped the bird back so it was breast side up (as in the picture below), covered the bird with the lid, and put it in the oven.  I turned the temperature down to 325 after 15 minutes.  I let the bird cook for 1 hour 45 minutes before removing the lid for 15 minutes.  I did not have a meat thermometer, mine just broke, so I had to wiggle the drumsticks and cut into the meat to make sure it looked done. 

If I had a meat thermometer, I would have checked it in a couple meaty spots to see if it was up to the fda safe temperature of 165 degrees Fahrenheit for chicken.  When checking something with bones, you want to get your temperature probe away from the bones.  The bones get hotter faster and will give you an inaccurate internal temperature.

 

This is what it looks like cut into slices.  It was so delicious.  I will definitely be making this again.  Husband brought the leftovers to work the next day.  I also got some the next day for lunch, but then it was gone.  We usually have more leftovers than that when we have a whole chicken. 

 

I saved the bones and I will be tying them in some cheese cloth and making chicken and rice soup.

 

 

We also had some sweet potatoes.  I have tried making these several ways. 

 

I've baked them in the oven because I heard they taste so much better, but it just took a long time (they were finally ready 2 hours after dinner - the instructions I had must have been for some puny ones and I only had the big beefy ones) and they tasted the same as when I microwave them.  To me they weren't as good just because of all the trouble they caused me when I knew it would have been so easy just to microwave them.

 

I tried to leave the peel on and boil them.  I had heard that the peel as all the nutrients and if you mash it all up you can't even tell you have the peel on.  LIES! ALL LIES!  The peel could not get small enough.  My largest piece was smaller then 1/2"X1/2" and it was so chewy and hard and had a dirt flavor to it.  Do not eat the peel, unless you like the taste of dirt.  I don't need the few nutrients that the peel holds.  Maybe if I was starving and hadn't eaten in a week I would eat it, but at that point I would also eat bugs... 

 

I've tried peeling them and boiling them like regular potatoes.  They came out pretty good.  If I'm making a meal for more then just my family, that is how I like to do it.  If you are making more than 4 or 5, this is the way to go.

 

My favorite method for just a regular family meal is to poke holes in them and microwave them.  I don't scrub them down since I'm not eating the peel.  In fact, I don't usually even wash them at all since I'll be heating them up and that will kill any germs from the grocery store.  I use a fork and poke about it about 10-15 times, making sure the puncture the peel and to spread them out.  I then set them on a plate.  I place the smaller end towards the middle of the plate since the outside of the plate heats up faster.  See the picture below to see how I place them.  For this many, I microwaved them for 10 minutes, rolled them over, and microwaved them for another 7.  If I'm only making one medium size sweet potato (approximately 8" by 4"), they are usually done after 10 minutes.  The way to tell if they are done is to stick a fork in it.  If it feels soft, then it is done.  If it is still hard, it needs longer.

 

Once the potatoes are done, I let them sit on the counter for about 10 minutes to cool down so I can touch them.  I am able to handle the heat, but most people can't, so you might want to hold it with a pot holder or a towel.  Remember, these were just microwaved for a long time and are hot.  I take after my grandmother and have asbestos fingers, or I just grab hot things all the time and have gotten use to it.

 

I use a sharp knife to slice them in half.  A butter knife would work.  Then I use a spoon to scoop out the yummy middle and throw the peel in the compost or the trash.

 

 

Once the inside is scooped out, I add about 1/2 Tablespoon of butter, a teaspoon of brown sugar, and a dash of cinnamon per potato.  I then mash with my spoon or a fork and they are ready to eat.  These sweet potatoes were extra sweet and did not need any sugar, but I added some to the potato for the boys.  These can be sweetened with whatever you like, stevia, honey, raw sugar, agave syrup, or nothing.  They can have more butter or none.  How ever you like it.  Instead of cinnamon, you can add some pumpkin pie spice and they taste just like pumpkin pie.  Have you ever had a sweet potato pie?  Tastes so much like pumpkin!

 

I served my homemade honey bread.  I toasted some slices and put butter on them.  The kids love it.  I make 2 loaves a couple times a week.  My husband and I struggle to keep it away from us.  We all will just devour a loaf straight out of the oven.  The bread is great for snacking on and we use it to make great peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.  It is so much better than the sandwich bread from the store.  I think I figured up that each loaf only costs me around 25 cents.  I buy my bread flour from SAMs Club in bulk.

 

Green beans were microwaved in a vintage Tupperware steamer.  Why don't they make those any more?  I have a yellow one my mom got me from a yard sale and my mom still has her pink one from when I was a child.  My youngest sister has been looking for one for years, but they are often too expensive. 

 

This looks pretty close:

 

But this is the one that I have:



This is so much easier than steaming on the stove in a pan.  I usually end up burning the bottom  or drying them out.  The vegetables taste so much better from the microwave steamer and clean up is so easy.  I usually serve them in the steamer.  I dump out the water so no one burns themselves and I will either be lazy and leave the vegetables in the steamer basket or I will dump them in the bottom once I drain the water.  When I make green beans I like to add a Tablespoon of butter and sprinkle them with garlic salt.  Then when dinner is over I put any leftover vegetables in a Rubbermaid container for Husband to take with lunch.  These are the ones I use. They work great and are cheap.  I also use those to take along snacks for everybody.  They can hold pretzels, nuts, raisins, cereal, or even yogurt or canned fruit.  These Rubbermaid containers are a staple in our house.  I love the red color.


Lemon, Italian Whole Chicken
start 3-4 hours before serving time

5-6 pound whole chicken
3T lemon juice
2T soy sauce
1T minced garlic (about 4 cloves)
dash of cayenne pepper (optional)
1 t Italian seasoning

Place chicken, breast side up, in a pan.  The walls of the pan must be at least 2" to hold liquid.  Sprinkle all ingredients over chicken.  Flip bird over so the breasts can soak in the marinade.  Put lid on or cover with aluminum foil.  Let sit in fridge for 1-2 hours.

Preheat oven to 350F.  Remove pan from fridge.  Flip bird back so the breast is up.  Replace cover.  Put pan in the oven.  Reduce temperature to 325F.  Set timer for 1 hour 45 minutes.  Remove cover, spoon some a the liquid over the chicken and continue cooking for 15 minutes until skin is crispy.  Remove from oven and let rest for 10 minutes to make cutting easy.

Internal temperature should be at least 165F

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