Roasted Chicken

The roast chicken I mentioned in the previous post came from this recipe from my Southern Living Easy Weeknight Favorites.

• 4-5 pound roasting chicken
• salt & pepper
• 1 teaspoon lemon-pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon paprika
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 large garlic clove, minced

Remove giblets from chicken. Rinse and drain chicken; pat dry. Sprinkle cavity of chicken genersously with salt & pepper.

Combine lemon-pepper and remaining 5 ingredients. Rub mixture all over chiken, coating the top well. Place chicken, breast side up, in a 4-quart electric slow cooker. Cover and cook on HIGH 4 to 5 hours or on LOW 7 to 8 hours. Remove chicken from slow cooker, and let cool to touch. Remove meat from bones, and chop. Yield 4 1/2 cups chopped cooked chicken.

This is good enought to just eat on its own, along with a side dish or two. It also goes well in a Ceaser type salad. I mentioned in the previous post trying it in chicken salad spread. And, of course, it makes great roast chicken sandwiches. I love recipes that are simple and versatile.

Mediterranean Stew (Veggie)

OK, I’m on the phone now attempting to make that doctor appointment. Average wait time, I’m told by the electronic voice, is 20 minutes. I hope my cell phone battery is up for it. So, while I’m waiting, here is the crock pot veggie stew that I made for my folks this past weekend:

• 1 eggplant, chopped
• 2 zucchini, chopped
• 1 red or green bell pepper, seeded/chopped
• 1 onion, chopped
• 3 large tomatoes, chopped
• 2 cans garbanzo beans, drained/rinsed
• 1 can artichoke hearts packed in water, drained/quartered
• 1 tbsp oregano
• freshly ground black pepper
• salt
• crushed red pepper flakes
• 1 box Couscous

Add all ingredients except for couscous to the crock pot and stir well. Cook on low for 8 hours. Serve over the cooked couscous.

This takes a large crockpot. If you have a smaller one, decrease the ingredients, like 1 zuccini instead of 2, 1 can garbanzo beans, etc. The hardest thing about this recipe is the amount of chopping. But once you chop it, just throw it in the crock pot and let it do the cooking. As I mentioned previously, I like to serve this with the Easy Greek Salad and some olive bread made in my breadmaker.  I’ll post that one later.

Well, my position in the que has gone up to 5. Should be able to talk to someone soon and make that appointment.

ABOUT THAT APPOINTMENT: No appointments were available in the system. I was told to try again tomorrow. Any clue why I’ve been putting it off? sigh.