Patricia's First Meal

Good morning gang. Today is a special treat: Patricia will be cooking her first meal for you guys and it smells fantastic. While I'm abroad there still needs to be someone to cook delicious and nutritious meals and Patricia is testing the waters to see if it will work out for you and for her. Today's meal is roasted chicken breasts with a wonderful spice rub, stir-fried veggies over jasmine rice, and a spinach salad. Let us know what you think.

Roasted chicken breasts
Serves 12

Ingredients:
5 lbs bone in skin on chicken breasts
1 Tbs ground black pepper
1 Tbs dried marjoram
1 Tbs lemon thyme
2 Tbs dried sage
1 poof garlic powder over each piece, top and bottom
1 poof sweet smoked paprika over each piece, top and bottom
juice of 1 lime
salt to taste

Preparation:
1. Preheat oven 425 degrees F.
2. Cover a baking sheet in tinfoil and place the chicken breasts on it, trim any large globs of fat.
3. Combine black pepper, marjoram, lemon thyme, and sage to make a rub and apply liberally to chicken on top, bottom, and under the skin. Apply poofs of garlic and paprika. Squeeze the lime over the chicken to add just a little extra zing.
4. Bake for 15 minutes to seal in juices.
5. Lower temperature to 350 and bake until no longer pink in the middle and juices run clear, about 1 hour.
6. Let rest for 5 minutes before carving.

Stir-Fried Veggies
Serves 12

Ingredients:
1 baby bok choy, bulbs and leaves separated and chopped
3 fist sized broccoli florets, chopped to bite size
1 green bell pepper, seeded and finely chopped
1 orange bell pepper, seeded and finely chopped
1 bag baby carrots
2 bunches spring onion
1/2 inch finger of ginger, peeled and minced
1 bag spinach
1 bunch asparagus, wooden bits snapped off and chopped
2 Tbs olive oil
1/2 to 1/4 tsp ground pepper
3 Tbs Braggs Liquid Aminos (optionally replace with soy sauce)
4 cups jasmine rice, cooked according to package

Preparation:
1. In a large skillet heat 2 Tbs of olive oil over high heat.
2. Saute the chopped wooden bits of the asparagus to break them down.
3. Add the peppers, spring onions, and bok choy bulbs.
4. Grind pepper over cooking veggies to taste.
5. In a separate pot steam the broccoli and the main part of the asparagus by adding an inches of water to the bottom of the pot and heating over medium heat until the veggies have turned a richer green and become fragrant.
6. Wooden asparagus ends are done when able to be pierced by a fork.
7. Set aside cooked veggies and in the large skillet heat 2 Tbs of olive oil over high heat.
8. Saute the snow peas until they are slightly floppy yet still a little crunchy.
9. Combine rice, raw bok choy leaves, snow peas, and 2/3rds of the liquid aminos.

Spinach Salad
Served 12

Ingredients:
1 bag of spinach
1 head butter lettuce, chopped
1 bunch cilantro, stems removed and chopped
1 pear, cored and chopped
juice from 1.5 lemons
4 Tbs olive oil
1 Tbs eucalyptus honey
1 Tbs Braggs Liquid Aminos
1/4 to 1/2 tsp ground black pepper to taste

Preparation:
1. In a jar with a lid, combine lemon juice, oil, honey, liquid aminos, and pepper.
2. Close jar and shake dressing to emulsify, adjust to taste.
3. Combine spinach, lettuce, and pear and serve with dressing on the side so that people can dress their own salads as they like.

Roast Chicken, Roasted Carrots and Parsnips, Roasted Beets and Fennel, Baked Yams, Sauteed Greens

Baking and roasting are two (of many) very similar techniques for using the oven that I'm utilizing to make the dishes bellow. The original recipes were within 25 degrees Fahrenheit, so I just put them all into the oven together at 400 degrees F because that's close enough. If the temperature had been 50 or more off, then I could not have done this. Also, certain items that cook for short amounts of time or are large and solid have a hard time going to a different temperature. The greens I just sauteed in a pan, though I think that if I do this again in the future that I will make 2 to 3 times as much due to the unexpected amount the greens cooked down. Everything is gluten free and dairy free except for the yams, which are deliciously terrible for you.

Roast Chicken
Serves 12

Ingredients:
6 pound whole chicken with neck and gizzards removed (that's all the bonus stuff inside that can be used, along with the carcass, to make chicken stock)
6 sprigs fresh rosemary to stuff inside of chicken
4 sprigs of fresh rosemary, removed from stem and minced (that just means chopped really small)
3 cloves garlic
Olive oil
Salt and pepper

Preparation:
1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
2. Stuff chicken with whole sprigs of rosemary and garlic cloves to add aroma and help keep the chicken moist
3. Run your hand under the skin covering the breast meat to make a pocket for the chopped rosemary and place chopped rosemary evenly under the skin of the breast.
4. Cover all of the skin in olive oil to allow it to crisp nicely without burning.
5. Grind salt and pepper over the skin to taste.
6. Lay on a bed of root veggies, like the carrots and parsnips listed bellow.
7. Roast until the internal temperature of the breast meat reaches 170 degrees F, about 1.5 hours.
8. Let rest for at least 10 minutes before carving to allow juices to settle, this will keep it nice and moist on the inside and the skin will be lovely.

Roasted Carrots and Parsnips
Serves 12

Ingredients:
6 large carrots, peeled and chopped into fork size pieces
6 large parsnips, peeled and chopped into fork size pieces
2-3 Tbs olive oil
Fresh tarragon

Preparation:
1. Mix all ingredients together.
2. Bake at 400 degrees F in a dish until slightly tender, about 1.5 hours, turning about every fifteen minutes. If making with the rest of the dishes listed here, make sure they still have a bit of texture to them so that not everything is mushy in the meal.

Roasted Beets and Fennel
Serves 12

Ingredients:
3 large beets, peeled and cut into fork size pieces with greens reserved for Sauteed Greens listed bellow.
2 large fennel bulbs, chopped into fork size pieces with stalks and tough parts discarded
2-3 Tbs olive oil
Fresh tarragon


Preparation:
1. Mix all ingredients together.
2. Bake at 400 degrees F in a dish until tender, about 1.5 hours, turning about every fifteen minutes. Dish is done when fennel can be easily pierced with a fork.


Baked Yams
Serves 12

Ingredients:
12 lbs sweet potatoes or yams, peeled and cubed
12 Tbs butter
1 1/2 cups dark brown sugar
1 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp ground all spice
1/2 tsp ground cloves
2 packages marshmallows

Preparation:
1. In a sauce pan over medium heat, melt butter.
2. Add brown sugar, ginger, all spice, and clove, mix until everything is combined.
3. Pour sugar mixture over yams and toss to coat. (Wash your sauce pan right away, or at least, leave it to soak or it will be impossible to clean later.)
4. Bake at 400 degrees F in a baking dish until tender, about 1 hour, stirring the yams every fifteen minutes to coat with sugar glaze.
5. Cover yams in marshmallows and increase oven to 500 degrees F, bake until marshmallows are golden, about 3 minutes.

Sauteed Greens
Makes about 2 cups

Ingredients:
1 huge bag of Power Greens
Leaves from beets, chopped into 1 inch pieces
olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

Preparation:
1. In a skillet over high heat, warm oil until fragrant but not smoking.
2. Add greens, you might need more than one round but they cook really fast so it shouldn't be a problem.
3. Stir constantly until the greens have wilted and turned a deeper green.
4. Put into serving dish. Salt and pepper to taste.