Lemon Herb Chicken

* 4 teaspoons Italian seasoning
* 1 teaspoon seasoning salt
* 1 teaspoon mustard powder
* 2 teaspoon garlic powder
* 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
* 1 (3 pound) whole chicken
* 2 lemons
* 2 tablespoons olive oil

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. Combine the seasoning, salt, mustard powder, garlic powder and black pepper; set aside. Rinse the chicken thoroughly, and remove the giblets. Place chicken in a 9x13 inch baking dish. Sprinkle 2 teaspoons of the spice mixture inside the chicken. Rub the remaining mixture on the outside of the chicken.
3. Squeeze the juice of the 2 lemons into a small bowl or cup, and mix with the olive oil. Drizzle this oil/juice mixture over the chicken.
4. Bake in the preheated oven for 1 1/2 hours, or until juices run clear, basting several times with the remaining oil mixture.
** COOK'S NOTE: I like to stick a stalk of celery in my chicken to make it more moist. Also I loosen the skin of my chicken with my fingers and instead of rubbing the spice on the outside I rub it in between the chicken and it's skin.

Fettuccine

This is the recipe:
1 pint heavy whipping cream
1/2 cup butter
1 1/2 cups grated Parmesan cheese

I added:
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup romano cheese

Directions:
In a medium saucepan combine whipping cream, butter or margarine, and grated Parmesan cheese. Cook over medium low heat until smooth. Remove from heat. Sauce will thicken upon standing.

I cut half chicken breast in small chunks. Salt and peppered it and cooked it in butter. Added it for Chicken fettuccine dinner. I served Garlic bread and an Italian salad, on the side. My family gave it a 4 to 4.5 stars.


~Amie~

Ratatouille

This is one of my families favorite vegetarian meals. Definitely a comfort food!! I always add a few extra cloves of garlic and caramelize my onions. Also good is to add an extra tomato and plenty more parm cheese. I use good old S&P to taste instead of just salt. That combination is used so much that I even made a 2 to 1 ratio of S&P and put it in a shaker!

2 Tbs olive oil 3 cloves garlic, minced 2 tsp dried parsley 1 eggplant, cut into 1/2 inch cubes salt to taste 1 cup grated Parmesan cheese 2 zucchini, sliced 1 large onion, sliced into rings 2 cups sliced fresh mushrooms 1 green bell pepper, sliced 2 large tomatoes, chopped 1 Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Coat bottom and sides of a 1 1/2 quart casserole dish with 1 tablespoon olive oil. 2 Heat remaining 1 tablespoon olive oil in a medium skillet over medium heat. Saute garlic until lightly browned. Mix in parsley and eggplant. Saute until eggplant is soft, about 10 minutes. Season with salt to taste. 3 Spread eggplant mixture evenly across bottom of prepared casserole dish. Sprinkle with a few tablespoons of Parmesan cheese. Spread zucchini in an even layer over top. Lightly salt and sprinkle with a little more cheese. Continue layering in this fashion, with onion, mushrooms, bell pepper, and tomatoes, covering each layer with a sprinkling of salt and cheese. 4 Bake in preheated oven for 45 minutes.

Carrot soup

This week has been pretty crazy. Half of my family is on a diet thingy. So the only people eating is myself, dad, and Grandma. And out of those people I am the only one that can cook, but I am also sick. So last night, after dragging myself out of bed, I made a homemade soup that is really easy and good.

6 c. of peeled and sliced Carrots
4 c. of Chicken broth
4 TBSP of butter
4 TBSPof flour
1 tsp of salt
1/4 tsp heaping of Cayenne
2 c. of Half and half

1. Cook carrots in Chicken broth. When broth begins to boil, set timer for 25 minutes. While waiting start step two.
2. Melt butter over medium heat. Then stir in flour. Cook flour and butter together for a couple of minutes. Then add salt and cayenne.
3. When carrots are done cooking, use a food processer or a blender to mix them. Be sure that the carrots and broth are smooth, with no chunks.
4. Add carrots and broth to the the flour mixture and add half and half. For a more liquidy soup add 1/2 cup more chicken broth.

This is such a great soup, especially when you are sick. :) My family doesn't really like Carrot soup, but they all love this one. It has a great chicken, creamy flavor to it, and the Cayenne adds just a little kick to it. This is definitely one of my favorite soups.

~Amie

Artichoke Garlic Pasta

I made this for lunch today. It took about 30 min. from start to finish. This recipe is for two, so be sure and multiply it by the amount of people. I served garlic bread and veggies along side of it. I added Parmesan on top, Sun-dried tomatoes, cooking wine, and salt to taste.

4 ounces small uncooked seashell pasta
2 1/2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
3 tablespoons butter
2 cloves garlic
1 sprig fresh basil, chopped (I used dried about 1 Tablespoon)
1 (8 ounce) can artichoke hearts, drained and quartered (If I made this again, I would add more)

1. Bring a pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add seashell pasta, cook for 8 to 10 minutes, until soft, and drain. Start step two while waiting for water to boil.
2. Heat the olive oil and melt the butter in a skillet over medium heat. Mix in the garlic, basil, and artichoke hearts, and cook 5 minutes, until heated through. Toss with the cooked pasta to serve.

My family loved this recipe. We will be having this one again, for sure.
~Amie

P.S. Sorry about us not posting for a while... we were at a debate/speech tournament. We didn't have internet at all last week.

Garlic-Herb Pasta

Tonight I made a meal from the April 2007 issue of Southern Cooking. It has a really fancy title, ready for this? Garlic-Herb Pasta. I know sounds complicated and fancy right? It was a wonderful light Spring pasta. I would be delighted to serve this to company and even more delighted to make some for myself.

The wonderful thing about this pasta was the fact that it is a quick meal. On the table in less than 30 minutes and with a definite plate appeal! This recipe could be made even heartier (and more restaurant like) with chopped chicken, or shrimp on top

8 oz. spaghetti

6 garlic cloves

2 Tbsp. olive oil

2 lb. tomatoes, diced

3 Tbsp. minced fresh parsley

3 Tbsp. chopped fresh basil

1 tsp. salt

¼ tsp. pepper

Freshly grated parmesan cheese

2 Tbsp. butter

Sauté garlic in hot oil in a large skillet over medium heat 1 minute. Stir in tomatoes and next 4 ingredients. Cook, stirring occasionally, 5 minutes our until thoroughly heated and tomatoes release juices.

While the garlic mixture is cooking drop your pasta into boiling water and cook for the recommended time on the package. Drain pasta and return to pot. Melt butter and pour over the pasta to keep it from sticking to itself and coat with parmesan (I didn't use freshly grated for convenience). Add the sauce and toss.

Serve sprinkled with parmesan and a sprig of parsley.

Enjoy!

~~Sarah~~

Salmon tips

This is our first meal to blog about. It was nothing fancy just your usual hashbrown and salmon dinner. (Well salmon is out of the ordinary for us, but we didn't do anything to special to it.) We would however, like to share some of the tips and favorites for our kitchen.

Tonight Sarah learned, when cooking a full salmon, you cut it down the back so you can lay it flat on your baking dish.

Also tonight, Amie tried to spice up our normal plain hashbrowns. So I added red onions, parsley, basil, and speper (salt and peper mixed, 2-1 ratio). It turned out delicious, for an out of the ordinary hashbrowns.

~Amie & Sarah