Roasted Chicken with Roasted Mushrooms

Coming back from vacation, I had not been to the grocery store for the past 2 weeks, so we were eating a lot of unheatlhy stuff. The other night, I needed to get my act back into gear. My father in law brought me over a large box of mushrooms, so of course I started to google recipes with mushrooms. I came across this one. It took a while to roast, so when it was done, I was STARVING. I took a couple quick pictures, and didn't really look at them until after I was done devouring the chicken. As you can see by my doodles, the picture looked like an R rated picture, so I had to cover it up.

 

It actually was a pretty simple recipe, but not quick.

Here is my version of the recipe.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 Lemon
• 1/2 Red Onion
• 6 garlic cloves, crushed
• Thyme (I just used dried, and sprinkled some into the mixture for taste)
• Sea Salt & Pepper to taste
• Mushrooms (as many as you want)
• Cherry Tomatoes (usually I use one container)
• Balsamic
• Olive Oil
• 3 to 5 pound whole chicken

I did as the recipe called for, cutting the lemon and onion into 4 pieces each, crushed the garlic, added some thyme and olive oil. Mixed together and stuffed it into the cavity of the chicken. I then roasted the chicken at 400 degrees for 45 minutes. While that was in the oven, I cut up the mushrooms lengthwise into thinner pieces and the cherry tomatoes in half. I spread those out on a baking sheet, drizzled with olive oil and balsamic vinaigrette, and sprinkles with sea salt and pepper. After the 45 minute timer went off, I added the baking sheet with mushrooms and tomatoes into another shelf in the oven. I set the timer for another 45 minutes.

 

This meal will last us around 3 days, maybe 4. Lunch and Dinner! I was very satisfied with how it turned out. That was my first attempt at cooking an entire chicken. I wish I could have snapped a couple better picture, but the one above will have to do.

 

Enjoy!

 

Heaven on Earth

Two weeks ago, Josh and I were lucky enough to go on another vacation this winter. We left the cold in Iowa for Playa Del Carmen, Mexico. I have been to this area before, but I forgot how beautiful it is. We stayed at an all inclusive resort, The Royal Hideway in Playacar. This had to be one of my most favorite vacations to date!

 

This resort is an adults only resort, which I had never been to. I would highly recommend checking this resort out if you are looking for a nice relaxing vacation. The staff was amazing. They had a concierge for about every 12 rooms. Ours was so helpful, she made sure we had dinner reservations every day before we went out to the Beach. The restaurants are more formal than most places, the men have to wear long pants and close toed shoes. The food was amazing. They have 5 different restaurants on the property, and our favorite was the Azia. If you are planning a vacation anytime soon or in the future, please check out this property!

It was so hard coming back to the cold. It snowed a good 7 to 10 inches this weekend, and this morning it is around -11 degrees. I am ready to go back to Mexico and stay until this Iowa weather shapes up.

STAY WARM!

 

 

MIA

I've been a little MIA lately for good reason. We were on vacation in Playa Del Carmen, Mexico! It was SPECTACULAR. Since we have been back, work has been crazy, and we've been trying to catch up on our rest. I will be back later this week or weekend with a recap of our trip!

Baked Cashew Chicken + Happy Valentines Day

First, want to wish everyone a Happy Valentine's Day! Give those loved ones lots of hugs and kisses today! I know a lot of people think this holiday is silly, but I love it! I can't wait for many more years of love, hugs and kisses from my favorite Valentine!

This is one of my favorite recipes I've made lately! It was so flavorful! It might become a staple recipe at my house!

Prep Time: 5 minutes
Total Time: 45 minutes

 Ingredients:

• 1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts (hormone free is what I would use)
• 1/2 cup ground cashews
• 2 tablespoons diced onions (red or white)
• 1 tablespoon coconut oil
• 1 tablespoon cashew butter (I used peanut butter, only because that is what I had)
• 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
• 1 teaspoon chopped fresh cilantro (I used 1/4 teaspoon dried cilantro)
• 1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves (I used 1/4 teaspoon dried thyme)
• 1/4 teaspoon paprika

Instructions:

• Preheat the oven to 375 degrees
• Put the chicken breasts in an oven-safe baking dish large enough to hold the breasts in a single layer. In a small bowl, combine the remaining ingredients except the berries and spread over the chicken. Cover with aluminum foil and bake for 30 to 40 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through.

I found this recipe in The Fast Metabolism Diet Cookbook by Haylie Pomroy.

Wonderful Wedges

I've been needing some new Spring/Summer wedges. For our upcoming trip, I thought this was the perfect time to find them. I absolutely love shopping on Zappos.com. Anything you order from them usually is on your door step the following day. I searched around for a while, and found these two beauties.

Madden Girl Kain - Black

Madden Girl Duff - Congac

One of the reasons I am looking forward to wearing this is because that means I will be out of this freezing cold weather. #cannotwait

Turkey & Spinach Meatballs

Along with my Crossfit challenge this month, I am also doing the 10 day Advocare cleanse. This means for the next 10 days, I am going to be eating super healthy and clean. Over the weekend I made Turkey & Spinach Meatballs. Lately, I've been seeing a lot of ground turkey meatball recipes, so I found 3 different ones that I liked, and combined different ingredients from the three recipes. One of the recipes I found here.

Ingredients:

• 1 pound ground turkey (93% lean)
• 1/4 cup onion
• 1 egg (optional)
• 1 packages frozen spinach (Make sure you thaw it and squeeze all the liquid from the spinach)
• 3 garlic cloves (use less if you do not want a strong garlic flavor)
• 1 can Rotel (or an All Natural can of tomatoes and chili's)
• 1/2 cup uncooked quinoa
• 1/4 teaspoon paprika
• 1/4 teaspoon dried cilantro
• 1/4 teaspoon dried thyme

Instructions:

• Preheat oven at 350 degrees
• Mix all ingredients together.
• roll into large sized meatballs
• bake on a non stick baking sheet for 25 minutes or until turkey is cooked through.

I did enjoy these. They were of course, easy to make!

Holiday Delights

Are you like me, and when the holiday season comes, your inner Betty Crocker comes out? Well this happened last night at my house. These two holiday delights are easy and delicious! If you haven't noticed, most of the recipe's I post are considered "easy".

Peppermint Brownies
1 box Brownie Mix (any kind will work, I used Chocolate Chunk, because that is what was in my cupboard.)
1 bag Andes Peppermint Crunch

Follow the instructions on the back of the brownie box. Add in the bag of peppermint crunch. Follow baking instruction on the box, and BAM, Peppermint Brownies are complete! Easy, right? Delicious!

This second recipe is a FAVORITE of mine. I first saw the recipe here.

No Bake Oreo Balls
1 box Oreos
1 package cream cheese (8oz)
Almond Bark
Sprinkles of your choice

 

+Crush the Oreo's with a food processor or blender.
+Add cream cheese to the Oreo's. Mix well.
+Roll the mixture into balls. I usually keep my on the smaller side, these are very rich!

+Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Place the balls onto the baking sheet.

+When you are done rolling the balls, place the baking sheet into the freezer for about 15 minutes.

+Melt the almond bark. (follow directions on package)
+Dip the balls into the almond bark until completely covered.
+Place them back onto the parchment paper until hardened.
+Sprinkle with your choice of toppings.

+Once they are hardened, refrigerate until serving.

Everyone will want you "baking" more!!

Thank for stopping by to check out my recipes!