Self Helps: The Food Blog

Self's "Cuban Sandwich"

2008-10-30T17:23:00.007-04:00

The traditional Cuban Sandwich is a favorite of mine. The ham, roast pork and dill pickle is an unbeatable combo. I have made these before on the gas grill using fire bricks wrapped in foil for some friends this summer and they were quite the hit.

This is a varation that I made using regular whole wheat sandwich bread rather than the tradition hoagie style bun. I substituted simply because thats what I had on hand. One day I will invest in a nice cast iron steak weight, which will make things like this alot easier.

I didn't have any roast pork but I did have some thin cut pork chops. They were thin but not thin enough to use for a sandwhich.

Place the pork chop in a plastic bag or plastic wrap (this makes for easy clean up) and pound thin, about 1/4 inch.

Heat up a cast iron skillet on medium high and put a little oil in the bottom. Get it hot, but not scorching. You want to cook the meat fast so it dosen't get tough.

Season the pork with a little black pepper.

Sear it until you can see it starting to turn white on the edges. This won't take long, maybe a miniute or two.

Give it a flip and cook the other side.

While the meat's cooking, get your bread ready. Like I said, I used plain ol' whole wheat because thats what I had on hand. Put on your favorite mustard.

I used a combination of these two for some good spice.

Spread the mustard and add a slice of swiss cheese.

Top the cheese with some slices of ham.

Add the pork chop

Add sliced dill pickle

And finally one more slice of swiss.

Reduce the heat in your pan and melt a little butter.

Put the sandwich in the pan and add a peice of foil over the top. This is where a steak weight would have been handy, but I improvised.

A little "engineering" with a coffee can and a heavy cutting board was my press. Heat thru until crispy on both sides and the cheese in nice and melty.

Slice, plate and enjoy!

Ingredients List

pork chop
ham
2 slices of swiss cheese
favorite mustard
dill pickle

Super Simple Breakfast On-The-Go

2008-10-16T17:20:00.003-04:00

So far all I have been posting are dinners. Breakfast is a favorite of mine although I rarely have breakfast during the work week. I know its bad to miss breakfast, but too often breakfast for me is little more than a big cup of coffee. Most people will argue that a simple cold cereal will do the trick, and for most this is true. Not for self. I haven't had milk for years, as it dosen't agree with me.

I had time and I was hungry so I snooped in the fridge and found eggs, ham, cheese and mushrooms. Perfect omelete material, yes but that takes more time than I had. There was plenty of time to scramble it real quick and make a breakfast burrito, or low-carb wrap, or snacker.

It's funny to me how a staple in my house growing up is now so heavily marketed by the fast-food joints. As I mentioned before, there were alot of mouths to feed in my house as a kid. For lunches and snacks we ate alot of stuff in tortillas. Who knew that now it would be so cool? Of course I don't remember all the variety of tortillas that we have now. We didn't have whole wheat, or tomato-basil, or the spinach green ones. In my house if they were green it was more of a blue-green and they went in the trash! We had corn or flour, and more often than not the flour were homemade thanks to Mom.

So next time you have less than ten minutes to make something to eat try this. Put your favorite omelete things in a tortilla and wrap it up.

On medium heat melt a pat of butter and throw in the mushrooms and sauté a little.

Throw in a slice of ham, chopped.

Toss in a couple eggs. If you want you can wisk them with a fork but I skipped that not only to save a dirty dish but it's not necessary in my opinion.

Your going to scramble it all up with a spatula anyway. Toss it around a little until the eggs firm up.

Take a slice of American cheese and break it in half and lay it on the tortilla lenthwise.

Add the eggs & goodies.

Add some hot sauce if desired.

Now put it in the microwave for 30 seconds on high to soften the cold tortilla for easy folding.

Fold the edges...

Give it a roll and your done. I grabbed this and hit the door. Easy to eat in the car!

Ingredients List

Mushrooms
(1) Slice of ham
(1) Slice of American cheese
(1) Burrito sized flour tortilla
(1) pat of butter
Favorite hot sauce to taste

Three Cheese & Chicken Stuffed Pasta Shells

2008-10-02T01:09:00.003-04:00

Stopping by the store on the way home from work looking for something to make for dinner I was clueless. I had to take a couple laps through the store to get an idea. I didn't want to spend much, so things that were on sale were big motivators for me on this one. Other than the 3 chicken breasts which were on sale for $4.18 everything else was $2.50 or less for a total just over $12, and I'm sure this dish could serve six. I was looking for simple and quick. It was good, but I will suggest adding some mushrooms, spinach and artichoke hearts. It's an afterthought that I will definitely add the next time around.

Cover the chicken breasts with water, throw in a little chicken bouillion and boil.

In a large pot bring 8 qts of salted water to a boil and add one 12oz box of jumbo pasta shells

Take your now boiled chicken breasts and slice them up. Put them in a bowl with about 1/4c of reserved chicken broth.

After the pasta has cooked for about 15 miniutes, drain and shock with cold water until cool. This will stop them from cooking further as well as cool them off for handling.

Shred the chicken. I used a whisk with thick strong wires in a bashing-twisting motion which worked nicely.

Add to the shredded chicken about 12oz of cottage cheese, a cup of shredded mozzerella, 1 TBSP of Italian dressing, and one egg. If you want, you may be able to skip the egg, but I think it really helped hold things together.

Mix well.

Drop a little extra-virgin olive oil in an 8x8x2 inch baking pan and coat the bottom and sides to prevent sticking.

With a spoon, generously stuff the jumbo pasta shells with the mixture.

Arrange the stuffed shells in the pan with the open-side up.

Generously shake some grated parmesean cheese over the stuffed shells.

Cover the shells with a jar of you favorite pasta sauce. I opted for the Ragu sundried tomato and basil. It was on sale for $1.50, and for store bought sauce worked just fine. Sprinkle a little more parmesean and bake in a 350 degree oven for about 40 miniutes, or until the sauce bubbles for about ten miniutes. Basically long enough to cook the egg through to firm the stuffing.

Once it's rested for about 10 miniutes or so plate it up, sprinkle a little more shredded mozzarella and enjoy. Like I said this was good but could have used some veggies in the stuffing.

Ingredients List

(3) Chicken breast fillets
(1) 12oz box of jumbo pasta shells
Large curd cottage cheese
8oz shredded mozzarella
(1) Jar of favorite pasta sauce
parmesean cheese
Italian Dressing
(1) egg
olive oil

Cheeseburger Meatloaf

2008-09-30T11:36:00.004-04:00

Meatloaf dinner was a staple in my home growing up. As a kid, it wasn't my favorite thing. My mother makes a great meatloaf. I love it now. I guess I was just being a brat-child. Thinking back, I guess I thought it was weird to put oatmeal & egg in meat.

Maybe it was the fact that my dad told us that when he made meatloaf it was actually cat-loaf?

Whether you like it or not in 2007, it was voted the 7th favorite dish in the United States according to the Good Housekeeping website. The "loaf" shape is made by either cooking it in a loaf pan, or forming it by hand on an ordinary baking pan (my mom's way.) Mom also added the oatmeal to the meatloaf to stretch the meat. It all makes sense now, there was seven of us!

In any case it's one of those things I love now. Here's how I made mine cheeseburger style.

Bacon. No I don't use bacon in everything, just everything lately! Hey, it's cheeseburger meatloaf. Who dosen't like bacon on a cheeseburger? Anyway, I used half of this package which was 6oz. Chop it up and get it crispy.

Take two pounds of ground beef and add the following:

6oz of tomato paste

A few TBSP of mustard

Sticking with meatloaf tradition we gotta add something to stretch the meat. Stuffing mix. I learned this trick from my friend jLoud. It seasons the meat nicely. I've used crushed Cheese-It crackers too. Either way is good.

One egg.

Mix well.

Don't forget about the bacon. Once its done, drain it and set aside until later.

Take mixture and set it on plastic wrap. Flatten it out by hand and then cover the top with another sheet of plastic wrap.

Now use a rolling pin to roll it into a nice flat even meat-sheet.

Now its time to top the meat-sheet with the cheeseburger stuff.

Chopped onion

Chopped pickles

Chopped tomatoes, american cheese, and the bacon.

Now put the plastic wrap back over it and push the ingredients into the meat. Don't crush it, just push them into it lightly. Keep it covered and put it in the freezer for about 20 miniutes to firm up a little. This makes it much easier to roll up. I have been rolling up meatloafs like a roulade for a while. I like the way it distributes the ingredients evenly and it looks really cool when you slice it to have a spiral shaped slice. Something a little different than the traditional "loaf" but thats what I like.

Start the roll by hand for about one turn.

Now that there's a turn it it, grab the plastic wrap and a straight edge.

This is very simple. As you pull the plastic wrap out from under the meat it really rolls up itself.

Boom! Done.

Place on a rack and put some foil under it to cach drippings for easy clean up.

Use a probe thermometer and bake in 350 degree oven until internal temp reaches 160, about 40 miniutes or so.

Looks good! Let is rest for about 10 min before cutting.

Plate up and enjoy.

Ingredients List

2 lbs of ground beef
(1) 6oz can of tomato paste
yellow mustard
stuffing mix
(1) Egg
several strips of bacon
(1) tomato
1/2 onion
dill pickles
american cheese

Ground Beef Shepherd's pie.

2008-09-26T09:43:00.004-04:00

This is a simple meat & potatoes style dish I threw together after work the other day. I have over a dozen subscribers now (I am happy about that, tell your friends!) Some readers have mentioned that not everyone is a meat-eater. If you don't dig beef, substitute with ground turkey and use chicken broth instead of beef broth. If you dont like poultry, substitute with veggie stock and favorite veggies. I will make some veggie-minded stuff soon too, so don't get scared away.

Either way this is a good, quick, cheap and delicious.

Start with browning about 1 1/2 lbs of ground beef. While this is browning peel and chop about 3 or 4 medium sized potatoes.

Cover them with water and add some beef base (to make beef broth)

This is what I like for beef broth. I scored this from Meijer one super saturday for $4. It's usually close to $5 but its worth the money for excellent flavor. Bring this to a boil and cook potatoes until soft enough to easily mash.

Stir and chop beef and cook until browned.

Drain off excess fat and set aside

Spoon out potatoes reserving the broth you cooked them in. This will be made into gravy.

Return the broth to the heat and get it boiling again.

Season it. I used about 1 tsp of coarse black pepper and 1 tsp of thyme.

While the broth is heating mash your potatoes. Add a couple of dollops of sour cream, a little butter and a little minced garlic to taste.

Now that the broth is hot thicken it with about 1 TBSP of cornstarch dissolved in warm water.

Add slowly because this stuff thickens quickly. You probably won't need all of it. If you put in too much it will be sludge instead of gravy.

Now that the potatoes are mashed and the gravy is made, mix your ground beef with half a bag of your favorite frozen veggies in a 8x8x2 in baking pan. Cover with gravy. You probably won't use it all. Save it or treat the dog if you have one

These were my favorite because of the price! They were $1.19, not $11.19.

Spoon on the potatoes to cover the meat/veggie/ gravy mix.

Cover the taters with a couple of diced slices of american cheese. Bake it in the oven at 375 degrees until bubbly and brown, about 30 miniutes.

This finished product. Let it set for a few miniutes, and then spoon out and enjoy!

Ingredients List

1 1/2 pounds of ground beef
4 potatoes, peeled and chopped
mixed vegetables
beef base
minced garlic
thyme
black pepper
American cheese
sour cream
corn starch
butter

White Chicken Chili

2008-09-21T21:13:00.014-04:00

This is by far one of my favorite dishes. Don't get me wrong, very little beats the fine satisfaction of a bowl of traditional beef/bean/tomato based chili. I must admit however, the first time I had white chicken chili was one of the best surprises I can think of. I'm sure white chili has the same "rules" that traditional chili has, depending who is making it. It seems like every chili cook has "the best recipe." Heres one of mine.

I have made this version of white chicken chili before for my friends at Surroundings Candle Factory & Fine Cigars in Manistee.

Whenever I've shared this it's been a hit so I figured I'd share it on the food blog.

To keep things simple and cheap, I used one of the pre-cooked rotisserie chickens available at nearly every grocery store. For $5.99 (which is sometimes less that a RAW chicken) this is a great route for the chili, or any soup making.

This starts out like the chicken noodle soup. Pour some water over it and boil it down.

One thing I did here (differently from the chicken noodle) is add some chicken bouillon powder. This "Caldo de Pollo" is available in the ethnic foods area. I like it because it doesn't have MSG's and its not too salty and it makes great broth. It will only add to the flavor as long as you don't add too much. Mix it according to package instructions, 1 tsp per 8 oz of water.

Cover, bring to a boil, then let it simmer for about 2 hrs.

While that's simmering, get the rest of your things together. Two big jars of great northern beans, a red pepper, a red onion, salsa, Ro-Tel, creamed corn, pepperjack cheese, kernel corn and sour cream.

Dice up the onion and pepper. Set aside while you take care of your now boiled down chicken.

Remove all the meat and bones from the stock. Put it in the fridge to cool. Strain the stock to make sure no bone bits make it into the chili.

Return the now strained stock to the pan. Check the strainer for delicious meat bits.

Now add the following:

Drained Ro-Tel, then top it off with salsa to equal a total of about 16oz.

Usually I use 8oz of sweet canned corn. I didn't have any so I used frozen corn instead. It works just fine too.

Diced red onion

Diced red pepper

One can of cream style corn (I think this was 14.5oz)

Stir it and bring to a simmer again to cook the veggies. While its heating add the spices.

About 1 TBSP of minced garlic

1 1/2 tsp of coarse ground black pepper

1 1/2 tsp of chili powder

1 1/2 TBSP of ground cumin

Give a stir and check the veggies to see if they're cooked.

Once the veggies are cooked add both jars of beans (These were 48oz ea.)

While letting all that heat up and simmer, pick through your now cooled chicken. It takes time but if you're meticilous, there's alot of meat. After making sure there's no bones add it to the pot.

Grate the 1 pound (16oz) package of pepperjack cheese. Add it to the chili slowly one handful at a time while stiring continuously. If you dump it all in at once it will be a clumpy mess of globby cheese chunks. Take the time to stir it in slowly.

This will help thicken and add some zing. This isn't breath taking fire-hot chili, just enough to let you know there's a kick to it.

Now that the cheese is a melted, add the sour cream (16oz) and stir until smooth again.

Now Dish it up, and ENJOY! This will make about 8-10 qts. If you don't need that much then half the recipe. I bet you'll go through it quicker than you think.

Ingredients List

(1) whole chicken
water
"Caldo de Pollo" or you own favorite bouillion
(2) 48oz jars of great northern beans
(1) can of Ro-Tel tomatoes and green chilies plus you favorite salsa to total 16oz
16oz of pepperjack cheese
16 oz of sour cream
(1) red onion
(1) red bell pepper
(1) can of cream style corn
whole corn, canned or frozen
ground cumin
coarse ground black pepper
chili powder
minced garlic

Use your leftovers, $$CHEAP$$

2008-09-19T16:12:00.002-04:00

Leftovers are a touchy subject for me. Some stuff I simply will not eat reheated. I do not like warmed over pastas. I don't mean to be picky, I just don't like it, that's all. The best leftovers are soups and soup-style dishes. Chili gets better every time you reheat it. We all have our likes and dislike, and certain leftovers I just won't eat. That's where its handy to have a German Shepherd that doesn't seem to mind one bit what I throw in front of her!

I ate and shared most of the beef stew. I had about a quart or two leftover and got a good idea on what to do with it other than nuke it and gobble it down. On my way home from work I stopped at the store and got an already-made double pie crust. Cheating? Yeah, a little but I was hungry and making a pie crust didn't appeal to me in any way. It was $2.12 and made life real easy. They come rolled up, so you simply unroll it into your favorite pie pan. Mine happens to be a Pyrex. They heat evenly, in my opinion definitely the way to go. Pour the beef stew in, roll on the top crust. Trim and crimp the edges, and cut some vent-slits in the top. I baked it for a little over an hour, or until golden and flaky in a 350 degree oven.

Here's the mostly eaten finished product.

Beef Stew in a Dutch Oven

2008-09-16T21:02:00.009-04:00

Recently I was able to score a 5 qt. cast iron Dutch Oven from a little adventure to the local Goodwill store. For $4 and some time seasoning, I now have a very useful tool for my kitchen. Cast iron pans are slow to heat up, retain heat for a long time and work best when used at lower temperatures except when frying, which makes it perfect for slow-stewing a pan of delicious beef stew. Another bonus to using a dutch oven is it's a one-dish meal. Self loves to cook but hates to clean. Well seasoned cast iron is virtually non-stick which makes clean up a breeze.

I started out with a few slices of thick bacon. Not only does this add flavor to the dish but renders some fat to sear the bits of beef. Here I grabbed 5 slices from Northside Market for $1.44. The Chianti was on sale too. It added great flavor to my wine glass.

Chop the bacon into little bits. Sometimes it helps to throw it in the freezer for a few to firm up the bacon for easier cutting. A good knife helps too, I use ONLY Forschner cutlery. I'm not a snob, it's just what I like.

Put you bacon bits into the pan and cook on the stovetop until nice and crisp, but not smokey and burned. I cooked it on medium low heat with patience. If you over heat the oil thats rendering now it won't work as well later.

While your bacon's cooking, trim and cube your beef. Being the dollar and cent kinda guy I am, I grabbed some chuck steak that was on sale. It was $1.39 a pound if I remember right, but it totaled to a little over three bucks for the whole slab. Remember, this will only be 5qts total so alot of meat isn't necessary. In fact the amount I used was enough and even a little extra, which is great because meat is delicious.

Once its trimmed and cubed, salt and pepper it and set it aside, let the salt and pepper soak in for a miniute while you prep your veggies. Don't worry about the raw meat on the "wooden" board. It's not wood. It's bamboo which to my understanding won't harbor bacteria like old wooden cutting boards, and bamboo is harder than maple wood, lighter in weight than oak. It is actually a grass. Some species grow up to 2 feet per day. After harvesting, bamboo does not require replanting, it continually sends up new shoots naturally replenishing itself making it one of the most renewable resources known which is way better than chopping up trees. I have to thank my Uncle Danny for that one.

Keeping things simple and low cost I used some cubed red potatoes, 3 carrots peeled and chopped, a half of red onion finely diced, and an 8oz package of mushrooms. The carrots, onion, and potatoes were in the fridge, and the mushrooms were on sale for $1.19

Don't forget to keep an eye on your bacon. Once it finished, remove it and drain it a little on a paper plate. Be sure not to thow out the bacon fat, heat it up on the stove, just until it starts to gently smoke. While you're heating the oil, shake flour over your beef cubes. Coat well and evenly, then shake off the excess or it will just burn in the hot oil and make a bad mess.

This is what I used to shake off the excess flour. It's a frying basket, but hey it worked.

Now sear your beef cubes in the hot oil. Stir to cover and brown all sides. The flour on the outside of the meat will mix with the oil and make a rioux which will help to thicken the broth. After all side are browned and cooked add your beef stock while continiously stiring.

Add the veggies and the crispy bacon. Bring to a boil. Rioux won't thicken until its all boiling. but keep in mind it will thicken a little as the veggies cook as it stews in the oven.

Season with 1tsp tyme, 1tsp black pepper, and 1TBSP of minced garlic. Stir it up and taste the broth. If needed throw in a few shakes of salt to taste.

Now put the lid on and put into a pre-heated 250 degree oven for two hours. After two hours take it out and stir. If the flour didn't do the trick for thickining you can cheat a little by adding about 2 TBSP of corn starch mixed with 8oz warm water, bump the oven temp to 350 for 30 more miniutes. Take from the oven, stir and let stand for a bit. I waited for about 15 miniutes.

Dish up and enjoy! For less than $10 this is a great meal to feed several for a day or two.

Chicken Noodle Soup

2008-09-12T11:45:00.009-04:00

Well as mentioned earlier, leftover chickens make great chicken soup. I ended up having two "carcasses" an a whole uncut roasted chicken, and all the drippings from the roasting. Boiling all these for a couple hours made some really good stock. Chicken stock is made more from bony parts, whereas chicken broth is made more out of meat. Chicken stock has a fuller mouth feel and richer flavor, because of the gelatin released by long-simmering bones. Much better for route for chicken noodle soup.

This is as simple as it gets. Take the pile of bones and meat, throw it in a pot, add water and bring to a boil.

While your waiting for that to simmer, make your noodles. This too is a very simple thing to do. Flour, eggs, salt and pepper.

2C. of all-purpose flour

1tsp. Salt

1tsp. Black Pepper

Mix it together

Add 3 eggs

Mix it up to form a doughball. Sprinkle more flour on both sides. If it seems a little moist its ok because it's necessary to add a little flour as you roll it flat.

Roll to desired thickness, and keep in mind they will puff up a little when you cook them. I used a pizza cutter to cut thin strips of noodles.

Now that your noodle are cut just let them sit and dry a little. They don't have to dry completely, but it wont hurt them to sit until you usee them.

Now that the stock has simmered for a couple hours, remove all the meat and bones. Cool it off in the fridge and then pick through it removing all the meat bits and discarding the bones and skin.

Strain the stock. Because of the long simmer, there are lots of little bones floating around. Once the stock has strained through, make sure to pick through what's in the strainer for delicious meat bits.

Return the stock to the pot and add desired veggies. I threw in a couple carrots and potatoes, peeled and chopped. Boil this for a while to bring out the veggie flavor. Add all the meat.

Now shake off as much extra flour as possible. If you leave it on them the soup will taste like flour.

Sprinkle in your noodle while its boiling, a few handfulls at a time so they dont stick and clump together. Boil this for five miniutes or so. It dosen't take long to cook the noodles. I forgot to take a picture of a bowl of soup sorry. Im sure you've seen chicken noodle soup however. This was good soup, I did have to add about a teaspoon of salt (for the whole batch) for my liking.

Chicken Dinner.

2008-09-11T16:26:00.016-04:00

My first Food Blog... well not really. This is my first Food Blog posting on the blog devoted to complete meals made entirely of food. Here is the step-by-step process of how I made a Sunday Dinner, Self style.

Day One.

I started this on Friday. I know it sounds like a long time but really most of the time is spent in the refrigerator. Its a 3 day process but well worth it. Nothing is worse than spending time roasting a bird and having it have the texture of chicken jerky.

Start with two gallons of water.

Usually, I'm not too exact. I don't use measuring spoons all the time, but this is a time to use one. Too much salt will wreck a brine and too little will leave it too sweet. Add 2 Tbsp per quart of water, so here add 8 Tbsp of Kosher salt. Don't use table salt. It's too fine and will make it too salty. Use the Kosher salt.

Add to the salt water one cup of firmly packed brown sugar.

Use some fresh herbs, but not all of them I used about half of this package.
There's really no need to chop these up just throw them in the water.

Chop two onions in half, and quarter three apples.

I know it sounds goofy, but trust me. About 1 tsp. cinnamon. It adds an awesome aromatic.

Add about 1 tsp. of crushed red pepper.

This is the pre-minced garlic in a jar. Some people hate this stuff but I love it. It's potent, easy to use, and cheap. If you'd rather peel and chop it yourself then go for it, but I like this stuff. Throw in about 3 Tbs.

Look Good? Not really I know. Its like a cauldron of weirdness... but trust me its going to be good.

Put it on the stove and boil it for an hour. Remove from heat and smell the awesomeness... let it cool down and refrigerate over night.

Let it rest in the fridge and forget about it until the next day.

Day Two.

Saturday. The second day is definitely the easiest.

Cold brine, taste it now if you want before you get the chicken in there.

Open up your chickens and yank the bag of giblets out of the cavity. Rinse them off and put them in the pot O'Brine.

There's three of them in there. Put the lid back on and put them in the fridge again and forget about them until the next day.

Day Three.

I didn't get too crazy with the veggies. In fact I bought what was colorful and on sale.

Yellow squash, zucchini, red/yellow/orange bell peppers and green beans.

Chop them all up.

Throw them in a bowl and cover with your favorite Italian dressing and let them sit until you need them.

Of course I invited some friends over to enjoy this feast with me. Brandt came over a little early to help out. It was great to have the hand so I could shoot photos.

We tied the chickens at the legs and wings so they would rest easy on a beer can. Now that the birds are out of the brine and tied up, take the brine and discard of properly. Remember it had raw chicken in it and could host food born illness.

Now for the beer. Drink half, or pour it out if you'd rather. I added half the remaining herbs used in the brine, chopped this time so they'd fit. I also put about a half tsp. of the minced garlic in there too.

We manufactured a little too. Only had two can racks, so we made one.

Time to bub down the outside. First lightly bastes with oil. This will help with the browning process. Then rub down the outside with your desired spices.

We used this and the rest of the chopped herbs.

One ready...

All ready and into the oven. Originally I planned to do this on the grill. They wouldn't fit on my grill. So into the oven they went, at 325 degrees. I probed the largest breasted one with the probe thermometer. I love that tool. It has a heat proof cord, you never have to open the oven until its done, which reduces cook time. Now leave the birds alone for a bit and work on the rest of the meal.

Taters. Start with a half of minced onion.

Peel and chop your spuds...

Add some of that minced garlic.

Cover with water and heat to a boil. Cook until soft.

Meanwhile keep an eye on your temp. I know poultry is supposed to be 165 degrees, but pull these at 160.

Looking good! Remember, food will continue to cook, even after OUT OF THE OVEN. That's why I take them out at 160 and wrap in a foil tent. Let it rest for 15 minutes before cutting. This is a MUST with all

roasted meats.

Finish up everything else while the chicken is resting.

Drain and mash potatoes. Add to them bacon crumbles, sour cream and some butter.

This is just Stove Top from a box, easy. Delicious. For the veggies, heat up the pan and flash fry all veggies in the Italian dressing just until tender but with a snap. Don't over cook unless you like baby food.

Now carve up the chicken.

Plate up all the deliciousness and ENJOY!

Whatever chicken isn't eaten SAVE. Save also all the drippings, and the the leftover bones or "carcass" from the carved birds. Out of all this we will make soup. Thats the next blog so stay tuned...