Warm your home & your family with this easy meal

Roasted Chicken with Veggies

1 whole chicken (3-3 1/2 lbs.)
1 Tblsp. oil
1/8 tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper
6 medium carrots, cut into 1-inch pieces
4 celery ribs, cut into 1-inch pieces
3 medium baking potatoes, cut into 1 1/2 inch pieces
2 medium onions, cut into wedges
2 Tblsp. butter, melted
4 tsp. minced fresh thyme or 1 tsp. dried thyme

Place chicken, breast side up, in a shallow roasting pan. Rub with oil; sprinkle with salt and pepper. Bake, uncovered, at 375 degrees for 45 min.

Arrange the carrots, celery, potatoes and onions around chicken. Combine butter and thyme; drizzle over chicken and vegetables. Cover and bake 45-60 minutes longer or until a meat thermometer reads 180 degrees and vegetables are tender.

Yield: 6 servings

We all enjoy this meal. The chicken is incredibly tender and tasty. I add more butter and thyme to the recipe than it calls for.

I'm looking for a good seafood dish for Christmas if anyone has one they enjoy.

Polenta anyone?

I'm finally aknowledging that Joseph is ready to eat real food. So now, at long last, I have to start cooking on a regular basis. Last week I made a pot roast and served it with Polenta on the side instead of a potato or pasta. Joseph wasn't so much into the meat...but loved the polenta and veggies. I loved the polenta too; and it is sooo easy! If you are a looking for an alternative to potatoes yet still want a real comfort food, try this:

Use a 1:4 ratio of polenta (cornmeal) to liquid. (I used 1 cup of polenta and 4 cups of liquid and Joseph and I had enough to eat for a week. Double this if you are cooking for crowd.) The liquid can be milk, water, or stock. Usually I use 1/2 chicken stock and 1/2 milk. I think the milk makes it a little creamier and I just always have chicken stock in the freezer so I use it. This time I used beef stock since I had an open box from cooking the roast. It added a great flavor. Divide the liquid into two parts. Heat 1/2 of the liquid to boiling and add ~1/2 Tbs salt (if desired...I forgot the salt and it was still yummy.) Mix the cornmeal and the other 1/2 of the liquid (unheated) together. Pour the cornmeal mixture in the the boiling liquid, stirring constantly until the mixture comes together. (you really will be able to tell when it "comes together", it takes a minute or two, but suddenly it will become a single thick liquid. When it comes together, stop stirring and simmer on low heat for ~30 minutes, until thick and creamy. At this point you can add butter and cheese if you like. The recipe I had used 6 TBS butter and 1/2 cup blue cheese, though I didn't do either of these and Joseph and I liked it just fine. Serve hot immediately.

You can spread leftovers on to a lined sheet pan or shallow dish and store in fridge. The next day you could cut the polenta into small squares and saute them, or just heat it up and stir it together if you prefer soft polenta leftovers.

I think this will become a staple at our house. It is easy and so, so yummy. Just buy the basic Quaker yellow cornmeal in a blue container, don't spend extra money on products labeled "polenta." It is all the same stuff.

Okay girls...I'm cooking now. So maybe I'll be more active on this blog. I'll be looking for kid friendly (and Alex friendly: cheese free) ideas. Someone gave me the cookbook Deceptively Delicious. That cookbook uses a lot of vegetable purees hidden in kid friendly foods so you can get an extra nutrition boost with your meals. Good for kids who don't eat veggies. Some of the recipes looked good, so I now have butternut squash, summer squash and zucchini purees in my freezer. Tomorrow I hope to add carrot and cauliflour purees to my stash. I'll let you know how that goes...