Roast Chicken with Potatoes, Lemon, and Asparagus

From MarthaStewart.com

I made this for dinner tonight and it was really good.  I didn't have a whole chicken so I used chicken breast tenders and it worked well.

Serves 4
• 1 1/2 pounds new potatoes, halved
• 3 tablespoons butter, cut into small pieces
• Coarse salt and ground pepper
• 1 package cut-up whole chicken (about 3 pounds)
• 1 bunch asparagus (1 pound), trimmed and cut into 2-inch pieces
• 1 lemon, cut into 8 wedges
• 6 sprigs fresh thyme

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 475 degrees. Place potatoes and half the butter in a roasting pan; season with salt and pepper. Roast, tossing once, until potatoes are golden, 20 to 25 minutes.

2. Place chicken, skin side up, on top of potatoes; season with salt and pepper. Roast until chicken begins to brown, about 20 minutes.

3. Scatter asparagus, lemon, remaining butter, and thyme around chicken. Roast until asparagus is tender and chicken is opaque throughout, 5 to 15 minutes. Serve chicken, vegetables, and lemon drizzled with pan juices.

Pecan - Blue Cheese Chopped Salad

This is close to the salad served at Outback.  Yumm-O!

4 cups chopped iceberg lettuce
2 cups chopped romaine lettuce
⅓ cup chopped green onion
¼ cup shredded carrot
Cinnamon pecans (recipe below)
1 bottle Blue Cheese Vinagrette
Crunchy angel hair pasta (recipe below)
¼ cup crumbled bleu cheese

Mix together and serve!

Cinnamon Pecans
• 3 tablespoons granulated sugar
• 1 tablespoon water
• 1 teaspoon butter
• ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
• dash salt
• ½ cup chopped pecans

Make cinnamon pecans by combining sugar, water, butter, cinnamon and salt in a small pan over medium heat. When mixture begins to bubble, add pecans. Stir constantly until liquid evaporates and sugar begins to crystallize on the nuts. Don’t allow the nuts to smoke or burn. When sugar is crystallized on the nuts, pour them out onto a plate to cool.

Crunchy Angel Hair Pasta
24 pieces of uncooked angel hair pasta
1 cup vegetable oil

To make the crunchy angel hair pasta, bring several cups of water to a boil in a large saucepan. Break pasta into quarters and boil for two minutes, then strain and rinse with cold water. Bring 1 cup of oil to 325 degrees F.

Fry the pasta in several batches in the oil for 1 minute or until light brown. Drain on paper towels. When the fried pasta is cool, break it into smaller, bite-size pieces.

Broccoli & Gruyere Gratin

2 large bunches broccoli, roughly chopped

1/2 stick butter

1/4 cup flour

2 cups whole milk

2 cups grated Gruyere

S&P

Heat oven to 375. Steam broccoli until just tender. Melt butter in saucepan over medium heat. Add flour and cook (stirring) for 2 minutes. Whisk in milk and simmer until slightly thickened, 3-4 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in 1 cup of cheese, 1/2 tsp. salt and 1/4 tsp. pepper. Toss in broccoli. Transfer to shallow 3-quart baking dish and sprinkle with remaining cheese. Bake until bubbling, 35-40 minutes. Let sit 10 minutes before serving.

Grilled Pork Chops w/ Tomatoes and Garlic

*if you don't like tomatoes, other veggies could easily be substituted

1/2 stick butter - room temperature

1 clove finely chopped garlic

1 tsp. thyme

4 (1" thick) pork chops

2 lbs. cherry tomatoes

Combine butter, thyme, garlic - set aside. Season chops with S&P and grill. Divide tomatoes (or veggies) into 2 foil packets, season with S&P, and grill 8 minutes. Top chops with tomatoes and garlic butter to serve. Mashed potatoes or a side of pasta is great with this! Serves 4

Parmesan Potatoes

Chop potatoes into bite-size cubes, put in a large ziploc with some olive oil, enough to lightly coat.

In a separate bowl, mix 1 cup flour with 3 Tablespoons Cavenders seasoning and 1 cup shredded parmesan cheese. Pour over potatoes in Ziploc, shake to mix together.

Cut one stick of butter into small slices, coat the bottom of a glass 9x13 pan. Bake at 375 for about 45 minutes or until soft. Stir occasionally.

Lemon Poppy Seed Scones

This may be courtesy of Southern Living. For me, its courtesy of my mom. Best served soon after baking.

2 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
¼ tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
2 Tbl sugar
1/3 cup butter, cut up
½ cup buttermilk
1 egg, beaten
2 tsp grated lemon rind
1 tsp poppy seeds

Icing:
1 ½ Tbl fresh lemon juice
1 cup powdered sugar, sifted

Preheat oven to 425.
Combine first five ingredients; cut in butter with pastry blender until crumbly.
Add lemon rind and poppy seeds.
Add buttermilk and egg; stirring until just moistened.
Turn dough onto a lightly floured surface. Knead 5 times.
Divide dough in half; roll or pat each portion into a 6” circle.
Cut each circle into 8 wedges and place 1 inch apart on lightly greased baking sheets.
Bake at 425 degrees for 12 to 15 minutes or until golden.

Combine lemon juice and powdered sugar, and drizzle over warm scones.

Buffalo Chicken Cheese Dip

3 boneless skinless chicken breast
1 jar (15 oz) Marzetti's blue cheese or ranch
1/4 cup buffalo wing sauce
1 8-oz.pkg. cream cheese softened
Tabasco sauce (optional)

Boil chicken until tender, cool, then shred or chop finely. Mix together dressing and Buffalo sauce. Add Tabasco sauce to fire it up to your desire. Spread cream cheese in a 9x13 baking dish. Mix chicken into dressing mix. Then pour chicken mixture over cream cheese evenly. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes. Let cool and serve with tortilla chips.

Yum!