Vertical Roasted Chicken

One of our favorite meals this time of year is to have roasted chicken with roasted vegetables. Using a can to stand the chicken upright is a great way to get the chicken to roast evenly on all sides and the can helps the inside of the chicken cook more evenly as well. We used our tajine as the base to put all of the vegetables, allowing the drippings from the chicken to coat the vegetables, which makes them even more favorable. It is certainly the type of meal that can be found almost anywhere that you travel as there are so many different ways that chicken and vegetables can be roasted together. You can choose whatever type of root vegetables are in season, but be sure to keep them all about the same size.

Vertical Chicken with Roasted Vegetables

INGREDIENTS

  • 1 whole Roasting Chicken
  • 10 small Red Potatoes
  • 14 Baby Carrots – multicolored
  • 12 Brussel Sprouts
  • 1/2 Red Onion – cut into chunks
  • 4 tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
  • 1 tbsp Dried Rosemary – roughly chopped
  • 1 tbsp Dried Thyme
  • 2 tsp Powdered Garlic
  • Salt and Pepper to taste
Vegetables in the Tajine

INSTRUCTIONS

Coat the vegetables with 2 tablespoons of olive oil, 1 teaspoon of garlic powder, salt and pepper, and place them in the base to the tajine (or a shallow baking dish). Coat all sides of the chicken with the remaining olive oil, garlic powder, rosemary, thyme, and salt and pepper. Place a can that is large enough to support the chicken, and that has been washed and dried, inside of the chicken cavity, placing the closed side of the can towards the top of the chicken. Put the can with the chicken in the center of the tajine, surrounding it with the vegetables. Place the chicken and vegetables into the lower rack of an oven that has been preheated to 350 degrees and roast for 15 minutes per pound. Remove from the oven and let rest for 20 minutes. Carve the chicken and serve with the roasted vegetables.

Seasoned Chicken
Finished Plate

 

Pumpkin Cookies – A Taste of Autumn

One of our favorite treats for this time of year is pumpkin cookies. They are incredibly delicious as well as easy to make. Unlike a lot of cookies that are dense or hard, these are almost cake-like in texture. We haven’t found anything similar during our travels, so we consider this to be very unique to our family. Because we are not big sweet eaters, we generally share these with all of our friends who are extremely appreciative. We typically double this batch in order to use the full can of pumpkin pie mix, but that makes about six dozen cookies instead the usual three dozen that the recipe makes. They are a traditional drop cookie, so the size of the cookie is completely up to you, but we find that about a heaping tablespoon works best.

Fresh Out of the Oven

INGREDIENTS

  • 1 1/2 cups Pumpkin Pie Mix (canned or you can make your own)
  • 1/2 cup Vegetable Oil
  • 1 cup Granulated Sugar
  • 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
  • 2 cups Flour
  • 1 tsp Baking Powder
  • 1 tsp Baking Soda
  • 1 tsp Ground Cinnamon
  • 1 cup Butterscotch Chips
Combine the Ingredients

INSTRUCTIONS

Mix all of the ingredients together ensuring that the flour is completely incorporated.  Using a teaspoon or a small ice cream scoop, spoon out the cookie dough onto a cookie sheet covered with parchment paper.  Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.  Bake the cookies on a center rack for 12 to 15 minutes.  Remove from the oven and let them cool for a couple of minutes before transferring them to a rack to completely cool. Depending upon the size of the cookies you make, the recipe makes about three dozen cookies.

Traditional Drop Cookie Method
Bake on a Center Rack
Moist and Delicious

 

Hearty Stew

No matter where you travel, you will likely find a local variation on a hearty stew with a mix of meat and vegetables. Stews are basically the same as soups where the solid ingredients outweigh the broth. One of the nice things about stews is that they are very economical as stewing meats are inexpensive and the meat and vegetables can be substituted for whatever is in season at the time. This meal uses ground beef as its base, but it would be equally delicious with beef, pork, or lamb chunks or you can leave out the meat completely to make it vegetarian. This particular stew is meant to be a little bit lighter, but if you wanted to make it even heartier, you could use beef stock and a thickener to create an almost gravy-like consistency. It is one of our Autumn, “go-to”, meals and we always enjoy it.

Beef Stew in Germany

INGREDIENTS

  • 1 lb Lean Ground Beef (or any other stew meat)
  • 1 tbsp Vegetable Oil
  • 2 cups of Baby Carrots – quartered
  • 3 Medium Potatoes – cubed
  • 2 cups Green Beans – cut into 1 inch pieces
  • 1 cup Frozen Corn Kernels
  • 1/2 Small Onion – diced
  • 1 Stalk Celery – diced
  • 3 Small Bay Leaves
  • 1 tsp Garlic Powder
  • 1/2 tsp Dried Rosemary
  • 1/2 tsp Dried Thyme
  • 1 tbsp Worcestershire Sauce
  • 5 cups Water (may need to be adjusted)
  • Salt and Pepper to taste
One Pot Wonder

INSTRUCTIONS

Heat a large pot over medium-high heat with vegetable oil.  Add the ground beef and start to brown.  Add the celery and onion when the beef is halfway browned.  Add water and bring to a simmer.  Add remaining vegetables and seasonings, simmer until the vegetables are fork tender (approximately 45 minutes).  Serve with your favorite fresh bread and butter.

Ground Beef, Onion, and Celery
Simmer the Vegetables
A Complete Meal in a Bowl