Greetings on this beautiful, snowy morning! Is anyone snowed-in, legitimately or otherwise? Richmond is notorious for shutting down at the first suggestion of flurries. I was thrilled this morning to see that my office is closed today; sure, we only have about two inches of snow, but I gladly rolled over and fell back asleep!
Yesterday was my day off, and I don’t know if it was the cold temperatures, anticipation of the snow, or procrastination of the cleaning projects I’d planned to do, but all I wanted to do was cook delicious food! And cook delicious food, I did. 🙂
First up was a batch of Raspberry Orange Muffins:
I started with this basic muffin recipe from 100 Days of Real Food, but used gluten-free flour rather than whole wheat. I used a cup of chopped, previously-frozen raspberries and mango-orange juice in place of the regular OJ. Delicious. They aren’t super sweet, but they are healthier than your average muffin. Each one of these guys contains roughly:
-150 calories
-5g fat
-3g protein
-2g fiber
-5.5g sugar
Not bad!
Next up was dinner, and I was feeling ambitious. For the first time in my life, I cooked a whole chicken. You culinary pros are probably thinking, Yeah, so?, and my vegetarian friends probably just closed out this window (sorry, guys :)), but this was a big deal! As someone who regularly reevaluates her stance on eating meat (you can expect a post about that in the near future), this was huge. Aaand it was delicious. I mean, seriously… how beautiful is this? :
I basically used this recipe from The Pioneer Woman. Inside the chicken I put a lemon (quartered) and about four cloves of garlic (crushed). After looking at a few other recipes I decided to cook it at 450 degrees for 15 minutes, then turn the oven down to 400 degrees. I took the chicken out of the oven after it had been on 400 for an hour just to check it, thinking it would need more time, and the internal temperature was slightly above where it was supposed to be, so I just let it rest!
With the chicken we had roasted beets, carrots, and red potatoes with rosemary
When Andrew came home from work, the chicken was in the oven, and I was prepping the veggies. He peeked in the oven, and was clearly surprised/impressed. Because we still had about an hour to go until everything would be ready, Andrew decided to go to the gym for a quick workout. When he walked back in the door, he was holding these:
Me: Flowers?? And wine?? What are these for?
Andrew: You made such a fancy dinner, and I wanted you to know that I appreciate it.
Me: I don’t know if it’s that fancy; I just felt like cooking!
Andrew:YOU COOKED A WHOLE CHICKEN! That’s FANCY!
Love that guy. 🙂
So we ate our fancy chicken and roasted vegetables, and we drank our fancy wine, and we watched our fancy show, The Biggest Loser. (Okay, I may be overreaching with my use of “fancy” ;-)).
Andrew’s taste-test of the chicken went something like this: “That’s good. Whoa. That’s like really good.” I must say, I was not at all disappointed by how it turned out either!
Now that we have enough food to last us a few days, I’m afraid I actually have to use this snow day to do some house-cleaning…after I go to the gym, perhaps. 🙂
-Any snow outside your window today?
–Have you ever cooked a whole chicken?
A Two Storey Home 
I used to HATE roast chicken! (Memories of eating one that had been cooked for 8 solid hours at 400 degrees every.single.Monday night have scarred me!) Google “engagement chicken”. It is delicious as well.
Hahaha, yes! I felt that way about it for a long time too. (“I’m just keeping it warm in the oven.” “Grandma, it’s still cooking…”) The one I made last night was not dry at all! I will have to check out the engagement chicken!
oh man can I have a snow day so I can make all the things!!! haha
Haha aren’t they the best?? I hope you get one soon!
I love roasted chicken. I was always afraid of roasting meat and then I bought the Deep Covered Baker (in Cranberry) from Pampered Chef. I can roast a chicken in 1 hour in the microwave with it and my whole family LOVES it. I use it in the oven mostly, but when on a time crunch and I need a healthy meal using the baker in the microwave is a great option (sorry food purists who I love a ton but I’m a cheater too). I’ve roasted pork tenderloin in it in only 40 minutes. Using it in the microwave is like a fast crock pot. I put all the ingredients in, cover it and voila! Your flowers are beautiful 🙂
Interesting! I’ve never heard of that. We don’t currently own a microwave (haha, I know.) but I’d be curious to try that when we finally get one!
Yay! Congrats on cooking a whole chicken (I’ve never done that before!) and that was so nice of Andrew to bring you flowers and wine for your fancy dinner. Made me smile. 🙂 Have a good snow day today… we only got about 1/2″ of snow from last night’s storm up here in PA so no snow day for us!
Haha, thanks! It was very sweet of Andrew. It always makes me laugh a little when we fall into such stereotypical gender roles–he brings me flowers, I have dinner ready when he comes home from work… 😀 Sorry you guys didn’t get much snow… Hopefully more is on the way!
Aw that was so sweet of your husband to get your flowers! Surprise flowers are the best! Your dinner looks delicious! Way to go on cooking a whole chicken! I cooked a whole chicken for the first time about a year ago, and I was nervous the first time. But after I did it became something I cooked quite often! It was great to have so much leftover chicken to do stuff with, and it’s way cheaper than buying individual chicken breasts!
Haha, it made me so nervous too! I think because it has to cook for such a long time I felt like there was potential to either way undercook or way overcook it, as opposed to a chicken breast that you can tell pretty easily if it’s done. I’m definitely going to cook them more often though… like you said, it’s definitely cheaper for the amount of food you get!
This is amazing! It makes me want to cook and experiment!
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