Citrus and Herb Roast Chicken

 

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This was so amazing! Perfectly seasoned and juicy – and not at all coconutty! I will make this again and again – even my daughter who practically drinks ketchup, said it was good without it! That’s a win in my book. I served this with steamed carrots and green beans, seasoned with salt, pepper and my fave Kerrygold butter. Thanks for reading, enjoy!

Citrus and Herb Roasted Chicken – adapted from Practical Paleo

  • 1 – 3 to 4 pound whole chicken, rinsed and dried
  • 1 tbsp chopped fresh rosemary
  • Zest of one orange
  • Half that orange, sliced into fourths
  • One small onion, quartered
  • 4-6 cloves garlic, smashed
  • 2 tsp kosher salt
  • 2 tbsp coconut oil, melted (*or butter or bacon grease*)
  • Fresh cracked pepper
  • Kitchen string for trussing
  • Half sheet pan
  • Foil

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

Remove and gizzards or organs from inside the chicken. Stuff the chicken with the onions, garlic, and the citrus, truss the chicken if desired. Brush the chicken with melted coconut oil, and sprinkle it with the chopped rosemary, kosher salt, orange zest, and black pepper, and roast about 55-65 minutes or until the internal temperature reaches 160-165 degrees. Cooking time depends on the size of the bird but is approximately 20 minutes per pound.

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Cookies & Cream Muddy Buddies

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The best thing I heard someone say about these last night was: “I can tell without even trying them; they’re good!” And they are, and completely addicting…it’s a good thing that I made them for a big group of people and not for my family of four! The recipe that I found suggested the candy melts, but I didn’t have them. Recently, I found a tip  for melting chocolate with a little bit of coconut oil to replace those, and it worked so well I decided to use the method again. The white chocolate didn’t want to melt as smoothly as the semi-sweet kind, so I just kept adding coconut oil by the teaspoon, and melting the mixture slowly until it became the right consistency. I forgot to add more chopped Oreos to the mix, but these were still so good. Next time I will not skip that step 😉 Thanks for reading, enjoy!

Cookies and Cream Muddy Buddies – adapted from Your Cup of Cake

“Cream”

  • 5 cups Rice Chex cereal
  • 1 cup white chocolate chips
  • 8 Oreos finely crushed
  • 1/2 cup powdered sugar
  • 1 tsp – 3 tsp coconut oil

“Cookies”

  • 5 cups Rice Chex cereal
  • 1 cup semi sweet chocolate chips
  • 8 Oreos finely crushed
  • 1/2 cup powdered sugar
  • 1 tsp coconut oil

Directions –

1. “Cream”- Measure out the rice Chex and place in a large bowl. Measure out powdered sugar and crushed Oreos and place in a container with a lid (You’ll need to shake the mixture in this later).

2. Melt white chocolate with the coconut oil, be careful not to burn it! (My microwave has a melt setting that I use) Pour melted chocolate over rice cereal and stir until coated. Transfer the coated cereal to the container with the powdered sugar and cookies. Shake until evenly coated. Dump the mixture on to a cookie sheet to cool.

3. Repeat steps 1 and 2 using the “Cookies” ingredients. Once cooled, mix the two batches together and fold in more chopped Oreos (I skipped this step – oops!)

Slightly-Less-Bad-For-You-Chocolate Chip Cookies

I recently bought some whole wheat pastry flour because I wanted to try some healthier baked goods without using regular wheat flour. Whole wheat pastry flour has less protein than traditional whole wheat flour so it’s well suited for cookies, cakes, quick breads and pancakes. Using this will result in a more tender and fluffy product. I’m wondering if my family will notice and objectionable difference than my usual AP flour and butter cookies.

Verdict: The kids and I even enjoyed the subtle coconut flavor or the raw cookie dough. These smell faintly of the coconut oil and taste a little like it too. These are pretty tasty, not too sweet and not too wheaty. The wheat pastry flour is slightly nutty and chewy but not unpleasant in our opinion at all. Even my health-food-hating husband liked the flavor of these and was surprised at how good they are – not bad at all for an unconventional chocolate chip cookie. Score one more for mom! Thanks for reading, enjoy!

Crispy Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookie – adapted from Stedded

  • 1 1/2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1/3 cup coconut oil
  • 3/4 cup brown sugar
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • 1 egg
  • 1 cup milk chocolate chips
Directions: 

Preheat oven to 375.
Mix together flour, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl and set aside.
In a large bowl whisk together coconut oil and sugar, then beat in egg and vanilla. Add flour mixture. Stir in chocolate chips. If dough is looking too runny, add a little more flour until it resembles standard cookie dough.
Drop by spoonfuls onto cookie sheets and bake approximately 10 minutes. They spread a lot, so be careful to not put the cookies too close together on the pan.