Roasted Greek Chicken & Potatoes

This dish is wonderful enough to serve double duty as an easy weeknight dinner or as a special holiday dinner.

The chicken stays juicy, while the potatoes roast up crispy on the outside and soft on the inside.

Roasted Greek Chicken & Potatoes

I didn't measure any specific amounts for this recipe.
It can be made in small or large amounts, depending
on the number of people you are feeding.

thawed chicken pieces - I baked 8 leg & thigh pieces
red potatoes, cubed small - I used 8 medium potatoes
olive oil
lemon juice
Greek seasoning
minced garlic
oregano
lemon pepper seasoning (no salt added)

Use a roasting pan big enough to hold both the chicken and the potatoes.

Rinse and pat dry the chicken pieces. Lay the chicken flat in one side of the pan, skin side up.

Cube potatoes (I left the skins on) and lay opposite of the chicken in the other side of the roasting pan.

Drizzle the olive oil over the chicken and potatoes and then sprinkle both with lemon juice.

Sprinkle approx. 2 tbsp. greek seasoning and lemon pepper on top of the chicken and potatoes.

Sprinkle approx. 1 tbsp. oregano and minced garlic over top of both.

Stir the potatoes, making sure they're coated with the oil, lemon and herbs.

Preheat oven to 450*

Bake chicken and potatoes for 20 minutes.

Lower oven to 375*

Continue baking for 1 - 1 1/2 hrs longer, checking after 1 hour to see if the juice in the chicken are clear.

Once chicken is done roasting, remove it to a plate and keep warm.

Spread the potatoes out in a single layer in the pan. Stick the pan under the broiler for 3 -5 minutes or until the potatoes have browned a little bit.

Serve immediately.

Leftover chicken is delicious as chicken salad or on a sandwich. Leftover potatoes are great fried the next day.

Meatloaf and Mashed Potatoes

Nothing screams comfort food like these two items. Everyone seems to have their favorite recipe for each of them. I'm sharing mine tonight.

Meatloaf #2

I made a variant of this recipe.

2 lbs ground meat
1 c. plain bread crumbs
1/2 c. Parmesan cheese
2 eggs
1/3 c. ketchup
2 tbsp. Worcestershire sauce

Bake at 375* for 45 minutes or until no longer pink in the middle.

Mashed Potatoes

3 lbs. Idaho potatoes, peeled and cut into small cubes

Place potatoes in a large pot. Cover with cold water and bring to a rolling boil. Cook over medium high heat for 8-12 minutes or until fork tender. Drain well. Return potatoes to pot. Add 2 tbsp. butter and 1/2 c. chicken broth. I like to use my hand-held mixer to "mash" the potatoes. Cover to keep warm until ready to eat.

Serve with brown gravy and green beans!

Grilled Teriyaki Chicken & Lazy Man's Pierogies

We're feeling Steelers Fever around here! To bring part of Pittsburgh to our dinner table, I created a shortcut to the beloved pierogi - a lazy man's pierogie casserole. It contains all of the ingredients that potato and cheese pierogies hold--potatoes, dumplings (lasagna noodles), cheddar cheese, fried onions in butter. YUM!

I have to warn you, though....if you are on a diet, I cannot be held responsible if you fall off the wagon after seeing these pictures and reading the recipe!

I also tried a new recipe for teriyaki chicken. The teriyaki marinade and dipping sauce are a nice combo of sweet and spicy. I found the recipe in an old recipe book called "Woman's Circle Treasured Recipes". This one is definitely a keeper.

Lazy Man's Pierogie Casserole

What you need: 

1 box of lasagna noodles - cooked al dente, and cooled
7 medium to large Idaho potatoes - peeled and diced small
1/2 - 1 C. warm milk
1/4 C. sour cream
1 1/2 C. grated sharp cheddar cheese
2 tsp garlic powder
salt - to taste
black pepper - to taste
1 stick of butter
2 medium onions - peeled, sliced thin
1 C. grated sharp cheddar cheese

Instructions: 

Preheat over to 350*

Cook lasagna noodles, rinse well and set aside to cool.

Peel potatoes. Dice into small pieces. Add potatoes to a pot and cover with cold water. Cover pot with a lid and place on stove to cook over medium-high heat. Cook until the potatoes are fork tender.

While the potatoes are cooking, melt the stick of butter in a frying pan. Separate onion rings and add to pan. Cook onions until they are soft and start browning. Remove from heat and set aside.



Drain potatoes, add to a large mixing bowl. Add in sour cream and 1/2 C. warm milk. Use a hand mixer to beat everything together. Add the remaining 1/2 C. of warm milk as needed to cream potatoes.

Stir in 1 1/2 C. cheddar cheese, garlic powder, salt and pepper.

To Assemble:

Spoon some of the melted butter from the onions into the bottom of a 9 x 13 casserole dish. Spread the butter around to cover the bottom of the pan.

Use 4 lasagna noodles to cover the bottom of the pan.

Cover the noodles with mashed potatoes, using half of the potatoes.

Spread 1/3 of the onions and butter on top of the mashed potatoes.



Continue with another layer of noodles, potatoes and onions.

Top the casserole with a final layer of noodles. Spread the remaining 1/3 onions over top.

Sprinkle 1 C. cheddar cheese over the top.

Cover the dish with foil. Bake for 30 minutes covered. Remove foil and continue to bake for another 15 - 20 minutes.

Remove from oven and allow to cool for 10 minutes for easier cutting.

**Optional**  Serve with gravy or sour cream if desired.

**Extra**  You can easily add a layer of well-drained canned sauerkraut to the middle of the casserole if you like the potato/sauerkraut pierogies.




Grilled Boneless Teriyaki Chicken Breasts

2 1/2 lb boneless chicken breasts, thawed if frozen

For marinade:
1/2 C. lemon juice
1/3 C. vegetable oil
1/2 tsp. pepper
1/3 C. soy sauce
1/4 C. chili sauce - I used Thai Sweet Chili Sauce
1/2 tsp garlic powder

Instructions:

Combine all ingredients, including chicken. Refrigerate from 4 hours to overnight. I recommend marinating it overnight for a stronger flavor.

Remove chicken from marinade and grill as usual. Discard any leftover marinade.

For dipping sauce:
1/3 C. Sweet Baby Ray's bbq sauce
1/4 C. Thai Sweet Chili Sauce
1 -2 TBSP soy sauce

Instructions:

Stir everything together. Microwave to warm up. Adjust ingredients to taste - I would rate this sauce as medium hot. Add more bbq sauce for less heat--more chili sauce for more heat.



Enjoy!

Crockpot Scalloped Potatoes & Ham

I love being able to throw dinner into the crockpot and walk away from it! The problem I find a lot with this method is that many meals turn out tasting the same way no matter what you do to switch thing up a bit.

Tonight's dinner wasn't like that. It was scalloped potatoes and ham in the crockpot. Even my husband said that this meal brought back nice memories of meals when he was growing up.


Crockpot Scalloped Potatoes and Ham

Ham - I used about 1 lb of deli ham
8-10 medium potatoes, peeled and thinly sliced
2 onions, diced- forgot to add them!
2 cups grated cheddar cheese
1 can cream of mushroom soup

Peel potatoes and dice up the ham.

Layer half of the potatoes, ham and onions into the crockpot. Top with half of the cheese.
Repeat for a second layer. Spoon the soup on top of the cheese on the second layer.

Cover and cook on high for 4 hours or on low for 7-8 hours.

I found this recipe on a blog called The Coupon "High". Check it out if you get the chance. It's a great blog. She does a break down for the cost of this meal.

I followed her recipe but I forgot to add the onion. I was also going to add canned mushrooms to it but I forgot them, too. (trying to do too many things at once.) The meal was still really good even without those ingredients. The next time I make this (yep, I will definitely make this again!), I will use ham steak instead of deli ham for a better texture.


I had planned on baking apple dumplings today but I ran out of time this evening because I had to hunt down a work coat that we ordered for my husband. After finding the order, someone on their end sent the wrong size inner coat (2 coats in one) so I had to call 2 times to straighten things out but since I called after hours, I was on hold for long periods of time. So... no dumplings.

Hopefully I'll get them made tomorrow. I'm still not sure what I am going to do for a BD cake for my son. It will be a spur of the moment decision. Tween emotions and hormones are definitely flying around here! UGH!! Calgon take me away!



Adding this one to Crock Pot Wednesdays! Take a few minutes to check out tons of other crockpot recipes over there!

Greek Potatoes

I think that we are all finally back to normal after dealing with a strong case of the stomach flu. Everyone seems to have their appetites back, too.

My son is getting to be quite the helper in the kitchen. I don't mind the help at all. He's even learning to clean up the messes that he makes when he's cooking. ;)

Tonight's dinner, Greek Souvlaki, has become a family favorite. I wanted some form of potatoes to go with the pork so I came up with an easy roasted potato dish with Greek seasonings. This dish turned out lightly seasoned by using the amounts in the recipe below. If you are looking for a stronger taste, double the seasonings but not the lemon juice. IMO, you need the sugar to cut the tartness of the lemon juice. The potatoes were crispy on the outside and soft on the inside -very tasty. My "potato-hating" children complained quite a bit before trying the potatoes but in the end they actually said that it wasn't so bad after all.


Greek Potatoes

10 red potatoes, cubed into medium-sized pieces
1/3 C. olive oil
1/4 C. lemon juice
2 tsp. sugar
1 TBSP no salt Greek seasoning
1TBSP no salt lemon pepper seasoning
1 tsp salt (can add more to taste)
1 tsp oregano

Lightly spray the bottom of a large baking dish with cooking spray. Cover the bottom of the baking dish with parchment paper.

Wash & cube potatoes and set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk together all of the remaining ingredients. Dump the potatoes into the olive oil mixture and toss to coat.

Pour the potatoes into the baking dish and cover with foil.

Bake at 350* for 30 - 4o minutes. Remove foil and stir potatoes. Bake at 400* for another 30 - 4o minutes or until desired crispiness.

I served corn on the cob to round out the meal. :)