The Roastess with the Mostest

This is my FAVOURITE roasted chicken recipe and it comes from my FAVOURITE cookbook, Eat, Shrink & Be Merry!  The lemon-herb paste is rubbed under the skin so you get lots of flavour right on the meat.

Lemon and herb roasted whole chicken

1 whole roasting chicken (about 4lbs/1.8kg)
1 tbsp Dijon Mustard
1 tbsp brown sugar
1 tbsp minced fresh rosemary/or 1tsp dried
1 tbsp minced fresh thyme/ or 1tsp dried
1 tsp minced garlic
1 tsp olive oil
1/2 tsp each salt and freshly ground black pepper
Grated zest and juice of half a lemon

Move oven rack to bottom third of oven.  Preheat oven to 425 deg. F.  Place a small rack inside a roasting pan.  Pour 1 cup water in pan.  Rinse chicken inside and out, and pat dry with paper towels. 

In a small bowl, mix together mustard, brown sugar, rosemary, thyme, garlic, oil, salt, and pepper to make a paste.  Add lemon zest and mix again.  Set aside.

Squeeze juice from lemon inside cavity of chicken, then tuck the used lemon half right inside it.  Tie legs together with kitchen string.  Rub reserved paste over surface of chicken and, using your fingers, carefully rub paste between skin and meat on breast and thighs. 

Place chicken on rack breast-side down.  Roast, uncovered, for 30 minutes.  Remove chicken from oven and flip over.  Add a bit more water to pan if it has evaporated.  Return to oven and roast for 35 to 40 more minutes, depending on size of bird.  If chicken browns too quickly, cover it loosely with foil.  When cooked, legs should move easily in sockets and thigh juices should be clear (not pink) when pierced with a small knife.  A meat thermometer inserted in thigh (away from bone) should read 170 deg. F.

Remove chicken from oven and let rest for 10 minutes before carving. 

Makes 4 servings

(Eat, Shrink & Be Merry : great-tasting food that won't go from your lips to your hips! / Janet and Greta Podleski, copyright 2005, isbn: 0968063136, pg. 83)

**5 weightwatchers points per serving

Recipe Websites I LOVE!!

Looking for low-fat/low-calorie but extremely tasty recipes?  Check out the links below!! 

http://www.eatshrinkandbemerry.com/

 

http://www.laaloosh.com/

"The Benefit of the Dough"

Quick-rising, whole wheat and ground flax pizza dough.  We topped OUR pizza with turkey pepperoni, red pepper, parmesan and light mozzarella cheese

1 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 cup whole wheat flour

2 tbsp flax meal or ground flaxseed

1 envelope (8g or 2 1/4 tsp) Fleishmann's quick-rising yeast

1/2 tsp salt

2/3 cup very warm water

2 tsp olive oil

2 tsp liquid honey

Olive oil cooking spray

1 tbsp cornmeal

In a medium bowl, combine both flours, flax meal, yeast, and salt.  Mix well.

Measure warm water in measuring cup, then stir in olive oil and honey.  Pour mixture over dry ingredients and mix using a wooden spoon to form a ball.  Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface.  Knead for 2 minutes.  Spray another medium bowl with olive oil spray and place dough inside.  Cover with plastic wrap.  Let rise in a warm place until double in size, about 20 minutes.  Meanwhile, spray a 12-inch pizza pan with olive oil spray and dust with cornmeal.

When dough has risen, turn out onto a lightly floured surface and, using a rolling pin, roll dough into a 12-inch circle.  Transfer dough to prepared pizza pan.  You can top it with your favorite toppings at this point and bake in a 425 degree F oven for about 15 min.  Or, prick crust in several places with a fork and bake untopped for 6 minutes.  Remove crust from oven, top with your favorite sauce and toppings, then slide pizza directly onto middle oven rack and bake for an additional 8 to 10 minutes.

Makes 1 12-inch pizza crust

2 WeightWatchers Points per serving (1/8 crust)-calories: 122/total fat: 2.8 g/saturated fat: 0.3 g/protein: 4 g/carbohydrate: 21 g/fiber: 2.6 g/cholesterol: 0 mg/sodium: 148 mg

(Eat, Shrink & Be Merry: great-tasting food that won't go from your lips to your hips! / Janet & Greta Podleski, 2005. ISBN: 0968063136. pg. 181)

And so my Journey Begins...again

I'm tired...I'm tired of being tired, of feeling weak, of not having energy.  I'm tired of not feeling like I'm in control.  Today is the beginning of a lifestyle change, today I made the decision that I CAN lose weight and I WILL gain control of my eating. 

As far back as I can remember I've had weight issues, funny thing is I was never medically considered "overweight" until I was in my 20s.  I grew up as a average-weight, physically fit, healthy child, yet when I looked in the mirror I felt fat.  I have a very distinct and hurtful memory of an incident in elementary school when a classmate commented on the size of my butt, funny thing is, this particular classmate weighed at least 10lbs more than me.  I realize now that she was just a bully and probably had even lower self-esteem than I did and "bullying" somehow made her feel better about herself. 

Throughout my life I've used food as comfort, I became an emotional eater, I ate when I was happy, sad, bored, it became a lifestyle.  That unhealthy lifestyle eventually caught up to me in my mid 20s, funny thing is I was over eating because I was happy at this point.  My husband and I met when we were 20, we fell in love and happiness and settling into a comfort zone ended up contributing to my weight gain..not to mention nights out drinking at the bar and dates out to fabulous restaurants:)

I always wished I could run, I have exercise-induced asthma and never enjoyed running in school, I struggled just to complete the "kilometer run"!  About 5 years ago I signed my husband and I up for a "Learn to Run" clinic in our neighbourhood, it was AMAZING, by using the Run/Walk method I learned to run, and it felt great!  I ended up completing a few races, 4km, 8km, and finally a 10km race and really began to enjoy fitness once again.  I joined a gym and started to exercise 3-4 times a week and lost about 10 lbs over the course of a year.  I was still not happy with my weight but I had proven to myself that I could succeed, I now had the courage to succeed, I was mentally prepared to succeed. 

I signed up for the WeightWatchers online program and over the next year lost 28 lbs!  It was the hardest thing I ever did, I exercised 4-5 times a week and had to completely change my lifestyle and my eating habits, luckily my husband was interested in becoming healthy as well so I had amazing support. 

It's now 4 years later, and 2 children later and it's time to gain back control of my life.  While pregnant I had to give up control of my body and as a mother I had to give up control of my schedule.  What I eat is one thing that I actually CAN control, no one else but me decides what goes in my mouth.  I signed up on WeightWatchers online this morning because I want to be strong, I want to have energy and I want to be happy & healthy.  And so my Journey Begins....