Hi friends! Thanks so much for the welcome back to blogging. I’m excited to get back at it! 
I hope that everyone had a wonderful New Year’s Eve and a great start to 2012. We kept it low key and went to bed before the ball dropped. Ha, how the times have changed. Yesterday we checked out downtown Charleston and had coffee and dessert at Kaminsky’s- helllo cookie pie (SO good).
Exercise wise, things have been going well. We started 2012 out with a nice CrossFit workout- a (crazy, workout in itself, involving rowing, pullups, pushups, box jumps… it’s crazy!) warmup, followed by a mile run, 100o meter row and a mile run (two miles total). Originally there were supposed to be some ab moves in there but my stomach has been feeling off the past few days so I skipped that part.
I’m really digging CrossFit. I’m seriously such a whiner when the workout begins. Usually the workouts sound really intense and endless, so in my head I just tell myself to get through one round and go from there. Oh, and I whine too. Brian just dismisses it, which is annoying haha. It’s good for me though.
Knees to elbows torture (or in my case, knees to hips
)
Audrey gets bored spectating our workouts.
Sidenote- remember
this post? So fun that she’s wearing it now
I didn’t even put it on her- Brian has fun dressing her
—
While I definitely enjoy cooking, having a three month old makes it difficult to spend a lot of time in the kitchen. Some days she’ll sit happily in her bouncy chair or even nap (naps were rare around these parts for a bit but I can’t complain, she’s an awesome night sleeper) but other times she can be a bit demanding. So, dinners that require minimal effort are prized around here! Enter- the crockpot. Dude, I love the crockpot! It’s so nice to just assemble the ingredients, turn it on and then walk away! One of my new favorite crockpot meals is a roasted chicken- we get quite a few meals out of it and it is so easy to make! I definitely recommend this dinner, even if you aren’t time constrained- it’s so simple (with only five ingredients!) and it’s delicious, with a subtle lemon flavor. I used to be scared of handling whole chickens- don’t be! It really is so easy.
Lemon Rosemary Roasted Chicken
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 8 hours
Ingredients
- 3-5 pound roast chicken
- a bit of butter or margarine
- a few sprigs of rosemary
- half of an onion, diced
- 2 lemons, cut in half
- Salt and pepper
Directions
- Ensure that you remove the bag of innards from the inner cavity of the chicken (have a I mentioned that I hate dealing with raw meat? Blech).
- Rinse the chicken and pat dry, lightly coat with butter.
- Place chopped onion inside of cavity, along with half of an unjuiced lemon.
- Place chicken inside of crockpot (I’ve been known to put it in “upside down”- apparently the legs should be facing upwards. Okay then). Juice the remaining lemon over the chicken, and then place the lemons alongside the top of it.
- Arrange the rosemary sprigs along the chicken.
- Spread about 1/4 teaspoon of salt and pepper over the chicken.
- Set the timer on your crockpot to eight hours, to cook on the low setting.
And that’s it!
After eight hours, check the temperature of the chicken with a meat thermometer (it should be at least 180 degrees). It should look something like this:
Voila! We generally have the chicken in a salad, but there are so many dinner options that come out of this (not to mention leftovers!) I love rosemary (it’s my favorite herb, aside from basil) and the taste isn’t overpowering. I’m so glad that I got over my fear of dealing with roasts!
Do you have any crockpot recipes to share? I’d love to add some to my repetoire!
Have a good one!
Katie
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{ 14 comments… read them below or add one }
YUM! that looks awesome! i need to try that! You work out with your glasses on?? I didnt know that! looking forward to Brian kicking my ass this weekend!
I do workout with my glasses on if I don’t have my contacts in- otherwise I wouldn’t be able to see very well haha.
Yum! Looks like a great way to use the crockpot!!
I used to LOVE Kaminsky’s when I lived in Charleston
I have a feeling Kaminsky’s will be seeing a lot of me from here on out
Thanks for sharing this, I am definitely going to keep this in mind! I am actually cooking sausage and lentil stew right now in the crock pot (best invention ever since I can throw everything in, smell it all while watching tv!)
I made pumpkin chili which was different but turned out really well
http://www.snacksnarkbark.com/pumpkin-lovin-had-me-a-blast/
Also, when in doubt, I make pulled bbq chicken in the crock, it’s tasty and lasts forevvvvver
http://www.snacksnarkbark.com/the-original-plan/
I agree, best invention ever! Thanks for the links- they both look great and I love the fact that the pulled chicken only has three ingredients. That would be awesome in a homemade burrito bowl!
I don’t have a crockpot, but I’m starting to think I might need one soon! This recipe looks delicious- I live for lemon and rosemary.
Do you guys do all your crossfit workouts at home?
We do do all of the crossfit workouts at home- Brian is slowly amassing everything we need for a home gym. We had some friends over for a workout the other day and we are officially the weirdo neighbors- Brian and the guys were doing buddy carries in the front yard. Whatever works, right?
Looks great! I’ve never made a roast chicken before, I guess I’ve always been a little gun-shy too! But if you can do it, I suppose I could give it a shot, right?
We just made an awesome crockpot meal yesterday too – pulled BBQ chicken. It was super easy and REALLY good! Put 4 chicken breasts at bottom of crockpot, then mix up 1 cup ketchup, 1 can of French onion soup (I used Progresso), 1/4 c brown sugar and 1/4 c apple cider vinegar. Pour mixture over chicken breasts and cook on low for 8 hours. Remove chicken from crockpot, and shred with two forks. Return to crockpot, and cook for an additional hour on low. Add an additional squeeze of jarred BBQ sauce, if desired. Serve by itself, or as a sandwich!
Dude, if I can do it, you can do it! You know this haha. Yum that bbq chicken recipe sounds awesome too! I will have to add that to the repetoire.
I need to find some good crockpot recipes too! When school starts there will be no way I’ll have time to cook, so I imagine it would be nice to come home to dinner.
Crossfit sounds really intimidating, but it’s clearly working for you- that makes me want to give it a try!
this looks so delicious! I need to try it
I’ve been hearing Crossfit promotions all over the radio (don’t ya miss fly 92.3 haha) but I think they’re a bit out of my price range at the moment!
A crock pot is a mom’s best friend!!!
Thanks for sharing this recipe! I’ve been doing crockpot mondays for the past few weeks now. I love it so much because it’s usually a bigger meal that lasts a few days — and it makes the house smell so good like I actually slaved over the stove all day. And it’s so DARN easy!! I’ll email you a few recipes that I’ve used that are easy and delish!!!