A complete meal

For the past few weeks I've rarely cooked any elaborate meal because hubby will be going on vacation soon hence he's super busy at work trying to get his work done before he leaves for vacation hence coming home pretty late every night. By the time he comes home he's too tired to care what to eat. Sometimes I would have already had my dinner so it would just him eating what ever that's available or when he would be home some what decent time we would just go out and grab something to eat.

Since I have a whole chicken in my freezer and the weather is so chilly this two days I decided I would make something to warm the house up. The night before I took the chicken out to thaw so that the next morning I could get it ready to use it. It was still frozen inside even though it has been out since last night!

This is what I made for dinner last night:
Crockpot Rotisserie Chicken
Carrots
Garlic Mashed Potatoes

Crockpot Rotisserie Chicken adapted from here

Ingredients

1 whole chicken, skinned (4-5 pounds)
2 tsp kosher salt (if you'd like it as salty as the ones in the store, add another 1 tsp.)
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp dried thyme
1 tsp Italian seasoning
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp black pepper
pinch of chili pepper (probably not necessary)

4 whole garlic cloves (optional)
1 yellow onion, quartered (optional)

Method

1. I used a 6 quart crockpot for a 5 pound bird. It fit nicely. Put about 4-5 aluminum balls in the crockpot. (You will put your chicken on the aluminum balls this is suppose to help make the chicken crispy)

2. Clean Chicken and pat dry with paper towel.

3. In a bowl, combine all of dried spices. Rub the spice mixture all over the bird, inside and out. Plop the bird breast-side down into the crockpot.

4. If desired, shove 4 whole garlic cloves and a quartered onion inside the bird.

Do not add water.

Cover and cook on high for 4-5 hours, or on low for 8. The meat is done when it is fully cooked and has reached desired tenderness. The longer you cook it, the more tender the meat.

Glazed Carrots

Ingredients

4-6 carrots, peeled and sliced or baby carrot, whole
2 tablespoons brown sugar, packed
2 tablespoons butter or margarine
1/4-1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

Method
1. Steam Carrots (to retain the nutrition and moisture) until desire doneness.
2. Melt butter and brown sugar. Stir in ground ginger.
3. Add sauce to carrot and stir to coat.

Garlic Mashed Potatoes

Ingredients
2-3 baking potatoes (depending on how large your potatoes)
4-5 cloves of garlic
Milk (the amount of milk depends on how creamy you want your potato to be. More milk if you want creamier potato)
2 TBSP butter
cheese (I used one slice of cheddar cheese slice if you have others like shredded cheese you could use 1/2C of shredded cheese)
salt and pepper to taste

Method
1. Boil potatoes with garlic until potatoes are done or desired tenderness.
2. Add butter, milk and cheese and mash them up together. Sprinkle salt and pepper to taste. (I like to use seasoned salt)

The chicken was taste and moist. It literally fall off the bone yummy. Hubby and I ate almost half of the chicken. I forgot to add salt when I mixed the seasoning together so I just sprinkled some seasoned salt on the chicken after I put it in the crockpot.

The carrots and mashed potato was super yummy it went well with the chicken and was easy to prepare.

I deboned the chicken and froze it to make another dish with it some day. I'm so happy to be able to serve a complete, nutritious yet simple meal in a nick of the time.

The reason why I love my crockpot is because I can put everything inside and just let it do its thing and a meal would be ready when you want to eat. I use my crockpot all the time when I was working because I would have a meal ready after work and I've not use my crockpot in a long time since I have more time now. I think every household should have a crockpot if they have no time to cook.