A Roasting Rut

There is just no better way, in my opinion, to make meat and vegetables yum yum tasty - I love roasting.  It is my go to method of cooking.  Not only do good flavors develop, but it's so easy!  Joe would never complain as he loves roasted meat and vegetables as much as I do, but I fear I am in a roasting rut!  Should I do anything about it --- nah, I'm sure it will go away naturally when spring comes around - sometime in June.

That's not fair of me, Mother Nature has been very kind to us this year with snow.  The skiing has been great!  And we already received a whole warm Saturday on which to walk, open windows, and plant garden seeds, seeds which are safely ensconced in the kitchen windows, of course!  This day was followed by 2 days of snow in a row.  In Wyoming, you will be very happy if you love the excitement of seeing what weather is coming tomorrow, but you aren't too tied to the result!

Ok, back to roasting.  So I put some of my parent's natural raised chicken in the oven the other night and thought about my side dish.  I've do enjoy  good pilaf and I had a new rice blend and a wild mushroom mix to try, so I sauteed up some onion, garlic, and fresh wild mushrooms in a bit of olive oil and butter.  Then I added the rice and toasted it a bit before covering it all with some vegetable stock and letting it simmer for 50 minutes.  MmmmMmmm perfect!  What great earthy flavors to go with the roasted chicken and a good salad.

I tell you what - roasting is a great way to get a very satisfying meal on the table and when the chicken is cut up it doesn't take nearly as long!  This was a 1/2 chicken so I got three meals out of it, including: this meal, a great dinner salad last night for Joe and I'm making soup out of the rest today!