Baked Chicken with Potatoes, Onions, and Garlic

I was so excited to finally cook a proper dinner that I thought I wouldn't be able to decide what to make. But, I have been craving roast chicken recently, and autumn is the perfect time of year for lovely roast dinners. There was a one pan chicken dinner in Everyday Food a few months ago would do nicely.

I had a whole chicken cut up in the freezer, so I thawed that out. Put it in a pan with one cut up red onion (in big pieces, like eighths), a quartered lemon, about a pound of halved or quartered (depending on their size) white new potatoes, six springs of thyme, and a head of garlic broken up into cloves but not peeled. Drizzle with 3/4 cup olive oil and 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar (whisked together). Salt and pepper, then roast for 50 minutes.

The recipe called to roast it 450, but that was too high for my oven. I ended up around 375. I suppose it actually could have been 450 in real temperature - I suspect that my oven runs hot, but I keep forgetting to check it. Also, my roasting pan was a little too big. I needed 12x16 but only had a bit smaller and a bit larger than that. I settled on the larger one, but some stuff on the edges burned. I think it was too exposed to the heat.

Overall, this was really great. The potatoes (especially the ones that burned a little on the outside actually) were delicious - soft and creamy in the middle and crispy on the outside. The chicken was juicy, and the garlic was sooo good. I actually just ate a couple of cloves of it, but I love roasted garlic. It was good to squeeze out the cloves from the peel and spread it on some bread.

I also had made Paula Deen's marinated tomatoes, which are really easy and tasty. I make them quite a lot actually, they're really good for company because you can do them early in the day and just put them out to get to room temperature.

A Decline in Food Adventures

Recently, I decided to go back to school. So, this fall I decreased my work schedule, signed up for two classes at Santa Monica College, and started focusing on studying for the GRE and preparing the various essays, etc. that are required for the UCLA graduate admission application. All of this has lead to a sad decline in cooking here recently.

That's not to say I don't cook at all, just that I've been incredibly lazy about it. For example, tonight we had macaroni and cheese (the kraft gourmet kind) and some pre-cut and pre-seasoned fresh brussel sprouts (that were actually pretty tasty).

However, that's not to say I haven't had any food adventures at all. And hopefully, after I take the GRE this week I'll have a bit more time again. Anyway, here is a summary:

This is some ice cream Travis and I got at the new Santa Monica food truck lot. His is cake donut flavored (it tasted exactly like a cake donut, oddly enough) and mine is a Salty Scotty - it's a lightly salted butterscotch. If you've ever had a salted caramel (which is sooo good, if you haven't), it tasted like that but in ice cream form.

I really wanted to bake cookies, but without the time, I just grabbed a thing of refrigerated cookie dough. It is clear to me now that I should've used a larger pan.

Had these great shrimp and chips with remoulade sauce from the Shrimp Pimp truck a few weeks ago. So good!

Saw an enormous freaking pumpkin at the LA County Fair!

And we also shared a giant turkey leg. There are pictures of me eating too, but I look sort of demonic, like I might eat the person taking the picture next or something.