Sunday Supper

Originally posted on Military Mommy 04/22/2007

I love to cook and find new recipes that my family will enjoy. One of my favorite traditions in our family is Sunday Supper. I just love the way it feels to sit down on Sunday evening after a relaxed day together and eat a good meal. It refreshes my soul and charges me up for the week ahead.

As I mentioned in my weekly wrap-up, Gunny deployed almost 2 weeks ago. So it was very important to me – during our first weekend alone – to make a meal that the kids would get excited about. This is one of their very favorite meals and they can recognize it by the smell coming out of the oven. A funny thing – Nutter calls this “slimy chicken” (and she thinks that is a huge compliment, btw) because it is so moist. To really get the moist flavor, it will need to be marinated overnight.



Sunday Supper Menu:

“Perfect every time” brown bag chicken
Cheesy Spaghetti Squash
Jasmine rice



Recipe #1
If you like rotisserie chicken, you are going to love this first recipe. I couldn’t convince my husband to let me buy a home rotisserie, so I began my search for the perfect oven roasted chicken. After several less than perfect attempts at other recipes, I came across this one. It does not disappoint. I use all kinds of marinades with this chicken. Last weekend, I used a great teriyaki marinade.

“Perfect every time” brown bag (teriyaki)chicken:

1 frying chicken (about 4 pounds)
1 brown grocery bag with no printed writing on at least 1 side
Marinade ingredients:
½ cup veg oil
1 cup soy sauce
3 Tbsp brown sugar
3 fresh garlic cloves, minced
1 Tbsp freshly grated gingerroot *See note at end of recipe
2 Tbsp sherry (optional)

Combine all ingredients for marinade. Remove innards from inside chicken. Rinse chicken off, pat dry, and put in a large Ziploc bag. Pour marinade over chicken and seal bag. Squish bag around making sure to get marinade all over chicken. Put bag in a small oven-proof casserole dish and marinate overnight.



In the morning, flip bag over to other side. If you can, do this a couple more times during the day before you cook it. If not, no big deal.

Place oven rack in lowest notch. Remove all other racks (you do not want the bag to touch anything except the rack it is sitting on).

Preheat oven to 450. Remove bag from dish. Spray dish with cooking spray. Remove chicken from bag and place in dish, breast side facing upward. Discard marinade.



Carefully place entire casserole dish in the brown bag (with the non-printed side on the top of the chicken),



then carefully fold and staple bag closed.



Place in oven making sure that the bag is not resting on top or sides of oven. Bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes.

Carefully remove the bag from the oven. (Note: The bag will be very dry and may crack when you remove it from oven. Make sure you have a firm grip on the casserole dish on the bottom. Please learn from my “almost” mishaps - absolutely DO NOT lift the chicken by the bag. I can promise it will drop and you may get scalded in the process)



Cut open the bag. Poke a tiny hole in the leg to make sure juices are clear. If so, let the chicken sit for 15-20 minutes to rest. If not, put casserole back in oven and cook until done (I have never had to cook it longer).



Slice and enjoy!

*Note: If you grate spices, cheese, or chocolate you have GOT to get one of these graters. It's called a microplane zester/grater and it is one of my most used kitchen tools. I love it.



Recipe #2
My kids are pretty good at eating vegetables, but mostly of the canned variety. This is one vegetable they actually get GIDDY about when they see me walking towards it in the produce section. It’s so simple, but a very yummy dish. If you like regular squash, you will love this one.

Cheesy Spaghetti Squash

1 spaghetti squash (at least 2 pounds, I get a 3 to 4 pounder for a few leftovers)
Butter or butter substitute (I use smart balance)
Jane’s crazy mixed up salt or other favorite seasoning
Grated parmesan cheese

Wash outside of squash.



Dry and cut in half.



Scoop out seeds and discard. Place one half of squash cut side down in a glass mixing bowl. Fill bottom about an inch deep with water. Place plastic wrap tightly over top. Microwave on high until you can pierce skin easily with a fork (I have to cook mine about 8-10 minutes per half).

When done, carefully remove squash from water to a cutting board and leave until cool enough to handle. When cooled, shred inside of squash with a fork and place shreds into bowl. Get all of the squash out almost all the way down to the skin. Discard skins.

Melt butter with seasoning in microwave. (Note: If you have never heard of Jane’s crazy mixed up salt, make sure you come back here on Wed for WFMW – I will be talking about it in great detail then). Pour on top of squash and toss until covered. Sprinkle with parmesan cheese and toss again. Serve immediately.

Recipe #3
I love asian rice, especially jasmine rice which is just slightly sweet. I try not to have it too often because it is a form of white rice, but it is wonderful served with the teriyaki chicken. I could never get my “sticky” rice perfect until I bought a rice cooker. Now it’s perfect every time. Totally worth the $20 I paid for it on base!

Perfect jasmine sticky rice
(This made just enough for me and the kids.)

1 cup of jasmine rice
1 ½ cups of water
Rice cooker

Place in rice cooker and push button.



It doesn’t get any easier than that, ladies!

I hope you enjoyed my recipes. If you decide to try one, please leave a comment afterwards and let me know.

Enjoy Sunday Supper with your sweet family!