This Italian-style roasted chicken recipe is one of the few recipes that can be prepared with a meal budget of $20 for a family of four. Including all the necessary ingredients you’ll need for this tasty chicken meal, you’ll still be able to meet your budget! I also took advantage of the heated oven and roasted some vegetables: carrots sliced wide (1/2 inch), an onion, fennel (bulb), and two medium potatoes, with a drizzle of olive oil and a pinch of salt.

Italian-Style Roasted Chicken {Recipe}

Serves 4
Cooking time: 1 hour & 30 minutes

Ingredients

• 1 whole chicken (about 3 1/2 lbs)
• 2 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
• 2 Tbsp olive oil
• Juice of 1 lemon
• 1 Tbsp oregano, crushed
• 1 Tbsp basil, crushed
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• ½ tsp salt
• 1 ½ tsp thyme, crushed
• ½ tsp rosemary
• ½ tsp ground black pepper
• 2 tsp butter

Note: You can substitute the oregano, basil, thyme, and rosemary with 2 tablespoons of Italian seasoning.

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375 ° F.
2. Combine the vinegar, oil, lemon juice, oregano, basil, garlic, salt, thyme, rosemary, and pepper in a small bowl. Divide the herb mixture in half.
3. Rinse the inside of your chicken and pat dry. Slip your fingers between the skin and the breast meat, adding half of the herb mixture with a spoon into the pocket that forms to separate the meat from the skin.
4. Add butter in between the skin and breast meat as well.
5. Season remainder of chicken (including over the skin), with the remaining half of the herb mixture.
6. If you want, you can tie the legs of the chicken with a cord. (optional)
7. Marinate in the refrigerator for about 20 minutes.
8. Place chicken, breast side up, on a rack or pan and roast for 1 hour and 30 minutes in your preheated oven.
9. Remove chicken from oven. Cover with foil and let stand 10 minutes before carving.

Jeannette Quiñones-Cantore is the CEO and founder of Sazón Boricua. She started her blog from Puerto Rico in 2008 to share recipes, advice and tips for the home. She collaborates with Qué Rica Vida, has been selected as a Top Bloguera by LATISM 2012, and is also the founder of Red Bloguera de Puerto Rico. You can follow Jeanette on Facebook, Twitter, or via her blog Sazón Boricua.

Photo © Jeannette Quiñones-Cantore

Cooking dinner sometimes means you have to be a little creative. Though I often cook much of the Puerto Rican food I grew up eating, it’s not all I cook! I love cooking (and eating) pasta, as well – in all forms. One dish my family has come to love is an Asian-inspired noodle recipe, which you can cook with beef (our favorite), chicken, or pork. You could also make this a vegetarian dish and leave out the meat altogether!

This teriyaki beef & vegetable noodle recipe is easy to make, uses little ingredients, and best of all, cooks rather fast. You can easily cook this when you get home from work (or after a long day with the kids), and if you have pre-cut vegetables, it’ll take even less time! I’m sure you’ll be adding teriyaki beef & vegetable noodles to your dinner menu plan from now on!

Teriyaki Beef & Vegetable Noodles {Recipe}

Ingredients

• Salt
• Olive oil
• Thin-cut steak, cut into strips and seasoned to your liking (you can substitute with chicken, pork, or leave meat out for a vegetarian version)
• Linguine noodles, 1 16 oz. package
• Teriyaki sauce
• Soy sauce
• Broccoli, washed and cut into florets
• Carrots, washed and cut into strips (I like to buy baby carrots that are already peeled and cut them in quarters length-wise.)

Directions

1. Add water to a large pot, salt to your liking and bring to a boil.
2. Heat a medium pan to medium heat. You can use a pan such as these non-stick Rachael Ray skillets I reviewed.
3. Add olive oil, and swirl pan to coat the bottom.
4. Add pre-seasoned steak and let it brown, stirring occasionally.
5. When water in pot comes to a boil, add package of linguine noodles and cook per package directions.
6. As steak browns and is nearly cooked all the way, lower heat to low-medium.
7. Add teriyaki sauce and soy sauce to steak. You want to add enough to create a sauce that will blend with the noodles.
8. When noodles have about 3 minutes of cooking time left, add broccoli and carrots to pot with noodles.
9. Let broccoli and carrots cook with noodles until noodles are ready to drain.
10. Drain noodles, broccoli, and carrots and return to pot.
11. Add steak and sauce mixture to pot with noodles and vegetables.
12. Mix well and serve.

Enjoy your teriyaki beef & vegetable noodles and have fun with the recipe! You can switch out the meats, as I mentioned, and also trade out the vegetables for your family’s favorites. Let me know what you think if you make it!

From many moms, I have learned how difficult it is to get kids to eat their veggies. I thought a great idea would be to combine zucchini with cheese, making for a delicious way to introduce this vegetable to children using familiar flavors. This is what you will need:

Zucchini and Cheese Kid-Friendly Recipe

Ingredients:

• 3 fresh zucchinis, cut in cubes
• ½ cup of chopped white onion
• 1 spoon of butter or margarine
• 1 cup of crème fresh or sour cream
• Salt and pepper or “cubitos de pollo” (chicken stock base in cubes)
• 2 cups of shredded cheese (suggest Monterrey Jack/Cheddar combination)

Steps:

1. You will need a sautéing pan with a lid and a wooden spoon.
2. Sauté onions with the butter.
3. Add the zucchini and let it cook for 5 minutes – don’t cook it too long as you want the veggies to be crunchy.
4. Add the crème fresh and the seasonings; combine well.
5. Top with cheese and cover for 5 minutes.
6. Serve hot.

This is a delicious and inexpensive way to introduce your children to zucchini; it’s also super quick! You can serve this recipe as a soup, side dish to a main course, or eat as an entrée. This is a great option for dinner or a quick lunch. If you want to reduce the calories, replace the crème fresh with Greek yogurt, the butter with olive oil, and the cheese with a low-fat option.

Enjoy!

All photos copyright and courtesy of Adriana Martin.