Chicken Rustica

So, this was one that Alex told me I needed to put in my blog, and since he is picky eater I took his word for it.  It liked it a lot, and Dan even liked the sweet potato portion.  It was VERY easy too, even though it sounds kind of lengthy, the steps are pretty easy.

4-6 sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed (I used about 6 small)
8-10 Yukon gold potatoes, cubed (if you use russet probably use 3-4, and I left the skin on these)
2 onions sliced
olive oil
3-4 tbs. bacon bits (use real, not the hard ones)
Italian seasoning
salt and pepper
1 - 14 oz. can chicken broth
1 cup heavy cream
6 chicken leg quarters with skin on
1 stick butter, softened and cut into pieces (2 for each piece of chicken)
3-4 tbs. grated Parmesan cheese

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Toss potatoes and onion with olive oil (enough to coat).  Place in roasting pan.  Sprinkle with bacon bits, Italian seasoning, and salt and pepper to taste.  Pour chicken broth and heavy cream and mix.  Place one piece of softened butter under leg skins, and another smear on top of skin.  Place chicken over potatoes and sprinkle with Parmesan and salt and pepper.  Cover with foil or lid and bake in oven for 1 hour.  Uncover and bake for another 30 minutes or until chicken juices are no longer pink.  You may need to drain juices every 30 minutes.  Do not drain completely.  Enjoy!!!

Thanksgiving in August

I was feeling inspired from the farmers market and their huge sweet potatoes that they had.  Nothing screams sweet potato like a big Thanksgiving dinner, so I decided to make it in August.  Being that the heat outside has made me absolutely miserable, I was attempting to confuse myself with food, which worked a bit.  For those of you that know my recent surgical endeavors you know that I cannot eat very much right now, but if I could I think I would have eaten myself into a coma just like on Thanksgiving!  First I baked a 20 lb Carvers ham for 4 hours at 325.  We also had mashed sweet potatoes and scalloped corn.  Granted this was for 7 of us (my troop and my folks).  Yummy!

Mashed Sweet Potatoes
About 7 small-medium sweet potatoes
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 stick butter
1/4 cup heavy whipping cream
2 tsp kosher salt

Peel and chop the sweet potatoes into about 1 inch pieces.  Boil until tender, about 20 mins.  Drain and return to pot.  Let the butter melt on top of the potatoes.  Add remaining ingredients and mash with a potato masher or mixer. 

Scalloped Corn
1 can whole kernel corn, drained
1 can creamed corn
1 package Jiffy Corn Bread mix
1 stick butter, melted
2 eggs
8 oz. sour cream
2 heaping teaspoons sugar

Mix all of the ingredients until smooth.  Pour into 8x8 baking dish (or any smaller ceramic baking dish).  Bake at 350 until metal knife inserted in middle comes out clean.  This ranges for me based on what dish I am using, but it usually takes at least an hour.  Sorry for the vagueness, today it took closer to 90 mins because I baked it at a lower heat with the ham.  This is also good with honey drizzled over the top!