I would much rather roast an extra chicken then buy chicken from the deli counter at the grocery store, there's not extra preservatives and you know exactly how fresh it is!!! Plus it tastes WAY better!
Two Roasted Chicken Sandwiches with Pesto Mayo.
I was recently as a birthday party with sandwiches, each sandwich had a bit of Pesto Mayo on them. It was something I thought I wouldn't like . . . but they were delicious! You can make your own pesto or you can use jarred pesto it's up to you!
We take 1 heaping Tablespoon of Pesto to every 1/2 cup of mayo (Add a little bit at a time because it can get overpowering fast!)
It takes 1 chicken breast, on crusty bread, topped with tomatoes, and garden greens.
Three Chicken Salad Sandwiches (5 if you use smaller Artisan Bread like we did).
You'll need about 1 cup of chopped chicken, 1 stalk of celery, 1/4 to 1/2 cup of mayo (depending how mayo-y you like your chicken salad, fresh cracked pepper and some coarse salt.
Day 3:
Field Greens Salad with 1 Chicken Breast sliced, Mandarin orange slices, red pepper and poppy seed dressing.
Greek Chicken Wraps (3 BIG ones). You'll need some Whole Wheat wraps, tzatziki, some white Chicken, field greens, feta cheese and *Greek Salad.
* Greek Salad Recipe
1 Red pepper (because I like red peppers more then green, 1/2 a cucumber, 1/2 a carton of cherry tomatoes, 1/4 of a red onion, a pinch of dried oregano, 2 tablespoons olive oil, 3 tbsp balsamic vinegar.
Day 5:
It's up to you, I say that because we had enough chicken leftover to make another Salad with chicken (I took field greens topped them with chicken, and leftover Greek salad, finished with Greek dressing!
We also had a little more pesto mayo and just enough chicken for 1 last sandwich!
I hope you can find this useful! All of the lunches were Delicious, Healthy and easy to make! Give'em a try, especially the pesto mayo!
How I Roast a Chicken:
Take both chickens and rinse them off under cold water, dry well!
Chop two large onions, and slice 1 lemon, stuff the chopped onion and lemon slices up the chicken (the onion and lemon don't give a ton of flavor but they give a ton of moisture so that your chicken doesn't dry out!).
Cover the outside of the chicken, with a little butter, get it under the skin too!
A generous sprinkling of Salt and Pepper (be very generous)
If I have a little fresh rosemary around I'll chop that up and sprinkle that on too (I don't love dried rosemary on chicken).
Crank up the oven . . . 400 degrees or so. Cook for 10 minutes at 400, then turn the oven down to 350, and roast until the meat thermometer reads almost done, take out chickens, tent with tin foil and leave to cook the rest of the way through on the counter (chickens will keep cooking for a bit after they are taken out of the oven so take them out a little premature, or you'll have dry chicken! 15 minutes should do it). By cooking the chicken at 400 for 10 minutes you'll crisp up the skin and it will seal in all of the juices, making for a juicier chicken (have I mentioned I hate dry chicken??).
Cooking times are going to vary depending on what type of oven you have, ours is gas it takes about an hour and a half give or take! Your meat thermometer is your best friend when roasting a chicken!
And that's how I roast a chicken! No basting, and instead of trussing the chicken I just break off the wing tips that would otherwise burn! I hope that helps!!!
* If you're going to make a whole week of chicken lunches, you might want to consider freezing the roasted chicken you'll be using later in the week! Anything staying longer then 3 days in your fridge!
