Chicken soup for the actual body

My experiment in cooking continues this week, starting with a roast chicken and vegetables Sunday night. Simple, easy, tasty dishes are perfect for me, because (1) I'm a lazy cook, (2) bland is boring and (3) I'm a lazy cook.

The recipe (once again from Real Simple: Meals Made Easy) calls for carrots, onions and potatoes to roast alongside the chicken. A one-pot meal is an extra plus. I added a beet and some parsnips (left over from my Steak with Root Vegetables experiment). It's a tasty meal and ends up looking like you spent a lot of time slaving away in the kitchen. I think it would be a good meal to cook to impress friends -- simple and yummy, with that touch of a Sunday dinner at Mom's house.

The best part is that with just two people eating, there's plenty left over to make soup. My attempt at chicken stock involved putting the chicken in the slow cooker overnight, then picking it apart to get off all the good meat and using the liquid to make a broth. It wasn't great soup, but it was pretty good for a first attempt with homemade stock. To the broth and meat, I added carrots, celery, onions, potatoes and a healthy portion of herbs (sage, parsley, thyme) and some Creole seasoning. (I don't care what anyone else thinks, that stuff is awesome.)

There was enough soup for two dinners, which meant I didn't have to cook while playing Florence Nightingale.

"Hey, Pammeey, what's on the menu tonight?" you ask. Tonight, I attempt Soy Salmon with Noodles. I have to look at the recipe again because I'm pretty sure you serve it with ice-cold green beans. Um, no. I've not eaten ice-cold green beans since I was a kid. And that was only because I had to sit there until I took three bites. It's part of the reason I shun canned vegetables* as an adult.

*Canned beans like kidney, black, pinto, Garbanzo and cannellini don't count. Canned green beans and peas are strictly off my menu.