If you were to ask me what I would have my mom make me if she could only make me one meal, I would answer without a blink of an eye: Roast chicken with all the fixin’s… “fixin’s” being mashed potato casserole (pretty much the best thing ever), steamed veggies, and loaded stuffing. Really quite simple if you ask me! Just kidding… a roast chicken dinner is a very labor intensive meal, but it is worth every ounce of time put into it.

With that said, when I looked at the garden care package from my dad and brainstormed what I could do to use up the veggies before the went bad, it came to me: make a roast chicken meal!

I made my meal just as my mom would, except I bought a roast chicken from Market Basket that was already roasted. I know, I know. Totally a cop-out move, but the truth is, I’m scared to cook a whole roast chicken on my own! Has anyone done that before? They are so big and there are so many “gizzards” that have to come out and how do you know it’s fully cooked?! I could go on and on, but bottom line is that I realized I need to face this silly cooking fear and make a stupid roast chicken start to finish all on my own. I will do it, but maybe when I’m home and can have my parents walk me through it 😉 Baby steps!

Anyway, as I talked with my mom for nearly an hour on Monday, I puttered in the kitchen chopping veggies, peeling and boiling potatoes and preparing the stuffing. The kitchen was an absolute disaster by the time I finished (and I used about every pot, pan and Tupperware container by the end of the night), but it was so worth it once I tried everything!

I didn’t measure anything, but here’s a quick run down of what I made and what ingredients I used.

Garlic Mashed Potatoes

• 5 small red potatoes, peeled and boiled until soft
• about a 1/2 cup of 1% milk (They were out of skim, which is what I usually buy, but 1% has been a nice treat!)
• 1 tbsp. minced garlic
• salt, pepper, garlic salt
• 1 tbsp. margarine

Maple Glazed Steamed Carrots and Parsnips

• cut carrots and parsnips, steam until soft (or whatever consistency you like your cooked veggies to have)
• 1 tbsp. butter
• 2-3 tbsp. maple syrup- I used a pecan maple syrup that my sister brought me back after one of her site visits which was perfect!

Loaded Stuffing

• 1 package of stuffing mix- cook according to the instructions on the box
• green peppers & onions- maybe 1/2 cup of each? sautéed so that they are already cooked when you add them to the boiling water with the dry stuffing mix.
• 1/4 cup of craisins to add in with the peppers, onions and stuffing mix. Let everything set for 5 minutes.

Serve everything with gravy, because gravy makes everything better 😉

It’s a shame I live alone because I still have so many leftovers, 3 days later. I have issues with cooking smaller portions sometimes!

Questions for you: What’s a food or meal that intimidates you or makes you nervous to try? If you could have your parents (or anyone) make you one meal, what would it be?