The same question every night..."What shall I make for dinner?"

Last night I roasted an organic chicken.  We like to do a whole chicken every now and then so we have left overs for sandwiches or soup.  There is this neat trick when roasting a chicken where you lift up the skin on the breast and even the the legs if you want and stuff it ... in our case I just gathered some fresh herbs from the garden (parsley, marjoram, thyme and basil), chopped them up and stuffed it under the skin.  It is also a good idea to sprinkle the cavity with salt and pepper and rub some on the skin with olive oil.  Around here we use my grandfather's spice blend (I will post the recipe tomorrow) which is white pepper, granulated garlic, sea salt, onion powder and mustard powder.  We use it on everything.

     Anyway so we needed to eat tonight and I knew I wanted to cook a spaghetti squash from the garden.  I needed something that would go with that......this is what I came up with.

SPAGHETTI SQUASH SORT OF SALAD

1 medium organic spaghetti squash

1 organic green onion, sliced

1 organic red pepper diced

1/2 organic jalapeno pepper, chopped fine

1 cob of organic corn, decobbed

1/4 cup chopped parsley

2 Tbsp organic sesame oil (not toasted sesame oil, the raw stuff)

1.5 Tbsp brown rice vinegar

1/2 Tbsp honey

salt and pepper

Method: Preheat oven to 350*.  Split the squash in half, seed it and place in face down in a large cast iron skillet or other pan.  Roast for about 45 mins or until you can easily prick the skin with a fork.  Let cool slightly and then scoop out the filling and let it drain in a colander.  Place in a bowl with all the other ingredients.  Toss and serve.

CHICKEN MELTS

1 cup leftover chicken, in small pieces

5 slices homemade whole wheat bread (or if you must, store bought :S)

3 Tbsp basil pesto

3/4 cup grated organic cheese

10 slices organic tomato (we used a lovely yellow one)

1/2 sliced onion

grandpa's spice blend

Method: Slather the bread with pesto.  Layer with onion first, then chicken, tomato, spices, and finally with cheese.  Melt in 350* oven for 15 mins.