Braided Spaghetti Bread

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Spaghetti is always a hit with little ones.  This twist on the family favorite is a fun way to eat the same old thing.  This recipe can get time consuming if you make everything from scratch.  I usually have some leftover spaghetti sauce in the freezer so I use that to maximize my time.  The bread used in this recipe is a take off of my favorite crusty loaf of bread.

Special Equipment: none
Time Management:
Prep time: 3 hours, mostly inactive
Cook time: Bake time 35 minutes

Bread
Ingredients:
3/4 Tbsp active dry yeast (not fast acting)
1/2 tsp sugar
1 1/2 cups 110 degree water
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp garlic powder
3 cups flour

Directions:
Mix water, yeast and sugar and let sit covered 10 minutes. Mix in salt, garlic powder and flour and let sit covered for 2 hours to rise.

Spaghetti filling:
8 oz spaghetti
2 cup spaghetti sauce (divided)
8 oz mozzarella cheese shredded
1 egg white
Parmesan cheese to sprinkle

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350
Cook spaghetti according to package directions.
Mix 1 cup of spaghetti sauce with cooked noodles.
Divide bread dough in half and reserve half for later. (I freeze it for my next braided spaghetti dinner night)
Roll out remaining bread dough on well floured surface (use a lot of flour!) to 12 x 16" rectangle.
Place spaghetti lengthwise along center of dough.
Cover with mozzarella cheese.
Cut 1 inch hash marks along sides of dough to 1/2 inch of filling.
Alternate left and right strips and braid along length of spaghetti, tuck in remaining edge.
Brush with egg white and sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.
Bake on pizza stone or cookie sheet for 30-35 minutes.
Serve with remaining spaghetti sauce for dipping.

My inspiration for this recipe came from the Rhodes dough website.  A time saver would be to use their pre-made frozen bread loaves. 

Whole Roasted Chicken

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My friend Danica was fabulous enough to share this staple of her kitchen.  Now I see why she was surprised that I'd never roasted a chicken before (successfully, anyway).  It's a cinch and tastes great!  This is one is also easy to alter to your taste preferences or for what you have on hand. 

Special Equipment: Roasting pan (or 9x13 cake pan)
Time Management:
Prep time: 10 minutes
Cook time: 60 minutes

Ingredients:
olive oil
2 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
2 tsp oregano
2 tsp rosemary

Directions:
Preheat your oven to 450 degrees.
Pull that yucky stuff out of the cavity of your chicken!  Then rinse it inside and outside.  Pat dry with paper towel inside and out.  If it's dry it will splatter less when cooking.
Truss your chicken with kitchen twine.  If you don't know how to do this check out this link. 
Place in your roasting pan breast side up and rub your chicken liberally with olive oil.  Rub down with seasoning blend so it's evenly distributed on bird.
Bake at 450 for approximately 60 minutes.  Juice will run clear and temp probe in breast will register 165.  Remove from oven, cover with foil, and let rest for 10 minutes before cutting to retain juices.

*Next time I will quarter some red potatoes, mix them in olive oil and the same seasonings as the chicken, and let them roast in the pan along with the chicken!