I Feel Like Chicken Tonight!

Saturday was the 5th anniversary at The Healthy Butcher in Toronto, so we helped them celebrate by purchasing a lot of meat at some great sale prices! Andrew really wanted to try cooking a whole bird and they had some great little local-organic ones on sale. He made a spice rub, stuffed it with onion and garlic and let rest in the fridge over night. The next afternoon I put her in the oven at 250 degrees for 3.5 hours. We read that cooking it this slowly at such low temp would result in a rotisserie style bird...I was skeptical...

 

but she turned out beautifully! Crispy skin, great flavour, and all of the spices made for an incredibly easy gravy! I had put her on a bed of halved baby potatoes and a few sprigs of thyme. The potatoes were so delicious - we ended up fighting over the last few, haha!

For dessert I made an apple banana layer cake with brown sugar and creme cheese icing. It's so tasty, oil free, and very easy (I'll post the recipe below later).

Not very photogenic but it tastes better than it looks!

My Healthy Apple Banana Layer Cake:

• 1 cup of flour and flax meal (i.e. 2/3 flour, 1/3 flax)
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/3 cup apple sauce (unsweetened is best)
• 2 tbs runny honey
• 1 egg
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract (or accidentally spill a lot more in like I did...)
• 2 tablespoons yogurt
• 1 ripe banana - mashed
• 1 apple - cored and slice (leave the peel on for some fibre!)

Brown Sugar and Creme Cheese Icing

• 1/2 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
• 1/2 tablespoon unsalted butter ( I think next time I will add some whipping cream instead of butter)
• 1 tablespoon light brown sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1-1/2 teaspoons runny honey

I made this the usual way - mixed dry ingredients, made a well and mixed in the moist ingredients.

I baked the batter in two loaf pans at 375 for about 25 minutes. After baking I let them cool completely as I whipped up the icing.

This icing is way to easy to be this delicious - literally just beat everything together to get a homogenous mixture. Also pay attention when adding the honey, I added a bit too much and it really affects the consistency of the frosting. Mine would have been better a bit more viscous but it still tasted amazing.

I put a good amount of icing in between the cakes and since I had leftover icing I also iced the sides. This kept the cake moist until the last peice! Mmmmmmm we are already craving another one.