everything but the bagel seasoning

How’s quarantined life? We’ve been trying to eat somewhat healthy with the wedding coming up in October, but we gave in and had Five Guys to go yesterday. As blessed as I feel that I was able to eat a burger when I wanted, I felt as if I was missing something. After some thought, I figured it out. It was the experience of eating at a dining establishment. It is strange how being in an environment with other people changes the experience of eating food, isn’t it?

I haven’t done a Simple Sundays post in a while. It’s a series where I post a ridiculously simple recipe that seems kind of odd to write down and share. This chicken recipe can be done with two ingredients. It’s more the technique than anything. Lining your slow cooker with balls of aluminum foil to keep the chicken from braising in its juices gives you a roasted chicken. The best part is the delicious smell of chicken that slowly wafts through your house as it cooks.

No Everything but the Bagel seasoning? Try it with smoked paprika, salt, pepper and butter or Mexican or Cajun seasoning. Really anything goes.

Everything but the Bagel Chicken

Ingredients:

1 whole chicken (3-5 lbs), innards removed, patted dry
Everything but the Bagel seasoning
salt and pepper (optional)

Instructions

In a large slow cooker, place 4 medium sized aluminum balls in the bottom of the slow cooker pot.
Season the chicken liberally inside and out with the EBTB seasoning. You can add salt and pepper to the chicken if desired. Go easy on the salt because the EBTB seasoning has salt in it.
Set the slow cooker to high and cook for 4-5 hours.
Remove chicken from slow cooker and season again if desired. The initial seasoning will be softened from the chicken juices. If you want the crunch of the seasoning, season once more.
Slice and serve.|

If you’ve been reading my blog for a while now, you would know how much I love sweet potatoes. (As evidenced here, here and here.) I love the soft texture it takes on when it is roasted well and the flavor, to me, is as comforting as chicken noodle soup. So when one of my favorite bloggers posted a video about “perfect sweet potatoes”, I had to give it a try.
Well, it was quite delicious and nearly perfect! I just tweaked it a little by adding salt and omitting the freshly chopped garlic. (If you love garlic, or are in a garlicky mood, mince a few cloves of garlic and add it to the seasoning stage.)
Aimee’s way of roasting the sweet potatoes gives it a crisp exterior and a smooth and buttery interior, and the addition of the “everything but the bagel” seasoning gives a savory edge to the sweetness of the sweet potato. We’ve been making these a lot in our house lately because it is Whole 30 friendly. My sister has been on the whole 30 diet and turns out no sugar, alcohol, grains, legumes, soy, and dairy really cuts down the things that you are allowed to eat. But this has been the sweet-savory snack that has been helping her stay on track.
You can watch the video of Aimee making it here.

Everything Bagel Sweet Potatoes

Ingredients:

3-4 medium sized sweet potatoes (use organic potatoes if you are eating the skin)
avocado oil (or any high smoke point oil)
everything but the bagel seasoning (I got mine at trader joe’s but you can technically make your own)
kosher salt
3-4 cloves of garlic, minced (optional)

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 400˚F and line a baking sheet with aluminum foil (shiny side down).
Thoroughly wash your sweet potatoes. Trim both ends and cut lengthwise.
Coat the sweet potatoes with avocado oil, and place on baking sheet cut-side down.
Roast sweet potatoes 15-20 minutes or until golden brown.
Remove sweet potatoes from oven; flip sweet potatoes so they are cut-side up.
Sprinkle with kosher salt, bagel seasoning, and garlic (if using).
Move baking sheet back into the oven and roast 10-15 minutes more.
Turn off oven and let sweet potatoes sit in oven for an additional 10-15 minutes.
Enjoy!

Recipe adapted from Song of Style.