Food Feature Friday #26: Spatchcocked Lemon Rosemary Chicken!

Today is a super special recipe/review that I wanted to share with you guys and I couldn't be more excited about it! Seeing as how I'm still sick and have been trying to cope with whatever bug I have, I decided to try and eat some chicken, kale, and lemon (all known to help with illness). The only thing I didn't want to do was fully prepare the entire meal. I get winded after just taking a shower, so prepping an entire meal just wasn't in my forte. 

So I made a quick - and exhausting - trip to Trader Joe's and found a very simple and easy meal that I could whip up in no time, without too much work. I came across two prepackaged items: Spatchcocked Lemon Rosemary Chicken and Ditalini Pasta/Cheddar Cheese/Cauliflower/Kale Mac and Cheese. 

Let's start off with the chicken. 

The spatchcocked lemon rosemary chicken is priced at $4.49 a pound and comes completely pre-marinated in a bag with simple to follow directions on the back. All you have to do is pre-heat the oven, place the entire chicken (skin side up) and all the contents into a casserole style dish (basically a shallow-ish baking pan) for the given time (roughly 2 hours). 

Once it's all cooked (check the inside to make sure) you'll be gifted a juicy, tender, whole chicken with little to no effort at all. Except maybe making an alarm for you to remember when to take the chicken out. 

The chicken itself has a mild lemon flavor with a slightly bold hint of rosemary. Each bite made me relive moments from infamous Italian restaurants and even the skin itself was extremely tasty. With such fragrant flavors, but tolerable for the padawans, I fell in love with the entire idea and end result. The collective review of this chicken is that it was a complete and total hit. One "critic" said he could eat it for the rest of his life. Quality and price were extravagant, making me definitely want to repurchase it. 

Seeing as how chicken needs a side dish (not always, but I'm big on having variety), I chose to go with a different type of macaroni and cheese.

Of course I could've used the typical type, but if I'm macaroni and cheese as a side dish for a "special" dinner, then I would go authentic. But as I said before, I didn't want to spend any unnecessary time in the kitchen, so I bought a pre-cooked macaroni and cheese, with a twist.

As a mother, I'm constantly trying to get my little guy to eat healthier (aren't we all), so when we taste tested the "kale cauliflower" macaroni and cheese at Trader Joe's AND he liked it, I snatched it up quicker than you could say "yum". 

This macaroni and cheese is creamy and doesn't have this overbearing taste of kale (or cauliflower for that matter), making it the perfect dish for young ones. Just as long as they aren't extremely picky eaters. The cauliflower isn't crunchy and everything is well mixed in, covered in a delectable amount of cheddar cheese - a huge hit to our taste buds. With a price of only $4.49 (a coincidence at best) and enough quantity to feed roughly 3 people (as a side dish), I will be repurchasing this as well. 

Overall everything was a stupendous success. It not only fed us, but gave us plenty of leftovers for lunches the next day. While it didn't cure my illness (prayers this weekend gives me some sort of relief!), it definitely filled our tummies with plenty of deliciousness. I HIGHLY recommend you picking up these two mouthwatering food items from your local Trader Joe's, so that your next dinner is as easy as pie to make and as healthy as ever to scarf down!