by: Karen Ciancio

Easy dinner recipes make life so much easier for us.

As much as we want to make healthy food choices for ourselves and our families, busy lives sometimes makes it difficult. With a few easy dinner recipes in your recipe box it's a cinch.

This is a complete meal that bakes in the oven at the same time. With just a little bit of preparation time you can pop the whole meal in the oven and go off to spend your time doing things other than stirring and watching. Come back in a bit and dinner's done. Couldn't be easier or more delicious.

Roast Chicken

• 1 whole chicken, about lbs

• butter

• salt and pepper

• 1 whole bulb of garlic (optional), with the outside papery layers removed

Preheat the oven to 375ºF.

Wash and dry the chicken. Thoroughly rinse and dry the inside cavity as well. Salt and pepper the cavity and place the whole bulb of garlic inside.

Take your finger and slide it under the breast skin. Place dabs of butter in 2 or 3 spots on each side of the breast, under the skin. Take about 2 ounces of softened butter and spread it over the chicken with your fingers. Salt and pepper the outside of the chicken to taste.

Arrange the chicken in a covered roasting pan. Roast at 375ºF for about 1 1/2 hours, basting occasionally to keep it moist.

Carve and serve.

Roasted Root Vegetables

• Potatoes, peeled and cut into 2" wedges

• Sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into slightly larger wedges or sliced straight across into thick slices

• Sweet onions, peeled and cut into wedges

• Carrots, peeled and cut into long thick sticks

• Olive oil or vegetable oil

• 1 tablespoon dried rosemary

• Salt and pepper

Begin preparing the vegetables as soon as the chicken is in the oven.

Oil a 13"x9" glass baking dish. Place the cut vegetables in the baking dish. Make sure the sweet potatoes are cut a bit larger than the white potatoes because they take just a bit longer to cook.

Drizzle oil over the vegetables and mix to coat them all. Salt and pepper the vegetables. Sprinkle dried rosemary over them.

When the chicken has been in the oven for 30 minutes, put the vegetables in. Roast the vegetables, uncovered, for about 1 hour, until all are soft. The onions will be a bit carmelized and nice and sweet.

Note: Try varying the vegetables in the mix. Parsnips would be nice as well. You can also add a bit of garlic if you are a garlic lover.

That's it! Dinner's ready!