January 21, 2009

What's Cooking Wednesdays-Roast Chicken

Tim has been wanting me to pack healthier lunches for him. So I thought that I would just get him the bag salad with all the accessories in them. Know what I mean? They come with the dressing, bacon pieces, croutons, etc already in the bag. Then I thought I would get him some of the Tyson chicken that all you have to do is heat up. Well when checking the prices at the store, I found that you can buy a whole chicken for $4.00 or you could buy this little bag of ready to eat and with only about 2 servings for around $6.00. Guess which I picked.

Here is the thing though. These little things terrify the hell out of me. I've never cooked a turkey either. I guess because there is so much involved in making sure it is cleaned out and I am always afraid that I am not going to get it cooked all the way and kill my family. I am not exaggerating. Well, like a sign from God, after I got home I was watching Food Network (I'm a junky) and Barefoot Contessa was cooking a roasted chicken!! I know!! I was in shock how easy it was. I was so motivated I got up and cooked that little chicken. It was simple, fast and tastes amazing. Not to mention it looked just as beautiful as the one that she made. I did not want to eat it. I was so proud of myself. I thought I would just share with you my success story and pass along the recipe. Enjoy!!

Easy Roasted Chicken

1 Roasted Chicken
lemons
potatoes
carrots
onion

In a medium roasting pan you layer your potatoes, carrots and onion. Rinse and pat dry your chicken and place on top of the veggies. Salt and pepper the inside of the chicken and place cut up lemon in the inside of the chicken. Then you want to some butter on the outside of your bird and then salt and pepper the outside.
Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes per pound of the chicken. Done when the juices run clear or you can remove a leg easily.

What I did different
I did not have potatoes or carrots so I just made a bed of onions. I also did not have lemons so I just salt and peppered the inside. I rubbed it down with olive oil butter and salt and peppered the outside. Cooked it like they said.

AMAZING!!

Tim loved it. I do not have a picture of it because after I took it out I was letting it sit for a while they suggest so the juices can redistribute. I was upstairs cleaning and Tim came home. He mutilated it. He said that it was amazing with his man grunting noises, not words. It made me feel so good inside. I divided the chicken all up in to smaller portions and he ate off of it for 5 days! Salads, chicken tacos, chicken sandwiches, etc. I got way more bang for my buck.

Now check out the star of What's Cooking Wednesdays the The Fairy Blog Mother .

2 comments:

  1. I felt the same way when I tried roasting a chicken myself - it was kind of like a "this is so easy why didnt I do this before" moment. And the payback is totally worth it - if you have the time, I usually get about 3-4 quarts of chicken stock out of the bones of one roast chicken which is like another $10 saved on buying chicken stock.

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  2. I am a Food Network Addict as well! Not a huge Nigella fan though. Yay for you on your first chicken!!! I love roast chicken.

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