Week Two: Thursday (Day 7)

It's kind of funny. I've been doing this for three calendar weeks and yet I'm only up to Day 7.

I didn't count the meals in the first week because it was my "test week." We had Christmas and New Year's occur in the next two weeks, so I have technically made only SEVEN meals of the 30 I declared I would do for this experiment. Experiments always have differing circumstances, so I just took those in stride and I think we'll be moving along more quickly now.

The chicken is thawed in the frig since I put it there Sunday night. Usually I forget and it's frozen solid and I find myself trying to thaw it out by running hot water in it. My fingers are alternately frozen and burning, the darn bag inside just will NOT come out. But this time things will be different. What joy planning ahead can bring!

The directions I use for roasting a chicken come from a book called "Nourishing Traditions." It's one of the most amazing cookbooks I've ever read. I recommend it highly. They added veggies underneath the rack so that a gravy could be made. I usually don't do that.

The Recipes:

Roast Chicken

1 whole chicken
3 T unsalted butter, melted
Salt and Pepper
Cayenne
Any other herbs desired

• Place chicken "face-down" on rack in roasting pan.
• Brush butter all over back of chicken
• Sprinkle with salt, pepper, cayenne, other spices.
• Bake 1 hour at 375 degrees.
• Insert wooden spoon and turn chicken over (like a spit).
• Brush with butter and sprinkle seasonings.
• Bake for another hour at 375.

Succulent, awesome, tasty roasted chicken. And easy, too.

I'm going to serve this with brown rice (follow package directions), and steamed broccoli with leftover Rotel Cheese Sauce.

Verdict:

Me: I am surprised every time I make this about how DELICIOUS this is. Starting the chicken "face-down" makes all the juices run that direction. Plump and juicy. The Rotel Cheese Dip on the broccoli was excellent as well. I went back for seconds on everything. Tomorrow I diet.

Hubby: (Spoon raised in the air in a salute) Mmm, mmm, mmm, mmm, mmm!