Yikes! It’s been a while

I can’t believe I haven’t posted a recipe in so long!  Trust me when I say I’ve been cooking, but most of the time I’be been cooking things I already wrote about.  For example, last week I made a roasted chicken, and today, I’m planning on making roasted chicken chili with the leftovers.

Though, I have made a few new dishes and I’ll have to blog about them.  I’ll have to make them again since I have no pictures from the first time I made it.  See, I’ve been testing some recipes from a book I just bought and I’m pretty excited to try these new and healthier recipes.  So far, they’ve been very tasty and very easy.  Watch, now I jinxed it.

Grilled Chicken

This is one of my favorite and easiest recipes. It also happens to be very frequently requested. The important part is not to skimp on the seasonings or the time it takes to marinate. It’s best to let the chicken sit in the spices for about 24 hours, or even longer, but even overnight will be good. This keeps well in the fridge for a few days, and travels well in a cooler if you’re going tailgating or to a grill-out somewhere.  This even works on an electric grill.  But a real grill (the kind with actual flames), or an oven, work much better.  Though, the chicken was just as tender as if it were on a real grill or in the oven.

Enjoy!

Ingredients:
Chicken legs, as many as you want. Clean it as you would normally.
Spices (salt; I also use the following blends from Penzey’s: Tandoori, Southwest, Northwest; or you can use your favorite chicken rub/seasoning blend).

Steps:
1. After you clean the chicken, pull back (but don’t remove) the skin. Sprinkle the seasoning liberally. Pull the skin back to cover the seasoning.
2. Season the outside of the chicken leg.
3. Place into a container and into the fridge for about a day. The longer it sits, the better it will be.
4. Grill using your favorite method.

*IMPORTANT NOTE*
DON’T MIX THE SEAONINGS. Each leg gets its own blend. For example: one leg gets Tandoori, another leg gets Northwest. Don’t mix Northwest with Tandoori; it will taste nasty.

Season Outside

Season Inside

Grilled Chicken

Grilling

Roasted Chicken Chili

Roasted Chicken Chili

Remember how I made two chickens for my birthday? Well, I used most of the 2nd one for this chili. I used the legs and thighs for other meals and had two fairly large chicken breasts and other odd pieces for the chili. So without further ado, here is what I did.

 

Ingredients:
1 can of Red Gold tomatoes with chilis
2-3 cans of tomatoes
2 cans of chili beans (I used mild since the tomatoes were plenty spicy)
1 large onion
3 garlic cloves, minced
2 chicken breasts, diced into bite-sized pieces
2 bell peppers (any kind, but I like red)
6-8 cups of water, depending on how watery you like your chili and how much pasta you’ll add
a handful of pasta

Steps:
1. Saute the onion and garlic.
2. Add the tomatoes and beans and cook a few minutes.
3. Add the bell peppers and cook a few minutes.
4. Add the diced chicken and cook a few minutes.
5. Add 2-3 cups of water and bring to a boil. Check the spices and adjust as needed.
6. Add the rest of the water and bring to a boil. Then add pasta and turn down the heat to low.

Chicken Chili

Almost done

Roasted Chicken

This is how my family likes my roasted chicken.  It’s quite simple, really.  All you need is a chicken (or any part of a chicken that you like, such as chicken legs, or chicken thighs, or wings, or chicken breasts).  Because I cut away much of the fat in the chicken, this turns out to be a lower-fat dish than you’d normally expect. Here is my method:

Ingredients:
1 whole chicken (or 1 package of chicken legs)
1 bottle of McCormic Rotisserie Chicken seasoning.

Steps:

1. Clean the chicken.
   That’s right, get your hands dirty, get all that yucky film that’s under the skin off, remove as much fat as possible (don’t worry, you’ll have plenty for the chicken to be moist), and remove any remaining feathers that are still on the chicken.
2. Loosen the skin where you can and pull it away from the body of the chicken.
3. Sprinkle the seasoning very liberally (under the skin). The aim is to cover every area that you can get to. If it looks like too much, it’s not. You want it covered.
4. Put the chicken skin back on (remember you “peeled” the skin back in step 2).
5. Sprinkle the seasoning on top of the skin, very liberally.
6. Salt to taste.
7. LET SIT FOR AT LEAST 2 HOURS. It’s better if you let it sit overnight.

If you’ve let the chicken season over night, bring it up to room temperature before placing it into the oven. When you are ready to cook the chicken, preheat the oven to 400 degrees, place chicken into an oven-safe dish, cover with aluminum foil and cook for about 45 minutes (depending on size), or until juices run clear.

During the last 20 minutes of cooking, remove the foil so the chicken can get a warm golden color. Also, at this time, there will be some juices at the bottom of the pan. I use that liquid to baste the chicken every 5-7 minutes during the last 20 minutes of cooking (so about 3-5 times).

That’s it! If you try it, let me know how it turned out. I’m trying to capture every little detail of how I prepare it, so it probably looks more complicated than it really is. I’ll also post a picture next time I make it. Don’t think 1 leftover drumstick is gonna make a great picture.

Looks good enough to eat already, but still raw

Just out of the oven. YUM!