Yummy Chicken

Last night for dinner I made rotisserie chicken for the first time and it turned out so good. So much better then the ones you can find in grocery stores.

I started the night before with brining my whole chicken like I do my Thanksgiving turkeys. The brine is never the same way twice and is always based on what I want the meat to taste like.

For this one after I cleaned out the chicken I put it in a huge bowl and covered it with cold water. I then poured in about a cup of whiskey ( it was the end of the bottle and looked like a cup), a half a cup of salt ( I know that sounds like a lot of salt but trust me the chicken will not taste salty) , a palm full of dried rosemary, sage, thyme & fresh ground black pepper, and the juice of one large lemon. I then covered it with ice, put some foil on the bowl and stuck it in the fridge over night.

The next day about an hour before I was ready to cook it I took it out of the brine and in the cavity I place some fresh rosemary, sage, thyme and half of a lemon. After that I trussed up the chicken and placed it on the spit.

This is what it looked like.

It takes about an hour to hour & a half over medium heat ( roughly 350 degrees) depending on the size of your bird.

And this is what mine looked like when it was done. OMG ! it was so tender and juicy ! I will be making this again, but with two birds next time because we finished that one so fast and wanted more.

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Hello Blog

I know, I know I'm way behind with the update I promised this week. I got semi busy again and today is the first day I've had the time to collect my thoughts.

Lets see where to begin????

Our 4th of July was good, wet but good all the same. We hang out with the same friends every 4th of July, it's become tradition. We start out at our house and watch the parade, then head over to their house for lunch and swimming, then back to our house for dinner and firework watching, then back to their house to light our fireworks. It's a good thing we only live 3 minutes from each other......lol It's a lot of driving back and forth but I think that's half the fun.

The week after the 4th was filled with odds and ends , plus getting ready for Oldest Son M's 18 birthday party.

Barry & Daughter A, painted the railing of the front porch. I love having a huge porch but I hate painting it ! It looks so much better now and hopefully we will get a few years out of it before it needs to be painted again.

I got a new "Mac Daddy" grill that I'm just thrilled about. I've been wanting a larger grill for some time now and after enough whining ummmm asking Barry and I went out and bought one. I just wanted one a little larger then what we had, but Barry said if we're going to do this lets DO THIS. This baby is fully loaded with 6 burners, a smoker box, built in rotisserie , sear station and lights. So now when I have a taste for a grilled piece of meat at 10:00 at night I can see what I'm doing lol.

Moving on..... Oldest Son M's 18th birthday party was last Saturday. It turned out really good..... just the right amount of people were here. I even invited his Dad, his dad's girl friend and his grandma & great grandma. Hurt feelings are a thing of the past and I can be a big girl and deal with all of them for a few hours for Oldest Son M's sake. I know he was very happy they all came to his party.

It's so hard for me to believe that my "baby" is now 18, but at the same time I'm fine with it. It's weird but as he's hit every mile stone birthday it's never really bothered me. Yet, when Daughter A hits them I'm a total cry baby the entire day.

This week I've been busy cleaning out the garage and just relaxing.

Barry & Daughter K will be coming home again with weekend. Daughter K will be coming home to stay after being in Arkansas for 3 weeks with her dad. I'm not sure how I feel about it, 3 weeks with her dad does not make for a changed child. But I will just hope for the best and take each day as they come.

So, that's pretty much it for the update. I hope to have some photos posted soon on my photography blog, if not this week then early next week for sure.

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I'm Really Not

I'm really not as snobby and bitchy as I sound in my last two posts..... ok maybe a little.

The whole kids screaming thing.... I get it they are just having fun but there is a fine line between screaming while having fun and screaming just to scream...... and those two kids crossed that line a long time ago. They both hit this pitch that I swear will break glass! And it just not for a few minutes, they scream the entire time they are outside and their parents just let them do it. Um, I'm all for letting kids be kids but could they at least have them not scream all the time?

The ball thing... I know it was an accident. Not like the kid did it on purpose. But they saw me sitting in the sunroom, one of them could of at least said they were sorry and offered to get the ball down for me. If they didn't have a ladder they could of used ours. Oldest Son M said he would get it down today after school. And being the nice person I am I will give the ball back..... I'm not one of those cranky neighbors that keeps all the balls, etc. that land in their yard.

Now the grill thing..... I am a snob about that one. I've seen and eaten way to much grilled food that was ruined because it was cooked all wrong. Even Sexy Stud knows who to call when he has a grilled food question. Just last week he was grilling pork chops and called me up to ask how long he should cook them. Maybe my neighbors like overcooked food and who am I to judge them on that, but I'm still going to enjoy the comic relief I get from watching them grill.

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Dry As A Bone

My biggest comic relief in the summer time has always been watching my neighbors grill. I thought my laughing days were over with, when the old neighbors moved out and new ones moved in, but I thought wrong.

First I present to you "Burger Smasher Man"

He places 3 burgers on his grill that were about as thin as White Castle burgers. Comes back about 6 minutes later, and proceeds to smash the heck out of them with the back of his spatula. Goes back inside and comes back about 6 minutes later , flips them over and smashes the heck out of them again. Back inside...... 6 minutes later flips them over again ...... smashes them again. He does this pattern of flipping and smashing 2 more times, for a total cooking time of roughly 30 minutes. Even if those thin as White Castle burgers were frozen when he put them on the grill, it would only take roughly 6 minutes to cook them. And for the love of all things juicy don't smash the heck out of them! Your smashing out what little juice they may of had in them in the first place.

Now I present " Dry As A Bone Man"

He places boneless, skinless chicken breasts & hotdogs on his grill. I know this because I heard the kids screaming about what was for dinner. He sits down , gets up about 2 minutes later and flips the chicken. Sits back down, back up, flips chicken, rolls hotdogs. He does this pattern of flipping chicken /roll hotdogs every two minutes for the next 40 minutes. First off buddy... hotdogs are already cooked, all your doing is warming them up on the grill, so they don't need to "cook" for 40 minutes. Next the reason why your chicken kept sticking to the grill is because you kept turning it to soon. Test it first and if it's sticking leave it alone...... it will release when it's ready to be turned. Learn this so I don't have to hear you bitching about it next time. Lastly..... for the love of all things juicy...... they were boneless, skinless chicken breasts...... they should of cook for 10 minutes tops.

And they say men are the "Kings of the Grill"....... lol

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