Happy Memorial Weekend

Hello Everyone,

I thought I would post a recipe I tried the other night to start our Memorial Day Weekend.  I like to test new recipes out on us first before I subject our company to a potential failure.

This recipe is a new twist on beer can chicken.

Start with a teaspoon each of:

Garlic powder, onion powder, sage, ground ginger, seasoned pepper, salt, paprika and dried oregano and any other seasonings you can think of (just like my scrappy quilts, throw in any spice that you think will work.)  Wash and dry the chicken first.

Mix up the spices.  Rub half of the spices around the inside of the chicken.  No time to get squeamish!  Gently detached the skin, and rub the rest of the spices between the skin and meat.

I didn't have a can of beer, but I did have a bottle of beer from our local brewery.

To improvise, I poured the beer into an empty can of Sprite.  Save out about 1/2 cup of beer.....why??  To drink of course!  Actually, you need space for the two to three cloves of crushed garlic that you are going to put into the beer/Sprite can.  I had a genius idea to put the can into my spring form pan to hold the chicken up, since I didn't have one of those handy dandy beer can holders.  If you do this, make sure you put pan and all on a baking pan to collect the juices.

I thought this was the neck cavity of a chicken......wrong.  It is the opening where you are going to stuff the 8 slices of bacon.  I used thick, applewood-smoked bacon.

Play ring around the Maypole with the bacon, and drape it around the bird.  Before......

After.  I baked this for 10 minutes at 425 degrees, then for another 1-1/2 plus or minus hours at 325 degrees. Keep checking the internal temperature which should get to 165 degrees. Halfway through the cooking time, I threw in a handful of baby, honey-gold potatoes. The wonderful aroma wafting out of the house while this chicken was baking, brought Mr. Joe out of his woodshop and down to the cabin to see what I was up to. I served this with a salad, and we were in beer can chicken heaven. The bacon kept the chicken moist and it was so flavorful! 

For lunch yesterday I made sandwiches from the leftover chicken.  I cranked up the panini machine, and layered  chicken, bacon, avocado, Jack cheese and Dijon mustard between two slices of sourdough bread.  Then we walked around the neighborhood to work off the calories!  Maybe we should have hiked all the way to Bear Valley.  

So, you can try this recipe on your holiday guests.  It definitely passed muster at our house. 

Gotta go and work off more of those delicious calories.

As always,

Lynn