yum, yum

Fennel!

 Sorry for another recipe post - but this was so yummy, I had to share! Last week Whole Foods was running a special on whole organic chickens. I wish we could have a diet of all organics, but it is so expensive, with our weekly grocery budget it just isn't possible right now. BUT - like I said, these chicks were cheapty-cheap, so I got my booty down there and picked up a couple. I then went in search of a roast chicken recipe. I've never roasted a chicken before, but its been on my list of things to try. As I've said before, I adore Ina Garten, so I got a recipe from her! Ina Garten's Perfect Roast Chicken. I had to add a few unusual items to our grocery list for the week. One being the pic above - fennel! I didn't even know what it looked like and had to get help finding it. The stinking stuff cost $6, but we didn't need a whole lot else for the week and it didn't throw off our weekly budget much.

 I had frozen the chick, so I took it out on Wednesday to thaw - it took all two days (in the fridge) for it to not be a giant frozen mass anymore. I got my super awesome kitchen assistant - Nuggie - and set to work. We had a blast :-) She listened to music and kicked around and I, I shoved my hand up a chilly chicken rear. I HATE touching raw chicken and here was a WHOLE raw one just staring at me - gizzards and all. It was ok though, I cleared off the counter and set out everything I would need to touch with my chickeny hands and let the prep begin.

"Mommy, why are you sticking your hand up a chicken's tooshie?"

 It turned out wonderfully! A few things I wish I had done differently... 1) I should have filled the pan more with veggies, I didn't know how much they would cook down 2) I added sweet potatoes to the veggie mix and they turned out great! 3) I was too cheap to buy the fresh thyme, but I wish I had sprung for it. I just used dry and it was ok, but I think it would have been even better had I used fresh.


 Here's the final product! It was so so so yummy! Took a little time, but it felt great to cook with organic and healthy ingredients.