Monday, December 27, 2010

Delicious!

Apparently this blog is going to contain random recipes, just go with it...
I love chicken, and I'm trying to eat healthier, so I went to foodnetwork.com and stole this recipe:

Ingredients

  • 1 (5 to 6 pound) roasting chicken
  • Kosher salt
  • Freshly ground black pepper
  • 1 large bunch fresh thyme, plus 20 sprigs
  • 1 lemon, halved
  • 1 head garlic, cut in half crosswise
  • 2 tablespoons (1/4 stick) butter, melted
  • 1 large yellow onion, thickly sliced
  • 4 carrots cut into 2-inch chunks
  • 1 bulb of fennel, tops removed, and cut into wedges
  • Olive oil

Directions

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.
Remove the chicken giblets. Rinse the chicken inside and out. Remove any excess fat and leftover pin feathers and pat the outside dry. Liberally salt and pepper the inside of the chicken. Stuff the cavity with the bunch of thyme, both halves of lemon, and all the garlic. Brush the outside of the chicken with the butter and sprinkle again with salt and pepper. Tie the legs together with kitchen string and tuck the wing tips under the body of the chicken. Place the onions, carrots, and fennel in a roasting pan. Toss with salt, pepper, 20 sprigs of thyme, and olive oil. Spread around the bottom of the roasting pan and place the chicken on top.
Roast the chicken for 1 1/2 hours, or until the juices run clear when you cut between a leg and thigh. Remove the chicken and vegetables to a platter and cover with aluminum foil for about 20 minutes. Slice the chicken onto a platter and serve it with the vegetables.





Harmons sells whole chickens, sans giblets and innards, for about ten bucks! This dinner is cheap and delicious. The best part is, once the chicken is roasting, you can read a book!

Sunday, December 26, 2010

Merry Christmas, From An Atheist

In case you don't know, I'm an Atheist/Secular Humanist. I take solace in the principles of Secular Humanism just as strongly as a devout theist believes their religion to be true; because of my beliefs, I have tried to remove myself from Christmas. I don't believe Christmas should be a national holiday, but no matter how hard I try, I can't seem to remove myself from the celebration. I love light displays, decorating cookies, decorating trees, ice skating, and making gingerbread houses. I think that the Santa Claus fable is harmless, and many of my greatest memories come from the legend of Kris Kringle. In fact, I think that the story of Santa Claus is a useful tool. As a child I eventually grew out of the belief that there was a man, who knows everyone by name, can see all of my actions, listens to my desires, and punishes/rewards me for my actions (sound familiar?) That being said, the following is much less cynical.

This year Ben and I purchased decorations for our first Christmas tree, hung stockings, baked cookies, saw Christmas lights, watched Christmas movies, and danced in the living room to festive tunes (only for a moment, dancing makes me UN-FUCKING-COMFORTABLE!) This Christmas was perfection, spare the one tiny tradition I seem to be implementing, I have a horrendous cold! Poor Ben has been sleeping on the couch for four nights to gain a reprieve from my lung gurgle. Seriously, it is disgusting.


This Christmas was absolutely perfect. I am blissfully happy with my life, not including the ten, okay, fifteen pounds that I have gained. Apparently an education costs one pair of skinny jeans (3.7 GPA!!)