Roast Chicken and Gravy

I made this particular chicken and took the pictures MONTHS ago! I guess with the baby and new house and everything, it got lost in the shuffle and I never blogged about it.
I LOVE making roast chicken. It is so easy and the homemade gravy just takes the cake. All you need are a few basic ingredients and you're on your way!

Roast Chicken and Gravy

Ingredients: 
1 whole chicken
A lemon
A couple cloves of garlic
One small-medium onion
Fresh or dry Thyme
Salt and pepper

Someday i'll learn how to photograph raw chicken so that it doesn't look sickly.

 You'll need some kind of roasting pan. Here's mine. :) Oh, and start preheating your oven to 450 degrees.

Rinse your chicken, inside and out (take out any giblets or whatever that gunk is that's stuffed inside.) Dry your chicken really well. The drier it is, the crispier the skin will be. Truss your chicken! You basically grab the little legs, cross em and tie them together. You are also supposed to tuck the wings underneath and I completely spaced on that part. Salt and pepper the bird inside and out.

 Now, slice up that onion and layer them all over the bottom of your pan.

 Grab that lemon and either poke it all over with a fork or slice it in half, like I have, and stuff it inside the chicken's bum. Also toss in 2-3 garlic cloves and some Thyme. Set the bird on top of the onions.

 Put the lid on your pan and roast in the oven for about 50 minutes, then take the lid off and continue roasting for another 10-15 minutes. Check the temperature to be sure it's fully cooked. The thickest part of your bird should be 165 degrees.

 Now, move your chicken to a plate or platter, but don't cut it yet! It needs to rest for 15 minutes. If you cut it, it will start to "bleed." Basically, all the juices will come spilling out. I make this mistake quite often. You'd think I would eventually learn.
Anyway, if your roasting pan is stove-top safe, stick it right on a burner and turn the heat to medium-high.

 Add about a tablespoon of flour and mix, mix, mix!

 After about 1 minute, pour in some water or chicken stock. I use water. It's cheaper. Stir it up and continue cooking until it's really mixed and reduced and thickened up. About 4 or 5 minutes. I really just eyeball the amount of water, but 1 or 2 cups should be good.

Now you can either toss your gravy in a blender and whiz it up until it's really smooth, or you can just strain it through a mesh strainer.

 If it seems too liquidy, don't worry, it WILL thicken up. Trust me. It will really, really thicken up.

And serve! Yeah, I cut into my chicken too soon. The juices all came running out like they were racing. Oh well. We were hungry. Now go buy a chicken and impress some guests! Or just your family. Whichever.

Easy Mexican Rice

First things first. Let me finally introduce you to my new kitchen!
I am in LOVE!
It may or may not have been the deciding factor in which house we bought. :)

Go ahead. Be jealous. :D

For Christmas, my sweet hubby got me a tortilla press and it is awesome! I am SO terrible at rolling out circles, so when I make tortillas, they end up looking like blobs. Not anymore! I used it for the first time tonight and all my tortillas were perfect little circles!
Here is the recipe I use for tortillas, if you are interested. Flour Tortillas

 

Now, on to the recipe. This rice is SOOOO easy and comes together super quickly. I've used instant rice here because it's quicker, but you can do the same thing with regular rice. You would just need to halve the amount of rice used and let it sit on the stove for longer. 

Easy Mexican Rice

Ingredients:
2 Cups Instant Rice

1 Cup Chicken Broth (you could also just use water or vegetable broth for a more vegetarian/vegan approach)

1 Cup Salsa (your choice)

 Mix the chicken broth and the salsa together in a saucepan and heat on high until boiling.

 Once it's boiling, stir in your rice, remove from heat, cover and let sit for 5 minutes.

And there you have it! I told you it was amazingly easy! I served mine with quesadillas filled with cheese and this mixture and a side of fresh pineapple.. So yummy!

Exciting Things Are Coming

I know i've been MIA for 2 months now. A new baby can do that to a person.
You know what else can cause someone to not blog?
Moving to a new house!!!!
Yes, our days of renting are OVER. And my days of an apartment kitchen with gross cabinets and limited counter space are also OVER!
We close on our house tomorrow and, once we buy a refrigerator, I will be cooking up a storm in my GORGEOUS new kitchen.
Pictures will be coming soon, along with some great new food-related posts.

Be on the lookout for:
Pumpkin Cinnamon Bread
Peppermint Fudge Cupcakes
My family's famous Enchiladas
Oodles of chicken recipes. I have 40 lbs of chicken in my freezer right now!
I've also been using my Vitamix a TON lately, so i'll try and get some smoothie recipes posted as well. :)

Finally

I've been a little busy lately. Pushing out a baby, and all. :)
Baby boy arrived Sunday morning and we are in love.
Give me a week or two and i'll get back to blogging, I promise!
I have REALLY missed being in the kitchen, so I've got a lot of things I want to do and try and share with all of you.
Happy Monday!