Little Blond Bird Cooks a Bird

In contrast to Saturday's bright, sunny weather, yesterday was pretty dismal. That's why I decided to try my hand at cooking a roast chicken for myself and our semi-permanent house guest / temporary roomie, S. I used the ultra simple recipe below from Women's Health Magazine, and made some tasty garlic mashed potatoes and grilled asparagus on the side. The result? A super comforting dinner perfect for a chilly Sunday evening.

Classic Roast Chicken

Ingredients
1 roasting chicken
1 tbsp chopped fresh thyme
10 thyme springs, divided
3 lemons, quartered
Cooking Spray

Preheat oven to 375°F. Meanwhile, remove giblets and neck from chicken cavity; discard (if you're totally grossed out by this, like me, just buy a chicken that's got the giblets and neck removed). Trim excess fat from chicken. Loosen skin from breast and drumsticks by inserting fingers and gently pushing between skin and meat.

Combine chopped thyme with salt and pepper to taste, and use your fingers to rub it under chicken skin. Sprinkle salt and pepper to taste inside body cavity. Place 5 thyme sprigs and 4 lemon wedges inside the cavity.

Put the chicken, breast side up, on a rack coated with cooking spray. Tuck remaining lemon wedges around chicken. Place rack in roasting pan. Bake chicken for 60 to 75 minutes or until a thermometer inserted in the meaty part of a thigh registers 165°F.

Remove chicken from pan and put it on a plate, breast side down; let stand 15 minutes (this allows juices to flow back into breast meat). Remove skin (keep it and serve it, if desired). Carve chicken and garnish it with roasted lemon wedges and remaining sprigs of thyme

I wish I could say this is the one I made...unfortunately my pics didn't turn out so great. But it looked very similar!

Voila! A perfect roasted chicken. I used the leftovers to make a delish Mexican style chicken salad for lunch with spinach, corn, black beans, tomatoes and a creamy avocado dressing. Get cooking birdies!