Paprika-Rubbed Garlic Chicken

I made this about a month ago (just found the pic on my iPhone). It turned out really well.

This recipe from Martha Stewart gave me the idea.

I used my basic roast chicken recipe, which I'll have to post later, but incorporated Martha's paprika rub with extra garlic (add to taste, we love garlic so I added a fair amount) and added the cut garlic bulbs to the dish.

In the cavity, I placed 1/2 a lemon and 2 garlic heads. I thinly sliced some fresh garlic and shoved the slices between the skin and the breast for added flavor then I secured the legs by snipping a hole in the skin and putting the end of the leg into the hole; I did this for both legs. I find it preferable to using twine since there's no waste and I don't have to dig around for the twine. Once that was done, I rubbed the skin with butter and followed with Martha's paprika + extra garlic mixture. Martha's recipe calls for two roast chickens but I only wanted one and used the entire rub mixture for two on the one chicken since I'd already made it and wasn't interested in saving it.

I forgot to baste until the chicken was well into the allotted cooking time but when I did baste, I used my usual baste of a bit of butter, a splash of wine, chopped garlic and the lemon juice from the remaining half of the lemon that went into the chicken.

The recipe turned out great. A nice alternative to my regular roast chicken recipe and I'll likely start incorporating parts of this recipe into my usual. The whole family loved the roasted garlic as an addition to the chicken and it made fabulous leftovers too.

I'll post my regular roast chicken recipe later & provide links in this post.

Happy New Year!

Another New Year's Eve has passed and again, I've made no resolutions.

I'm not terribly fond of resolutions. I've never made one that I've kept (not that I remember anyway) and it seems so pointless to resolve to do something that I won't remember a few months from now.

But... If I were to make resolutions, here are some that I'd make:

1. Find a solution for my dry eye. I'm working on this as I'm seeing a specialist on a regular basis, cruising the Internet for something that might work and trying to remain hopeful, especially since I found a calendar entry for my first "dry eye" doctor appointment -- in 1998.

2. Drink more water. See #1 plus, it's just a healthy thing to do. To aid in this process, I've downloaded Water Your Body Lite, an iPhone app, to help me track my consumption. It's not a perfect app; it doesn't take into account exercise or any number of other things that can impact a body's need for water but by increasing or decreasing your weight, you can change the amount of water the program will help you track. This is the water calculator I used to figure out my water needs. I have no idea how accurate it is and I have no idea whether it is sound medically so if you use it, do so at your own risk. Remember, it's a good idea to talk to your doctor before making any major changes to your diet and that includes drinking water. Believe it or not, consuming too much water can kill you.

3. Eat more protein. No, I don't want to eat more protein to lose weight or anything silly like that. I really don't eat enough protein for my weight and how much I exercise (specifically, weightlifting). The problem, for me, is that I don't really care for a lot of foods that are high in protein. I've only recently started to eat chicken. I do like fish but only fresh, not farmed, fish; it's got to be in season and sustainable. Red meat is out -- except for my meatloaf recipe -- and I like bacon. I do eat edamame and some other things that that contain protein but not enough so that's number 3. I've even wondered if the lack of protein in my diet could be contributing to my eye issues.

4. Exercise more. Based on #3, you might think I exercise a lot but I don't. On a good week, I hit the weights three times a week but there are plenty of weeks I just don't bother or I don't give it my all when I do. A week of good won't delete three weeks of bad. I should be adding stretching and cardio to the mix too.

5. Relax. I'm terrible at this one. Seems there's always something to stress about. I should take up yoga and it would help with #4 & #5. Writing more might help too. When I was young, I used writing as an outlet. When did I stop?

6. Learn French. This one I may actually do. I start French classes on Tuesday of this week. Cross your fingers that I'll stick with it.

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I'm sure there's more but that's all I have time for, folks!