A Recipe Entry?

Broiled Lambchop

It was a day, like any other day. Stephen was about to watch Arthur on PBS; A cartoon which has really grown on me over the last few years. I was in the office under a pile of paper work I had to do for the husband when I heard the Arthur theme song begin. I said to myself, "I'll go in there and keep my lil' man company and watch Arthur with him." I gathered the ton of paperwork I'll never finish, and went down the hall. I breathed in the aroma that filled the air. It smelled of rosemary and garlic. Mmm, the roast is really smelling good. It'll be done in about 45 minutes. I decided to bake it in an oven bag today. Easy cleanup.

Stephen saw me enter the room with my paperwork, stood to his little feet, clapped his hands and smiled. Happy mama is joining him to watch 'our' favorite show. It was my lucky day! One of my favorite Arthur episodes! D.W. tricks the tooth fairy! Whoohoo!

Just about the time D.W. was saying something sarcastic to Arthur about how she planned to trick the tooth fairy, I found a $75.00 error, in our favor! ...Sweet!...::sniff:: Hmm, that roast is smelling 'funny.'  maybe I shouldn't have used the oven bag. I hear the oven door slam. "STEPHEN!! Stay away from the oven! It's hot! Mama is making a roast. I know it smells good, but you have to leave it alone and wait till supper!"  The boy would not walk away and kept reaching out to touch the stove, then he'd jump up and down, and clap his hands at me. "Stephen, I said, NO!"  I better check that roast, it's beginning to stink!  I  opened the door to the oven and there was poor lambchop, in flames! Laying flat on her back on the bottom burner, her leg was on fire, and her back was smoking. Stephen is pitching a fit as if he's saying, "DO SOMETHING!" I reach in with my bare hands [stupid] grabbed her and threw her in the sink. I splashed her with water. The sight was awful, the kitchen stunk to high-heaven, the smoke alarm was NOT going off. [I guess it only does that when I make toast] Stephen was turning around in circles and making noises I'd never heard him make before.  God bless him, he thought he'd killed Lamby. I compared his emotions to the time I closed the refrigerator door on my kitten when I was little. Traumatized.

Just like that, poor lamby had suffered yet, another injury. God love her little fuzzy heart! Take a good look. She was a gift from my mama when Stephen was a baby, eleven years ago. Soon after we got her, the dog took a liking to her and chewed her ears off. She's been thrown out of the car. Stephen's daddy came within an inch of his life dodging cars to save her that time on highway 280. She's been thrown into the ceiling fan and zoomed across the room too many times to count. She's been drooled on. Chewed on. Cried on. Puked on. Crapped on. And finally, set on fire. How much more can she endure? Sadly, I can relate to that feeling. Except, I haven't been set on fire or thrown out into Highway 280 traffic yet. I did get a rather large bump on my head from the ceiling fan once. I was dusting it and Stephen wondered what would happen if he flipped the switch on.

To tell you the truth, I think I'm about as attached to lambchop as Stephen is. I feel that she understands me. I sure do understand her.  I've been known to sleep with her when I was sick with my mystery illness and Stephen was in school. ...And, I can't believe I just said that. I've held her tight as I cried tears for Stephen. She's been there every step of the way. That is why I couldn't trash her. I couldn't salvage all of her leg, for it was melted so badly. I cut away all I could from the melted stuffing, found an old baby sock of Stephen's [see, I've always said, you never know when you'll need them] and made her a new leg. Stephen paced the livingroom floor as I performed surgery. Now she looks like she's wearing a cast of some sort. Stephen doesn't mind. He's just happy to have her back in his arms again.

Just before bedtime, he put her in the microwave and turned it on. I guess he was curious how that would turn out.

Like I said, it was a day like any other day...

Boys!

note: he couldn't even keep his little hands off of her long enough for me to take a picture of the burns on her back. I had to snap it quick!

Time for a Recipe

Remember that entry I had prepared? I lost it. I'll redo it, pictures and all and post later. Stephen and I went to the park, located behind one of our fire stations. The last one that my brother worked at before he retired. Which is also across the street from where my daddy works. Cute pictures and I can't wait to post them.  

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  

I was thinking,  it's been a while since I made a recipe entry and since it's grilling season, I thought I'd post one of our favorite ways to grill chicken. You've probably all tried, or at least heard of "Beer Butt Chicken"  We made this the other day at my mom and dad's house. They'd never had it before, and when I mentioned that it involved a can of beer, daddy kind of perked up and said, "Hey, that sounds good!"  While the chicken was on the grill, one of my aunts called and asked mama what we were doing. Mama, not fully understanding the name of the recipe, replied. "We're cooking some recipe of Mia's.  Butt-Hole chicken. Sounds nasty if you ask me."  I swear, I laughed so hard upon hearing this, I fell out of the kitchen chair and had a hard time catching my breath! From that day, I vowed to never call it beer-butt-chicken again. The following is my version::  

Butt-Hole Chicken  

Here's what you'll need::  

A whole chicken  That means, a chicken that hasn't been cut up. But, if you didn't already know that, maybe you should just skip this and go to your local grocery store and just buy a rotisserie chicken.  

Some type of dry rub I usually just make one of brown sugar, garlic powder, salt, onion powder, paprika, a litte bit of Jane's Crazy Mixed Up Salt. ...Whatever... Some folks like Cajun seasoning and the like.    

Olive oil  for basting the chicken  

A 12 oz. can of beer (a couple of extra if you wish, for basting the grill master)  

Fresh garlic, minced (as much as you like)    

Here's what you do::  

Be sure to use a grill with a lid tall enough to cook the chicken, standing upright. Prepare your grill for indirect grilling.  

Mix the rub together in a bowl.   

Remove the giblets from the cavity of the chicken.  [My cat, "Patches" swears this is the best part, so I let her have them instead of wasting them.]  

Wash chicken,  inside and out and dry with paper towels. Spray some olive oil on the chicken. Season the chicken inside and out with the rub of your choice. I also like to put some under the skin.   

Pour about 1/2 of the beer into a glass or a chilled mug; then add your minced garlic and any remaining rub to the can of beer. I like to open the can with a can opener or poke about 2 more big holes in it for the steam to escape while it's grilling.  

Now you'll want to lube the can with some olive oil and lower the chicken over the can so it looks like the chicken is sitting on the can. It is hard to balance a big chicken over a small can of beer. If you have a really big chicken, you may need a tall boy for this part. Or you can buy a ChickCan making balancing a lot easier. 

 Place over indirect heat, cover and cook for about an hour and a half to 2 hours. Till the juices are clear and the skin is transparent and crisp.  (if chicken isn't browning enough, you can spread a few coals under the chicken toward the end of cooking time)  

Note:: check often for flare ups. Use caution removing the chicken from grill and the beer can from the chicken, don't burn yourself with the hotbeer like I did, the first timeI cooked this! Use oven mitts! Let cool for about 15-20 minutes.  

This will be the most, moist grilled chicken you've ever had!   Enjoy!