Another Friday, another chicken.

I'm trying to commit to something. As someone with multiple chronic and mental health issues, cooking is something I love to do but can't always do. Due to the effort and exhaustion, cooking isn't always an option for me. And most weekdays consist of cheats that make cooking a little easier. Jars of sauce, microwave vegetables etc etc. 

But to keep myself busy and as a goal, I'm trying to commit to making at least one meal from scratch as possible. And I mean from scratch. So instead of all my quick, adapted recipes that I usually go for - I've been trying to cook a proper homemade meal for James and I. Luckily this usually means leftovers for the next day so technically I'm making two meals from scratch... Right?

A busy, child free, weekend.

This weekend my partner and I were child free for the first time in months. Which obviously meant long lie ins and lots of laziness. But it also meant I could spend some time in the kitchen.

Friday night I popped to Sainsbury's and bought a small whole chicken. When I roast a chicken, there's a few rules I stick too and my method doesn't fail me. I put a lot (and I mean a lot, I never said this was healthy roast chicken) of  seasoned butter underneath the skin of the breast and cover the skin in butter, making sure you tuck a some between the legs. I sometimes mix the butter with fresh herbs (if I have any) or smoked chilli paste. This time I just went plain and simple and then added a lemon, cut in half, and a few garlic cloves into the cavity. I always roast my chickens on a bed of thickly chopped onions and cover with foil until the last half an hour. This way the onions can properly caramelize without burning. I usually cook the chicken for 1.5/2 hours and rest for 15 minutes.

As we had more time to spare and I had more time to cook, I decided to make a quick roast dinner. We had new potatoes in so why not! I used boxed stuffing because, as much as I love homemade stuffing, I just did not have the energy or the money for ingredients.