The Unsuccessful Night in the Kitchen

I figure that if I'm going to write about feeding my kids, I'd better write about my failures at it as well. Fortunately for me, last night's failure was just mine. I roasted a chicken. Which I can do. Have done plenty of times. Last night, though, I rushed. The chicken was not thawed completely. After two hours, the chicken was beautiful on the outside and still 140 degrees in some places. I'm impatient and often in denial of food disasters. I pulled it out of the oven anyway, to let it rest. Of course when we started carving it, we hit raw places close to the bone. Back in the oven that chicken went. By the time it was done, the sauced slaw wasn't crisp anymore and the stuffing dish was dry, but the kids were so starving, they gobbled everything up without noticing. Only I was upset by the wilty sides! The chicken was truly moist and delicious.

My kids, Robby and Katie, will always eat chicken. When they were tiny, we introduced chicken nuggets, as most young and busy parents do. When Robby was four and Katie was two, we could bread just about anything, call it a nugget, and they would eat it. I even served a lot of chicken fried steak because Robby wouldn't eat meatballs anymore by four years old. Not sure what happened there! Sometimes when little ones make decisions about food, adults will be baffled. However, chicken fried steak looked like nuggets, so he ate it. Needless to say, chicken continues to be a favorite for R and K. Now they eat it in all kinds of forms, which is great for me! Chicken is fun and easy to cook - ok, except when I'm in a hurry like last night.

This really wonderful parent at our school brings us sample bags of dried cranberries from his work. I have quarts of them. The whole reason for roasting a chicken last night was to use up some of the cranberries in stuffing. Pecans, dried cranberries, bread cubes, chicken stock, sage, thyme, salt and pepper. Even if the edges of the dish were very crispy, the stuffing was delicious. I love the tartness of the cranberries with the savory sage and thyme. The pecans added that nutty crunch. Man, it was so good. Robby ate all of his. Katie and I went back for seconds. Arnie, my husband, is not too big into fruit. He did not eat his. This is to be expected when the fruit takes a big role in a dish. He likes fruit in savory dishes when it is more subtle.

Not matter. Since last nigh is over, I get to move on. I could use some more recipes to use up those dried cranberries.