Not Always a Success

Singing in my best Frank Sinatra voice:

"But he's got high hopes, he's got high hopes. He's got high apple pie, in the sky hopes".

My cooking isn't always a success (can you believe it?!). Not that tonight's was terrible, it just wasn't any spectacular. I thought for sure that I would love this (garlic + chicken + crockpot), but it was just OKAY. Nothing terribly special. I could have had a tastier, juicier chicken in the oven.

It has been a while since I roasted or cooked an entire bird, so I thought "why not?". Chicken is cheap, cooking in the crockpot is easy. Add two of my favorite elements together and you get crock a' cheap! Haha! Seriously though, this was good, just not great.

I did like the fact that I barely had to cut the chicken when it came out of the crockpot. It literally just fell off the bone. That is why I don't have a picture of it. It disassembled itself before I could grab the camera.

The roasted garlic was mighty tasty. I saved some cloves to spread on bread or crackers for another time.

I believe the total cost for this meal was $4.00. $3.30 for the chicken and $.70 for the onion and clove of garlic. I had some potatoes on hand and my go-to vegetable (spinach), so those cost me nothing.

Would I cook this again? Probably not in the crockpot. In the oven though, yes! You could very easily do this same recipe in a roasting pan with the onion and garlic, but covered in foil. That way, the juices stay in and you get the nice flavor of the roasted garlic.

Twenty-Garlic Chicken Dinner

from: Pillsbury One-Dish Meals Cookbook

1 (3-3.5 lb) whole frying chicken

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon paprika

1/2 teaspoon pepper

1 teaspoon olive oil

1 large onion, sliced

1 medium bulb garlic (about 20 cloves)

1. Remove giblets from chicken; remove as much fat as possible. Rinse and drain chicken. Pat dry inside and out with paper towels.

2. In small bowl, combine salt, paprika, pepper and oil; mix to form paste. Spread evenly over chicken.

3. Place onion slices in slow cooker. Place chicken, breast side up, over onion. Separate garlic into cloves; do not peel cloves. Place garlic cloves in and around chicken.

4. Cover; cook on low setting for at least 7 hours.

5. With slotted spoon, remove chicken, onion and garlic from slow cooker. Cut chicken into pieces and serve.

The skin was very flavorful and the roasted garlic (in the middle of the pile o' chicken) was very good.