Recipe- Rotisserie Chicken

Rotisserie Chicken 

Well my camera takes terrible pictures of moving objects, so there is no justice for this rotating bird. However, I am excited about today. I worked from 12-5pm, and I worked up a hunger - for pretty much anything. I am trying to stay committed to eating at home and saving some money. So, rather than spending $8.85 on a 2# rotisserie chicken after work, I grabbed the only thawed 5 pounder we had (and a frozen one for later!). While I was hungry before I even got home, this meal was worth the wait!

Ok, so the velveta shells and cheese is only home prepared - not home made. We got 3 meals out of the chicken and the pasta for about $8, and probably still had less calories than the other night helping Jeff polish off a stuffed crust pizza and cinnamon sticks (which cost us about $8 more even after 50% off the pizza).

So here is what we did.

I took the (slightly over) 5 pound "young" chicken and rinsed it all off (insides too). I know a lot of people aren't in to rinsing their chicken, but it is something my mom always did. Plus, the bird was already thawed, so I didn't want to take any MORE chances of getting and upset tummy (I have a tricky digestive system).

I seasoned the chicken with a good coat of garlic powder, and lightly with cracked pepper (black, white, red, and whatever else was in the assortment I got), and rosemary.  Then I tied 'er, stuffed 'er on the spit, thew 'er in the rotisserie and set the time fore an hour and 15 minutes. I have a picture for rotisserie cook times at the bottom of this blog. By the way, I LOVE having a rotisserie, complements of my boyfriend - it came with him when I moved in. HAHA.

That's it! The timer dinged, the thermometer showed a temp of 180 degrees F, and dinner was on.

The end result:

I started boiling the water at about 20 minutes, and I broke the potatoes and broccoli down for a few minutes in the microwave before I put them in the top steamer try. While the rotisserie does come with a steamer tray (you just need to put water in the tray and set on top while it cooks), I tend not to have success getting everything cooked threw. Maybe with more practice? After I nuked the veggies for a few minutes, I just put them in the steamer to keep warm and finish cooking down while I waited on the velveta shells and cheese and the chicken. It looked a little like this (of course, I took the steamer lid off so you could see the veggies):
 

The meal turned out great, especially at about $2.67 a plate. I know I was still not spot on with healthy choices, given the velveta and having two starches, but baby steps! At least we are saving money, learning to cook at home, and getting in the veggies! :D

Rotisserie cook times: