Pretty Bird

I finally did it...I cooked a whole chicken. Let me start by saying that Kevin is scared to eat any meat that I cook. I think I am a decent cook, but because I like my steaks rare he assumes that I like all of my meat bloody. Not true, I prefer well-done chicken (don't we all?). To my surprise, Kevin loved this chicken! He actually liked the pork shoulder I cooked a couple of weekends ago, so maybe we are making progress. Here are some before and after shots of my lovely little chicken.

Before (I read online that there is no wrong way to truss a chicken, so don't hate on my technique). ha!



After (do you hear the angels singing?)



I think I am going to start making a whole bird more often. It really was easy, cheap, and I can use the leftover meat for casseroles, etc. I also made the Black Bean & Couscous Salad and the Grape Salad. Both are so good and easy and our refrigerator is definitely full for a few days. I really don't cook much during the week because of our work schedules, so on the weekends I try to do it big, ha! For the Black Bean & Couscous salad, I started thinking about it...all of the veggies in this salad will be grown in my garden this summer (except the black beans). It will be so neat to just head to the backyard for my ingredients.

This is a picture of the Black Bean & Couscous Salad, I got the recipe here http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Black-Bean-and-Couscous-Salad/Detail.aspx



Here's a picture of the Grape Salad, see below for picture and recipe (I got this recipe from my mom, she got it from church)



Ingredients:

1 bag of green grapes
1 bag of red grapes
1 8oz block of cream cheese (room temperature)
1 8oz container of sour cream
1/3 cup of sugar
1/2 tsp of almond extract
1/2 cup of brown sugar
1/2 cup of chopped pecans

Wash and mix red and green grapes together. Mix the cream cheese, sour cream, sugar, and almond extract together with a mixer until smooth. In a separate container mix together the brown sugar and chopped pecans. In a trifle bowl (or Tupperware if you aren't trying to be fancy, see above), add half of the grapes, top with half of the cream cheese mixture, and half of the brown sugar mixture. Repeat layers and chill. This recipe is great for showers.