There Is A Chicken In Our House!

This Monday morning started out great. The kids woke up on the right side of the bed (with 4 you take the odds, so 3 out of 4 is considered success!). The boys all had breakfast and Sparkler enjoyed some quiet time on the floor without having to dodge 6 legs. My goal this Fall is to have something “in the works” for dinner by 9am each day. This is pretty realistic for me since early morning is the most productive time for me to get things done. If I wait until 4 in the afternoon to start thinking about cooking, dinner ends up as frozen pizza (again!) or soup. That being said, my Fall goal could not be met without the use of the most wonderful tool in the kitchen-the crock pot! Our neighbor, the English chef, has a not so friendly name for the crock pot but I will defend it to the end! I can pop something in at 8am and wahlah, an edible and warm dinner is ready when everyone is hungry! This morning was no different until I pulled the whole chicken fryer from the fridge and took it out of the wrapper. Smoke Bomb, who at the ripe age of 4 still thinks Bottle Rocket met Franklin the Turtle at school last week, shouts "WHAT IS THAT MAMA"? He quickly made his way over between me and the fryer to ask the question of the day……….…wait for it……….”Mama, is that thing going to come alive? It has legs so it could walk! What happened to his head, is it tucked under him?” Needless to say, cooking is not my forte and I am really quite a bit squeamish about fresh meat. I immediately fast forwarded to dinner that evening – yep- Little Ceasars pizza! The visions in my head would not stop after his question, but I was tickled nonetheless. I tried to explain to Smoke Bomb as simple as possible only to turn around and see him sitting on the floor with Sparkler proudly and loudly announcing that WE HAVE A CHICKEN IN THE HOUSE, SPARKLER! At that point we were all giggling as he began to run in the playroom making chicken noises. Hey, at least he was entertained and happy! It reminded me of last Thanksgiving when he asked his grandfather a similar question as he carved the turkey. Smoke Bomb watched inquisitively and then out of clear blue asked “Hey! Where him head?” This morning was really a fun way to start the day-a great reminder that their little minds are huge sponges soaking up all life has to offer! As a side note, we did not order pizza for dinner and the chicken turned out wonderful. Here is the recipe. Don’t laugh too hard, there are only 5 ingredients!
1 whole chicken fryer
1 can of coke
1 whole onion, quartered
1 lemon, quartered
I bottle of barbeque sauce, of your choice
Place the chicken in the crock pot, breast side up, with lemon and onion on top. Pour barbeque sauce and coke over the chicken. Cook on low for 6-8 hours. It literally falls off the bone in the crock pot. Delicious!