Forgotten Chicken

I know you're thinking "How could she forget about her chickens? Is this woman qualified to own animals?!"   Trust me, the girls are fine.

No, no.  I'm talking about a chicken dinner.  That I forgot.  For 2 hours.

Here's the story:

I decided to make a roast chicken for dinner before soccer practice.  I looked up recipes online which told me to roast it at 425 for 30 minutes, and then 350 for an hour.  I thought "great!  I can do the first part before we leave, turn the oven down and it will continue to roast while we are at soccer, and when we get home it will be ready to eat!  Bueno."

But no bueno.  Somehow, I did not correctly adjust the temperature on my oven before we left for soccer (even though I could have sworn that I had), and left the bird in there cooking away, uncovered, at 425 for a further hour.  Then, of course, practice went long.  We were at soccer for an hour and a half.  I got home, smelled the chicken cooking - and NOT burned, and checked the oven.  When I saw that it was still roasting away at 425 I panicked.  I thought "Oh no!  It's ruined.  We are about to renact the Christmas dinner scene from Christmas Vacation.  No one is going to eat this, and I am going to have to take everyone out for dinner."  J had the same thoughts when I pulled this chicken out of the oven.

I reluctantly told everyone to get their shoes on, and decide on a place to eat for dinner, and braced myself for the barage of mom jokes that were sure to come.  It has become a regular thing at my house that whenever I mess something up, it is henceforth referred to as a "Jessi Project".  I don't know why my kids find this so funny, as they were the first two Jessi Projects, but I digress.

As we were about to walk out the door, I decided that I would just check.  If it wasn't too dry, I would eat it when we got home, or I could toss it in soup or something.  Maybe there was some way I could salvage this chicken, and in doing so, my own pride.

Guys, it was perfect.  It was crispy on the outside.  Juicy and tender on the inside.  I gleefully told them "ha ha!  I didn't ruin it!  Set the table!"  We sat down to what has to be the best roasted chicken I have ever made.  It was legendary.  We still talk about it.

Tonight, I got out the chicken to get it washed and ready for roasting.  Instead of the usual groans and sighs of disappointed resignation, I was greeted with "Yes! Forgotten chicken!  This is going to be great! When is dinner?"

I tossed it in the oven, and promptly forgot about it.  I am sure it is going to be just as delicious as last time.  And I can't wait.