So! Here’s the sauce I was telling you about in the last post. My lovely sister, Lauren, introduced it to me, and we decided to make it together one evening. It’s not a heavy sauce, but it adds a lot of extra flavor to the chicken. In the past, I’ve served it in the past along with this asparagus, these rolls, and this chicken. It’s a great way to impress your guests with not a lot of work!

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Confession time. I have never roasted a chicken. I mean, I’ve been around people who have before…maybe even assisted a little, but never really. To be perfectly honest, raw meat really gives me the heebie-jeebies. I don’t think I could ever completely be a vegetarian because I like chicken way too much…I just don’t like touching it. I’ve gotten to the point that I can handle the chicken pretty well as long as it’s already been cleaned and cut into breasts, but the whole chicken.. eeeeeks. I felt like it was about time for me to conquer this fear and go for it, so I did. My mom had a great recipe that she’s had for years for a roast chicken, so after a little tweaking, I think we’ve got a pretty delicious bird. Not only is this very simple (as long as you can get over the raw bird thing) but it’s also extremely economical. There’s a farm close to us where they sell organic free range chickens for $10/per chicken. Clif and I were able to have a great dinner, with lots of chicken leftover for salads and sandwiches for the following couple of days. It makes for a beautiful presentation for company, and looks extra elegant when you serve it with a delicious sauce like Roasted Lemon Rosemary Sauce (recipe coming sooooon, promise).

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As promised, here is the recipe for the scones I made a few days ago to go along with the lemon curd I brought to my sister. These turned out fabulously and the dough freezes great for an easy pop-in-the-oven breakfast. The dough is simply sweetened with maple syrup, so the course sugar topping gives it an extra sweet crunch. Hope you enjoy these as much as we did.:)

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Update: Congratulations Leah! You’ve won a new Microplane zester!

I’ve done lots of zesting in my day, and it’s always been something I’ve dreaded each time I had to do it. After seeing many chefs on Food Network using Microplane® zesters and making it look so easy, I thought I should give it a try. The first time I used it I was amazed by how effortless it made zesting citrus and grating parmesan into the most beautiful little shreds. After testing it out, I tried to find excuses to zest or grate anything I could. If you own one of these you know exactly what I’m talking about. And if not, you are in luck! Microplane® has generously offered to give one of their amaaazing zester/graters to one of my readers. Trust me, once you use one of these you won’t know how you lived without it for so long.

So, here’s the deal: If you’d like to be included in the contest all you have to do is leave a comment below! Please make sure you leave a valid e-mail address so that I will have a way to contact you if you win. You can also receive an additional entry by subscribing to the See Girl Cook e-mail list. All current e-mail subscribers will automatically receive one entry to this giveaway and future giveaways. Good luck!:)

Giveaway closes on Friday, January 21st at 11:59PM, EST. A winner will be chosen at random (through random.org) on Saturday, January 22nd, and will be announced soon thereafter. Giveaway is open to all readers in the U.S. and Canada. This giveaway has ended.

One result of my recent obsession with citrus has been my discovery of Meyer Lemons. How have I missed them for this long? Sure, I’d seen them in the grocery store and on labels on fancy lemon pastries but it wasn’t til last week that I finally realized what they actually were. You probably know this by now, but they are a lovely cross between a lemon and a tangerine. This means they are amazingly fragrant and have a sweeter, less tart flavor than your average lemon. In addition to baking with them, I am looooving squeezing the juice into my sparkling water.

My sister Lauren is a big lover of lemon curd and I remember hearing her mention lately how much she’s been craving it, so I decided to make some for her today along with some yummy scones (recipe to come!). She has recently given birth to the cutest baby on earth, so I am finding every excuse to go visit and get some quality cuddle time.:) I’ve adapted this recipe from marthastewart.com, tweaking the sugar content slightly so that it wasn’t quite so sweet. I think the result is a nice balance of sweet/tang. If you were to use regular lemons instead of Meyer, you may need to add more sugar as regular lemons aren’t as sweet naturally. Little jars of these make for lovely gifts (I just used some of my little old grey poupon mustard jars), and the curd goes great with pancakes, scones, crepes, or as a filling when baking muffins and cakes. The curd will keep in the fridge for up to two weeks.

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