#121 Spring Chicken with Asparagus and Peas and Lemon Rice

Rachael Ray's adaptation of this one was very different since she has to stick with the 30-minute deal. I took the opportunity to roast a whole chicken using the same ingredients, and put my peas and asparagus in with my lemon rice while it was cooking. It is a really good recipe for rice. Use stock instead of water, and put in the zest of one lemon. At the end add some parsley for a fancy looking touch, very very good. The chicken was great too. I am looking forward to a chicken sandwich for lunch tomorrow. But, here is what I learned tonight. If you have to make a slit in the chicken to see if the juices run clear, then fine. But only do it once. I kept doing it over and over again, because I kept thinking....."dude, it's gotta be cooked by now, I'll check" so by the time it WAS done, I had scored the poor thing to death, and a lot of the juices had ran out on me. However, I will say it was still pretty moist considering all the stab wounds. Also, if you are going to put veggies in with the rice while it cooks, it's a great idea. Just don't add them in the beginning, because by the time the rice is done, your veggies are, well overdone. The last thing I learned is when you are roasting a bird, you have to time everything perfectly so that big bird and all the sides are finished cooking at the same time. My rice was done way before the chicken, so it was sitting for awhile and wasn't as fresh as it could have been and it didn't taste as good as it did when it was hot and ready to go.