Root Beer Chicken

Tonight we had the Root Beer Chicken.  You can see the original recipe HERE.

Root Beer Chicken with mashed potatoes and homemade chicken gravy.

We got off to a rough start.  I set the alarm on my phone to remind me to put the chicken in the crockpot to get it started cooking, on low for about 3 hours, which I had another alarm set to remind me to go drain the grease/broth off and add the root beer sauce.  Two hours after I started cooking hubby texted me "The crockpot isn't plugged in".  UGH!  Now what!  I asked him to plug it in and turn it on HIGH, hoping supper wouldn't be too much later than planned.  He also folded a towel up and put it on top of the lid to help hold in the heat. (I think that worked)  At this point we had about an hour before we would be home.  I had the pizza crusts pulled from the freezer, just in case, so we did have something for supper.  It ended up working out pretty good as we had customers in our store that stayed and chatted for 30 minutes after we were supposed to be closed.  They are good customers, we didn't mind.  By the time we got home, the chicken was done.  I drained the grease/broth off and added the root beer sauce, made the mashed taters in the microwave, and decided on a whim to make gravy with the chicken drippings while the chicken finished cooking.  I looked and looked for a homemade chicken gravy recipe and didn't find one, so I just went out on a limb and did my own thing.  The gravy was OK, but it needs a LOT of work.

Now for the chicken.  It wasn't bad, even for me, who doesn't really care for chicken (unless it's processed).  Hubby said he thought it would be better if the chicken was cooked in the oven and the sauce was basted over the chicken.  I wonder what it would taste like if it were marinated in the sauce.  I also wonder if it would be better if the skin were removed, hubby said leave it on.

We did like the chicken, and I do plan to make it again.  the gravy.......yah well, it may end up in the trash. ;-)

Tomorrow night we're having homemade pizza. The temps outside are supposed to be cooler, so using the oven for a bit and not having the AC on shouldn't be too bad.  I will also be cooking up the hamburger patties I premade and using THIS SEASONING on them.  I've made them before and learned I needed to add more seasoning.  Just tasting it before adding to the hamburgers it was pretty spicy, but the spice wasn't as noticeable on the hamburgers once they were cooked.  The hamburgers will be for Friday night, something we can heat and eat, since the arcade will be open.