Pinterest in Real Life: Crock Pot Beer Chicken and Easy Oven Roasted Potatoes

"Oh, God, honey, no. What kind of mother do you think I am? Why, do you want a bit? If you're gonna drink, I'd rather you do it in the house."

This week I made two Pinterest-acquired recipes in the same meal. The first was this delectable looking Crock Pot Beer Chicken. I love recipes like this, where the hardest step is thawing the meat. You literally just toss everything into the Crock Pot and let it go. I cooked mine on high for five hours.

My house smelled amazing all day. I used fresh garlic (two diced cloves) instead of powder, but other than that I followed the recipe exactly. The chicken was falling apart as I was dishing it out, and it had a nice flavor. I actually found it just a tad dry, but maybe next time I can either add more beer or reduce the cook time. This recipe is too easy and good not to tinker with and perfect.

As a side dish I made these Easy Oven Roasted Potatoes. Again, the recipe was super easy. The hardest step was slicing the potatoes (I used three medium taters), and I did that early in the afternoon when both of my kids were on a whining-and-clinging break.

I LOVE fried potatoes, so my hope was that these would be a low-maintenance substitute for them on those nights when standing and frying is not an option. My oven cooks fast, so I only cooked these for a total of twenty minutes (including the five minutes after adding the Parm). But I still felt like they were overdone. The flavor was great, but I prefer a softer potato, so these were a tad too crisp this time. I'll definitely make them again, though.

So that's that! It was a perfectly serviceable meal. It just needs some tweaks to make it the way I like it. My family can eat whatever the hell I serve them. :)