Day 162: Barbeque Roasted Chicken & S'mores Bars

People, the 4th of July is like, minutes away!  How did this happen?  Before we know it, it will be Christmas!!!  For a couple years, Randy and I had a cook-out for the 4th, but that faded.  Now, we like to go to the beach with my parents.  But for those who do like to host cook-outs, I'm dedicating this week to summer bashes and cook-outs.  If you don't own a grill, or just prefer to stay in the AC for your get-together, this recipe is for you!!!

Barbeque Roasted Chicken
Slow-roasting chicken with a summer twist!  This meal could easily be done with just chicken legs and thighs, but whole chickens were on sale at my grocery store, so I just bought a whole chicken.  The leftover breast will be used for barbeque "supermelt" sandwiches this week!  The sauce I used for the chicken was literally a "catch-all" mix of some ingredients I had laying around--I emptied 2 or 3 bottles of stuff along the way.  So, it's not an exact recipe at this point, but it will be.  For right now, I'll just list the ingredients I used and give suggestions for your own sauce.

1 whole chicken (or a package of legs and thighs)
1 stick of butter, melted
1/3 cup barbeque sauce
1/4 cup Tastefully Simple's "mesquite slow-cooker sauce" (I emptied the bottle--you can use a little more barbeque sauce, and some stone-ground mustard and spices)
2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
2 TB ketchup
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 tsp dried minced garlic
2-3 tsp Tastefully Simple's "sweet & smoky bbq seasoning" (You can use a combination of paprika, chipotle chili powder, salt, pepper, and other spices)
1 red onion, quartered

Whisk together all of the ingredients except the chicken and red onion.  Place the chicken in a roasting pan and preheat the oven to 400*.  Baste the chicken with some of the sauce, leaving some in the bowl to continue basting the chicken throughout the cooking process.  Stuff some of the red onion inside the chicken and scatter the rest around it for added flavor.  Place some water or chicken stock in the pan around the chicken so it doesn't dry out.  Roast the chicken at 400* for 30 minutes.  Baste, then drop the oven temperature to 300* degrees and baste the chicken every half hour for about 2-4 hours, depending on the size of the chicken.  (If you are using only legs and thighs, you can keep the oven temperature at 400* and cook the chicken for 45-50 minutes.)

S'Mores Bars
So you can have s'mores all year 'round!  Except, I still pretty much only make these in the summer.  Hmm.  I got this recipe from a friend of mine, and then tweaked it slightly.  The original recipe called for 3/4 cup of graham cracker crumbs.  Since most graham crackers are sold in boxes with 3 packages, I just use 1 whole package, which is about 1 cup or more of crumbs.  So I added a little extra butter to my dough, too!  My family and I also had a debate about what kind of chocolate chips are better.  Some say use milk chocolate chips because then they taste more like actual s'mores.  Randy likes semi-sweet chocolate chips because then they don't taste too sweet.  Experiment yourself... it's your call!

1 1/2 sticks butter, softened
3/4 cup sugar
1 1/3 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp vanilla
1 egg
1 tsp salt
3/4 cup (or 1 package) of graham crackers
12 oz chocolate chips
3 cups mini marshmallows

So, you can make this the "old-fashioned" way by creaming together the butter and sugar and then bringing the dough together by adding the other ingredients.  I like to keep it as contained as possible and only dirty one utensil.  I love my food processor.  Since I use it to grind up the graham crackers, anyway, I just make the whole dough in the processor itself.  I start by processing the grahams until they are fine.  Then I add all of the dry ingredients and pulse.  Next, add the egg, vanilla, and butter.  Pulse until the dough comes together.

Layer about half of the dough in a greased baking dish.  You can use a square 8 x 8 pan, or the like.  Bake at 350* for 15 minutes.  Next, arrange the chocolate chips and marshmallows over the baked dough evenly.  Crumble the remaining dough on top.  Bake for another 10-15 minutes or until golden brown.  Cool completely, then cut and serve (by candlelight or a campfire)!