One of my favorite ways to prepare a whole chicken is with lemon. I started with an 8.36 Lb Perdue Roaster (on sale for $0.88/Lb, with a $2.00 coupon, so $5.11 total). Whole chickens aren’t difficult to cook, but they do require a little extra care.

Assemble 2 lemons, kosher salt, lemon pepper seasoning, and a serrated grapefruit spoon.

Start by trimming off any visible fat and rinse in cold water. I then scrape out the cavity with a spoon. Is this step required? No….but I find that it makes for a much better taste. If the mere thought grosses you out, use some disposable gloves. I’ve cleaned so many chickens and turkeys in my life, nothing bothers me anymore.

After you’ve thoroughly scraped, sprinkle the entire cavity with kosher salt. Let sit for 5 minutes, then rinse again with more cold water. Put it into a 9X13 glass Pyrex. Cut the lemons in half and squeeze the juice all over the chicken, both inside and out, then stuff them into the cavity. On just the outside, add the lemon pepper seasoning. (This may seem like overkill, but I promise it’s not).

Roast at 400 degrees for approximately 1 hour and 45 minutes. Don’t rely on the pop-up; I always check by cutting in. A meat thermometer is also really helpful. Hopefully, you have something resembling golden brown perfection!

To carve, start by removing the wings, then legs, then the breasts. Lemon chicken can be plated in a few different ways. You can simply use whole pieces like these, with or without skin.

If you want to get fancy, or you’re serving company, cut up the breast meat in thin slices with some additional lemon pepper on top.

I’ve made this many times, for many guests, and everyone always loves it! If you have any leftovers, it makes a great chicken salad, too.

Do you like lemon?

In an effort to use up all these free veggies, I decided to make burritos.

I love burritos because they’re so adaptable. It can be made into a meat version, or dairy, or pareve. Today, I made meat.

Start by sautéing the veggies for approximately 10 minutes, with 1 tsp. of garlic and salt/pepper to taste.

Remove to a bowl, wipe out the skillet and add the ground beef. Brown until cooked through completely. (Seriously, no pink!)

Usually, I don’t cook anywhere near this quantity, but I bought a huge 2-Lb package on sale. If you’re using a small amount of meat, just add rice to stretch it. I’ve made burritos before with as little as 1/4 Lb and it was still delicious.

When the beef is completely cooked, let it cool, then add to the onion/pepper mixture. Feel free to pile-on the extras—tomatoes, avocados, lime juice, salsa, etc.

Now, it’s time to start wrapping.

If you don’t know how to wrap a burrito, it’s super-simple. Place a small amount of filling near the top of the shell horizontally, fold in the sides, then fold over the top and continue to roll all the way down.

Halfway through, I always get sick of rolling!

I made 10 burritos, with quite a bit of filling left. I would’ve continued, but I ran out of shells. I’ll either grab more tomorrow at the store, or we’ll just extra the extra right out of the bowl.

What kind of burrito do you prefer?