Beer can chicken on the grill!!!

It's been such a beautiful week with weather in the 70's that we decided to grill out.  Cooler temperatures are not the only reason people don't grill out in the late fall ..... it also gets dark early!!  So, yes, we felt like we were cooking out past 10 PM, but it was worth it.

Beer can chicken is GREAT!!!  The beer keeps the chicken very moist and the spices make it very flavorful.  I bought whole, organic chickens from Whole Foods, two of them because I'm always feeding a crowd.

Now, when you grill, it's "man's work", LOL, so my husband had to rinse the chickens, then he held them while I poured safflower oil over them.  He rubbed the oil all over the chicken to coat it.  Then I sprinkled Todd's Bayou Dirt over them generously.  Next, you open the beer, pour out (or drink) 1/3 of it.  Then you stand the chicken up on the beer can.

We took the chickens outside to the already fired-up grill.  We use a charcoal grill and use real charcoal, not that chemical-laden regular stuff.

While we were walking out, I asked my husband if he poured out a third of the beer ..... he stopped walking, and said he hadn't even OPENED THE CANS!!!!  LOL!  So we went back inside, he stabbed the cans with a skewer through the opening in the top of the chicken.

Then we put the chicken on the grill and it took about an hour to cook.  Use a meat thermometer to be sure you bring the chicken up to a safe temperate.  And as always when grilling, take all the plates/utensils that touched the raw meat inside and wash.

While the chicken was cooking, I cooked about 8 slices of bacon and put on some green beans.  I used two bags of the thin kind (not french cut) from the freezer case.  I poured both bags into the pot, poured over some beef broth I had in the refrigerator, then filled the pot with enough water to just cover the beans.  I threw in a couple slices of raw bacon for flavor.  I brought it to a boil, then simmered in the 250 degree oven (or just turn down the heat on a regular stove).

I also cut about 8 potatoes in half, skin on, placed them in another pot, covered them with water, and brought it to a boil.  I simmered the potatoes for 15-20 minutes until a fork would easily break them when stabbed.  I left the potatoes in the hot water until the chicken was done.

Once the chicken was done and hubby was cutting it up into parts, I poured off the hot water from the potatoes.  Added a little less than a stick of butter (it was what was on the butter dish), the previously cooked bacon that I had cut into small pieces, a tub of gorgonzola cheese pieces, about a tsp. of roasted garlic out of a jar, and then mashed the potatoes with a hand masher.  I added whipping cream (the kind that comes in a milk carton), as needed. I think it was about 2/3 of the pint container.  This is my own version of a recipe I saw on the Food Network.

On the table, there was a sliced loaf of pretzel bread and some butter to go along with dinner.  This is a wonderful dinner .... very tasty.