For my second meal, I chose to make barbecue chicken, steamed broccoli, and rice. I've always liked this meal, so it was neat to learn how to make it. Before doing anything else, my mom explained how to thaw the chicken. I put enough for my family (about six or seven pieces of frozen chicken) in a Ziploc bag and then inside a glass pan. To defrost, I learned that you can enter the number of pounds of meat into the microwave and then follow its prompts to turn the meat over now and then. While the chicken was thawing, I washed and cut enough broccoli for my family. I put it in a pot with a steamer and about one inch of water in the bottom. I also used this time to prepare the toppings and the dressing for the chicken. The dressing was easy: my mom gave me instructions to put 1/2 cup barbecue sauce, 1/4 cup water, 1/4 cup ketchup, and 1/4 cup Italian dressing in a bowl. I mixed them and set them aside. Cutting the onions was more difficult. My mom explained how to cut them to make nice rings. I couldn't quite figure it out. I messed up the shape, and I'd have to try it again to get it right - but that didn't change the taste at all. I used half of the onion, and placed the other half in a container in the refrigerator. After removing the chicken from the microwave, my mom explained how to use scissors to cut extra fat off of the chicken. This was a lot easier than I thought it would be. After I sufficiently prepared the chicken, I placed the pieces in a glass 13x9 pan and covered them in the sauce I had prepared earlier. I then placed the onions on top and covered the pan with foil. Following my mom's instructions, I put it in the oven at 400 degrees Fahrenheit and set the timer for thirty minutes. Once thirty minutes had passed on my chicken, I turned the heat down to 275 degrees Fahrenheit and set the timer for another 1.5 hours. Then, just like the last meal, I made sure to "de-chicken" the kitchen with antibacterial spray. To make the rice, I followed my mom's proportion suggestion: for the four people we had eating that night, I used 1.5 cups of rice. She explained that you always use twice as much water as rice - so I put 3 cups of water on the stove on high heat and waited for it to boil. Once it began boiling, I put the rice in, turned the stove down to low heat, and set a timer for twenty minutes - when it would be finished. To cook the broccoli, I turned the stove on medium heat for about 10 minutes.
It all turned out really well! Just like I experienced earlier, I learned many "side lessons" through experience that I wouldn't have learned through reading instructions - like how to make rice, or how to trim the chicken, or how to use my own microwave. I also made a few mistakes - I forgot to put salt in the pot with the rice, and I didn't time the cooking very well and the rice was done way before the broccoli was.
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