Cooking lesson?

So I picked today to attempt my mother-in-law's chicken and dressing recipe. I sure hope you don't laugh at me...

Chicken and Dressing Part 1:
I headed to the grocery store yesterday for a young hen. I didn't even know what I was looking for. I looked in the fresh chicken section first, and all I could find were breasts, tenders, wings, and fryer chickens. Well, I knew I wasn't planning on frying anything, so I continued to look. In the freezer section, I found Cornish hens, whole turkeys, and finally a frozen hen. It turned out that the one I picked up had a hole in it. I probably didn't notice, because I was only worried about my hands freezing off as I waited in line. The cashier called to the back, and the butcher found me a new frozen hen. So I bought it and headed home to let it defrost.

The hen stayed in the refrigerator all night. When I took the plastic off this morning, the juice flicked me in the face. I almost threw up, but told myself "I can do this!" I continued unwrapping until I had the chicken completely out if the package. I cut off the fat around the top, like the directions said. But I completely missed the sack on the inside. I didn't know it was there, and I didn't know to look for it. I placed the chicken in a pot of cool water and added some Wylers chicken granules, a little black pepper, and a dab of butter. I boiled it for an hour and a half...



Then I found that dang sack inside of it. I freaked out, called my mother-in-law, and made sure I hadn't made a huge mistake. She assured me everything would be fine. I attempted to take the chicken out of the pot, but then I realized it may not be finished cooking. So I let it boil another thirty minutes or so. If you are laughing right now because I boiled that chicken for two hours, please don't ever tell me.

When I finally decided it was finished, I pulled the chicken out and placed it on a pan...



Jessica said it looked terrible, but I'm proud of it. And the chicken tastes delicious! After it cools, I'm going to shred the meat, and carry it with the broth out to my mother-in-law's house. There, I will continue with Chicken and Dressing Part 2. Wish me luck! She will be telling me what to do, but I'm still afraid I could ruin it all!

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