Dinner is Served, Day 1

Tonight's dinner was quite tasty. It was my own recipe, and to kickoff 365 days of dinner, here's your plate:
Roasted Cider Chicken and Carrots with Carmelized Brussel Sprouts
You'll need:
1 whole fresh chicken
1 bag of raw, whole carrots
1 small bag of brussel sprouts *I buy the kind that come in a little mesh bag, there's a pound of them, I believe
2 c. apple cider
1 T oregano
1 clove of garlic, minced
3/4 c. brown sugar
1/4 c. honey mustard
olive oil *I used a type that's infused w/ basil and pesto but any'll do
parmesean cheese *as much or as little as you like
salt and pepper to taste

Clean your chicken thoroughly, removing any giblets or weird neck things. Give it a rinse. Then, in a large bowl, combine the cider, oregano, garlic, brown sugar and honey mustard. Whisk it all together. Put your entire chicken in the bowl of this, and brine it for about 4 hours.
Then, 2 hours before you're ready to eat, lay your carrots in the bottom of a roasting pan. Lay the whole chicken on top of it, and pour the liquid over it all. Roast in a preheated 350 degree oven for 2 hours. Baste several times throughout the roasting process to keep it juicy. You can choose to put a little butter on the skin to give it a crispier golden crust.
About 15 minutes before your roast is done, pull your sprouts out of the fridge. Rinse them, and discard any funky looking leaves (brown, ragged or curled back). Cut the sprouts in half, length-wise.
Pour about 2 T of olive oil into a pan and get it hot on the stove. Lay your halved sprouts in the pan, flat side down. Salt and pepper them, to taste. Let the flat sides carmelize for about 3 minutes, then toss them with your spatula to let the round sides brown a bit. When you're happy with the browning, drizzle on a little more olive oil and cover the pan. Let them simmer and steam for about 4 or 5 more minutes. Then sprinkle them with parmesean cheese.
Trust me, I'm not a huge brussel sprouts fan, but served this way, even my kids will eat them. They're packed with vitamin C, and the carrots have great vitamin A for healthy eyes, and beta-carotene which is a great anti-oxidant. Also, it'll make you excited to know, carrots are unique in that their nutritional value increases when you cook them. But if that doesn't make you excited, it's okay. Just eat your vegetables.