Debut of Flavorful Fridays- Roasted Chicken Recipe!

Happy back to school week!  With school back in session, many families are now getting back into routines, including regular family meals at the dinner table.  To help you keep things fresh and interesting, as well as healthy while sticking to your budget, I am happy to announce the debut of Flavorful Fridays!  Once a week, and generally on Friday, I will be posting a family-friendly and fully gluten free recipe that you can try out.  Be sure to "follow" this blog so you won't miss out on any of these delicious recipes!  Most of these recipes will be my own creations, and I would love your feedback on them as I work on writing my very own cookbook (details to come)!  I will also occasionally feature recipes from blogs I love, and guest contributors from the community.  If you have a healthy and gluten free recipe that you would like for me to consider, email it to me at bouncybrandi at gmail dot com.

I've been spending a lot of time out on a local farm with my family lately, and we have been blessed to be able to bring home frozen Organic Free Range Chickens!  Many thanks to Peter and Katherine at Stonefield Organic Farm for your friendship, your generosity and your willingness to teach me and my family the ways of the farm.  You'll be hearing more from me in weeks to come about the value of CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) farms and the importance of eating fresh, organic foods, but for now, you can contact them with any questions at 734.395.8955.

And now on with today's recipe, inspired by the farm!

Roasted Chicken

Ingredients:

One Whole Roasting Chicken, 3-4 pounds, thawed in refrigerator, innards removed

(Free Range Organic preferred)

2 Tbsp Butter, softened

2 tsp Celtic Sea Salt

¼ - ½ tsp Ground Pepper Medley

1 tsp Herbes de Provence

½ tsp Onion Powder

2 Tbsp Butter, sliced into several pieces

1 Small Yellow Onion, sliced

8-10 Garlic Cloves, peeled

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

Set aside softened Butter in a small bowl.

Mix in another small bowl Celtic Sea Salt, Ground Pepper Medley, Herbes de Provence and Onion Powder and set aside.

Place the Butter slices across the bottom of a large lidded Roasting Pan.  Spread the Onion slices across the bottom of the pan on top of the Butter.  Place the Garlic Cloves around the perimeter of the pan.

Place chicken on a plate or in a glass casserole dish.  Using your hands, spread the Softened Butter all over the outside of the Chicken.  Using your hands, sprinkle and/or rub the seasoning mix all over the outside of the Chicken.

Place seasoned Whole Roasting Chicken in the Roasting Pan atop the butter and onions.  Cover and cook for 45 minutes.

Remove Roasting Pan from oven.  Using tongs to grab the outside of the Chicken, and inserting a long handled plastic spoon in the inside cavity, turn your chicken once, like on a rotisserie, placing it back in the pan with the side that had been the bottom now on top (this is not as tricky as it sounds.)  Replace lid and put chicken back in over to cook for another 30 minutes.  Remove from oven and insert meat thermometer into chicken breast to check for doneness.  Thermometer should easily reach 180 degrees Fahrenheit.  If it does not reach 180, replace lid and cook for another 10 minutes.

Let chicken rest for 5 minutes, uncovered, and then remove from roasting pan and place on serving dish, or carve and serve.  (Note: I like to use my hands and pull all the meat off the bones instead of trying to use a knife, seems way easier to me.)  Include 2-3 Garlic Cloves per person when serving.

Serving suggestion: Serve with Roasted Sweet Potatoes and Sesame Collard Greens.  (Recipes for these will be included in my cookbook!)

Happy Crunching!

~crunchymamahippechic

(AKA Brandi)