Baked Chicken with potatoes & carrots

This simple yet scrumptious dish has all the look and flavor of a meal that was slaved over in the kitchen for hours, but in reality requires very little prep time and very few ingredients.  A couple other benefits of this nutritious meal include the "left-overs" factor (there are almost always enough for another meal), and the seasoned chicken bones provide a great start to homemade chicken stock.  This is also a great meal to make when having guests for dinner as it allows you to be visiting while the oven does all the work.  We eat at 5 o'clock in our home so I do my prep work at about 3:15 pm and have it in the oven by 3:30 pm~ that's all. =)

Ingredients:

• 1 (3.5-4.5 lb) Whole Fryer Chicken (we prefer organic free-range)
• 5 large organic Russet Potatoes, peeled and largely cubed
• 7 organic Carrots, peeled and thickly sliced
• All-purpose Seasoning (we use a homemade one but Jen using a great one from U.S. Wellness Meats)
• Water for basting

Directions:

1. Pre-heat your oven to 375°.
2. After removing the gibblets, rinse the chicken with water and pat dry with a paper towel.  Heavily season all sides of the chicken and lay breast-side up in a large baking pan.  Secure the chicken legs together with kitchen twine (thread works fine too).

3. Spread your potatoes and carrots around the chicken, sprinkle with the all-purpose seasoning and mix together.  Bake, uncovered, for 1¼ to 1½ hours (or until juices run clear), remembering to baste about every 15 minutes.  Enjoy!

This post is part of Pennywise Platter Thursday