You Want Me to Roast a Chicken???

Today we have a guest post from "The Busy Mom."  Read what she has to say about cooking my Savory Roast Chicken recipe from my Lean and Luscious Cookbook.

Hi…my name is Janelle—aka The Busy Mom.  I’ve been following Millie’s blog for sometime, and I LOVE her recipes.  She continually inspires me to take charge of my life and eat better—not just for me, but for my family. 

I am constantly challenged giving my family good food that is healthy.  I am SO guilty of throwing something in the microwave.  My husband and I have been married for nearly 12 years, and we have 3 children, ages 9, 5 and 1.  This week my husband, Joe, asked me if I could roast a chicken sometime for dinner.

YOU WANT ME TO ROAST A CHICKEN???

I don’t cook a lot or well.  But I am TRYING—that’s all that matters, right?  So I reached out to Millie to see if she could help me.  I asked her if she had an EASY roast chicken recipe that I could make for my family.  She said she did and she’d give it to me if I wrote a blog post for her about it…DEAL, I said.

Here’s the recipe…

Savory Roast Chicken

This is easy to prepare, and it's ideal even for a small family because the leftovers make such great sandwiches.

                                                                            Makes 9 servings

1          4½ -pound roasting chicken

1          small celery stalk

½         small onion, peeled

1          lemon wedge (about ¼ of a small lemon)

¼         cup bottled fat-free Italian dressing

1          tablespoon dill weed

¼         teaspoon pepper

Gather your ingredients and preheat oven to 375°.

Place chicken, breast-side up, on a rack in a shallow roasting pan. Place celery, onion, and lemon wedge inside cavity.  (This was easy…so far so good.)

Combine dressing, dill, and pepper.  (Again, easy.)

 Brush chicken (including inside cavity) with the sauce. (Again, this was easy, but I didn’t know how to get the sauce inside the cavity with all the veggies in there, so I just poured it in.)  If a meat thermometer is used, insert it in the center of the thigh muscle, making sure it does not touch bone.  (I didn’t have a thermometer.)

 Roast, uncovered, 1½ to 2 hours, or until the internal temperature reaches 185° on a meat thermometer.  The drumstick should feel soft and it should move up and down easily in the socket.  Also, the juices should run clear when the meat is pierced with a fork. (This is the part I was worried about—I was afraid I would cook part of it right and part of it wrong, but it was perfect.)

Remove chicken from oven.

 Cover loosely with foil to keep warm, and let stand 10 minutes before carving. (That I did with no issues!)

 Remove and discard skin before serving. (Done and done).

This was RIDICULOUSLY easy and a huge success with my family (as you can see by the picked over carcus!).  Even the 1-year-old loved it!

  

Each Serving Provides

Calories 239

Total Fat 16.7g 

Cholesterol 85mg

Sodium 168mg 

Total Carbohydrate 1.2g

Dietary Fiber 0g

Protein 21.1g