First Try at Roasted Chicken with Vegetables

This is one of those feel-good comfort meals that can be completely guilt-free and a healthy addition to any family menu. Not only did challenger AmyC and her family enjoy this roasted chicken meal, but she shares how it can be saved for more meals. Healthy and economical – that’s delicious!

Not only has the cook at home challenge inspired me to cook more at home but it has also inspired me to try new meals. While I was out grocery shopping over the weekend my husband and I decided we were going to make a meal that not only was new for us to make but also would create many different meals throughout the week saving time and money. So we roasted our first chicken!! I have to add that the whole chicken purchased was from a local farm that does not use any hormones or antibiotics, the animals are grain fed not some altered feed to plump them up quickly and the animals are also allowed to roam free and outdoors. All of these are a MUST for me and my family in order to be able to eat and appreciate our meal.

So, the next steps are pretty simple. We decided to brine the chicken, which essentially helps lock in the juices while cooking. We soaked the chicken in salted water for an hour prior to cooking. My recommendation is plan ahead for this because our meal was ready to eat at 10pm Next we buttered up the chicken in our baking dish and sprinkled with salt and pepper for seasoning. The vegetables to roast were placed around the chicken and all was then put in the oven.

I love these one dish meals because I don’t have to worry about many pots on the stove and food items being completed at different times. Despite eating much later than we ever do, the meal was delicious and with the remaining chicken left over we will make a chicken broth for soup, as well as have chicken tacos and maybe add some to a chicken stir-fry.