Christmas in July Roast Chicken

I am finally back from my long cooking and blogging hiatus!


For those still following - I've missed you, and my apologies for the absence. I've made the move to Tucson, adjusted to the heat and extremely low humidity, caught Valley Fever, and ate about 3 weeks worth of restaurant food and microwave type things until I was very sad indeed. Once I got my kitchen unpacked, I purged my new home of all foods non-paleo (except a bag of sugar for the hummingbird feeder). I am now 3 full days into eating delicious organic home-grown goodness and I feel amazing!


The focus of the blog will, as in past, henceforth be especially dedicated to things easy to make and super nutritious since I now can only cook once or twice a week (sad). Intern year will be pretty heinous in terms of hours so I have to plan ahead if I want to withstand the temptation of bagels at morning rounds. 


First up....chicken! Big roast chickens. SO easy, and they make tons of meat to last me the week. Plus I love the gravy that they make over the veggies, and I love that I get dark and white meat, and the offal inside. 


Ingredients:
One chicken. Free range/organic/what have you. Defrosted in the fridge for a few days if needed. Don't bother rinsing, it's not necessary. Just fish out the inside bits.
Bag of organic baby carrots, or chop some up yourself. About a cup.
2 medium onions, chopped coarsely
A root vegetable chopped same size as carrots and onions. Sweet potato, turnips, parsnips, beets...whatever strikes your fancy!

Preheat oven to 400F.
Put chicken in pan. Put veggies around chicken (NOT in it! They won't cook evenly if you do)
Sprinkle generously with garlic powder (2tsp), cinnamon (2tsp), and ground cloves (1tsp). Add a dash of nutmeg if you have it!
Drizzle with a few tablespoons of good olive oil.
Pop in oven for an hour or so - depending on size of chicken. Mine took 1:20. But I got work done while I waited!! You want the juices to run clear - meaning when you pull the thigh away it comes easily and you see NO pink.
Tear off a chunk and eat it for dinner while you wait for the bird to cool down. One bird feeds me for 2-3 days by myself. (4-5 meals).


Your house will smell like Christmas, and the taste is divine. I literally caught myself singing Christmas carols...


VARIATION -I made the same roast chicken a few days later, but instead of olive oil, garlic, cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg-- I used coconut oil (a couple tablespoons) and garlic and curry powder! OMG my house smelled like a Bazaar. ....I like smells, can you tell? 
It was delicious. Try it. 


Happy Eating!