Herb and Spice Roasted Chicken with Roasted Winter Vegetables

Nom Nom Nom. Easy and Healthy. Oh yeah, and cheap. Carrots, cheap. Beets, sweet potatoes, onions, cheap. A whole chicken? That’s like $6. It’s insane. It looks pretty and it’s good for you. If you're looking for a reason to complain, I don't think you have one here. Sorry. Tough luck fussy britches. Let’s get down to business…

Ingredients:

1 whole young chicken

5-7 carrots (peeled)

3 beets (peeled)

1 butternut squash (peeled and deseeded)

1 yellow onion

1 tbsp fresh rosemary

2 tbsp fresh thyme

2 lemons

10-12 cloves of garlic

1 tbsp onion powder

1 tbsp pepper

1 tbsp salt

1 tbsp dried oregano

1 tsp cinnamon

olive oil or butter for rubbing

Instructions:

1. Make sure that your chicken has all of the feathers removed as well as the inside bag of giblets. Also, with kitchen shears, remove any excess fat. Set aside.

2. Peel and cut up your vegetables. I cut mine up rather large. One, I wanted a rustic presentation. And two, I knew they were going to be roasting for over an hour.

Look, how pretty. I seriously almost took a picture of my garbage can too. All of the colorful peels and the beet greens looked beautiful really. I actually saved a few (predisposal) for plating.

3. In a bowl, zest 2 lemons (save the lemons), mince/press the garlic and combine all the herbs/spices. Stir until mixed thoroughly.

4. Add a few tbsp of olive oil and 1/4 of the herb mixture to a bowl with the vegetables. Toss together and then put in the bottom of a roasting pan.

5. Rub the chicken down with a few tbsp of olive oil or butter and use the remaining 3/4 of the herbs/spices to cover the chicken. Make sure you really run it in. Put your roasting rack in the pan, and set the chicken on top of it. (Cut the lemons in half and stick them in the chicken cavity. If you have extra whole herbs, you can put them in there too.

6. Turn the oven to 425 degrees and cook for 1 hour and 30 minutes, or until 165 degrees in the thickest part. You may want to remove the pan about 2/3 of the way through and flip the vegetables.

7. Carve that baby up and serve.