A Big Fat Hen

Tonight we are having Slow Cooker Chicken because yesterday I had a rare free hour away from the kids and I spent my hour walking around a local grocery store.  Ridiculous I know, but I only had an hour, we needed fresh produce and I literally had nothing to do. Anyways, as I perused the sales I noticed that whole chickens were on sale for $.69/lb.  For that price I thought it was worth making a meal of.

Slow Cooker Chicken

Ingredients: 1 whole chicken, 2 cloves of garlic, 5 medium red potatoes, 2 stalks of celery, 1/2 a yellow onion, misc herbs (optional), olive oil, paprika, and lemon pepper seasoning.

*A side note: I used these seasonings...but if all you have is salt, pepper, and a little bit of garlic you can still make this dish. Use your imagination, and use what you have on hand because it shouldn't be complicated!

Step 1) Start with a clean sink. Remove chicken from packaging and reach your hand into the cavity to pull out all the inner most yucky parts. This is where the husband usually comes in handy...but of course he wasn't around. Rinse the cavity and entire bird with cool running water and then pat dry with paper towels. Set chicken aside.

Step 2) Rinse Potatoes and celery and place on a cutting board. Cut Potatoes in half and set aside. Cut celery stalks into small enough pieces to fit inside the cavity of the chicken.It doesn't have to be pretty because if your family is anything like mine, it's not going to get eaten anyways.  Roughly chop the onion and dice up the garlic cloves.

Step 3) Spray your slow cooker with nonstick spray and then place potato halves along the bottom. Place the onion, celery and part of the garlic inside the cavity of the chicken. Place chicken on top of the potatoes.

Step 4) Carefully slide your hand under the skin of the chicken, separating the skin from the breast so that you can get some of the seasoning right onto the meat. Rub olive oil, garlic, and the other seasonings under the skin and all over the outside of the chicken. You want it everywhere!

Step 5) Wash up carefully! Set your slow cooker to low for about 8 hours, meat will no longer be pink and juices will run clear.

Step 6) Enjoy!

Serving suggestion: We ate our chicken along with the red potatoes and a  fresh green salad. You could also add a vegetable or a some fresh dinner rolls to your meal.