Killing Two Meals with One Bird

Last year as I am walking through the store closing clearance at World Market (**sob**) I came across this strange looking thing that was $10. I wondered, is this to hold chips or maybe a really heavy sombrero hat? So I asked and it turned out to be a vertical chicken roaster. I thought for $10, should just try it! I purchased it and it might be one of the best items in my cooking collection. Making a whole chicken has some great advantages:
1. The tray below is great for roasting veggies
2. Have you ever priced a whole chicken? It's about 89 cents a pound (on sale) which means yummy cheap food!
3. The chicken provides enough meat for 2 meals! Two easy and quick meals, which is the purpose of this post.

Meal #1: Roasted Chicken with Veggies:

Ingredients:
Rub Ingredients (optional, you can make whatever rub you want):
Olive Oil
1 tablespoon garlic powder
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon dried basil
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon poultry seasoning
1/8 teaspoon ground thyme
1/8 teaspoon finely ground black pepper
1 teaspoon of rosemary

Veggies for roasting:
Potatoes, celery, onions, carrots, squash...whatever you fancy
2 tablespoons of Olive oil
1 tablespoon garlic powder
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon dried basil
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon of rosemary

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Make sure chicken is thawed and remove giblets from chicken. Rub the chicken on all sides with the oil and sprinkle with the poultry rub. Place the chicken upright on a vertical roaster, making sure the top of the roaster pokes through the neck cavity.
3. Slice up all the veggies into 1 to 1 1/2 inch chunks. Place in a large gallon bag with oil and seasoning. Shake till veggies are covered. Pour into bottom of roaster dish.
4. Roast chicken until the juices run clear and the chicken reaches an internal temperature of 165 degrees F. Usually around 1 hour to 1 hour and 15 minutes.
5. Remove from the oven and carefully transfer from the roaster to a platter. Let rest for 10 minutes before carving.
6. To serve, carve the chicken into pieces. Serve hot with roasted veggies.

Save half of the meat for the next meal. My husband and I are not fans of the dark meat, so I pull it off the carcass and freeze it to use for the next meal.

Meal #2: Easy Chicken Noodle Soup:
I found this Bear Creek Chicken Noodle soup mix and I am telling you, it's the best soup mix I have come across. This is a quick and easy recipe that takes about 20 minutes to make.

Ingredients:
1 package of Bear Creek Chicken Noodle soup mix
10-15 baby carrots (sliced into 1/8 inch slices)
2 stalks of celery and some of the leaves (sliced into 1/4 inch slices and leaves chopped)
Any other veggies you want in the soup

Directions:
1. Follow the directions on the back of the Bear Creek Chicken Noodle soup mix package. The first part calls for boiling the water. Throw the veggies into the water and cook until they are almost done.
2. Continue following the directions on the package (whisking in the soup mix) and cook for the directed time. Add in the leftover chicken from the previous meal.
3. Serve the soup with some nice crusty bread on the side.

Hope you enjoy these two recipes as much as I do. They make cooking around the house easy and simple!

~Beth