The first thing I have to say about this recipe is, “Never pay full price for a whole chicken!”.  If they are not on sale at the store you are in, go to the one next door.  Whole chickens are always on sale.  It is easy to have great home cooked meals every night, even with a busy schedule. A little plan is all you need.  Watch my plan unfold!

• Cut a lemon in half.  Cut one half in wedges.

Take the packet from inside the whole chicken.  Rinse the chicken inside and out with cold water and place in your crock pot.  Rub the lemon half over the skin of the chicken, squeezing the juice onto the chicken as you rub it.

• Place that lemon and the wedges inside the chicken cavity with 6 peeled cloves of garlic.

In the photo you can see the color of my garlic is a little off.  I had extra peeled garlic left over from another recipe.  I was not going to use it soon, so I put it in a zip lock bag, labelled it, and put it in the freezer.  Perfect for today’s dish!

Add:

• 2 pounds of baby red potatoes.  I peeled a stripe around them.  I like them with the skin on, my husband would prefer them peeled.  It is a compromise!
• I also had one pound of baby carrots that needed to be used, so I threw those in as well.

• Add 1 cup of water to the crock pot.
• Sprinkle with approximately 2 tsp. of thyme, 2 tsp garlic powder, and 1 tsp of salt.
• Cover with lid.  Cook on high for 6 – 8 hours.

If you are going to be gone longer, turn it on low.  I was away over ten hours and came home to the best smelling house in the neighborhood.  Dinner is served!

Chicken with roasted red potatoes and carrots

When everyone has finished their meal, pull the rest of the chicken meat off of the bones.  Save liquid from the crock pot and refrigerate.

Once the liquid has chilled, the fat will be a firm layer on the top.  Carefully remove the fat and discard.  What is left is the start for our next meal.  A yummy, rich bone broth that has a jelly like texture when it is chilled.

I said this progression took a small amount of planning.  When I was doing my usual meal prep on Sunday, I knew that a whole chicken was on the menu this week.  While I was peeling, slicing, and dicing, I continued to make a zip lock bag with:

• 3 cups peeled and sliced carrots
• 2 cups of diced celery
• 1 cup of diced onion.

That slicing and dicing was already done and cleaned up with my other meal prep.  I also made a brown rice pilaf on Sunday for grab and go lunches.  Once again, knowing that I would need some for dinners, I portioned out a few larger bags for the soup and the rest were lunch size.

Add the carrots, celery, onion, pulled chicken, bone broth, and 6 cups of water to the crock pot along with:

• 2 tsp thyme
• 2 tsp garlic powder
• 2 tsp sea salt

Cover and cook on high for 6 to 8 hours.  Leave the crockpot on low if you will be away longer than 8 hours.  When you get home,

• stir in 2 cups of cooked rice.

One thing about a pot of soup, there are always left overs.  The rest of the soup I packed up in mason jars and will make a great lunch.

Enjoy!

Mom Cooks Clean