One of the go-to meals in our house is a free-from roast chicken from Superstore with sweet potato fries and a salad. We have it every Monday. It’s easy, and provides leftovers for lunch the next day. Unfortunately, the free-from chickens aren’t available all the time, and I want to avoid the giant hormone loaded alternative option so I took matters into my own hands.
I was visiting my sister a few weeks ago in Toronto, and she shared with me her super easy, juicy roast chicken recipe. Roasting your own chicken is a bit more work than picking one up, but the good news is that you can freeze the carcass and leftover meat, and use it to make chicken noodle soup (provides two meals!) at a later time. You can get 3 meals out of one chicken!
When it comes to buying organic food, I recommend always buying organic or free-from meat. I’m a little more easy going when it comes to produce because fruits & veggies are made up of water soluble vitamins, which are flushed from our body quite quickly (I still try and stick to the Dirty Dozen for the most part though).
Meat on the other hand is made up of fat soluble vitamins, which are absorbed into our small intestine, lymphatic system, bloodstream and eventually get stored in our body tissues. That means all the extra hormones and antibiotics that go into the meat are also being stored in your body. This can cause hormone imbalance and affect our immune system.
Organic meat is more expensive, but it’s not good to eat too much animal protein anyways (causes inflammation and is difficult to digest). Lentils, beans, fish and eggs are all excellent sources of protein that are cheaper and better for your health! That being said, Costco offers 2 organic whole chickens for $30, which I think is a great deal.
Easy Juicy Roast Chicken
Ingredients
1 raw, organic whole chicken
1 small yellow onion, quartered
3 tbsp. fresh lemon juice
6 tbsp. organic, extra virgin olive oil
Salt and pepper
Method
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Place chicken in Dutch oven or roasting pan. Fill the chicken cavity with onion, lemon juice, 3 tbsp. olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Brush remaining olive oil on the outside of the chicken until completely covered, and season with additional salt and pepper.
Roast, uncovered for 1 hour and 30 minutes or to an internal temperature of 180 degrees F. Remove chicken after an hour and baste with drippings and oil. Once chicken is cooked, baste again. Cover, and let chicken rest for 30 minutes before serving. Enjoy!
[…] hearty salads. However, the other day I made chicken noodle soup using the leftover carcass from my Easy Juicy Roast Chicken and I felt very […]