Easy Roast Chicken

Kyle started picking at it before I could take a picture! Hence the missing chunk of leg!

Every now and then (mostly during the winter) I crave a hot dinner, with mashed potatoes and gravy. As long we we go easy on the gravy, it's actually a pretty healthy meal. Chicken is an excellent source of lean protein, amino acids, niacin, vitamin B6, iron and zinc. Chicken is also high in tryptophan, which is the feel-good amino acid...which may explain why I seem to crave it around "that time of the month". I wonder if chocolate has the same benefits? Hmmm something to look into for sure!

In my normal day to day life, chicken is usually just way too expensive to justify on our tight budget. I will normally just pass by them in the grocery store. But every now and then there is a great sale and I am able to pick up a little chicken for around $6. Recently this happened, and I came up with a super easy and flavorful way of roasting it. It was delicious, and made for yummy leftover chicken sandwiches the following day.
Ingredients

1 small chicken (rinsed out)
2 stalks of celery (washed and trimmed of leaves)
1 1/2 tablespoons of light butter softened (not melted)
1 tablespoon of onion powder
1 teaspoon of minced garlic
1 onion peeled broken into rings
Salt and Pepper (To taste)
1 tablespoon of olive oil (for roasting pan)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Take the olive oil and coat the bottom of a small roasting pan.
Line the onions on the bottom of the pan.
Place the chicken on top of the onion.
Take the butter, onion powder and minced garlic and in a small bowl mush together until combine well.
Using your hands, rub the butter mixture all over the chicken, inside and out.
Cut each celery stalk in half, and place the stalks in the chicken cavity.
Finally salt and pepper the chicken all over.

Roast in over for 1 hour and 15 minutes. Or until the internal temperature reaches 165 degrees (with a meat thermometer). I served this with boiled carrots, mashed potatoes and gravy. The onions will come out on the crispy side, which we like...