Healthy Chicken with Seasonal Fall Vegetables
Fall’s Best Baked Chicken to warm you inside and out
Oct 16, 2009
This colorful fall recipe is filled with seasonal vegetables that are super heros when it comes to their health benefits. Butternut squash is loaded with vitamin A, and sweet potatoes are not only rich in potassium and vitamin C but also just as high as carrots in the beta-carotene department. Both are excellent for warding off chronic diseases such as cancer and heart disease. Go ahead and treat yourself to an easy chicken recipe that is nutritious, delicious and oh so simple.
It takes but a moment to toss all the ingredients in a pot and let it simmer while you go about the rest of your business. It can also easily be done as a slow cooker chicken dish in a large crock pot and left to simmer all day. Come home to the welcoming arms of a house filled with the aroma of autumn. The leftovers make for a great next day lunch at work or school.
Ingredients:
- 1 whole chicken, rinsed clean and with insides removed
- 2 sweet potatoes
- 1 can corn (not creamed)
- 1 butternut squash
- 2 carrots
- 1 onion
- 1 1/2 T italian seasoning
- 1 T each salt and pepper
- 4 whole bay leaves
- the juice of 1/2 lemon
- 1/2 bunch of spinach
Directions:
- Slice sweet potatoes into quarters lengthwise and chop onion. Cube Squash into large chunks and slice carrrots into rounds. Combine all vegetables along w/ the can of corn and all it’s juices in a large bowl. Add seasonings and lemon juice and mix well.
- Place whole chicken in a large baking dish and place the vegetables around it. Cover with a lid or with foil and bake for 2 hrs at 300 degrees.
- If you are using a crock pot, add all your ingredients in the same manner and set the pot on low. This will be ready to eat in 5 hours minimum but could be allowed to simmer for up to 10 hours.
- In either manner of cooking listed above, 20 minutes before you are ready to eat, add your spinach to the pot. Remove the stems and chop into large pieces before adding. If your schedule does not permit this, it can certainly be omitted, but the spinach gives the dish a wonderful bit of color variance and it’s flavor is so complimentary to the squash and sweet potatoes. If you add it at the beginning along with the other vegetables it will disintegrate into smaller pieces and become a part of your broth.
Serve in large bowls along side toasted whole grain bread.
Makes enough for 6
