Roasted Chicken and Broccoli Casserole

Anyone else feel comfort from having your whole house smell wonderful when something yummy is in the oven cooking for a couple of hours? Ah the best!! Even better, making yummy dinners that your parents make and feeling like your back home again ❤️. Below you’ll find the recipe for a perfectly moist roasted chicken, broccoli casserole, and the most BOMB gravy. All so easy you could do it with your eyes closed. I served this with just some Stove Top stuffing and the roasted vegetables that were in the chicken skillet!

Roasted Chicken:

Ingredients:

• 5-6 lb whole chicken

• ~2 Tbs melted butter

• variety of herbs ( oregano, rosemary, salt and pepper, thyme)

• Carrots (about 2 whole carrots chopped or about 1.5 cups of baby carrots- whatever your have at your house)

• ~Half of an onion

• Few garlic cloves

• 1 lemon halved

Directions:

1. Wash the chicken inside and out, making sure to take out the giblet packet inside the cavity

2. Pat the chicken dry. Ideally, tuck the wings under the body so they aren’t flying loose and tie the legs together with twine.

3. In a cast iron skillet, put all but a few pieces of your chopped onion, carrots, and about 4 cloves of garlic.

4. Place the dry chicken on top of those vegetables and baste it all over with the melted butter

5. Put your chopped herbs, salt and pepper all over the skin

6. In the cavity, stuff a few slices of onion, clove of garlic, 2 halves of the lemon, and some more fresh thyme

7. Roast on 425 for 1.5-2 hours or until the temperature popper has popped and the chicken is golden brown. If your bird is getting too golden too fast and not cooked thoroughly yet, put some tin foil on top of the bird.

Whats great about this chicken is you can eat it for dinner and have left overs for chief sandwiches, chicken salad etc. and also save the car as for chicken soup!!

Gravy Ingredients:

• Save the liquid in the cast iron after your chicken is done. This is the GOLD that will make your gravy amazing

• 1 Tbs flour

• 1/2 milk

Directions:

1. Take out the chicken and vegetables (which will be used as a side) from the skillet and set aside.

2. Leave the liquid gold on the stove on medium

3. Stir together the flour and milk

4. Turn up the heat of the liquid and slowly pour in the milk and flour roux. Bring to a boil and throw in a pinch of salt and pepper. The boiling part is important because that takes out the “flour” taste from the roux

5. And it’s that easy!

Broccoli Casserole Ingredients:

• 1 head of broccoli chopped into individual florets

• 1/2 shredded white cheddar

• 1 can of cream of mushroom or cream of chicken

• Salt and pepper

• 1/2 mayo

Directions:

1. Throw everything together and mix well into a Pyrex dish

2. Ideally, cook on 350 for 35-40 min. When I made this with the chicken, I had it on 425 for about 35 minutes ( until it was looking bubbly on the sides) and it turned out perfectly:)