Chicken Valerie

I started this blog today so I could share this recipe with my friend Valerie. She recently started cooking by using a slow-cooker and I wanted to share this delicious and easy chicken recipe with her. The beauty of this recipe is not only is it easy and delicious, you have great, simple roast chicken left over for lots of other recipes, which makes it a great way to stretch a buck. I got this recipe from another friend, Maxine, when I walked into her office as she was eating lunch. Her chicken smelled delicious. She then told me it was the easiest and best chicken recipe in the world. She just took a whole chicken, stuck it in the slow-cooker, sprinkled it with salt and pepper, and left it on low all day. I couldn't believe it! I've used a slow-cooker for as long as I can remember but I'd never heard of a chicken recipe with-out any liquid. Well, she was right. It is the easiest, juiciest, tastiest chicken ever. I have taken Maxine's recipe and blended it with my favorite roast chicken recipe. So here we go Valerie...

Start with a whole chicken. I always buy whole chickens on sale and keep them in my freezer. The hardest part of this recipe for me is remembering to thaw the chicken out the night before. Dry the chicken off with paper towels and be sure to pull out the bag of "innards"! Now, prepare to stuff. 

I used lemon, rosemary and garlic. Sprinkle the inside of the chicken with salt and pepper, squeeze in the lemons and stuff everything inside. You could use an endless combination of other ingredients for stuffing. Let your imagination run wild. I'm thinking next of trying orange, lemon, lime, garlic and onion for a Mojo chicken.

Now just sprinkle the outside with a Greek seasoning blend and more salt/pepper. Again, you can use any type of seasoning you like, or just salt/pepper.

Now all that's left to do is wait. Eight to ten hours on low, or three to four hours on high. I've never tried to get a crispy skin on this before, but I saw a recent Pinterest post that recommended taking the chicken out of the slow-cooker whole and putting it in the oven to crisp up the skin. I tried it tonight and it worked great, but if you're not going to eat the skin then don't bother. You will have lots of juice in your slow cooker when the chicken is done. It makes a great gravy! (Recipe to come)

I served this chicken tonight with  Chicken Gravy, Parmesan Cheese Grits, and Sauteed Bacon, Onion Brussels Sprouts. Puppy Daddy gave it a thumbs up!

Ingredients
1 lemon cut in half
2-3 sprigs rosemary
5 cloves garlic, peeled and smashed
1 whole chicken
Greek seasoning blend
salt, pepper

Directions
Dry chicken off with paper towels. Sprinkle inside of chicken with salt and pepper. Squeeze lemons inside chicken. Stuff lemons, rosemary and garlic in chicken. Sprinkle outside of chicken with Greek seasoning blend. Cook in slow cooker for 8-10 hours on low, or 3-4 hours on high.

If you want crispy skin, carefully lift the chicken out of the slow-cooker onto a rack over a baking sheet. Put in a 425 degree oven for 10 - 15 minutes.