Crockpot Whole Chicken Dinner

I guess you can say things have gotten a little busy for our little Fit Foodie Fam...Little started her year in the "Eeyore room" at school (which loosely translates into "your baby isn't a baby anymore"), I started my 8th year of teaching, and the hubby...well football season started, so I'm a widow for the next few months.

All those things are usually what I turn to as excuses for not eating well or not working out.  With a little planning and a GREAT accountability group at school, neither has suffered too much surprisingly. My teacher fit club has been awesome this year--we've been great about meeting for a 30 minute sweat sesh about four days a week. We've tackled some Focus T25, a little PiYo, and even some 21 Day Fix Workouts. It's been super fun varying what we're going each day, but even more fun to have folks to laugh and chat with while we burn a few hundred calories.

Seven versions from seven different kitchens...all delish!

As for eating right, I've really leaned on my clean eating challengers for keeping me focused. August's group really killed it--and pushed me to think outside the box to come up with ways to make clean, healthy eating exciting while still not taking more than thirty minutes a night. September's group really upped the ante though--we ate clean crock pot dinners for four straight nights. Recipe testing was a bit ridiculous--the hubby was traveling a lot for work, so it meant I was pawning off leftovers on unsuspecting coworkers or stocking our freezer with some quick, clean dinners (neither of those are really a bad thing, are they??). Overall, the four day challenge was a great success and SO fun!! 

After some prodding from friends, I've decided to share one of the faves--a whole chicken dinner in the crockpot :) I hope y'all enjoy this as much as we did!! And even if you aren't cooking for an army, my oh my the things you could do with the leftovers!!

Crockpot Whole Chicken Dinner

Ingredients:

1 large onion, chopped

4 carrots, peeled and cut into thirds

3 stalks of celery, cut into thirds

7-8 small red or yellow potatoes, halved

2 tspn smoked paprika (regular is ok, too)

½ tspn cayenne pepper

1 tspn onion powder

1 tspn garlic powder

1 tspn dried thyme

½ tspn ground black pepper

½ tspn salt

1 whole chicken (3-4 lbs), rinsed and patted dry

Preparation:

Spray crock pot with a little cooking spray (just be on the safe side J). Throw all veggies into crock pot. Combine all spices, and rub over entire chicken (make sure to sprinkle some in the cavity also). Wiggle chicken into the crock pot, rearranged veggies as needed to nestle it down in there. Cook on low for 6 hours.

Preheat over to 475. If your crock pot has a removable ceramic “pot”, place whole pot in oven and bake for 10 minutes. If you don’t have a ceramic pot, move chicken and veggies into a casserole dish and bake as planned to give skin a crispy, delicious finish!

*My crock pot holds 6-7 quarts; smaller crock pots may not be able to fit this whole meal.

**Chicken should be cooked to an internal temp of 160 degrees (you want that to register in the thigh, not the breast). Always check temp before eating!!