Oven-Roasted Chicken

I love chicken. It's the only protein I'll eat, unless it's ground. So, Pete decided that was a good reason to try to make a full bird. He never made one before this, but oh my gosh, it was so good he'll be making a full chicken for a long time after this.

Plus, it's so cheap. The entire meal was under $5. You can't say that about most meals.

What You'll Need:
1 tbs. salt
1 tps. pepper
1 tsp. Italian seasoning
half a lemon
one whole chicken
1 tbs. canola oil [[enough to coat the bird]]

What You'll Do:

Take a skillet and put it in the oven. Preheat the oven 450 degrees.

Open the chicken and pull out the gizzards. Some people make them. We are not those people.

Rinse the chicken [[taking a photo with it is optional]].

Cover the rinsed chicken with oil.

Squeeze half a lemon over the chicken.

Mix the salt, pepper, and Italian seasoning.

Sprinkle the seasoning over the chicken. Spread it so it's an even coat.

Put the chicken on the skillet and cook the chicken. It's going to depend on the size of the chicken.

We cooked it for 40 minutes on, and then cut the heat and let it cook on residual heat. You want to cook the chicken for 26 minutes per pound.

Let the chicken rest for 20 minutes before you cut into it. If you can wait. You're gonna have to, but it's so hard because, well, look at it.

Waiting is worth it, though. The finished chicken is perfect. The white meat wasn't dry and it all fell off the bone. Literally. That's why there's no wings in the picture. They fell off -- and right into our mouths.

I didn't think the chicken was going to have that much flavor because it was only a few ingredients, but it was so good, so flavorful, so perfect ... even reheated three days later.