Recipe: Baked chicken with veggies in one oven pan

This is a simple way to make a chicken meal without much fussing. I started baking chicken inspired by the chicken wing recipes in Dana Carpender's 500 Low-Carb Recipes, which start in chapter 2. (Page 43 of my copy.)

I used chicken thighs instead of wings when I first made the recipes and it worked. Bone-in, skin-on thighs, of course. Why would I let a chicken processing corporation steal part of my chicken from me?

I have since simplified the baked chicken a lot, in part because I now harvest the schmaltz (chicken fat) from the pan for other uses, and so don't want it full of salt, spices and other things. Though I usually bake chicken thighs--- 2 for an individual serving, 3 if I'm extra hungry--- right now I'm working my way through a cut-up fryer from Amish Farms, some brand they carry at Jack's Market in Menominee (Michigan.)

PREHEAT your oven to 325 F  (170 C.)

Put aluminum foil over your baking pan for easier clean-up. Place your chicken pieces UPSIDE DOWN on the pan.  Do not salt, season or flavor the chicken.

Bake 20 minutes. Take your chicken out and flip it RIGHT-SIDE-UP, and put back in the hot oven for 20 more minutes.

PREPARE THE VEGETABLES:
I use frozen vegetables mostly. Which are pre-cooked (blanched) before freezing. In the picture I used chopped-up cauliflower, with a tiny pinch of frozen onions. I put in 2 Tablespoons of chicken bone broth, a splash of soy sauce, and about 1/2 Tablespoon or so of bacon fat. Butter, coconut oil or other good fats will do as well, including schmaltz. I put the veggies in a mini loaf pan, but you can also make a disposable mini-pan out of foil. Any low-carb acceptable veggies will do.

Next step: Take the chicken out of the oven when the second 20 minutes is up. Place the loaf pan with the veggies on the pan with the chicken, out of the way of the cooking chicken. Put back in the oven for a final 20 minutes. Use this time to set the table and prepare your plate.

WHEN FINISHED:
Take the veggie loaf pan out, with oven mitts, it is hot, and take a spoon to get the veggies out without taking the liquid from cooking. Put the chicken on the plate.
AT TABLE: sprinkle a little salt, seasoned salt, or soy sauce on the veggies. Sprinkle salt or soy sauce on the chicken's skin. You may remove the skin to save for 'dessert' and put a little salt or soy sauce on the 'naked' chicken, to make sure that part is flavorful too.

OPTION:
If you have a sauce made up--- Hollandaise, a Chinese peanut sauce from Carpender's recipe books, or a home-made Ranch dressing, you can warm that up a bit and serve that with the veggies and chicken. You can even warm your bit of sauce in a little container on the chicken pan for the last 5 minutes of the cooking! I'd use one of those foil cupcake pan liners for sauce-warming.

HARVESTING THE SCHMALTZ:
On your chicken-baking pan there will be some chicken fat left. To get pure schmaltz, you want to run it through a filter. I use a milk filter since I used to have dairy goats, but you can also use a coffee filter. Get out a small (1 pint or 1/2 pint) canning jar. Put a canning funnel or regular funnel on top of the jar. Pour the chicken fat from the pan through the filter and funnel. When the jar gets full of schmaltz, if you already have another container of good fat you are using up, you can store the schmalz in the freezer.

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How about you? How is your #ketodiet going today? Any tough times? Any easy times? Please share in a comment!

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