Roasted Chicken with Twice Baked Potatoes

Over the last year I have enjoyed making roasted chicken. Shawn and I love anything that we can eat a couple of times after we make it. There are so many things you can do with a whole roasted chicken! Here's how we made our roasted chicken this past Friday.

Start with your thawed chicken...clean the insides out. I like to put my seasonings on top and underneath the skin. So, see where the skin starts to come up by the opening of the bird? Take your fingers and gently pull the skin away from the breast. Be careful not to tear the skin.
Now, drizzle a good amount of olive oil over the entire bird. This will help the seasonings stick and help the bird from getting too dark.For our bird I used chicken seasoning, coarse Kosher salt (I'm in love with that stuff), pepper, and lemon. Shawn and I like ours to really have a good lemon flavor so I squeezed 3 whole lemons on and in the bird. Squeeze the lemon under the skin that you pulled up too. Now, since this is a big bird you need to go crazy on your seasonings so they will go throughout the chicken. I'm serious...don't worry if your entire box of salt ends up on the bird :)

After you squeeze all of your lemon, stuff them inside the bird and tie the legs shut.
Have your oven preheated at 425 degrees. Before you put your chicken in the oven I would suggest filling your roasting pan almost halfway with water...that way none of the stuff that dripped in the pan will cause a smokey mess. Stick a thermometer in between the thigh and the breast of the bird just to where it is in the center (make sense?) I didn't take a picture of that. Cook the bird until the temp reaches 165 degrees.
Shawn and I have the kind of thermometer that has a probe. You stick the probe in the bird and then the alarm sits outside of the oven and tells you when the bird is ready! See the hole by the thigh in the below picture? That's where the thermometer goes.
I'd say that looks pretty good!! I think it only took just over an hour to cook. So easy! Prep it, stick it in the oven and forget about it! I don't like to eat the skin so I scrape off all the seasonings that get black. Let your bird sit for about 10 minutes before you start cutting.
We loved how this one turned out!! The lemon flavor was fantastic.

Now to the potatoes!
Prick your potatoes with a fork all over before putting them in the oven. Bake them until they are tender...a little over an hour. We baked ours at the same time as the chicken.
Once they are tender cut them in half and scoop out the insides.

Put them in a mixing bowl with butter, milk, sour cream, cheese and chives (put in as much of these ingredients as you want). You can add whatever else you like to your potatoes. Mix them with a mixer as if you were making mashed potatoes...just make sure you don't add to much milk...just a dash will do. Salt and pepper to taste.
Now, start putting the mixture back in the potato skins. Sprinkle with more cheese and bake until the cheese is bubbly and the potatoes are warm in the center.
These can be reheated in the oven for about 30 minutes until the center is warm. They taste just as good!

Enjoy and of course let me know if you make either of these!! Be sure to allow yourself 1-2 hours for these two items...if you make them together like we did. Stay tuned for more yummy recipes!