Monday Night Chicken Bake

I am absolutely in love. This chicken is just the most amazing thing to fill my tummy in ages, I can't wait to be hungry again just to dig into it one more time! This chicken is lemony with a crispy skin, savory herbs and spices, and provides just the most amazing aroma to fill our little one bedroom apartment! I found this recipe while wondering what exactly I was going to do with my freezer full of bone-in chicken. Mr. H and I love chicken, but for some reason any time one of us tries to cook bone in chicken, it just turns out a disaster! Baking is our only option when it comes to bone in chicken. And on weekends when Mr. H works all day both weekend days and I'm busy cleaning and making recipes for the week to share with you guys, there isn't much time for me to try to cook it a different way. So the key is to find a recipe that doesn't soak chicken in cream of anything soup and bake it in rice. This dish is so super perfect, it cooks so much chicken in such an amazing way at one time that I'll be gladly eating this chicken for the next few nights!

The first thing you need to do is grease a 9x13 baking dish, and put all of your chicken pieces in there. I thawed a bit more than I expected, so my number came to about 14 pieces of chicken, 10 being drumsticks and 4 being boneless thigh pieces. Just fit them in there like a poultry puzzle and make sure everything fits in there snug.

Next, slice up your lemon, dice your potatoes, and mince your onion. Spread all of that evenly on top of your jigsaw chicken.

Then comes the sauce. Mince your garlic, then mix it with the oil, spices, and lemon juice. Pour all of that over your chicken. It won't cover the whole pan in a thick layer, but it's just enough to coat the chicken so make sure you spread it VERY evenly.

Then just pop that whole thing in the oven for 40 minutes. When you've got about 10 minutes left on your timer, go ahead and dice your 1/2 tomato and some cilantro. When your timer goes off, put your tomatoes and cilantro on top of the dish and put it back in the oven for another 20 minutes. Once that timer is done, you're ready to enjoy the most heartwarming comfort food of your life!

I hope you guys enjoy this one as much as Mr. H and I do and are going to for the next few days!

Calorie Count: 387 per serving
Ingredients
14 pieces of chicken (drumsticks, thighs, wings, whatever you have on hand)
3 medium russet potatoes cut into bite sized chunks
1/2 lemon, sliced
1/4 cup minced onion
1/2 tomato diced
1/4 cup chopped cilantro
1 sprig of dill

1/3 cup oil
2 cloves minced garlic
1 tsp italian seasoning
1 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
1/2 tsp paprika
1 tsp salt
1/4 cup lemon juice

1.) Preheat oven to 400F and grease 9x13 baking dish
2.) Place all pieces of chicken skin side up in pan, make them fit like puzzle pieces. Spread lemon slices, potato chunks, and minced onion evenly on top of chicken
3.) Mix together oil, garlic, italian seasoning, crushed red pepper flakes, paprika, salt and lemon juice in a bowl. Pour this mixture over the chicken.
4.) Bake in oven uncovered for 40 minutes. After 40 minutes, spread diced tomatoes and cilantro evenly around entire pan. Bake for another 30 minutes or until chicken is done. Enjoy!