My husband and I started a Whole30 yesterday, in order to (hopefully) reinvigorate our healthy eating. Last weekend was a bit of a binge weekend, partly because it was the weekend and partly because we knew we were starting our Whole30 on Monday. We had friends over for a taco feast (featuring this delicious slowcooker barbacoa recipe from The Kitchn), hung out at the pool and grilled on Saturday, and feasted on candy and popcorn at the movies on Sunday.
Anyway, you can expect to see a lot of Whole30-compliant recipes in the next few weeks (although most of my recipes have already been paleo/whole30 friendly) as I share what we’ve been eating this month. My goal is to cut down on mindless eating (goodbye tortilla chips!) and sugar cravings. I’m usually pretty good about making healthy choices at home, but I struggle when I’m with friends or when someone brings in snacks to work. There were snacks at the three-week-long teaching workshop I just finished up, and it was rough. I’d have my regular breakfast of a smoothie and a hardboiled egg, then get to the workshop and eat like three doughnut holes and be like, “Whaaa, why did I do that??” I meal-prepped for our first week though, so we have salads, hardboiled eggs, homemade balsamic vinaigrette dressing, and grilled chicken for lunches, plus our dinners are planned out. Last night we had beef stroganoff, yum!
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You’re probably sick of hearing about my little balcony herb garden, but I just love having fresh herbs ready! One mistake I made when we were planting was not labeling each herb, which is actually how this recipe came to be. We had this one herb that was flowing over the side, and I totally thought it was dill. I mean, how am I supposed to know? So anyway, I started Googling dill recipes, and one began with a picture of the ingredients. Wouldn’t you know, their dill looked nothing like our dill! As it turns out, we don’t have any dill planted. Thanks to the interwebs, I soon found out that our unknown herb was oregano. Thus, this recipe was born! This bad boy is a one-pot meal (well, one baking dish), complete with chicken (which I got on sale for 69 cents a pound — INSANE!) and veggies, all roasted together in a lemony, oregano-y marinade. So delicious and so easy! I even saved the bones and made homemade chicken broth that I simmered for 24 hours in my handy-dandy slowcooker. Doesn’t it look beauty-full? Plus, the homemade version is so, so, so cheap, which I, of course, am all about!
Ingredients:
4 chicken leg quarters (or an equivalent combination of drumsticks and thighs)
4 cloves garlic, minced
juice of one lemon
3 tbsp. olive oil
1/4 cup fresh oregano, chopped
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp fresh ground black pepper
6 large carrots, peeled and cut into 2 inch chunks
2 large Vidalia onions, cut into 1/2 inch slices
1 lemon, sliced thin
1/2 cup chicken broth
Preheat your oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Meanwhile, combine garlic, lemon juice, olive oil, fresh oregano, salt, and pepper in a small dish. Stir well.
Line a 13×9 baking dish with the 1/2 inch Vidalia onion slices.
Rub the lemon-oregano marinade over both sides of your chicken leg quarters. If you have extra, you may want to go under the skin as well. Place the four chicken leg quarters on top of the onions in the baking dish and top with the lemon slices. Fill in the extra spaces with the carrots and pour 1/2 cup of chicken broth over everything.
Bake at 400 degrees for until a meat thermometer reads 180 degrees Fahrenheit when placed into the thigh of the chicken (40-50 minutes).
Gently transfer the chicken to a serving platter and let it rest for a few minutes before serving.
Gently toss the onions and carrots together in the pan juices, then transfer to a serving dish (or just leave them in the baking dish). Garnish with some extra lemon and fresh oregano, serve, and enjoy!
- 4 chicken leg quarters (or an equivalent combination of drumsticks and thighs)
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- juice of one lemon
- 3 tbsp. olive oil
- ¼ cup fresh oregano, chopped
- ½ tsp kosher salt
- ½ tsp fresh ground black pepper
- 6 large carrots, peeled and cut into 2 inch chunks
- 2 large Vidalia onions, cut into ½ inch slices
- 1 lemon, sliced thin
- ½ cup chicken broth
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Line a 13x9 baking dish with sliced Vidalia onions.
- Combine garlic, lemon juice, olive oil, fresh oregano, salt, and pepper into a mixture/paste. Spread over both sides of the chicken, and under the skin if desired.
- Place chicken leg quarters on top of the sliced onions. Top with lemon slices and carrots.
- Bake for 40-50 minutes, or until a meat thermometer reads 180 degrees in the thigh.
- Carefully remove chicken and place on a serving platter.
- Gently toss the carrots and onions in the pan juices before serving.
- Serve and enjoy!!
This looks so yummy! Gotta try it!
Thanks Sandy! I really enjoyed it and love that it’s all in one pan!
This looks delicious! I am not familiar with whole30, but I know yummy when I see it!
Thanks, Christina! Whole30 is basically a program where you eat super clean for 30 days, in hopes that you’ll adopt a healthier lifestyle after finishing. If you’re interested, you can learn more on their website: http://whole30.com/ They also have a couple books (It Starts with Food and The Whole30) that I’ve never read, but have heard great things about.
That looks delicious! Will definitely be trying it out!
It was pretty delicious, Alyssa! Hope you like it too!
OMG. I just bookmarked this recipe to try it! It looks so good! Also, lovely photos!
Maegan, let me know if you end up making it! I’ve been trying to improve my photography skillz, thanks for noticing!
This looks fantastic. I have a ton of fresh oregano and need to try this recipe. I’m also hoping to get us eating more whole foods in another week (we’re vacationing in about 8 hours!)
Thanks Jaime!! Vacations can be rough for healthy eating, but I definitely think it’s doable when you get home! Props to you for trying to get your family to eat clean!
Hey Alex,
The recipe looks delicious, and the mix up with the dill sounds likes something that would happen to me. New recipe for my Pinterest board 🙂
Thanks for pinning, Davina! I’m a little embarrassed about the dill/oregano incident, but I guess that’s what happens when you don’t label your herbs! Glad to know I’m not alone though! 😉
I can hardly stand how flavorful and fresh this chicken looks with all that oregano + veggie goodness! I need to add this one to the menu for sure!
Yay Sarah! You’ll have to come back and let me know the final verdict!
Looks so delicious! I’m still in my elimination phase of my diet and I can’t have onions quite yet, but this might be the first thing I try when I get to add them back in!
You could always skip the onions too, or replace them with another veggie. Thanks for stopping by, Karissa! I hope your elimination diet is successful!