Lemon-Oregano Chicken and Vegetables

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!