Full On Chicken Dinner STILL SIMPLE

Total Comfort Food Here! A full on chicken dinner, made as quickly and as easily as possible. Every where I could, I trimmed down the fat calorie intake as best as I could. It's not "fat-free" but "low-fat" and still satisfies a hungry family.

HERE'S ALL IT TAKES

serves 4 to 6

For the Chicken

1 (3 to 3 1/2 pound) whole chicken
salt & fresh ground pepper
2 teaspoons dried thyme
1 small lemon, halved
5 to 7 garlic cloves, whole
1 small onion, thickly sliced

For the Noodles

1 1/2 cups dry egg noodles
1 cup chicken stock/broth from drippings
1/2 to 3/4 cup plain yogurt or sour cream
salt & pepper
ground red pepper flakes (for the grown ups' plates)

Blanched Broccoli

2 large broccoli crowns, cut into large bite size pieces

Starting with the chicken.

Preheat the oven to 425ºF degrees.

Prep the lemon, garlic and onion. Have your spices measured out in small bowls, so you don't contaminate your spice rack.

Remove the chicken parts from the inside that they always give us. Rinse out the inside of the chicken and remove any excessively fatty pieces. Pat the outside dry with a paper towel. Place the chicken in a roasting pan.

Generously salt and pepper the inside of the chicken. Sprinkle in the dried thyme, stuff with the lemon, garlic. Give the outside of the chicken a spritz of canola oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Tie the legs together with kitchen string, or not, and tuck the wing tips under the body of the chicken. Scatter the onion slices around the chicken.

Roast the chicken for 1 1/2 hours or until the juices run clear when you cut between a leg and thigh. Move to a serving dish. Cover with foil and allow 20 minutes to rest.

For the Broccoli and Noodles

Scoop out 1 cup of broth from the drippings, try to get as much as you can. If you can't make a cup, you can fill in with water or canned chicken broth. Put the drippings in the freezer, so the fat can separate and solidify quickly. Skim off all the fat.

Start a large pot of boiling water. Blanch the broccoli florets in the boiling water for 2 minutes, scoop out with a slotted spoon and keep warm in a serving dish.

In the same boiling water, cook the noodles according the directions on the package. Drain off cooked noodles, pour creamy chicken sauce over the noodles and toss. Allow noodles a few minutes to absorb cream sauce and thicken. Transfer to a serving a dish. Separate the chicken into servings while you wait.

Serve it all up family style!