Roasted Chicken & Homemade Stuffing

2 cups water

2 chicken bouillon cubes

1 tbsp paprika

1 tsp garlic salt

1 tsp basil

1 tbsp caraway

1 tbsp fennel seeds

Preheat oven to 350.  First I rinsed the chicken with cool water and placed in a dish breast side down.  Next I cut the bottom on the chicken skin and folded over the sides.  I mixed the dry ingredient's above in a bowl and then rubbed it on the chicken and placed kabob stinks in the chicken to hold the skin back in place.  Next boil two cups of water and added the bouillon cubes.  Once the cubes were dissolved I added it to the bottom of the baking dish.  Next add the caraway seeds and fennel seeds to top of chicken and in water.

Place in oven for 1 hr 15 mins.  When the timer goes off, take out of oven and bast with liquid in bottom of dish.  When basting put the liquid under the skin that you cut before you placed it in the oven.

I don't have a meat thermometer, I know insane, so I have to slice the chicken to verify that the meat is no longer pink and the juices run clear.  I cooked this baby for about two hours.  Before I carved it I let it sit about 20 minutes and let the juices redistribute.

Now for this amazing stuffing...After getting the chicken in the oven I recruited my little helper to tear the fresh bread.  He did a fantastic job!!

You'll need:

4 multi grain dinner rolls

4 large white rolls

1 cup diced celery

1 cup diced carrots

2 cups finely chopped kale

1/2 cup mushrooms

1 tbsp rosemary

1 tsp garlic salt

1 tsp dill

1 tsp thyme

4 tbsp olive oil divided

Tear bread into bite size pieces.  Once all bread is torn, place in large plastic bag (I reused the one that the rolls came in) drizzle 2 tbsp olive oil in the bag, the garlic salt and the dill.  Shake bag like crazy to evenly coat.  Next place all the bread on a cookie sheet and place in the already heated oven with the chicken for 15 minutes.

These toasted bread crumbs were so good I could have just eaten these with some olive oil and balsamic.  Yea, they were that good.  But don't eat them all, we need some for our stuffing.  If my sister was here she would have eaten the whole pan.  She loves bread.

 While these cool, get the other 2 tbsp of olive oil heated on the stove and add the celery, carrots, kale, mushrooms, rosemary and thyme.  Cook over medium heat until tender.  Set aside till the chicken is done.

Doesn't this look amazing!  It smelled even better with the rosemary and thyme.

When the chicken is done cooking, set aside but remove the water that was put in before and place in measuring cup.

You're putting it back in the measuring cup because you need 2 cups.  Of course, some of it while cooking evaporates.  So measure what is left and add water to equal your 2 cups.  Only 1/4 of a cup evaporated,from mine.  Add the liquid to a large pan on medium heat.  Add the vegetable mixture.  Once it starts boiling, take off heat and add the toasted bread. Stir until all the liquid is absorbed and all bread has been added.  Cover with lid and let sit while you carve the chicken.

Amazing...Enjoy!!