Thanksgiving…turkey, turkey, turkey. Brined turkey, roast turkey, fried turkey.

I’m not talking turkey yet. Today, I pay homage to Turkey’s more ubiquitous little brother, Chicken. In America, chicken is the go-to meat. It can be found anywhere, cut anyway, and it is always affordable–especially if you’re willing to do the dirty work yourself. I am a fan of buying whole chickens; you pay the same amount that you would for pre-sliced, deboned, deskinned chicken breasts (which is essentially chicken sans flavor). A whole chicken, whether roasted in its entirety or braised in pieces, is a filling crowd-pleaser.

Inspired by the rotisserie chickens in the deli by my office, I decided to roast a chicken for dinner. I had two big boys to feed, and as I would soon be leaving for the holiday, I wanted to clean out my pantry as much as possible. Thus, a menu was born–roast chicken with mashed sweet potatoes and steamed broccoli. I figure you can’t get much healthier while eating so heartily.

After cleaning the bird and putting the innards into water for chicken stock (to get the most bang for my buck!), I began to rub it down with salt, pepper, and thyme. After slicing garlic into slivers, I cut into the thicker parts of the meat to stick the garlic in. Lacking kitchen twine, I used thread to tie the bird together. The bird, along with three aluminum wrapped potatoes, were put into a 425 degree oven for a hour and twenty minutes (the bird weighed about 5 pounds), and I left it alone. At the twenty minute mark, I cut up the broccoli and threw it into the steamer.

We set the table, threw the broccoli into a bowl after rinsing it in cold water to stop the cooking process, mashed the sweet potatoes with skins on in another bowl, threw a little kosher salt on both, all while the meat settled. I carved up the chicken, we sat down, and twenty minutes later, plates were cleared and stomachs were full.

If only Thanksgiving were that easy…but then, where would the fun be?