Skillet Roasted Chicken & Fried Sweet Potatoes

I have been having a hard time juggling both of my blogs but for now I will say I am going to to better at it until I figure out what to do. Should I combine both of them? Keep them seperate? I'm torn really. What do you think I should do? Any suggestions?
Enough with the questions. Let's get to why you are really here today. I am going to take a guess and say.....Skillet Roasted Chicken and Fried Sweet Potatoes. Did I get it right? I know! I'm good like that.

This is what we had for dinner last night. I am not a roasting expert but I have to say that the chicken was enjoying itself in all the butter and herbs while I prepared it. I was reading a recipe where they roasted their chicken in a cast iron pan. All I had was this skillet and yes I think it was a little small for the chicken but I wanted to see if it had any effect on the flavor. I don't think it did but I'm glad I tried it. The clean up was a breeze too.
So here is what I did. I bathed the bird and dried it. I lightly oiled my skillet with olive oil.  I then combined a 1/4 cup of softened butter with 2 tsp. dried thyme and 3 tsp. minced garlic. Using my fingers I smothered the chicken under the skin with the butter mixture and then used the remaining butter to cover the whole outside of the bird. Sprinkled it with coarse salt and pepper. I tied up the legs and placed the bird breast side up in my skillet. I forgot to tuck the wings. I don't think it really cared. :)

My oven was preheated to 450 degrees and I roasted it for 30 minutes at that temperature. I then reduced the heat to 350 degrees and continued to roast for 1 hour and 15 minutes. Turning and basting the bird a few times as well. Check the chicken temperature with a meat thermometer. Once it is at 180 degrees it is done.
Remove it from the oven and let it stand about 10 minutes. Remove from skillet to serving tray and cover loosly with foil.

On to the Fried Sweet Potatoes....

I wanted to do something a little different than my normal fried sweet potatoes with sugar and butter. I have been using Agave Nectar for a while because of the Low Glycemic Index. We like it with our pancakes and waffles when I add a little maple flavor to it so I decided to try it on the potatoes.

I peeled and sliced 4 potatoes. (Slice them thin for quicker cooking time)

I then melted 1 Tablespoon of butter over medium/high heat and placed a single layer of potatoes in the pan. I drizzled the potatoes with the Agave Nectar and cooked them for about 3 minutes on each side.

Once they were done I transfered them to my plate and sprinkled with cinnamon, drizzled honey and a pat of butter. YUM!!!!

Of coure we have to have our greens so I just steamed a little broccoli for that and Voila!!! Dinner is served.

The chicken turned out perfectly seasoned and juicy. The potatoes were just as yummy with the hint of honey added at the end. A very good dinner if I do say so myself.

Below are the ingredients needed for the chicken and potatoes if you would like to try it.

Enjoy!

Roasted Chicken 

  450 degrees for 30 minutes then 350 degrees for 1 hour or until done.

1 4-5 lb. whole chicken

1/4 cup softened butter

2 tsp. dried thyme

3 tsp. minced garlic

coarse salt and pepper

Roasting pan or Cast Iron Skillet

Fried Sweet Potatoes

Medium High Heat cooking in single layers

4 sweet potatoes (peeled and thinly sliced)

6 Tbs. butter  softened

Agave nectar (I added maple flavor to my whole bottle. About 3-4 tsp.)

Honey

Cinnamon