A college gal's reacquaintance with her lonely stove -- Orange-stuffed chicken and au gratin potatoes

Photo by Cassie Neiden.

Tonight on the menu: Orange stuffed chicken! I swear I’m going to gain at least 10 pounds this semester. Ever since my step-brother moved in, my roommates and I have been feasting like kings. Kip always comes up with the best recipes off the cuff. We came up with this idea in five minutes with the groceries we already had in our apartment.

The recipe for orange stuffed chicken is insanely simple. You just need a 5-pound chicken, four or five oranges, and sugar.

While Kip stuffed his hand through the chicken’s body to make sure everything was out of it (and I turned away and covered my eyes in disgust), I cut up some of the oranges into slices, and peeled the rest of them. Then, we put the chicken in a large pan. We peeled apart the oranges, stuck some underneath the skin of the chicken, and more of them inside the chicken itself. Then, we sprinkled 1 ½ tablespoons of sugar onto the chicken.

Then, I cut up one of the oranges and used a lemon squeezer to squeeze the juices onto the chicken. Next, I sliced up the last orange and placed them on top of it.

After that, Kip and I covered it in foil and just stuck it in the oven at 350 degrees for about one hour. Halfway through, we took off the foil so that the chicken could brown.

For the side, we made Betty Crocker’s Au Gratin Potatoes out of the box. The directions are only two steps and they only take 25 minutes to bake. We just stuck them in the over halfway through the chicken’s baking time.

And there you have it, orange stuffed chicken and potatoes in only one hour. So decline that fast food offer from your roomies tonight and utilize that oven! Trust me, it’s super rewarding.

If you want to cook chicken with different fruit, like apricots and prunes, check out this delicious recipe!