CROCK POT (OR LAZY -- OR SEMI - LAZY) CHICKEN

I've made many chickens in the oven. Also many Cornish hens, poussins, ducks, quail, and geese.  However, recently, I decided to try an experiment and make a beautiful chicken in the crock pot. Well, not "so lazy" since the last time I made the chicken that way, I received comments about not seeing the brown skin on the chicken*.  Okay... so I became "semi-lazy" -- not semi homemade. If I don't want to be really lazy, before throwing the bird into the crock pot, I will, first, brown it in a cast iron skillet coated with olive oil.

Oh...what an easy way to cook...or not cook.   Is it being lazy?  Well, maybe...or maybe not...the taste at the end is the tell-tale sign of the minimal effort which resulted a robust and succulent chicken (did I say that?  a succulent chicken?)... And, the extra step of browning prior to putting the chicken into the crock pot is a bonus, I must admit.

Ingredients:

1 chicken, 6-8 lbs
Olive Oil* (optional)
2 stalks of celery, sliced into 1/2" pieces
2 carrots, also sliced into 1/2" pieces
1 onion, sliced thin, also 1/2" pieces
1 lemon, again sliced into 1/2" pieces
1 lime, sliced into 1/2" pieces (are we getting bored yet?)
2 sprigs of fresh parsley
2 sprigs of fresh sage
2 sprigs of fresh rosemary
2 sprigs of fresh thyme
2 cups of chicken stock, preferably homemade

First, remove giblets and wash chicken.

Let chicken sit for a few minutes.  After a "bath",  it's always good to rest a little.

*If you have a "picky" customer or husband or whomever and  they want the chicken to have a "browned skin", then brown it on the stove top in a cast iron (or any kind of) pan saturated in olive oil, prior to placing it in the "lazy" crock pot.

Next, Place all of the celery, carrots, onion, lemon and lime slices on the bottom of the crock pot.

Then, stuff the chicken with the parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme herbs.  Feel free to sing the song while doing this.  I do.
Finally, place the chicken in the crock pot atop of the beautiful bed of vegetables.  Add the chicken stock. 

Cook on High setting for 6 hours.

That's it.  Crock pot chicken (or lazy chicken?).  Done to perfection.  Really.