Chicken Apple Bacon Skillet

We’ve officially hit apple season!

I love this time of year. The sun begins to take on a golden glow, the gardens get sleepy, the birds start to gather in preparation to fly south, and apples are ready for picking!

We have 6 apple trees on our property. It’s our Macintosh apples that are always ready first. And they are sooo good :-)

I love apples on their own, apples in dessert and I wanted to try and make something for dinner that I could put apples in.

I have a wonderful cookbook full of Paleo recipes called Zenbelly and the author has a delicious recipe of chicken, apples and bacon. So I modelled my recipe after hers.

It’s easy to make and it is, indeed, Paleo. So my belly loves it :-)

The ingredients are simple.

Whole Chicken. I try to source antibiotic-free or - even better - pasture raised chicken. I don’t like supporting feedlots and I don’t like consuming that energy. So when I can, I buy chicken from local farms that raise their chickens humanely and traditionally.

Apples. It’s so easy to find local apples at this time of year. Our bodies recognize locally grown food and are built to eat such food. If you can, buy and support your local farmers and orchards!

Bacon. Who doesn’t like bacon? But what I like most about bacon is the fat that it renders after cooking it. Bacon fat is what I use to cook anything on high heat. Please stay away from vegetable seed oils…they reek havoc on the body. But bacon fat is delicious and healthy for us. I know food associations have parroted that saturated fats are the devil, but they are not. Saturated fats eaten with a healthy diet are crucial for our bodies. They make our hormones, feed our brains and give us energy.

Thyme. This recipe uses fresh thyme. Thyme is rich in vitamin A and C and has antibacterial properties to it. It adds wonderful flavour to meat dishes and roasts.

White Wine. Any good recipe has a form of acid in it. The white wine in this recipe adds a lovely taste and aroma to the chicken and the rest of the dish.

Onions. Onions add flavour to everything. There’s not much that I don’t add onions to. They pair surprisingly well with the apples in this medley.

PREP TIME TOTAL TIME SERVINGS

15 MINUTES 35 MINUTES SERVES 4

INGREDIENTS: DIRECTIONS:

1 Whole Chicken, cut up into parts Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Prepare a large cast iron pan to sear chicken.

1 bunch fresh thyme Cut up in pieces, sear the chicken in the pan for about 4 minutes on each side.

1/2 pound of bacon, cut up into 1 inch chunks Add the wine and fresh thyme to the pan and cook in oven for 15 minutes.

1 large onion, cut into quarters Meanwhile, cook bacon in a mid-sized pan until crisp and set aside.

1 cup of white wine Leave the bacon grease in the pan and add the onions & apples and cook for

2 medium apples about 7 - 8 minutes, until onions and apples soften up.

Salt & Pepper Take the chicken out of the oven after 15 minutes & add the rest of the ingredients

to the pan, nestling the onions and apples between the pieces of chicken and then

sprinkling the bacon on top. Return the skillet to the oven and bake for another 15

minutes and serve.