Rice cooker + steamer is so easy. Put rice and water to the marked fill lines in the bottom. Put chicken and/or fresh broccoli in the top. Push start button and walk away for around 20 minutes. Add cheese (velveeta or american slices) and stir the whole mess like crazy. Healthy, easy, and delicious!
Ask the “Crack Smoking Mayor”. He has plenty.
If you want to cook a whole chicken, don’t bother trussing it; butterfly it. Takes about the same amount of time as trussing, only slightly more messy, chicken cooks faster, more crispy skin.
But for an even easier prep, use pre-cut chicken quarters. My go-to bulk-cooking chicken recipe (number of servings depends on the size of your pan; my pan takes ~6 leg quarters so ~6 servings):
[ul]
[li] Preheat your oven to around 400-425 degrees (ovens vary, use what works for you).[/li][li] While it’s heating, take your roasting pan and put in ~2 tablespoons of any vegetable oil. (If you don’t like washing pans, line it with tinfoil first.)[/li][li] Toss in some peeled onions, cut into quarters (eighths if you’re using the big yellow ones), and your favorite kind of potatoes, cut into chunks about the size of the onion quarters, until the bottom of the pan is covered. The potatoes and onions can be sliced ~1/2 inch thick, if you prefer. You can also throw in some whole peeled garlic and/or some chunked/sliced carrots. [/li][li] Shake the pan around to coat the veggies with the oil. Sprinkle with the seasonings of your choice (suggestions follow). [/li][li] Lay chicken quarters (I prefer just leg quarters) in a single layer over the top, skin-side up; sprinkle with more seasoning. [/li][li] Cover the pan with tinfoil and tuck loosely under the sides (or if it’s a lidded pan, just put the lid on - leave it cracked a touch).[/li][li] Bake until the potatoes are done and the chicken juices run clear when cut with a knife near the thighbone (~30-45 min or so). If you’re feeling ambitious, at ~20 minutes in take the chicken off and stir the potatoes, then replace the chicken (gives more even cooking).[/li][li] If the skin isn’t browned enough for you, take off the tinfoil/lid and run the pan under the broiler for a few minutes. [/li][li] Take the pan out of the oven and let cool a bit, then eat. The leftovers will keep for several days, or you can freeze the leftover chicken and eat the potatoes with other stuff (potatoes don’t freeze particularly well). [/li][/ul]
Nuke some green thing while it’s cooling, and you have a complete meal.
If you prefer to use boneless chicken bits, especially breasts, which cook much faster: roast the potatoes by themselves for about 15-20 min or until they start to soften, stir, and then add the chicken. You may want to drizzle the chicken with oil if it’s skinless. If you want to use a higher potato-to-chicken ratio, use the same method.
You can substitute sweet potatoes (omit the onions), or mix in other root vegetables (turnips, rutabagas, etc) if you like them.
Seasonings:
[ul]
[li] Anything sold in one of those “grill seasoning” shaker jars, or pre-packaged “roast chicken seasoning mixes”[/li][li] Barbeque sauce[/li][li] A generous quantity of dried rosemary, black pepper, salt (use garlic in the pan if you can)[/li][li] Tarragon, lemon juice, salt (optional: a touch of soy sauce, adjust the salt accordingly)[/li][li] Paprika and/or cayenne pepper, a dash of tumeric, salt[/li][li] The classic: black pepper and salt[/li][/ul]
I used to do something like this alot I called cheater chow mein.
add part of a bag of frozen stir fry veggies and a small drained can of chicken to a pan with a little olive oil sautee a bit till veggies are warmed through.
Toss in a pack of cooked ramen noodles and fry a little till you get a little brown on the noodles