In The Next 30 Days

A 30-Day Challenge Closer to Brighter, Shinier, & Happier.

April 21st, 2012

So So Easy Silver Turtle Chicken

My father is a master chef over the campfire. I mean he can make gourmet dinners with nothing more than a skillet and some logs. I love that. And when I was a kid and on our family camping trips, silver turtles were a family favorite. I was looking at our pile of veggies the other night when it hit me. Silver turtles would be perfect combination of easy and healthy and fun.

Here’s what I did: I put a little bit of salad dressing (I used Italian, but I think honey mustard would taste good too) on some aluminum foil. Then I put a chicken breast on top and another little bit of dressing on top of the chicken. Next I just piled the chicken up with our veggies: carrots, peas (in the pods), and onion. I baked these in the over at 350 for 30 minutes, and then served them with a slice of tomato.

Of course the silver turtles of my childhood were more like steaming shepherd pies with hamburger and potatoes, but consider this the healthy, grown-up version. And next time, I’m going to use some of the CSA greens in there too.

Or if you don’t like the adult approach, you could always Julia-tize dinner and polka-dot your tomatoes with your peas.

Tags: chicken, CSA, kids, recipe
Posted in 30 Days | Dinner Simplified, 30 Days | Eat Local | 2 Comments »

November 7th, 2011

Chili and Honey Chicken. Yum.

My friend Virginia is pretty amazing. She maintains the food blog Italicious. And if you haven’t visited before, you really, really need to. She makes the most amazing dishes and posts beautiful photographs of each dish with the recipe. Most importantly, though, Virginia makes each recipe accessible. I feel capable when I visit her blog. Capable and inspired.

So, when Virginia suggested I tackle Chili and Honey Chicken Legs with Braised Collards, I knew two things: first, that the recipe would be do-able, easy even; and second, it would be a good dinner. I was not disappointed.

I doubled the recipe for the chili and honey mixture and coated a whole chicken worth of pieces. It was so easy, so fast, and so good. Really, I think only one piece of the entire chicken was wrapped up for leftovers. Julia quickly renamed the chicken after Virginia’s daughter and then ate two legs herself. The collards and sweet potatoes were just as simple, even even if they did take a while to cook.

Virginia calls this dinner “comfort food.” And while the flavors and foods are certainly comforting in a Southern grandmother kind of way, I take comfort in the simplicity to put it all together successfully!