Tag: meal prep

Cooking Class: Easy Marinated Chicken

Okay – this one is for the busy ones out there, the meal preppers, the non-cooks and the single peeps. Good food doesn’t have to be complicated. This is a flat leaf parsley and garlic marinade that you can let sit for 1 hour or overnight. If you don’t know how to cook and need a starting point, this is for you.

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You can roast some baby potatoes, make a mixed green salad to go with and you’ve got yourself an easy dinner and lunch for the next day.

I use chicken thighs because they are the perfect portion and they are juicy. I think drumsticks would be great too. Scroll to the bottom to see step by step pics on how to make this. I forgot to snap a pic of the chicken on a baking sheet, it shouldn’t be crowded, about 1 inch space between pieces of chicken.

Easy Marinated Chicken, Serves 4

10 boneless skinless chicken thighs

1 handful of flat leaf parsley

3 cloves of garlic

1-2 tsp of kosher salt

1-2 tbs olive oil

Marinade:

If you have a food processor- awesome. If not a knife and cutting board work fine. Put the 3 cloves of garlic in the food processor, pulse a few times, add the parsley, salt and olive oil, pulse until mixed nicely- small pieces, not a paste. Put the chicken in a ziplock baggie, or bowl, pour the mix over the chicken and mix well. Either cover and put in the fridge over night or let it sit for an hour or so.

Roasting:

When you’re ready to cook the chicken, pre-heat the oven to 375, put the chicken on a baking sheet, cook for 25 minutes, when it’s done, broil for a few seconds to get crispy on top.

Remove and serve with roasted potatoes and salad. If you serve with potatoes, start cooking them 25-30 minutes before you start roasting the chicken. Baked potatoes, button potatoes alway take about 45 min-1 hour to cook. If they are sliced or diced they can take 30 min to cook.

 

Eight chicken thighs, a handful of Italian flat leaf parsley, 3 garlic cloves, 1 tbs salt (I use Himalayan) and of course olive oil (not pictured)….

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Add the cloves to the food processor first…..pulse so they look diced….

Add the parsley, salt and olive oil…..pulse so it looks like this

Put the chicken in a bowl, container or bag and drizzle a little olive oil over it….

Add the parsley mix to the chicken……

Coat the chicken evenly with the mix and let sit for at least an hour but it can sit over night too….

Place evenly on a pan, 1″ apart, bake 25-30 min, put under the broiler to brown (eyeball it) and serve with roasted potatoes.

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My Attempt at Whole30 #2

I’m attempting to do my second Whole30. During my first Whole30 in the beginning of 2017 I realized that I totally emotionally eat. I was in denial. I thought emotional eating was eating sweets, like cookies, candy, or junk food like chips or cheese it’s – but no. Emotional eating can come in all shapes and sizes. For me, it’s portion control and meals throughout the day.

On tough days at work, I would drive home from work and think about how nice it would be to have garlic bread, a glass of wine, and eggplant parmesan. I learned that the Whole30 is very similar to the mindful eating exercise that I’ve done in a couple meditation retreats. The Whole30 for me brought this incredible awareness of where my food comes from or what’s in it and how I look at food.

I’m excited to pay attention to the thoughts that come up during this next journey. I’ll welcome any cravings that come up as my old friend and embrace them.

What’s helpful for me is to meal prep and recipe prep – there are days that I will come home from work hungry and if dinner isn’t planned, that is when food choices go out the window.

Meal prepping and planning is your best friend on a Whole30 — actually in general if you want to have healthy eating habits. I will meal prep for the next day after dinner and in the morning before work. I make enough dinner to have leftovers the next day for lunch and that seems to help. Here is a pic of the recipe prep I’ve done (ignore the spelling and hand writing) – I’ll refer to it every couple of days and go shopping once or twice a week.

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