Thursday Night Slump

I know that Wednesday is 'hump day', but sometimes Thursday is the bigger hurdle for me. I've made it this far and Friday is right around the corner. Come dinner time on Thursday I just want something quick and easy. I'm tired of doing dishes, so if I can minimize that too I'm all the more thrilled.

I regularly pick up a roasted deli chicken at my local supermarket. I like the chickens because they can be really versatile and can certainly aid in getting dinner done quickly. You can shred the chicken for pasta or enchiladas, you can keep the breasts or leg quarters whole for quick dinner solutions, or sometimes I save the bones to make chicken soup or chicken broth. 

Tonight I reheated one of the leg quarters, cooked up some quinoa, and sauteed some spinach and mushrooms. All-in-all it took me about 30 minutes and it was a really delicious dinner.

To reheat the chicken I put the leg quarter in my cast iron skillet and put them in the oven while it was heating up to 350 degrees. That way the chicken could warm up slowly and retain it's juices. In total the cook time was about 15 mins between the time it took for my oven to heat up and a few extra minutes just to make sure it's warm throughout. I did leave the skin on the chicken, again- it helps retain the moisture and keeps the flavor locked in.

If you haven't tried quinoa yet, you might want to check it out. Its a whole grain with a protein boost. It's also super easy to cook and it doesn't take very long. The typical cooking formula I've seen is a 2:1 ratio. That is 2 parts liquid to 1 part quinoa. So for example, if you were cooking 1 cup of quinoa, you would use 2 cups of water. Quinoa will expand slightly when it cooks, but not a whole lot so when cooking for friends figure about 1/4 to 1/2 a cup per person.

Once the chicken comes out of the oven, move it to your plate to give a chance to cool off just a little. While the pan is still hot turn your stove to medium or medium high and add some sliced mushrooms and diced shallots. Don't forget the salt and pepper and maybe a little olive oil. Just be sure that the mushrooms aren't crowded in the pan or they won't brown properly.

Toss in some spinach and let it wilt from the heat. I did splash in just a little chicken broth to loosen the delicious brown bits and help finish off the spinach. Put it all on a plate and enjoy!

Happy Thursday!

Party of One

Sometimes, cooking for a party of one can be harder than cooking for a big dinner party. I find that it takes more thought to scale back a dish to make just one good plate.

But just because you are eating by yourself doesn't mean that you dinner shouldn't be any more delicious. Treat yourself!

I was home alone on a Saturday night and decided to make myself dinner worthy of any of the restaurants that I might have chosen to visit. Since it was just me I tried to keep it simple and keep all the cooking confined to one pan- a cast iron skillet in this case.You don't need a cast iron skillet to do this but it is helpful to have a pan that can go from the stove into the oven.


Bone-in pork chop, roasted fingerling potatoes and cherry tomatoes with sauteed spinach.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. 

I started with a beautiful bone-in pork chop from Whole Foods. I seasoned it with salt, pepper, and paprika. Before you season the chop, put your pan on the stove to heat it up. You need the pan to be hot in order to get a good sear on the meat. Once you get the chop seasoned up, drop it in the pan and sear on each side for about 3 mins per side.

Seared pork chop

Once you've turned the chop over the second time, add some fingerling potatoes and cherry tomatoes to the pan. I like fingerling potatoes for dishes like this because they are smaller than even regular red potatoes so that makes them great for quick meals. They also tend to have a different texture and more subtle taste then other potatoes.

Let all of this cook together in the pan for another 3-4 minutes.


Once the oven is ready put the whole pan in the oven and cook for another 5-8 minutes depending on how well done you prefer your pork.


After the time rings, take the pan out of the oven and remove the pork chop, potatoes, and tomatoes to a plate. That will give the pork chop time to rest before you cut into it. Beware that the tomatoes can be very hot so give them a little bit of time to call off before biting into them.

While the pan is still hot from the oven, add about 1 cup of uncooked spinach to the pan.

The spinach will wilt quickly in the heat of the pan. Once it's at a texture you like, plate everything up.

In may case I piled the spinach on top of the potatoes and tomatoes then shaved a little parmigiano. I like the slightly salty, slightly nutty flavor of the parmigiano- it ads a great flavor to the roasted veggies.

Serve with a crisp white wine or a mild pinot and dinner is served!