I have to give myself a little credit... Except for a few weekends here and there, my January has been super healthy. Quinoa, humus and various veggies have been the stars of my meals. Also, a few weeks ago I learned that you can get all your daily vitamins in ONE banana! So I've had a banana every single morning since. But I'm coming close to the point where I'm just over it. I seem to have a rather tumultuous relationship with quinoa... we are either on extremely good terms (fueling the belief of my roommates that it's all I eat) or on very, very bad ones...
Last night, like every night, I was faced with an abundance of quinoa. Blegh was all I had to say about it. I peruse many a food blog, so I dug deep into the archives for some inspiration and this was what I got...
The chicken didn't stand out as being anything truly exciting, but it wasn't quinoa, so I was satisfied. But the sweet potato fries?! DONE. DEAL. I am all about sweet potato fries. They have that sweet/salty thing going on that is just all too irresistible. And if they even somewhat count as being healthy, then I think it's safe to say they are the new quinoa... for now.
The only thing was that I didn't have any of those herbs... But a quick rummage through the pantry produced some dried rosemary, which is SO yummy with lemon... #ThatWasEasy
(Also - looking at the recipe now, I just realized I forgot the garlic! But I did use garlic powder, kinda the same thing?)
Here's what I used...
Not shown... 4 chicken breasts.
Those chickens were the EASIEST thing. I laid them all out in a baking dish with some foil, drizzled olive oil on them and then added salt, pepper, onion powder, garlic powder and dried rosemary. Then I flipped them all over and did it again. Then thinly sliced up that lemon and laid two slices on each breast. Cover with foil and pop 'em into the 350 degree oven for 25 mins. Then, uncover them and bake for an additional 10. Voila!
The fries are even easier, if you can believe it...
Cut up the potato (I guess it's really a yam??) into french-fry looking slices or wedges. Lay them all out on some foil on a cookie sheet in one layer. This is important because if they are on top of each other, they will steam-cook and not get crunchy... makes for a weird fry. The recipe didn't call for any olive oil but that just seemed weird, so I drizzled a teeny bit over the tops. Then a sprinkle of some salt, pepper and cayenne pepper! I'm not sure exactly what the health benefits are of cayenne pepper... but it's part of the Master Cleanse ("Beyoncé cleanse", to you and me) and it's in a bunch of pressed juices, so it must be good. Bake them at 425 for 20ish minutes. If you have some small slices, they might have to come out earlier.
All plated and ready to go!
Close to no prepwork whatsoever, full of flavor AND healthy?! Done, done aaaand DONE.
The next day, I had one chicken left over so I cut it up and put it in a pita pocket with some spicy humus to bring to work...
YUM!
Dinner was so good that Ian endured watching The Bachelor Wedding while he ate it!!
(Although, that could be due more to the fact that he's a saint than my cooking skills)
xo
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