Typically, I forget to plan the
week's meals on the weekend when I'm actually free, because hey, I like
to chillax. This is a problem. Because I get home from work around the
same time as Dave on weeknights, and we are often both already "hangry"
before one of us even opens the fridge or Dave asks me what's for dinner
(a question whose presumption never fails to irk me.) For the sake of
our health and the economy of our food budget, I haven't stocked
processed/easy meals in a while, except the rare frozen pizza for those
nights when we're not even going to kid ourselves that we have time to
cook. What we have is whole foods and pantry staples. Almost always, if
we are in the desperate, post-work-day, need-dinner-now state, the only
quick thing to make is eggs. So it's really refreshing for everyone when
we not only have a plan, but we have all the ingredients ready, and
part of the work done.
I give you... the
dual-purpose dinner. For example, I had foresight this weekend and made a
venison pot roast. Tonight Dave used the broth/juices to make a gravy,
added it back in to the meat and veggies and added some peas. I made a
double pie crust to put it in and baked that pot pie to perfection. (Yay
for spousal team work in the kitchen!) Pot pies are amazing; it's pie,
FOR DINNER. Yes, please. (I will be posting my recipe for that
dual-purpose dinner sometime soon.)
Right now
I'd like to share my dual-dinner go-to for winter (which is sadly still
upon us. Yes, even I get sick of winter when March rolls around.) Part
I: Roasted Chicken. Part II: Chicken and Homemade Noodle Soup +
"Roughage"
T H E P L A N
•On Sunday, you roast your bird.
Take
a whole chicken (about 4-5 lb.) and rub it all over and under the skin
of the breast with a mix of your favorite seasonings and 2-4 tbsp
softened butter. That herby/spicy/salty butter is going to make your
chicken sing.
Roast it uncovered with about a cup of liquid in
the bottom of the pan (water, broth, white wine, etc.) at 300°F for
about 3 hours, basting in the liquid about once or twice an hour. It's
done when the chicken registers at 165°F in the deepest part of the
breast.
•Sunday night dinner: Half of your
roasted chicken, plus the crispy wings and legs, served with sides of
your choice (like mashed sweet potatoes and pan-seared Brussels
sprouts.)
•Strip the remaining meat off the chicken. Store in fridge for tomorrow.
•Save
bones (and neck/giblets if you like) in a ziplock in the freezer. Once
you have 2-3 chicken carcasses in there you can make your own stock! We
use the necks/giblets in our stock, so it's more of a hybrid
stock/broth, but it's really good.
•Monday
night- you have half a chicken worth of ready-made, juicy, tender meat!
The dinner uses are endless: chicken salad, mixed green salad with
chicken, chicken tacos, fajitas, or burrito bowls, chicken fried rice,
or, my favorite: soup!
And now, my Frankenstein's monster of a soup recipe—borrowing from several sources to make one happy pot of soup.
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R E C I P E
Homemade Chicken Noodle + "Roughage" Soup
I N G R E D I E N T S
1 batch fresh egg noodles (I like this recipe)
1 tbsp olive oil
2 yellow onions, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
5-6 medium carrots (about 2/3 lb), peeled and chopped
Meat from 1/2 a roasted chicken, cut into chunks
2 quarts chicken stock (may need more depending on how many noodles/veggies you use)
2 bay leaves
2 tbsp herbes de provence (a blend of thyme, fennel, savory, basil, and lavender)
1/2 tsp smoked paprika
Sea salt and fresh ground pepper
Roughage of choice: spinach, peas, kale, broccoli, asparagus, zucchini, etc., be creative!
Optional: lemon wedges and/or Sriracha, a quality loaf of bread (for dipping)
M E T H O D
Heat the oil in a large, heavy pot, on medium/high heat, until shimmering. Add onions and cook until softened and slightly transparent, stirring occasionally. Next add garlic and stir for about 1 min, until fragrant. Add carrots, chicken, stock, bay leaves, herbes de provence, paprika, and salt & pepper (to taste.) Depending on what roughage you're adding, put veggies on the more firm end of the spectrum in sooner, and more delicate veggies like leafy greens you should save for the last few minutes of cooking. Bring soup to a low boil, adding your heartier roughage and cooking for about 6 min, until veggies are just shy of tender. Add the noodles straight into the soup, along with any delicate greens you're using, like spinach, and cook for another 3-5 min. The soup is done when the noodles and vegetable are tender but not mushy - remove bay leaves before serving. Enjoy immediately, served with a squeeze of lemon or, my favorite, a swirl of Sriracha, and a slice of crusty bread to soak up every drip of broth.
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So that's my secret weapon of meal planning. What double-duty meals are on your regular rotation? I'd love to get more versatile recipes in my arsenal, if you care to share.
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