31 January, 2017
Easy Chicken and Vegetable Dinner
Sometimes, you may find yourself in a hurry and need to make dinner in a rush. Sometimes, you even get time to prep for these occasions. In this case, I started marinating some chicken with the intent of making it Sunday night. Well, Sunday night came and went. We weren’t even remotely hungry, since I had taken the boyfriend up on a stupid joke and made an omelette that was far too large for two people to consume, and yet we did… Anyway, I looked it up and you can marinate chicken for up to two days, so I figured, let’s give it a go.
Monday night: I get home late after a long day of funeral services and visiting grandparents (happy news: I adopted a crock pot, so look forward to some slow cooker recipes!). I remember the chicken in the fridge and panic as I look at the clock, which told me it was already 10:30 at night. Gah.
So, I get cooking. I had to feed the boyfriend, and I figured I should probably eat, as well.
As it turns out, this recipe takes just over a half hour from prep to plate, and it includes meat, veggies, and starch — which I completely forgot and am going to lie to you about right now so you can do it right. There are supposed to be potatoes…
Potatoes… something like that. (Context: Boyfriend — “You should post the actual picture of dinner as the main picture for the article, but then take the same photo and poorly photoshop in some potatoes, just so they know what you’re talking about.”)
ANYWAY… Just over a half an hour from prep to plate is pretty awesome for a full meal, and the best part is that you only have to dirty one pan, and the dirtying part is optional (I dirtied it because I dissected the foil I used to line the pan when trying to scoop up veggies).
Alright, onward to the recipe!
Ingredients
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
2 1/2 cups marinade (enough to cover the chicken)
2-3 cups squash (I used a small zucchini and a small yellow squash)
1 bell pepper
6 red potatoes
1/4 cup olive oil
Salt, pepper, onion powder, and Italian seasoning (to taste)
—
The longest part of the recipe is the marinating. You can either make one from scratch with:
1/4 cup freshly squeezed orange juice
1/4 cup freshly squeezed lime juice
1 large garlic clove, roughly chopped
1 tbsp minced fresh cilantro or 1 teaspoon dried cilantro
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp cayenne
Or you can use a store-bought one, like I did. I used a citrus-based one.
To marinate the chicken, trim the fat off of the breasts and place them in a gallon Ziploc bag. Add the marinade, just enough to cover the chicken. Gently massage the bag to work the marinade into the nooks and crannies of the meat, and fold the bag in half so that the liquid is contained in the half of the bag with the chicken. Place the bag in the fridge and let it sit for anywhere from 2 hours to 48 hours, no longer. I let mine marinate for about a day and a half.
Once you’re done marinating the meat, preheat the oven to 375 degrees and line a rectangular baking pan with aluminum foil.
Slice the bell pepper into 1/4 inch strips and cut the squashes in half lengthwise and then into slices about 1/2 an inch thick. Cut the potatoes into 1 inch chunks.
Remove the chicken breasts from the marinade bag and place them in the center of the baking pan. Around them, spread the vegetables and potatoes. Sprinkle olive oil over the vegetables and potatoes and season with the salt, pepper, onion powder, and Italian seasoning.
Bake everything for about 30 minutes or until the chicken is cooked all the way through (no pink in the middle) and a thermometer inserted into the center of each chicken breast reads at least 165 degrees F (74 degrees C).
Plate up and enjoy!
