Hump day chicken

I was pretty happy with how this one turned out, because I made up the recipe and even though I overcooked it (forgot about that whole "resting phase" they always talk about on Top Chef), it was easy to prepare and packed a nutritional punch. I'm not by any stretch of the imagination an excellent cook (ask my husband - or don't - he's too nice and will lie!), but just about everything I cook needs to be healthy, organic whenever possible, and low-fat. Kale is delicious and sooo good for you! This recipe looks long, but really doesn't take very long at all to come together.

Stuffed chicken with roasted vegetables, kale and rosemary rice
Stuffed chicken:
2 chicken breasts
Fresh Basil
Reduced fat feta
Fage 0% greek yogurt
Orange juice
Fresh Rosemary
Salt & pepper
2 tomatoes
1 or 1/2 yellow onion
Olive oil
1 large clove of garlic

Preheat oven to 350.

Marinade: Beat chicken nice and senseless with a chicken whacker (that's what we call it around these parts) and place in a shallow dish. Pour OJ over the top, and smear a good heaping spoonful of greek yogurt all over the chicken. Add rosemary, salt, pepper. Let sit for about 30 minutes or cover and pop in the fridge. While you're waiting, prepare the kale and slice your tomatoes and onion. *OJ is my favorite marinade for most chicken dishes, except buttermilk fried chicken. You can add lots of different spices to change it up, and it's such an easy way to add juicy flavor. Plus I'm lazy and don't like to switch things up too often.

To prepare kale: Wash thoroughly, dry, tear from the stalks. Drizzle a capful of olive oil, plenty of salt and pepper and massage it in the bowl, working the oil into the leaves. Let sit until you're ready to cook it.

Stuffing & roasting the chicken: Place basil and feta, a little garlic, and a little S&P on one half of chicken. Fold over and secure with toothpicks. Your chicken might still be a little gooey from the yogurt - that's ok, that's what you want! Now it's all ready to come together in the pot. Place your prepared chicken in the dutch oven with the tomatoes and onion surrounding it. Drizzle a capful of olive oil over your vegetables, sprinkle some rosemary on top, and salt and pepper the whole shebang. Cover and put in the oven. It should look about like this:


Start checking your chicken around 25 minutes. I waited too long and while it looked perfectly tender and juicy when I first pulled it out of the oven, 10 minutes later the resting phase had rendered it a little dry. I think 30 minutes is about right for this, but again just check on it or better yet, keep a thermometer in...again, I'm a little too lazy for that. I think done is 165 degrees?

Kale: Let some olive oil, garlic, S&P come together over medium heat in a skillet for a few minutes. Add kale, and toss with tongs frequently. I might have added a little lemon juice to this, but I didn't have any on hand.

Rosemary rice: Easiest thing ever. I love Uncle Ben's whole grain 90 second microwaveable rice pouches. Put in a bowl with just a little water or chicken broth. Sprinkle fresh rosemary in and cover with clingwrap. Voila! I'm all about the shortcuts.

Rounding the bend & the explanation of Busted Pie

We are rounding the bend in the 3rd trimester, and I figured it was time to get this little family blog going. Nicholas suggested I call it Busted Pie, a nickname he gave me many years ago after a number of failed attempts at making pie from scratch. They tasted just fine, but were a bit slumped over and sad looking, and I figured since this blog will be our family's blog - the good, the bad, and the ugly, busted side of our domestic forays - we ought to shoot straight.

I tend to be a little overly ambitious when it comes to all things domestic - cooking, sewing, creating anything really - and while sometimes it comes out just like I'd envisioned it would, often it doesn't. Often it ends up in a Container Store box I have labeled "projects in progress," doomed to sit there for eternity. Motherhood, I imagine, will be just the same; really I have no idea what motherhood will be like, as much as I've tried to envision it. But I know for sure that it won't always be the giggling, sweet smelling babies we grow up imagining.

Last night, as dinner crashed to the floor - beautiful Emile Henry baking dish and all - in an oh-so-dramatic fashion, I thought it might be time to get Busted Pie going. I wish I'd taken a picture, but I was too busy succumbing to the hormonal, 29 weeks pregnant meltdown that ensued. I might not have taken it so hard if it hadn't been the first time in an embarrassingly long time that I'd cooked anything besides my semi-regular batch of blueberry muffins. But alas, there it was. Busted fish. All over the floor.

I'm not sure what direction this blog will take, but for now, it will be little honest glimpses into our daily home life, which will probably be quite boring for all but a few sweet readers. I have all sorts of creative interests - photography, crochet, textile design, sewing - that will probably find their way here too. We are so glad we have a diary of our time in Europe (found here); so if we have no readers, that's OK with us. I'm well aware what gets posted here might be indulgent, dull minutae to everyone but us, but we just want to make sure these days don't pass us by.

I'm hoping to keep a log of the dishes I do actually make, for my own personal sanity. Once the baby comes I know I will find it a struggle to come up with healthy recipes that come together quickly. I'm always doing them off the cuff, so never have recipes to recreate, and often I find myself at the store completely unsure of what to make that week. Last night's was roasted trout with herbs, roasted vegetables and couscous - we did manage to salvage it, thanks to my sweet, always cool-headed husband. Recipe as follows:

Roasted trout with herbs

Roasted Trout with herbs
1 capful of olive oil
1 Lemon
Thyme and Rosemary
Salt & pepper
1 large filet of trout

Grind up thyme and rosemary using a mortar and pestle. Rub olive oil, lemon, salt and pepper and herb mixture all over the fish, put in a covered baking dish at 375 for about 20ish minutes or until done.

Roasted tomatoes, onions, squash & zucchini
Coat with a small capful of olive oil, herbs on hand (rosemary), salt, pepper, and garlic. Roast for 20ish minutes or until done at 375.

CousCous: Terribly difficult. The kind you slice off the roll and fluff up with a bit of milk in the microwave. I added reduced fat feta, which was a good call.

To give it a little flair, drop it on the floor and see what happens.

We are loving this time before the baby comes and hopefully tonight's dinner will fare a little better. Thanks for joining us on this journey!

xo
lmm