What Keeps Me Alive: Chicken Sheet Dinner

Naked and ready for my true love; garlic

As this blog has made apparent, I am a baker at heart. I find savory ingredients can be enjoyed separately or together with the same pleasure, but baking is the majesty of combining a bunch of separate parts to make a whole, new dish. I do try to push myself to try new dinner/lunch recipes, and if they are easy and healthy, I know I’ve hit the jackpot.

As I’ve gloated about before, I actually do try to make Tasty recipes. I first adapted it in February and haven’t looked back. Honestly, I eat this meal at least twice a week. Everything about it fits my life. It’s simple, easy to prep and clean up, mega healthy and I constantly have all of the ingredients in my house. To make it even more straightforward, I use frozen broccoli (not thawed, just throw it straight on the pan) and M&M Meats boneless, skinless chicken breasts, which actually need to be cooked from frozen. This meal stores amazingly well in the fridge, so if I know I have a busy week coming up, I’ll make it on Sunday and grab it whenever. I’ve also just slightly increased the ingredients and thrown on an extra chicken breast to make 3 servings.

I love following recipes, but I am pretty relaxed about this one. I’ll forgo one clove of garlic if I’m getting low, I’ll throw on my paprika if I’m feeling spicy and olive oil is never measured out. You can’t mess it up!

Chicken Sheet Dinner 
Adapted slightly from Tasty 

Yields 2 servings

2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 sweet potato , diced
1 head or half bag of frozen broccoli (cut into florets)
4 cloves of garlic, minced
2 tablespoons oregano
1 tablespoon paprika
Salt and pepper to taste
2 tablespoons olive oil

Preheat over to 400F. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil.

Lay out the sweet potato, chicken breasts, and broccoli. Evenly distribute the garlic, oregano, paprika, salt, and pepper over the entire pan and drizzle with olive oil. Bake for 35-40 minutes (I usually go closer to 40 minutes). Enjoy! 

*For easy cleanup, just carefully throw away the aluminum foil.

 

 

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Travel Days: What I Ate Today

 

Everything packed up and ready to go on an adventure! 

To understand how I eat, it is important to know two things; I hate being hungry and I’ve got the #studentbudget problem. I am quite good at controlling these two aspects of my food personality while at home, but travelling can throw a wrench into these particulars of my diet. The summer months are a whirlwind of travelling back and forth, from home to home, home to fun, home to work. I’ll be taking three major flights over the summer months, and I am lucky to say that I’ve honed my airplane food skills over the years. Today I’m flying home (yay!) and other then some measly snacks on the plane, the flight doesn’t provide a full meal. Again, because of my #studentbudget, I am careful not to fall into the trap of expensive and generally nutrition low food at the airport.

I tend to bring A LOT of food while travelling, for a few reasons. One, is that I need variety or I will get bored. There is no way I will eat all of this food, and if I do, at least I’ve saved some money. The second is that I have a long day, and long days sometimes make me hungry and sometimes leave my bored. I might as well pack my own nutrition dense food to save me some money. Today’s food is a pretty typical menu for a travel day. Lots of sturdy fruits and veggies, because honestly, on vacation who takes the time to track down a salad. A main, a sweet treat and some non perishable snacks that can travel with me throughout the trip if uneaten to prevent future cases of hanger!

Never forgot to pack in cute storage containers (owls=tortilla chips, big whales=veggies, small whales= all mighty almonds) 

• Hearty Salad: Have you ever tried Sweet Kale Vegetable Salad (aka the 7 Superfood Salad?). I swear this thing can create world peace because everyone I’ve ever met who has tried it has loved it! Even me, the salad dressing hater. This salad is great because its hearty greens can stand up to a bumpy ride. Just remember to pack the salad dressing in your liquids and keep it under 3 ounces.
• Hummus and whole grain tortilla chips: I can never remember what is and is not a liquid, so I also pack my hummus in a 3-ounce container and toss it in my liquids Ziploc. Honestly, it just saves me any possible hassle.
• Carrots and peppers: Whenever I travel, the fruits and veggies I bring fall under the title of “what is left in my fridge.” That was today’s combination.
• Almonds: Because protein is important in preventing hanger, people.
• Dried mango: Don’t you keep a stash of 20 packages in your house? No? Moving on…
• Kashi bar: It scares me how much I love these bars. I know granola bars are pretty much a candy bar, and the worst, etc etc. However, I am not a calorie counter and I look for two things in my food; is is nutritional dense and does it taste good? Kashi fits my bill. No time for granola bar haters.
• An apple: Because I ate my delicious pear yesterday and had to settle for a boring apple 😦 Plus they are good for you and all that boring stuff.
• Also, an Oh Henry bar that I paid 24 CENTS for at the grocery store yesterday, to keep me calm in times of stress.

I don’t ever bring any drinks other then my empty water bottle to be filled up. The one thing airlines still offer is complimentary beverages and I will take whatever is free (Porter offers free wine and beer; sign me up!). Beverages are the only thing I will buy in an airport because I often take a morning flight and need a tea to wake up with once I’ve rolled on through security. I also like to save my Starbucks free rewards drink and order the most expensive beverage I can.