Hot Pockets. Not Special, Home-Made Ones Either.

That's right, we actually had microwaveable hot pockets for dinner one night this week. See the menu on the right side of this page? The one that Julia so fervently updates each week? Well, it usually ends up being about 75% accurate. Maybe less. See, I'm a realist. No matter how much planning you do on your menu, there's always something that comes up to throw you off, and that was the story this week. Sometimes it's as simple as, "I know that last Saturday I wanted to make omelets for dinner on Wednesday, but I don't want an omelet now." Well shoot, don't force it! Eat something that actually sounds good to you, yeesh!

Grilled chicken thighs were planned for Tuesday. I got home from work and Julia and I tag-teamed everything that needed to get done- feed, bathe and get Greta in bed, laundry, mop the kitchen floor (Greta thinks it's hilarious to throw bananas on the floor- love the phase she's in), and watch Glee. About halfway through our to-dos, we remembered that we hadn't taken out the chicken to thaw. Yikes. We took the chicken out and started the speedy thaw process, which, contrary to popular belief, does NOT involve a microwave. The unfortunate thing is, we didn't start this process until about 8:30 at night. Even with our expedited procedure we were looking at a 9:30 dinner time, and that cuts into my "do nothing" time way too much. So, we postponed the chicken to Wednesday, nuked a couple hot pockets, threw together a salad and satisfied our hunger. Sometimes, you just gotta keep it simple.

As ghetto as hot pockets are, postponing our chicken dinner one night ended up not being a bad thing. Sure, I had digestive issues the following day thanks to that jalapeno steak and cheese filled little number, but Wednesday more than made up for it. While I was waiting for our hot pockets to cook, I put the chicken in a zip top bag with a little oil and a lot of seasoning to wait until the following night. I think that one of my top 3 favorite seasonings for bone-in, skin on chicken is curry powder. Yeah, the cheap stuff you get from the grocery store. Something to know, curry powder is pretty much useless for curry. Basically, some British folks went on a trip to India, returned home to their bland food and concocted curry powder in an attempt to mimic the Indian flavors. Unsuccessfully, in my opinion, but they did however create a great chicken rub. So that's what I used; curry powder, a little extra garlic powder (most curry powders already have garlic powder in them) and some kosher salt.

Chicken after marinating for a day

Because we postponed the dinner, that allowed the meat to finish thawing in the fridge, soaking in the flavors of the spices- and let me tell you, it turned out awesome.

onion, mushrooms, jalepeno (seeds and ribs removed) yellow squash and red pepper

Again, we're still trying to eat healthier, so we just paired it with some vegetables.

Sautéed these veggies in our wok with a little salt and pepper, and some of the oil from the chicken- loads of flavor.

never use a metal utensil in a non-stick pan, fyi

That was it. That's definitely a meal anyone can get down on, because it's so quick and easy. Even if you don't let the chicken soak in seasoning for 24 hours, you'd be surprised at how quick the curry powder will get into the meat and really bring the food to life. If you're really watching your weight, just toss the skin AFTER the chicken is cooked (skin helps it stay juicy). Either way, you can feel good about a meal like this and you won't feel like you're missing out on anything.

el fin

What do you use to season your chicken? There are a lot of great options out there and I'm always looking for some new ideas. Let us know, so I can give it a try.

Enjoy.

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Psst.  Congrats to twocuff for winning Miss Kajsa Virka in our giveaway.  If you aren't twocuff, don't fret--we have plenty more pretty giveaway items to hand out in the future.