by Sam Tackeff | Mar 23, 2014 | chicken, Meal Planning
Before I get to my meal plan, I have to share with you the best dinner that I made last week – the one that hit the spot in every which way. It ended up feeling a little bit Mediterranean, and a little bit Scandinavian, light and fresh and springy.
Balsamic chicken and potatoes with cucumber, avocado and dill salad. For this one I preheated the oven to 450 Fahrenheit, grabbed some chicken thighs, and seasoned them with salt, and a generous sprinkle of Italian seasoning (from the bulk Frontier spices). I made a dressing that was one part balsamic vinegar, and two parts olive oil – about 1/3 of a cup for about a pound and a half of chicken thighs – and coated the chicken in the dressing in a bowl. I set that aside while steaming some halved new potatoes in the microwave for 10 minutes, then layered my 12 inch skillet with the potatoes and chicken, gave everything a good mix with my hands, and then nestled the chicken thighs on top of the potatoes, baking for about 15 minutes, flipping the chicken, and cooking 15 minutes more. Once the chicken was cooked, I took it out of the oven, and let the potatoes cook for another 15 minutes until golden and a little puffy. Once they were done, I made a very quick salad – just a chopped cucumber, avocado, handful of fresh dill, olive oil, and a little salt. It was one of the first meals that I’ve eaten in my kitchen while sunlight was still in the sky! Welcome spring!
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For the past few days I’ve been in Washington D.C. on a little vacation, although tragically I came down with a pretty awful stomach virus (or food poisoning, can’t be sure), and haven’t been very interested in any food. But, I knew that I’d be feeling better soon, so I decided to outsource my meal planning to the lovely Jess of Cook Smarts, and try out the service! (Yep, that’s an affiliate link – I get a small cut if you buy a plan yourself, but I purchased the plan with my own hard earned moolah!) Cook Smarts has a four day meal plan that is released each week (and access to the archives if you subscribe – plans are currently $6-8 a *month* depending on if you buy monthly or yearly), and after looking through the sample meals, I decided to bite and try things out. The meals are all quite adaptable, with substitutions for paleo, gluten-free, and vegetarian, and I’ve made my own little tweaks with vegetables that we prefer at home.
Week of Sunday, March 23rd
Sunday: Eggs, a tiny bit of cheese, and scoop of raw sauerkraut. I’m still trying to get back to a happy tummy, so I’ve been chowing down on sauerkraut, and other gut-building foods for the past day. I do well with full fat dairy, so I added a little bit of special cheese to make myself feel better.
Monday: Cook Smarts Meal #1. fish sandwich with kale chips. For me this will be fish salad with greens, and with a homemade tartar sauce.
Tuesday: Cook Smarts Meal #2. classic tacos with iceberg lettuce and avocado salad. Another slight modification as taco salad, and I’m guessing that we’ll both be enjoying this one! I’m not sure if I’m going to do iceberg or romaine.
Wednesday: Cook Smarts Meal #3. skillet chicken with chard and salsa over roasted potatoes. Chicken and potatoes never let me down, and I always gravitate towards these simply homey recipes in cookbooks when I see them. Sometimes it’s the meals with the least ingredients that can really shine. (I’ll report back.)
Thursday: Cook Smarts Meal #4 breakfast burritos with spinach and tomato salad. This will be a breakfast omelet for me – but I like that it uses some of the leftover potatoes from the previous night’s meal to put together something quickly! Economy and leftovers are key in my kitchen!
What’s on your table this week?
–– Sam
by Sam Tackeff | Oct 8, 2013 | chicken, Meat
When I attempt to produce any sort of creative work, there’s often a lot of “what I should have produced” that holds me back from sharing the actual thing that I did produce. No clear picture of a dish? Well, then scrap the entire post. And then I have to remind myself that Nigel Slater writes these great little essays about food for the Observer, and rarely do I ever need to see a picture…to get the picture. No, I’m not comparing myself to Nigel here. Just giving myself a little pep talk. So here’s dinner, from a few days back.
Trader Joe’s has these boneless skinless organic free range chicken thighs, and they are my kitchen salvation, despite their only flaw – a lack of delicious chicken skin. While not the whole chickens from the farm that I’d get in San Francisco (sigh…), these chicken thighs are my favorite quick chicken option – because they have taste, they cook quickly, and they are forgiving if you forget them on the heat a little too long. Also, admittedly I do not love having to cut off the head and feet of my chickens before eating them, sorry. Also, while I very much enjoy roasting whole chickens, I do not enjoy eating whole chickens, mostly because I think that white meat is a waste of time. It’s all about the thighs, guys. All about the thighs. Because everyone seems to need another recipe for chicken in the rotation, here’s what I did this week.
This is more of a method that I use, and I’m not sure that it’s the best method, but it’s quick and easy. Basically, it’s taking a fat of some sort, browning the chicken on one side for a few minutes, then popping the lid on the pan to steam it a little bit. Then you flip them in the fat, cook a little more, add some vegetables, cover the lid, steam those, take the lid off, cook a few minutes more and by the end you get sort of crispy chicken that’s caramelized, and soft vegetables. I do this most often with pancetta, chicken and greens. But you don’t have pancetta, you could use bacon, or even salami. And you could choose whatever vegetable you’d like, providing it doesn’t take too long to cook. (Or you could pre-steam it.)
In my large All-Clad skillet, I tossed in 4 ounces of cubed Citerrio pancetta (the small container they sell at Trader Joe’s), and turned the heat to medium to cook it slowly and let the fat start rendering out, about 5 minutes. Then, I seasoned my raw chicken thighs (about 1.5 lbs.) with salt, pepper, and garlic powder (yep, the powder…), pushed the pancetta cubes to one side and put the chicken in the melted fat in the center of the skillet. I then added a few springs of fresh thyme, turned the heat to medium high, and covered the lid for five minutes. The bottom of the chicken seared to golden while the top part steamed, and then I flipped the chicken, making sure to let the oil from the pancetta coat the surface of the pan before laying the chicken down. I cooked another five minutes, added an entire 12 ounces of shredded brussels sprouts, and covered the lid again, until the sprouts were tender, about four minutes – I tossed everything together, and that was dinner. (If you eat cheese, you can add a little of that in at the end too – a bit of brie, or gorgonzola, or if you are on a Trader Joe’s binge, a few laughing cow garlic herb wedges – they have those too.)
by Sam Tackeff | Nov 7, 2012 | bento, Lunch
Since I’ve been working mostly from home over the past several months, I haven’t had any reason to pack a lunch, so I was thrilled to pack my very first bento today for Startup School. Although the offices downtown are conveniently located in proximity to lots of good food options, I’m going to still make it a point to bring lunch as often as possible.
On the left is sliced chicken thighs, and on the right, roasted delicata squash and parsnips. And an apple for snack. I suppose I’m missing something green, but this hit the spot.
by Sam Tackeff | Nov 4, 2012 | Challenge
Seven weeks. It’s been seven weeks since I started the gym challenge, and today was the day I headed back in for the re-test of our power benchmark. I can’t express how proud I feel at how much I’ve progressed in nearly two months. But it’s significant. It feels really good. I was excited to get back in the gym today even though I’m still feeling a little sick and weak from this long cold. It’s good to be there, accomplishing things. If you had told me last year that I’d be doing handstand pushups, dead-lifting more than my body weight, or running races, I’d have laughed in your face. But here I am. And it feels great.
Strength: Back Squats –we’ve been working nearly every week on back squats. At the beginning of the challenge, I got to 95# for two lifts. Today, I hit a brand new max weight of #125. I attempted #135, but it was a little bit too much for this tired body of mine. That’s 30 pounds heavier than six weeks ago, not too shabby!
Benchmark WOD 1: “Fran”
21-15-9 reps for time:
Thrusters 95/65
Pull-ups
The prescribed weight for Fran for women is 65, but because I had to re-test with the same as six weeks ago, I loaded up to 45 pounds, and subbed jumps for pull ups. I eeked things out at the initial test in 9:40, and wanted to die. This time I improved my time by 10 seconds. Which… was a little disappointing. But 10 seconds is 10 seconds, and I’m looking forward to seeing how much I can improve in the next few months.
When I got home, Devon had picked me up a Barbacoa Bowl from Chipotle – meat, vegetables, pico de gallo, hot tomato salsa, lettuce and guacamole.
I then set to work doing a massive amount of cooking for the week.
I roasted parsnips in coconut oil with salt and pepper, I did the same to a delicata squash, sliced into rings. And while I was at it, I roasted a whole spaghetti squash. I also roasted a piece of lamb liver, but forgot to take a photo of it – a little too much juggling in the kitchen!
And then I made a big pot of Mel’s Chocolate Chili. The whole batch this time instead of being stupid like last time and making a half of a batch. Next time, I’ll double it.
Then, I took a dozen eggs and I baked ’em! I popped them in the oven at 325F for 30 minutes, sitting in one of my madeleine tins. You can place them right on the rack, but this makes it a lot easier!
When they were done, I put them in ice water for 10 minutes to cool, dried them off, and popped them back into their carton.
Then, I put together another braise – Maple Cider Vinegar Braised Beef.
I seared some beef shank meat in coconut oil, removed it from the pan, and then added onion, garlic, and shallot. I let it cook for a few minutes, de-glazed the pan with a quarter cup of maple syrup, a quarter cup of cider vinegar, and a cup of homemade beef stock. Nestled in a few bay leaves, and the shanks, covered the pot, and braised the meat for 2.5 hours, turning the beef every half hour or so.
After two and a half hours, the meat was tender and falling apart, and the liquid had reduced to a sticky sweet and sour sauce.
I took out the meat, reduced the sauce for another 15 minutes or so on the stove top, and put it away for a meal later in the week so the flavors would continue to meld.
Last but not least, dinner!
I pan fried some chicken thighs with salt and pepper in my cast iron, and made salads with avocado. Light and fresh! We devoured it in front of the TV watching old episodes of Dexter.
What are you cooking up this week?
