Sometimes, I loathe cooking. There. I said it.
Yesterday morning, after finishing my fifth night shift in a row, I arrived home feeling tired and cranky. I wanted nothing more than to plant myself on the couch and surf the web for articles about IKEA’s horsemeat meatballs. (Horsemeat is so Paleo.) The last thing I want to do after a ten-hour shift is make dinner.
But you know what? Sharing a healthy, home-cooked meal with my family is a top priority for me, so I suck it up and get crankin’ in the kitchen. In shades, no less.*
And because I took that extra 15 minutes in the morning, dinner was a breeze to pull together in the evening. Wanna see what I did?
I grabbed two chickens from the fridge and spatchcocked them by removing the backbones with a pair of kitchen shears. Why two birds? Because it doesn’t take that much longer to cut out a second backbone, and this way I’ll have plenty of leftovers.
Then, I massaged Magic Mushroom Powder all over and under the skin…
…and stuck the birds skin-side up on a baking sheet in the fridge. After wiping down the counters, I staggered to my bedroom to conk out.
(Both the spatchcocked chicken and Magic Mushroom Powder recipes are on my iPad app. No iPad or iPad mini? Check out this recipe for directions on how to cook the bird.)
When I woke up in the evening, I shuffled back into the kitchen to cook dinner. As I waited for the oven to preheat, I brushed melted butter on the chicken skin and tossed some broccoli and carrots with macadamia nut oil, salt, and pepper on a separate baking sheet.
I popped both the chicken and the vegetable trays into the hot oven and set the timer for 45 minutes.
While I waited for the chicken and veggies to finish roasting, I peeled and cubed a few potatoes…
..and tossed them in the pressure cooker. (You can find the recipe for the taters here. And if you’re new to my site, note that although not all Paleo eaters are cool with white spuds, I’m fine with ‘em.)
After just five minutes of cooking under high pressure, the spuds were tender and I quickly transferred them to a cast iron skillet filled with sputtering duck fat.
By the time the potatoes were crispy, the chicken and vegetables were ready to take out of the oven.
I drizzled balsamic vinegar on the vegetables…
…plated up the potatoes…
…and hacked up one of the birds.
My favorite part of dinner?
The whole family enjoyed it – and I’ve still got another whole chicken ready to go for tomorrow’s dinner.
Some folks have written to tell me that they can’t find the time to cook, but if I can manage it after a long night of slinging drugs, I bet you can do it, too.
