I love spoilers. I rarely get to watch TV or movies these days, but I still comb the Internet for plot twists in current films and television shows—usually via my Twitter feed (sexy nanny replaces Lady Sybil!) or spoiler-packed websites. I still remember grinning smugly when the theater collectively gasped at the big reveal at the end of The Crying Game. (I love real-life spoilers, too. As soon as my unborn children’s privates were detectable via ultrasound, I had to see them. Okay, that sounds wrong, but you know what I mean.)
For my fellow spoiler-hounds who flipped to the end of every Encyclopedia Brown book before reading the mysteries, I fistbump you in solidarity. Let’s do the same with this post, and start with a picture of my dinner:
(Of course, if you follow me on Instagram, you already know what I ate, right?)
Now, let’s backtrack to the morning…
My ten-hour graveyard shift was a hectic one, and I didn’t get a chance to eat anything except for a small square of dark chocolate. A reader commented on my recent post about Surviving the Night Shift that I don’t appear to eat very much at work, and she’s right. I usually consume a big meal before heading to the hospital because on occasion, I’ll be too busy to eat my packed lunch. Luckily, since making the switch to Paleo a few year ago, I’m never truly famished. If I have to skip my lunch, I can just make up for it with a hearty meal at home.
When I got back to my kitchen, I reheated a couple of leftover slider burgers…
…fried two eggs…
…and ate ‘em with sliced avocado and a white nectarine.
Once I polished off my plate, my thoughts turned to dinner. (Yes, my mind revolves around meals.) After working six night shifts in a row, part of me wanted to skip food prep and go out to dinner when I woke up in the evening. But then I remembered: I just bought a brined organic chicken from Trader Joe’s the other day. I could make dinner in a flash.
My newly-formulated dinner plan was to roast off the chicken on top of a bed of root vegetables. It’s a simple and tasty recipe that involves no advance planning, other than heading to bed early to make sure I’d have enough time for sleep and cooking.
In the evening, I rolled out of bed and was greeted with cheery hellos from my boys. Then, it was kitchen time. I chopped up a bunch of leeks, carrots, mushrooms, and potatoes and tossed them with melted ghee, salt, and pepper. Next, I used a pair of kitchen shears to cut out the backbone and spatchcock the bird. I patted it dry, laid it on top of the vegetables, and brushed on some ghee.
Right as I popped the chicken in the oven, Henry arrived home from work—just in time to take over the camera duties.
For an extra dose of vegetables, I stuck a tray of ghee-tossed broccoli into my trusty countertop toaster oven. (The Double-Os’ favorite vegetable side dish is roasted broccoli. Exotic, I know.)
Once both the bird and broccoli were in the ovens, I plunked myself on the couch to watch an episode of Master Chef on Hulu Plus with the kiddos. (Spoiler alert: That “sweet Asian," Lynn Chyi, was robbed, I tell you.)
Dinner was ready when the episode was done.
Pro tip: the best time to take an Instagram photo is when the chicken is resting.
Then, I hacked up the purty birdie…
…and plated the root vegetables…
…and the roasted broccoli.
And because I already spoiled it, you know what my dinner looked like. But I’m going to put up a couple more photos of my plate anyway.
See? It doesn’t ruin the ending.
Time to conk out—but only ’til the boys come home from camp. Smell ya later.
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