An Easy (and healthy!) Meal: Chicken Leg Quarters
I have the worst stomach known to man. I’m sensitive to everything, and eating out it is more of a pain in the butt than it is a fun time.
It should come as no surprise then, that I eat at home far more frequently than I eat out. I know what my stomach can handle, and it’s easier (read: less painful) to just cook at home.
But the problem is I’m lazy. I enjoy cooking once I get started (and I always enjoy the results of the cooking!), but actually getting myself into the kitchen and chopping vegetables…
Ugh.
Let’s just say that more often than not, 7:30 rolls around and I’m STARVING. The last thing I want to do is have to think hard about what I’ll be eating or stressing over preparation.
The same goes for lunch. I’ll be deep in the writing zone until 12:30-ish, when aha! Suddenly my stomach is gurgling and I MUSTEATRIGHTNOWORDIE. If I don’t have leftovers ready to pop into the microwave, than I’ll pretty much starve until dinner time.
Enter stage left: the chicken leg quarter.
These are SO easy to prepare, and the results are sooooo delicious.
While the leg quarters are not necessarily fast (they take between 45 minutes to 1 hour to cook), they are so EASY that it kinda negates the misery of waiting. I just play some Dragon Age Inquisition while these suckers bake. 😉
[yumprint-recipe id=’1′]
As for what to eat alongside your chicken, there are tons of options! My husband likes to make rice or egg noodles to mix around in the delicious chicken juices at the end. Since I can’t really eat grains, I like to make an easy vegetable (steamed broccoli, for example, or cauliflower) and mix it with the chicken juices.
Or, if you have a bit more time to prep, you could always bake vegetables with the chicken leg quarters! Carrots, onions, parsnips, potatoes–chop ’em up, add ’em to the baking dish, and cook with the legs for a delicious, super healthy meal.
You tell me: Do you have an easy, go-to weekday meal?
March 16, 2015 @ 3:54 pm
These chicken legs sound yummy. My favourite easy, go to weekday meal is bacon pieces fried off, then add some chopped mushrooms and courgette. Once softened add to pasta and serve with a large dollop of sour cream 🙂
March 16, 2015 @ 4:30 pm
Ooooh–anything with bacon is AMAZING. Alas I can’t eat sour cream or pasta, but I bet I could make this work with just the bacon and veggies. 😉
Man, now I’m hungry!
March 16, 2015 @ 5:07 pm
I love seeing this new side of your blog, Susan! I’m eating Gluten Free/Low Carb too, so I love finding another person, (especially an author role model like you!) who eats the same way. Keep these fun posts coming! I love discovering more about you!
March 16, 2015 @ 5:41 pm
Oh wow!! What a sweet comment, Laura!! 😀
And yay for a fellow gluten-free eater!!!
March 16, 2015 @ 5:37 pm
Ooh this sounds so delicious! I’d love if you posted more healthy dishes you enjoy in the future!
March 16, 2015 @ 5:41 pm
Thanks, Jordan!! I definitely plan to share more! 😀
March 16, 2015 @ 5:42 pm
Perfect! I have Ulcerative Colitis and I’m lazy so I know the feeling. I end up eating toast sometimes just because I don’t feel like cooking.
March 16, 2015 @ 5:52 pm
I so, so understand. Haha. We always keep some easy, quick options in our house for the nights when I forget to put the chicken in the oven or…to thaw it (this happens all the time).
March 16, 2015 @ 7:28 pm
Oh I have a ton of primal blueprint recipes on pinterest. If you are paleo, just substitute for the dairy and you’re good to go. https://www.pinterest.com/moonjunio/ I especially recommend getting a slow cooker! My life saver during NaNoWriMo! You might also like roasting a whole chicken at 500 degrees for one hour, paired with steamed artichokes in a rice cooker. Very minimal kitchen effort.
March 16, 2015 @ 7:36 pm
SWEET!!! This is AWESOME! Thanks for sharing–I’m a huge slow cooker fan, so this is perfect. 😀
March 17, 2015 @ 10:19 pm
This sounds delicious and way too easy! I’m not the biggest fan of leg meat but I’m sure something similar, maybe with more basting, could be whipped up with the breasts.
And I would totally go for some sort of delicious broccoli, garlic, chilli stir-fried concoction as a side.
March 18, 2015 @ 5:01 pm
Mmmm, stir fry. Mmmm.
Yeah, you’ll definitely want to baste since you won’t have the bone to keep it moist. UNLESS you can get a bone-in, skin-on breast (which are delicioussss). 😉
March 21, 2015 @ 8:36 pm
This is not to say I don’t like the other things you post about in your blog (quite the contrary), but this is a great topic. You should post more of these!
I’m in a similar position where I can’t just eat what I want, but when I get lazy I get lazy. I usually see turning on the oven as a last resort, lol.
My usual go-to easy recipe (that doesn’t involve the microwave) involves taking some deli ham, onions and a boneless chicken patty. Frying it all up. Once done, I layer the ham onto the chicken and melt swiss cheese on top of it. Then I heat up some marinara to spread onto it and serve with mushrooms. It’s like a budget italian-ish version of chicken cordon bleu, I guess.
March 23, 2015 @ 10:08 pm
Oh cool!! Thanks for sharing your budget, Italian-ish chicken cordon bleu! 😉 I’m so glad you like this post–and I’m definitely planning on sharing more.
Lazy cook is lazy, after all. 😉
June 22, 2015 @ 9:16 pm
My easy go-to weekday meal is… (microwaved) sweet potato with
chicken/turkey, salsa and (Greek) yoghurt – super easy and absolutely
delicious!
I just get a big sweet potato, poke it a few times
with a fork and pop it into the microwave until ready. Cut it open,
scoop out the potato (or just leave it) and add the salsa,
chicken/turkey/gammon, whatever you want, with (Greek) yoghurt on top of
all of this. Et voila. Quick, easy, and super healthy. Nice with
cucumber (especially with the yoghurt!)
Not sure what you’re
senstive too (I’m guessing you eat gluten-free, based on the posts
below?) but if salsa is too much for your stomach, maybe you can try
peppers? Won’t have the same ‘kick’ to it, but I bet it’s still nice!