Making life a little bit easier
While on an anti inflammatory diet there are very few conveniences you can use in the food department. I have some stand by frozen bone broth, at times I get pre-washed veggies, sometimes cut up veggies, SunButter, Rise Bars, otherwise all food is from scratch and somewhat time consuming. I have two boys in Little League. I don’t know how it works in other households but the schedule is crazy and the kids practices and games are right at dinnertime!
I believe one of the ways to stay on track and set yourself up for success is to make it easier and more accessible. Planning is a big part of this. If I have some time on the weekend or even during the week that I can look ahead and see where my schedule is tight at mealtime, I make sure I have things on hand that I can reheat instead of making from scratch.
Planning ahead
If I’m doing flank steak for dinner, I make two. It takes the same amount of time to make the marinade and grill it and once it’s cooled I pop one in the freezer. When I make chicken breasts I make at least a couple extra so I have some I can freeze. I do the same with chicken wings or drummettes, I make a couple extra packages so I will have some protein in the refrigerator or freezer at all times. Worst case scenario I can make a salad to accompany the protein.
Crock Pot Chicken
On a day of the week that I have a little extra time around lunch I make this slow cooker or crock pot recipe. Whole Roasted Chicken. It is great because it is convenient to make and then you have cooked chicken on hand during the week. This is a go to crock pot meal in my home. This is a base recipe, you can change the herbs or spices to add an Italian, Asian or Mexican flare. I like to use basic ingredients and then during the week I add the extra spices. Play with it, remember that no one is checking over your shoulder to make sure you’re following the recipe to the letter
I will have the recipes for the sides in this photo in an upcoming post!
Ingredients
- 4-5 pound organic chicken
- 2 TBL fat ( I use bacon fat or avocado oil but olive oil would work too)
- 1 TBL coarse sea salt
- 1 tsp black pepper
- 1 TBL fresh thyme ( 2 tsp of dried)
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp onion powder(optional)
- 1 lemon halved or quartered depending on the size of the lemon and chicken
- 1 clove of garlic up to an entire bulb of garlic halved
- plastic wrap(optional)
Instructions
- After removing any innards from the whole chicken, rinse and dry very well.
- I like to combine the fat or oil, salt, pepper, thyme, garlic and onion powders in a small bowl
- Next, smear the oil mixture over the entire chicken and if you have any leftover in the cavity as well. If you're brave you can gently lift the skin of the breast and get some of that mixture in there too.
- An alternative is to smear the chicken with the fat and sprinkle a mixture of the remaining mixture ingredients liberally over the chicken and in the cavity.
- Now it is time to stuff the garlic, lemon and sprigs of thyme in the cavity.
- At this point the chicken is ready to go into the crock pot OR you can wrap it in plastic wrap and put it in the refrigerator for 12-24 hrs. This helps the flavors tenderize and penetrate the chicken.
- When placing the chicken in the crock pot (make sure to remove plastic wrap, if used) you can cut up some veggies and put them in the crock pot first, then place the chicken on top. I usually ball up 2 or 3 balls of foil and put them in the bottom of the crock pot and place the chicken on top.
- Do not add any liquid.
- You will need to set your crock pot to low for 4 hrs for a 4-4.5 pound chicken, 4.5 hours for a 5 pound chicken.
- Please do not cook on high it will dry out the chicken.
- When the chicken is finished cooking, take the entire chicken out of the crock pot with tongs and after it's cool enough to handle start carving. I usually just separate breasts, drumsticks and wings, the rest I put in a separate container to be shredded or cubed later in the week.
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What are your go to paleo recipes that freeze well? Have you found that planning ahead and batch cooking has helped keep your diet on track? Let us know in the comments below.
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