Another Friday, another chicken.

I'm trying to commit to something. As someone with multiple chronic and mental health issues, cooking is something I love to do but can't always do. Due to the effort and exhaustion, cooking isn't always an option for me. And most weekdays consist of cheats that make cooking a little easier. Jars of sauce, microwave vegetables etc etc. 

But to keep myself busy and as a goal, I'm trying to commit to making at least one meal from scratch as possible. And I mean from scratch. So instead of all my quick, adapted recipes that I usually go for - I've been trying to cook a proper homemade meal for James and I. Luckily this usually means leftovers for the next day so technically I'm making two meals from scratch... Right?

The past two Friday's have been roast chicken. I don't often cook or eat red meat, we are mainly a chicken or turkey household. This is for two main reasons: cost and Crohn's. Red meat is always more expensive and my Crohn's Disease is not the biggest fan of red meat. 

This Friday's roast chicken was a very beige but very delicious meal. Because I had chicken stock leftover from the previous weekend, I knew I wanted to use it in something for this meal. I decided to go for potato gratin. If you have the time and the energy, be my guest and slice your potatoes thinly by hand but if you're like me then a food processor is your best friend for this task. I would recommend soaking your sliced potatoes in water to release some of the starch.

I softened some onions and garlic in a pan and layered the potatoes and onion mixture in a baking dish. I seasoned each layer and once the dish was full, poured over the defrosted stock. I'm aware this isn't a recipe and I haven't included quantities which probably doesn't help anyone but this was all done by eye anyway and I don't actually have an exact recipe to give you. If it helps, the stock came halfway up the baking dish. 

As I mentioned in my previous post, I do the same thing with my roast chicken every time. Lay it on a bed of thickly sliced onions and smother it in butter. I had fresh rosemary and thyme this Friday so a teaspoon or so of chopped fresh herbs in the butter makes a huge difference. 

Okay so I do have one confession... When I said this would be a "from scratch" meal through and through, I may have told a tiny white lie.

We had pre-bought stuffing with it.

I know. Shocking.

(If it helps, it was Paxo garlic and thyme stuffing...)

As I made spring greens last week, I wanted to go for a different vegetable this week. One of James' favourite vegetables are parsnips but we rarely have them. I don't even know why we don't but we never do. I roasted some up with some sliced carrots, mixed vegetable oil and honey together and poured over the top and put into the oven with the rest of the food.

So despite being a 'one colour' dinner, it was delicious. 

James requested another chicken and leek pie with the leftovers so unfortunately I can't bore you with a Hannah-style recipe (i.e. no recipe at all).