I was recently watching a television show and one of the characters said something that stuck with me. They said ‘it’s awful being a grownup. Life is a carousel and you can’t get off.’
I mean, that’s a bit dramatic (it is a TV drama after all) but it resonated with me.
Once you become an adult you have all these responsibilities and dreams to fulfill. Once you are a parent? It’s an endless cycle of breakfast, dinners, diapers, potty breaks, tantrums and breaking up fights. I’ve been thinking about it and I really think the ultimate goal in life is to be able to outsource all the crap you don’t like to do.
I dream of just one week where I don’t have to think about meal planning. About breakfast, lunch and dinner. Worrying if there is enough food in the fridge or if there’s something I’m missing. I just find it so tedious… especially with a less than receptive audience.
But that isn’t going to happen so I have to keep trying recipes and see if they are hit or miss.
This one was surprisingly a hit with both my 3 year old and 1 year old. And it was super easy.
It takes a long time to cook, but is pretty impressive when it comes out. It would be a nice weekend meal. If you have the time during the day to make it, it’s just long to cook but not long to prep.
The original recipe is here, but I changed it slightly. I only used one can of beans instead of two because, well, that’s a lot of beans. And I used mixed beans because that’s what I had. I skipped the yoghurt sauce and bread because I thought it was fine as is.
Other reasons this is good:
-lemony goodness
-easy
-uses a whole chicken which I find costs almost as much as two chicken breasts
-looks like way more work than it actually is
-one pot
- 2 lemons cut into quarters
- whole chicken
- 1 tbsp sweet paprika
- 3 tbsp olive oil
- 4 potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks
- 220g chorizo ring cut into chunks
- 1 cup wine
- 1 cup chicken stock
- pinch of saffron
- 400g can mixed beans
- small handful of parsley, roughly chopped
- Heat oven to 400F
- Insert 1 lemon that has been quartered into the chicken cavity.
- Place chicken in the middle of a big roasting tin
- Sprinkle with paprika and then drizzle with olive oil
- Toss in the potatoes and chorizo chunks around the chicken
- Cover with a tent of foil and roast for 30 minutes
- Remove foil from tin and baste the chicken with the juices.
- Add the rest of the lemon wedges to the potatoes and chorizo
- In the meantime combine the stock, wine and saffron.
- Pour the stock mixture into the tin and stir together with lemon wedges, potato and chorizo. Also throw in the drained and rinsed beans.
- Cook another 30 minutes.
- Once chicken is cooked through, sprinkle over the chopped parsley.
I’m curious – what would you guys outsource?
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ps Want more family friendly meals?
Michelle Little
Writer & Photographer
Can’t wait to try this Mich. I’ve been in meal planning hell as well. As for what I’d outsource…laundry!
I’d totally outsource cleaning up the highchair/underneath the highchair and dishes… so many dishes!