Rebecca Davis 1/5/17 Rebecca Davis 1/5/17

15-minute chicken

Ooof. This is the part of Whole 30 in which I just want to take a LOOOOOONG nap. I think my intense holiday cookies-for-breakfast habit is making this first week tougher than any of my other rounds. I haven't wanted to cheat...actually, I totally wanted a slice of pizza yesterday. Nevermind. So, I've wanted to cheat, but haven't because I have the vision of how great I'll feel in a few days dancing in my head.

What helps during these tired, saggy days at the beginning is having a few really fast recipes ready. We also bought a pressure cooker last year, which has been incredible during Whole 30 because we don't even have to "set it and forget it." We can literally forget it and then do it when we panic that there's nothing for dinner. Not that we ever do that.

15-minute chicken | Me & The Moose. This Whole 30-compliant chicken is made with an instant pot or other pressure cooker and is ready sooo fast. It’s full of garlic and tomatoes and is incredibly savory and rich, but is also clean and simple. #m…

This recipe is based on a classic from Gourmet that I found via Smitten Kitchen. We've made the original and it is stupidly easy and GLORIOUS. But it requires a few hours of cooking time and I lack the mental energy for that at the moment. Also, we OD'd on red meat at the end of the year, so we decided to try this with a whole chicken in the pressure cooker. You could definitely make this with bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs, breasts, or a combination of both, but I wouldn't do boneless, skinless anything because the fat from the skin and bones is what gives the sauce its richness. Also, 3-4 lbs of chicken may seem like a lot, but the chicken, like the meat in the original recipe, is slightly more delicious the next day. I do recommend straining the fat after cooking because there's quite a bit of it. Also, don't skimp on the garlic. You may balk at the idea of feeding a head of garlic to a toddler, but leaving the skin means that the cloves get all mellow and buttery without disintegrating in the sauce and making the whole thing taste overwhelmingly garlicky.

We served this with some smashed potatoes that we just chopped, placed in a bowl, covered with plastic wrap, and microwaved for 8 minutes until fork tender and then smashed with a few Tbsp of clarified butter and seasoned with salt and pepper.

We bought our chicken pre-cut at the grocery store, but you could get your butcher to cut a whole chicken for you or do it yourself at home.

Pressure cooked chicken with garlic and tomatoes

1 whole chicken, cut into 8 pieces, about 4 lbs
1 box/large can of San Marzano crushed tomatoes, about 28 oz
1 head of garlic
S/P

Season the chicken with salt and pepper and place in the pressure cooker, largest pieces on the bottom. Take apart the bulb of garlic and remove only the flaky outer skin that comes off easily, leaving on the layer of skin around each clove. Add the garlic to the pressure cooker and space out the cloves to avoid any clumps of garlic. Pour the tomatoes over the chicken and garlic and close the pressure cooker. Set to high pressure and poultry, or 15 minutes. Cook. Let the pressure release on its own once cooking is over.

To crisp the chicken skin slightly, place under the broiler for 2-3 minutes or until you’ve reached your desired crispness. The skin won’t get CRISPY since the chicken is already cooked, but it will firm up a bit. If you plan to remove the skin, skip this step and eat immediately.

Yield: 2 hearty meals for a family of 2 adults and a toddler, plus extra sauce to strain and use in other recipes, if desired.

Rebecca Davis 1/2/17 Rebecca Davis 1/2/17

Kale pesto

This easy pesto packs lots of veggies into a versatile green sauce that can jazz up any meal.

Take me to the pesto!

I love playing the game “Will it pesto?” It’s similar to two of my other favorite games, “Does it pizza?” and “Will it waffle?” I can safely say that kale is one of my favorite contestants in this game. I skipped the dairy in this recipe, but as always, feel free to go with your gut and add in 1/2 cup of grated Parmesan or other nutty, dry cheese.

Kale pesto

Time: 15 minutes, all active
Yield: About 1 1/2 cups

Adapted from The Kitchn
4 cups chopped kale, firmly packed
1/2 cup toasted walnuts
1/4 cup fresh basil, loosely packed
2 large garlic cloves
1 Tbsp lemon juice
1 tsp salt, plus more to taste
1/2 cup olive oil

Bring a medium pot of water to a boil and fill another large bowl about half way with ice water. Wash and chop kale, but don’t worry about removing the tough stems because everything will be blended anyway. When water is at a rolling boil, add the kale and swirl with a slotted spoon a few times. When kale is a bit wilted (about 1-2 minutes), remove it from the boiling water and immediately add it to the bowl of ice water.

Drain the kale. I don’t drain it very thoroughly (I just take it out of the water and shake it a few times) because I think a little extra water helps to thin the sauce without adding more oil, but you can pat the kale dry if you want a thicker pesto. Add to your blender or food processor.

Roast the walnuts in a 350 oven or toaster oven for about 5 minutes or until just lightly browned and starting to smell nutty. You can also toast them in a sauté pan on the stove top. When browned, add them to the blender or food processor as well.

Add the basil, garlic, salt, and lemon juice and start to blend, slowly adding the olive oil in a thin stream. If using a small food processor or a blender without a top that opens, just add the oil with the rest of the ingredients and process together. Blend until you've reached your desired consistency.

Rebecca Davis 12/20/16 Rebecca Davis 12/20/16

Spinach and artichoke spread

Throw some spinach, artichokes, garlic, and cheese in a blender and you have a versatile spread that you can eat all week.

Take me to the recipe!

Who has time to cook before Christmas? Between prepping Christmas and Hannukah dinners, cookie swaps, last-minute gifts, wrapping, school parties, work parties, and the million other things going on, dinner is probably low on the priority list. Another challenge is that, at least in our house, all of this holiday hoopla has thrown us off schedule, which makes feeding a toddler even more difficult. After all, an overstimulated and tired kid is a cranky, fussy mess.

So, this weekend I whipped up some spinach and artichoke spread and we've been eating it in a million different ways: As a dip with carrots and crackers, thinned out and made into a pasta sauce, and with bread and tomato as a grilled cheese. I reduced the amount of cream cheese and cheese in most spinach and artichoke dips and increased the amount of spinach. It's been really convenient having something so versatile at our disposal and the variety keeps it interesting for M. And did I mention that this is a no-cook recipe that comes together in the time it takes to blend the ingredients? VERY helpful when time is limited.

Spinach and artichoke spread

Time: 5 minutes
Yield: 2 cups dip

2 oz cream cheese
1 cup Parmesan or Romano
1 can of artichoke hearts (or a heaping cup, 9 hearts, 8.5 oz)
4 medium garlic cloves
2 cups raw baby spinach, packed very tightly
1/2 tsp kosher salt
pepper to taste (I like to use Aleppo pepper for little kick, but feel free to use black pepper)

Put everything (raw spinach and garlic included!) in the food processor and blend until smooth. Season with salt and pepper to taste.