Today was an April day. Warmish, but with rain that hit towards the end of the day, making all of the green things even more green.

This is a busy time of year for us at work and with the crud that’s going around I ended up staying home from work for two days last week. Not an ideal time to be out, but at least I wasn’t sharing my germs!

I spent two days sleeping and drinking my go-to cold remedy: hot water, honey, lemon juice and a dash of cinnamon (or ginger or turmeric, depending on my mood!). I finally feel like I’m on the mend and actually made it to yoga tonight (but man was I glad when it was over so I could grab a Kleenex!).

All this to say that once I was done with yoga and finally home, (with a few work projects yet to do) – I had no desire to make the chicken soup I’ve been planning and no desire to go to the grocery store.

Order in? Grocery store? Make something?

Days like this – I wish that I had a pantry that I stocked for occasions like this, but given our current kitchen situation, there isn’t a lot of room for a pantry situation.

Days like this you want to thank the self of how ever many grocery trips ago got extra chicken breasts (and froze them for future use!). When we were doing the Whole30, I learned a good method of cooking a chicken breast that is now my favorite.

It’s simple and makes good use of my cast iron pan. Perfect for two people!

Salt and pepper your chicken breasts
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees
Put two tablespoons of olive oil in the pan, get it nice and hot! You want to see that shimmer on the oil. Swirl it around and put your chicken in the pan with the rounded side down. Sear for 3-4 minutes and then flip – here’s the key thing – DO NOT attempt to turn if the chicken is still sticking to the pan. If it’s been properly seared – you should be able to turn it with no resistance.

Turn off the burner and put the pan in the oven – cooking for 10-15 minutes – until the internal temp of the chicken is 160 degrees. A good meat thermometer is a great tool to have and can be used for many things!

I normally don’t buy prepackaged, precut veggies, but this Power Blend called out my name last time I shopped. (Dear vegetable/fridge gods – thank you for keeping this fresh!) I heated some olive oil, added some minced garlic and sautéed these until they had a nice browning on them.

Add some of Udi’s Gluten Free dinner rolls that were in the freezer and VOILA! Dinner is served.

Now to enjoy the smell of the rain, the cool air coming in with a cup of hot tea and a cat. Perfect spring evening.