Cook Once, Eat for Days

It’s What I Ate Wednesday and for once I actually have an original recipe to share.

Well, it’s not my recipe – I got it from Josh’s sister-in-law, who got it from a Portuguese friend of hers. Not sure what it should be called ($10 for anyone who names it) but for now let’s just call it “big ass serving of chicken and rice.”

This kind of meal is great for when you’re too busy/lazy to cook dinner during the week. Josh and I prepared it on Sunday night and have been living off the leftovers since. Here’s what you’ll need to make it:

2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken thighs
750 g Italian rice
2 hot house tomatoes
1 bunch parsley
500 mL white cooking wine
1 tall can of Hunt’s tomato sauce
1 onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste
1 tsp garlic powder
2 cubes chicken boullion
Frank’s red hot sauce

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. In a large pot, heat oil over medium-high and sautee onions and garlic until soft

3. Add tomatoes and parsley

4. Pour in bottle of cooking wine and can of tomato sauce; fill about half of the empty can with water and add to pot

5. Mix in chicken boullion, salt and pepper, to taste, garlic powder and splashes of hot sauce

6. Add chicken thighs, reduce heat to medium and let simmer for 7 minutes

7. Meanwhile, layer rice at the bottom of a large greased basting pan (you’ll need one that has a lid). After seven minutes, pour a layer of sauce over the rice using a ladle. Place chicken thighs on top of rice and top with remaining sauce. Cover and bake for 45 minutes.

8. Add hot sauce, to taste (the more the better, as far as I’m concerned), and get out your tupperware! This is what was leftover after we ate dinner:

Makes 10 servings (390 calories per serving)

While I love this recipe, I don’t want to eat it at every single meal so I make sure to mix it up by alternating my leftovers with quick, easy meals. Using that strategy, here’s what I ate on Monday:

Breakfast

I got my morning started with a P28 bagel topped with almond butter and strawberries and a cup of green ginger tea.

Lunch

For lunch, I ate leftovers with a handful of spinach thrown in for good measure (gotta sneak in those extra veggies somewhere).

Pre-Workout

My pre-workout snack was Greek yogurt with blueberries and granola. The workout of the day was a BodyStep class at the gym near my work.

Dinner

For dinner, I didn’t feel like eating chicken and rice again so I whipped up an omelette and salad.

To make the salad, I mixed spinach, grape tomatoes, yellow pepper, avocado, couscous, olive oil and lemon juice – one of my favourite throw-it-together-in-minutes meals.  For dessert, I had a mini Crispy Crunch bar (from my Halloween candy stash).

Snack

VitaTops have been on sale for the past couple of weeks so, as you can imagine, I’ve been hoarding them like crazy. My bedtime snack was a VitaTop with raspberries.

So there you have it – as always, thanks to Jenn @ Peas and Crayons for hosting this little party! Have a fantastic Wednesday!

Have any recipes that could feed a small village? Share them!