Chicken + Collards + a 12 Week Old!

Here she is again, 'cause it's Wednesday!

 

 

June hit 12 week status today, and with that came more cute noises, a couple of glimpses of some giggles, rolling over - twice! from her belly to back, the ability to be in the stroller - awake and not crying (at least yesterday, and i’m hoping for good...fingers crossed!) and in general I feel like she’s coming out of this “4th trimester” ready to take on the world! Now for us begins the process of trying to get her to sleep on her own without the need to nurse or bounce her on the exercise ball to get her there. Sleep is such a divisive parenting issue! But it seems that no matter what your school of thought regarding babies and sleeping, everyone pretty much agrees that the important thing is for you to start putting them down when they’re drowsy instead of comatose from being on the boob. Easier said than done. Today was day one. I put her down in her crib when almost 2 hours had passed from her last sleep. And she cried. She wasn’t wailing, just sort of fussing, but I tried to let her stay there for 5 minutes - at which point she calmed down and I thought I had reached a surprising success. But then 10 minutes in she started fussing again and at 15, I picked her up, nursed her a little and then put her back down. Good news is, she did have her eyes open and cried for 1 second when I put her down before passing out, so maybe something was accomplished? We shall see. I don’t want to cause her too much distress, just want to see if she can get used to the idea of going to sleep on her own.

Yesterday was a really good day with her, especially because I was finally able to be out with her in the stroller when she wasn’t hysterical. She even let me shop at the drug store while she was awake! This may seem like a small feat, but it was a game changer for me. And for me, good days = good dinners. I feel like Mike and I are always trying to eat healthy, but now we are really trying. I mean I generally cook dinners that are nutritious, I’m probably just a little more heavy handed with the oil and/or carbs at times than one should be if one is trying to lose weight.

We bought some collard greens over the weekend, so last night I decided to cook this recipe I found from Marcus Samuelsson for chicken with collards. His recipe calls for thighs and we only had boneless breasts, so that’s what we used though thighs would have of course been better. I also pared it down since we only had 1 small bunch of collards and less than a pound of chicken, though I honestly could have eaten triple the amount of greens since I dug them so much. We split a sweet potato with it, which was the perfect accompaniment and since there was some extra broth in our bowls, it sopped it right up. Definitely recommend this for an easy and super healthy weeknight meal. And I definitely need to start buying collards more - they’re such a nice change of pace from the usual kale/chard/spinach we buy. So don’t be scared to switch it up with some collard greens!

Here is the recipe, courtesy of marcussamuelsson.com:

African Chicken and Collard Greens Recipe

Ingredients:

2 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp paprika

¾ tsp kosher sal

½ tsp cayenne

4 bone-in chicken thighs (about 2 pounds), skin removed and discarded

1 extra-large yellow onion, thinly sliced (about 4 cups slices)

2 large cloves garlic , minced

2 tbsp olive oil, divided

12 cups cleaned and chopped collard greens (about 3 large bunches or one 12-ounce bag)

½ - ¾ tsp red pepper flakes

1 ½ cups low-sodium chicken broth

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 325 F. Trim any fat from the chicken. Stir the garlic powder, paprika, salt, and cayenne together in a small bowl and rub into the chicken. Set aside.

2. Toss the onion slices and garlic together. Drizzle 1 tablespoon of the olive oil over the mixture and toss. Heat a dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add the onion mixture and cook until the onions begin to soften, 5-7 minutes, stirring constantly. Do not brown. Remove from the heat and remove the onions from the pan with a slotted spoon.

3. Gently rub the remaining tablespoon of oil into the chicken. Return the pot to the stove over medium heat. Lightly brown the chicken on all sides.

4. Mound the greens over the chicken. Sprinkle with the red pepper flakes and spread the onions over the greens. Pour the broth over the top and bring just to a simmer. Cover and transfer to the oven.

5. Bake for 45 minutes or until the chicken is tender. Serve immediately, spooning the juices over the top.

 

 

xx, Randie