By St. Patrick's Day was Saturday and the tradition held: green pancakes for breakfast, green milk for Noah, the explanation of food coloring distribution that I have now given four consecutive years and which has not gotten any shorter because a new question always arrives. This year's question, from Noah age five: if the milk is green, does it taste different? I said no, the flavor is the same. He said: then why do you turn it green? I said: because it is St. Patrick's Day. He considered this for a moment and said: okay. Then he drank it. He has, in the past year, moved from skepticism to philosophical acceptance of the green milk, which is growth.
I have started a small running document on my laptop that I am tentatively calling Freezer Meal Mom, which is the name Brandon suggested and which I have been resisting for four months and which I have just decided to stop resisting because it is accurate and memorable and the accountant in me acknowledges that a name that is both accurate and memorable is strategically sound. The document has sections: the system overview, the master recipe list, a cost breakdown by recipe, and a section I started writing Thursday that is harder than the others: it is called Why I Started, and it is about Grace.
I have not written about Grace outside of therapy notes and my personal journal. Writing it for a document that other people might read is different. I wrote two paragraphs and then saved the document and closed it and made dinner. I opened it again Friday after the kids were in bed and wrote two more. It is not finished. I do not know what finished looks like yet. But the two paragraphs on Thursday and the two on Friday are more than I had last week, and progress does not require speed.
The spring batch prep this week: the first sheet pan of the season. Roasted chicken with lemon and rosemary on one pan, roasted vegetables on the other, everything portioned for the week. The sheet pan is the spiritual opposite of the slow cooker: fast, hot, direct. I had forgotten how much I like the smell of a hot oven with something good inside it.
The sheet pan was the right call for the first week of spring cooking, and I want to give you the chicken recipe that has become the anchor of that rotation. There is something about the hot oven after a winter of slow cookers — the directness of it, the smell — that resets something in me, and this island chicken, with its bright citrus marinade, is exactly what I want portioned into containers by Sunday night. It also requires almost no active time, which matters on a week when I am writing hard paragraphs and need dinner to handle itself.
Grilled Island Chicken
Prep Time: 15 min (plus 30 min marinade) | Cook Time: 20 min | Total Time: 1 hr 5 min | Servings: 6
Ingredients
- 2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken thighs (about 6 pieces)
- 1/3 cup pineapple juice
- 3 tablespoons soy sauce
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice (about 1 lime)
- 1 tablespoon brown sugar
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 teaspoon fresh ginger, grated
- 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
- 2 tablespoons fresh parsley or cilantro, chopped, for serving
- Lime wedges, for serving
Instructions
- Make the marinade. Whisk together pineapple juice, soy sauce, olive oil, lime juice, brown sugar, garlic, ginger, smoked paprika, and black pepper in a bowl or large zip-top bag until the sugar is dissolved.
- Marinate the chicken. Add the chicken thighs to the marinade, turning to coat. Seal and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes, or up to 8 hours. The longer it sits, the more the citrus comes through.
- Preheat. Heat your grill or grill pan to medium-high. If using the oven, preheat to 425°F and line a sheet pan with foil.
- Cook the chicken. Remove chicken from the marinade, letting any excess drip off. Grill 6–7 minutes per side until cooked through and nicely charred, or roast on the sheet pan for 20–22 minutes, flipping once halfway through. Internal temperature should reach 165°F.
- Rest and serve. Let the chicken rest 5 minutes before slicing. Scatter with fresh parsley or cilantro and serve with lime wedges. For batch prep, slice and portion into containers once cooled; refrigerates well for 4 days.
Nutrition (per serving)
Calories: 295 | Protein: 32g | Fat: 14g | Carbs: 7g | Fiber: 0g | Sodium: 520mg