By The legal pad is still on the refrigerator. Ten meals. Ingredient lists. Cost estimates. I walk past it six times a day and it watches me like a dare. I haven't done the actual batch prep yet — the four-hour Sunday marathon I planned — because every time I think about committing an entire Sunday morning to it, something intervenes. Last Sunday it was Noah's ear infection. The Sunday before, I was elbow-deep in peach syrup at Mom's. This Sunday I told myself I'd start at six AM and instead lay in bed until seven staring at the ceiling and listening to Brandon breathe and thinking about Grace, because sometimes grief doesn't knock. It just sits on your chest at dawn and waits for you to notice.
But I did something. Not the whole plan — not the ten meals, not the four-hour blitz — but something. Wednesday afternoon, while Noah napped and the other four watched a movie, I made a triple batch of taco soup. One pot for dinner, two gallon bags for the freezer. Ground beef, cans of corn and black beans and diced tomatoes, ranch and taco seasoning packets, water. The same recipe from two weeks ago, just multiplied. I labeled both bags with a Sharpie — TACO SOUP, 8/17/16, FEEDS 8 — and stacked them flat in the freezer, because flat bags stack better and the accountant in me cannot abide wasted freezer space.
That's four meals in the freezer now. The enchiladas from July, the pulled pork from Pioneer Day week, and two bags of taco soup. Four future dinners. Four evenings where I won't have to think. The not-thinking has become the currency I value most. Every meal in the freezer is a night I buy back from the part of my brain that is tired and sad and doesn't want to stand at the stove.
School starts in two weeks. Ethan's seventh-grade supply list arrived in the mail and it's longer than my grocery list, which is saying something. Olivia has already organized her fourth-grade supplies into labeled Ziploc bags, because she is nine years old and already more organized than most adults, and this should make me proud and instead it makes me want to sit her down and say: you don't have to be perfect. You can be messy. Please be messy. But I didn't say that, because I was her age once and nobody could have told me either.
Mason starts second grade. Lily starts first. Noah has one more year before preschool. Four kids in school. One at home. The math is changing. The house is about to get very quiet, and I don't know yet if that's a mercy or a threat.
The taco soup went into the freezer labeled and flat, and something shifted — not dramatically, but enough. That’s the thing about small wins: they remind you what’s possible. So while I still haven’t tackled the full ten-meal Sunday blitz on the legal pad, I’ve been eyeing this sheet pan salsa chicken as the next candidate, because it asks almost nothing of me and delivers a full dinner with barely a pot to wash. With four kids heading back to school in two weeks and a house about to go very quiet in ways I’m not sure I’m ready for, I need dinners that run themselves — and this one does exactly that.
Sheet Pan Salsa Chicken and Potatoes
Prep Time: 10 minutes | Cook Time: 35 minutes | Total Time: 45 minutes | Servings: 6
Ingredients
- 2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken thighs or breasts
- 1 1/2 lbs baby potatoes, halved
- 1 1/2 cups salsa (store-bought or homemade)
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- 1/2 teaspoon chili powder
- 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
- 1 cup shredded Mexican blend cheese (optional)
- Fresh cilantro and sour cream for serving (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat. Heat oven to 400°F. Line a large rimmed sheet pan with foil and lightly coat with nonstick spray.
- Season the potatoes. Toss the halved baby potatoes with olive oil, garlic powder, cumin, chili powder, paprika, salt, and pepper. Spread them in a single layer on the prepared sheet pan. Roast for 15 minutes.
- Add the chicken. Nestle the chicken pieces among the partially roasted potatoes. Spoon the salsa generously over the chicken and potatoes, covering as much surface as possible.
- Roast. Return the pan to the oven and roast for an additional 20—25 minutes, until the chicken is cooked through and registers 165°F on an instant-read thermometer and the potatoes are fork-tender.
- Add cheese (optional). If using cheese, scatter it over the pan during the last 3—4 minutes of cooking and let it melt.
- Serve. Serve straight from the pan, garnished with fresh cilantro and a dollop of sour cream if desired. Pairs well with warm tortillas, rice, or a simple green salad.
Nutrition (per serving)
Calories: 370 | Protein: 34g | Fat: 13g | Carbs: 28g | Fiber: 3g | Sodium: 620mg