The Monday Night Dinner: Meat and three Veg

So often, after a busy weekend I will have a lot of catching up to do on a Monday. Cleaning up the messes we left behind during the weekend, making sure the laundry is done for the week, and  just general maintenance. In all of this, it becomes difficult to make a good, balanced meal in a jiffy. This recipe is so simple you will wonder why you hadn't thought of it before and perhaps make it a weekly special. It is my own version of a "set it and forget it" type of dinners. I hope you enjoy this as much as I do.

Ingredients:

• Bacon - 4 or 5 strips
• Chicken thighs - 5 or 6 pieces (preferred skinless for this recipe)
• Mushrooms - half a pound
• Carrots - 1 large or  2 medium sized
• Cauliflower - one large floret
• Broccoli - one large floret
• Salt and pepper to taste
• Dry thyme
• Cast iron skillet (deep dish) or an oven safe deep dish

Method:

• Pre-heat the oven to 375⁰F
• Dice the bacon to small pieces
• In the cast iron skillet or oven safe dish, line the bottom of the pan with the sliced bacon.
• Dice all the vegetables to roughly the same size. 
• Add the vegetables in layers to the pan, starting with mushrooms and finishing with broccoli. Adding salt and pepper to the veggies at this point will help with the cooking process. Also, add some thyme to the veggies layer.
• Layer the ckicken on top of the veggies. Sprinkle salt and pepper and drop twigs of thyme or just some dry leaves.
• Cover the cast iron skillet with aluminum foil and move it to the oven to cook. Total cook time will be between 45 minutes to an hour, depending on your oven. Let it cook for the first 20 minutes covered. After the first twenty  minutes of cook time, remove the foil  and let it cook in the oven for another 25 or  35 minutes. You can even stir the contents at this point and check the chicken to see if it is cooked.

I usually chow down on this as it is, you can serve it with bread, quinoa or grains of any kind you prefer. Happy Monday!