As I write this I have been back at work less than a week. Two immediate challenges this brings to me are “what shoe will fit with this ankle air cast?” and the bit of pain from stuffing my foot into a shoe all day long! But let’s be real: there are worse things, much worse and many, that one could have to contend with so I count my blessings and am grateful to my God for my lot in life!

That said, when it comes to food and preparing dinner, I must think about and prepare in a more planful way. I no longer have the afternoon to bake bread or the morning to make a cake or get to forage around the pantry and fridge for ingredients throughout the day. This is when I will use my crock pot more frequently and do make ahead meals with leftovers. I am sure most of you have been there, done that!

I am still not walking up and down my basement steps so must ask Hubby to bring up meat from the freezer. He found three pieces of steak: made his day! So he may grill some steak this week and I might make a Beef Bourguignon. And we have some chicken. Chicken thighs are what I chose to marinate and then bake/roast for our supper.

This marinade is from Alton Brown. http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/alton-browns-molasses-and-coffee-pork-chops-recipe.html

I have always used this with chicken and have yet to try with pork chops. And because I am using chicken the marinade will need to be discarded and not used to make a nice sauce/gravy (put frown-y face here). I am proud of myself for saving a cup of coffee from the morning brew as well as thawing the chicken ahead of time so that it marinates in an unfrozen state of being. The ingredients are a slight adaptation of the original recipe. Here is what I use:

• 1 cup brewed coffee
• 3/4 cup molasses
• 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
• 1 tablespoon whole grain mustard
• 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

I put the chicken thighs in a bucket. This is a bucket leftover from when we used to buy large amounts of ice cream at the Sam’s Club store. (I also use a bucket like this for Artisan Bread dough that stores in the fridge.) Pour on the marinade and swirl the chicken around. I let this stay in fridge for 24 hours. I swirled it around several times, mostly at night before I went to bed, and then in the morning before I went to work. This then gets broiled for about 20 minutes in the oven.

Oops! I left it too close to the flame! If I turn them over maybe nobody will notice? Just peel back the skin. The chicken is full of flavor from the overnight marinading.

Serve this with frozen peas and carrots and leftover salad and we eat a real meal, on plates, at the table. Hubby put jazz on the stereo and we try to solve the world’s problems while eating our dinner.

Notes: I think I could make half the amount of marinade and put it with chicken in a crock pot and let it cook for the day. I could try that with pork chops as well. That way a gravy could be made with the liquid. That would be good with mashed potatoes or rice! Don’t forget the vegetable.