Hazel Park, MI — A typical Sunday for me these days consists of cooking a big fancy meal at some point in the day, especially since my ability to cook dinners during the weekdays was taken away by my schedule shift to nightside for my job.
I used to cook my typical lavish array of meals for dinner quite frequently up until my shifts (and life) got rearranged at work. So, for now, I look forward to the weekends (like everybody) but perhaps with a bit more hunger in my eyes. A hunger and eagerness to enjoy the simple pleasures of cooking a meal. It’s the same hunger that fuels this blog!
This most recent Sunday, 4/23, happened to be one of those days, except I had the privilege of being joined by my friend MacKenzie for a cooking adventure! MacKenzie is the first friend outside of work I’ve made since moving back to Michigan from Phoenix. She’s all-around awesome and played an integral role in encouraging me to launch this website/blog.
MacKenzie and I are both into health and wellness, and we’re also passionate weightlifters, so I knew this meal would be nutrient heavy and protein-packed. We decided to tag team the meal: MacKenzie cooking up some chicken thighs seasoned in 5 different ways and a side of green beans, while I would make some roasted Brussels sprouts and baked carrots.
We kept the cooking process simple for easier cleanup and utilized my roomie Rob’s air fryer for most of the cooking. Needless to say, this meal turned out fantastic. With the full range of mine and Rob’s available seasonings, MacKenzie created some incredible, standout flavors for several of the chicken thighs, my favorites definitely being the chipotle blend and the lemon pepper ones. With my handy dandy meat thermometer (shout out to Dave/Chelsea for this wonderful Christmas gift!), we got the thighs out at the perfect temps, resulting in nearly melt-in-your-mouth moist chicken. When I eat chicken by itself, I usually incorporate some form of sauce (where are my ranch/honey mustard enthusiasts?!), but these thighs were seasoned and prepped so well they were standalone remarkable.
I quickly sliced and diced up the Brussels sprouts and carrots into tinier portions. While the chicken thighs were in the air fryer, I decided to utilize the oven for the sprouts. I drizzled some lite oil over them and seasoned them before throwing them in for 18 minutes at 400 degrees. After about ten minutes, I pulled them briefly out to toss in four thin slices of butter evenly spaced apart.
After a few minutes, the chicken thighs were ready to be taken out and sliced up. While MacKenzie worked on the thighs, I put my sliced carrots into the air fryer with lite oil and sprinkled some smokehouse maple and garden vegetable seasoning. Timing-wise, we had to wait about seven extra minutes just for the carrots before everything was ready for plating and delightful consumption. We enjoyed our meal with glasses of a Decoy Cabernet, which paired nicely with the chicken and veggie spread.
While the chicken was downright fire (or bussin as the youth say), the sprouts were seasoned well but could have used a few more minutes in the oven to soften up a bit more. The carrots were very tasty and came out great with the seasoning combo I used.
We had a fair bit of leftovers, and when it was all said and done, we realized we had forgotten to make the green beans!
It was a great and healthy meal, showcasing a passion for cooking and a wonderful friendship. Stay tuned for more foodie cooking adventures with friends because warmer/sunnier weather on the way means it’s almost time for my favorite season: grilling!
MI Foodie Adventures 