Eating at home isn't complicated...is it?

Most people turn to fast food and ultra-processed food due to simplicity reasons or don't know what to cook. Moms are working and tired at the end of the day, and sometimes it's just easier to grab a pizza or stop at the drive-in window on the way home. Unfortunately, fast food and ultra-processed foods often include unhealthy levels of added sugar, sodium and fat, and all sorts of chemicals. Food manufacturers add these ingredients to make their food taste better and trick our brains into wanting more. These foods often lead to other serious health issues like obesity, heart disease, high blood pressure and diabetes.

If these foods lead to serious health issues, why do so many people turn a blind eye to them? From my experience, women are overwhelmed with working and the pressure of what to make for dinner.

So how can we get you from the drive-up window to your oven's window? Most women are looking for three qualities in weeknight dinners, quick, delicious and easy. And "easy" means both simple to make and to clean up. The solution? Sheet pan dinners! They only require only one sheet-pan to make, and there are thousands of recipes online.

One Pan Tarragon Chicken with Asparagus, Lemon & Leek

Ingredients

• Two lemons

• 1/ 4 cup olive oil

• 4–6 garlic cloves, finely minced ( or use a garlic press)

• Two teaspoons salt

• ½ teaspoon pepper

• fresh tarragon leaves, rough chopped, about ¼–⅓ cup or dry tarragon if you cannot find fresh

• One extra-large bunch of asparagus, trimmed ( about 1 1/2 pounds)

• 1–2 large leeks, sliced into ½ inch thick rounds ( if dirty, rinse, see below)

• 1– 1.5 lbs chicken breast ( boneless skinless)

Instructions Preheat oven to 450F

1. Preheat oven to 450F

2. In a small bowl, make the marinade.

3. Place the zest of one lemon and its juice ( about three tablespoons) in a small bowl. Add oil, garlic, salt and pepper, and mix well until salt dissolves. Add ½ of the fresh tarragon, saving the rest for garnish.

4. Place trimmed asparagus in a bowl and spoon some of the marinades over the top.

5. Toss to combine and place on a parchment-lined sheet pan.

6. Add leeks to the same bowl, toss with a little marinade and spread out on the sheet pan.

7. Lastly, add the chicken breasts with the remaining marinade, coating well. Nestle the chicken amongst the asparagus.

8. Zest the second lemon over the whole sheet-pan and slice the lemons into rounds, layering them over the asparagus.

9. Place in the hot oven. Bake 20 minutes. Chicken should read 165 F. To get a more golden colour, broil for just a couple of minutes. Remove from the oven. Give everything a little toss, turning chicken over to coat the top with the flavorful juices. Sprinkle with remaining fresh tarragon and serve.

Notes The marinade is enough for 1.5 lbs of chicken. You could also marinate the chicken ahead overnight if you like. You could also use skin-on bone-in thighs, but this will require a longer cooking time, and asparagus would need to come of the oven out earlier – so either place to one side or on a separate pan. Suppose the leeks are dirty when you slice them into rounds, not to worry. Just place the cut rounds into a bowl of water, gently swish and soak them for a few minutes. The dirt will fall to the bottom. Fish them out, pat dry. (They don’t need to be perfectly dry)

How to convert Fresh Herbs in a recipe to Dry Herbs: The general rule for dried “flaky” herbs like dried cilantro or dried tarragon is 3 to 1 or three fresh to one part dried. You can also look at this as 1 TABLESPOON FRESH HERBS = 1 TEASPOON DRIED HERBS

If you are working with dried ground herbs like ground ginger, which will be even more potent than the dried flaky herbs, the general ratio is 4 to 1 or four fresh to one part dried.

Take Away Message: - Sheet Pan recipes make eating at home simple, healthy and convenient.