Commentary

I won’t get into the differences between Organic, Free range, and Cage free chickens at this point. The bottom line is that chicken is a very good source of protein and has a low caloric impact. Choose what type you’re comfortable with.

For this meal, I picked up a small package of organic chicken thighs from Kroger. Why thighs? I like them because they’re generally smaller than chicken breasts and require less carving to get them into tight portions. PLUS, they’re considered dark meat and tend to have more flavor than their white meat counterparts. The vegetable for this round is the basic asparagus. These sell at Kroger for somewhere around $2.00/2.30. For the carbohydrate, I went with the basic petite red potato. Some people call them new potatoes, but that usually just means younger, smaller potatoes. Honestly, if you have a favorite potato, be it russet, golden yellow, petite fingerling, petite purple, you can use that instead. Once we get to the measurement phase of the meal, it really doesn’t matter which you chose as long as you’re eating a portion that you’ve determined fits your caloric needs.

I use my air fryer almost daily and if you don’t already have one, don’t get stuck on the word fryer. It’s really a small convection oven pushing high heat around a little area with a fan so things cook fast and hot. Adjust this preparation to fit your kitchen and equipment.

What’s in my kitchen

• Dash Air Fryer
• Goya Adobo Seasoning
• Tony Chachere’s Creole Seasoning

Recipe

• 1 pkg — chicken thighs (approx 6 thighs to be around 1.25 pounds)
• 0.5 sec spray — Canola cooking spray (or whichever cooking oil you have)
• 2 Tbsp — Goya Adobo Seasoning
• 2 Tbsp — Tony Chachere’s Creole Seasoning
• 1 bunch — thin asparagus spears
• 1/2 pkg — petite red potatoes, halved (about 12 potatoes)

——

1. Preheat oven to 450 degree Broil. Preheat air fryer to 400 degrees for 4 minutes.
2. get a baking sheet and lay a sheet of foil across it, then spray that foil with a little oil to keep potatoes from sticking to it
3. Trim about 2 inches off of asparagus spears, then spray lightly with oil before seasoning with Adobo Seasoning
4. Place asparagus on one side of baking sheet
5. Spray red potatoes with oil then season with Adobo Seasoning and toss to coat evenly
6. Place potatoes on the other side of baking sheet
7. Put baking sheet in oven on top rack for 13 minutes
8. Trim any excessive fat from chicken thighs (a little fat is fine — don’t trim all!), then dust each one with Tony Chachere’s — place in air fryer set to 8 minutes
9. Check chicken at end of 8 minutes and flip them in the fryer resetting it for another 6 minutes
10. Move baking sheet from top shelf to middle shelf in the oven
11. When the chicken is done (air fryer timer alerts), turn off air fryer and pull the baking sheet out of the oven
12. Pull out your kitchen scale and plate according to (zeroing out between each item):
    1. 3 ounces of potatoes
    2. 13 spears of asparagus
    3. 6 ounces of chicken

You can portion however you need to, but the above will give you about 450 calories, 24g carbs, 42g protein, 7g fat, and loads of sodium. If you’re avoiding sodium, swap out the seasonings for something you find tasty that is lower in sodium.