Easy and Balanced Dinner

Part of the Danish culture is that everyone takes part in the family and household chores. Today marked my first night to make dinner for my host-family. It’s traditional here for each child (once they’re old enough) to make one meal a week – so Thursday’s dinner is mine.

Since I haven’t cooked a full meal in this kitchen yet, I wanted something simple. I also wanted to make something slightly new to them but not something that would be too difficult to make on my first time out. I know my host family likes pesto but they’d never had baked pesto chicken which is a staple for my family at home. I added some roasted potatoes since they’re simple and something my family seems to like and sautéed vegetables as an easy and yummy source of micronutrients.

Pesto Chicken: Start with thinly sliced chicken breast, spread the chicken out on an aluminum foil lined baking sheet and spread pesto out over each breast. If you have it adding some bread crumbs over the pesto adds a nice touch.  Then bake the chicken at 400F for 25-30 mins depending on breast thickness.

Veggies: I used pepper, onions and zucchini. Put it all in a pan with some olive oil, salt and pepper and sauté over the stove-top. One thing to note about these veggies is that they are so easy, so customizable and can pair well with any meal, I highly recommend keeping them on rotation in your kitchen. Also, they only take one pan and can keep as leftovers so are a great college meal. 

Potatoes: Same idea and the veggies (cut add olive oil, salt and pepper) and bake in the over. These went in the oven at 400F for 35 mins.

This was a super simple and easy meal that everyone enjoyed. In total it took about 30 mins of hands-on time (prep and cleaning). I’m already looking forward to my next turn as the household chef and brainstorming what I may make. Keep an eye out for more recipes soon!