Homecooked dinner for a working girl

I used to cook every day, almost every meal, when I was a student in France. Going out to eat was too expensive, and canteen food was too repetitive (even though it was convenient) and I got tired of it in the end. Now that I'm working, I don't have time to cook on weekdays any more...not "normal" meals anyway. But it gets a little boring eating out...especially when you're lazy like me and won't drive too far away to look for food.

So sometimes I intentionally cook more during the weekend so that I can have some leftovers. Then I can just reheat it after work. Or what I can do, sometimes, is a quick microwave meal...with a little advance planning.

A few days ago, I made "roast" chicken...if you can call something done in a microwave "roast".

(I planned it a little late, after buying my groceries, so I had already asked the seller to chop up the chicken for me :P And I only had one potato left.)

I used to convert oven recipes to the microwave because I didn't have an oven. Now I do have one, but for this after-work meal, I still used the microwave because it was quicker. (by the time I get home, it's already close to seven...and I don't like eating dinner too late)

Preparing this took up two days in total...though maybe only an hour (or less!) in actual work. I ate this on Tuesday night...and the preparation started on Monday morning.

Monday morning: Took chicken out of the freezer and into the chiller.
Monday night: Marinated chicken and put it back into the chiller.
Tuesday morning: Turned over chicken (not that necessary, actually)
Tuesday night: Took chicken out of the fridge first thing upon coming home; cut up potatoes and mixed it into the marinade. Went to take a shower, the time for the chicken to "thaw" a bit (do we call it thawing if it wasn't frozen, but just cold?). Popped the dish into the microwave for 5 minutes on medium (I added another 2 minutes later). Serve with pasta and/or salad (for me the simplest salad is sliced cucumber :P )

I wasn't too sure how long to put the chicken in the microwave, because I had never done this using this particular microwave. Otherwise I could have put it in before going to take a shower...

And I guess the total preparation time took longer because I don't go home at lunchtime...when I did this as a student I could prepare it in one day by thawing the chicken in the morning and marinating it when I went home at lunchtime. Nowadays I could take the chicken out from the freezer the previous night and marinate in the morning...but I wasn't so sure that I would have enough time in the morning :P

The thing about preparing things this way it that any last minute dinner plans would have to be turned down...because I can't leave my chicken another day! (which happened lots of times in France, actually :P )