If you’re ready for some adulting in the kitchen*, you have got to learn how to spatchcock (a.k.a. butterfly) a chicken.

This simple technique consists in opening the bird like a book, so that it lies flat in a roasting pan or on the grill.

In this configuration, the chicken cooks faster and more evenly — a double win — and it is much easier then to achieve the amazingly flavorful, perfectly roasted or grilled meat you are longing for.

A really fun recipe to put the technique in practice is this chicken “under a brick”, which I make often, but you can also simply marinate the chicken and roast it straight in the oven (see picture of the finished product below!).

But before you get to that, here’s a video I made with Anne to show you how to spatchcock a chicken — much simpler than it sounds:

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My most recent cookbook, The French Market Cookbook, is currently on sale in its digital version at the incredible price of $1.99 until October 30! (North American readers only; see note below.)

The French Market Cookbook is a recipe book that celebrates the love story between French cuisine and vegetables, and the many colorful and ingenious ways we cook with the seasons in France.

I have poured my heart, soul, and favorite recipes into it, and have done extensive research to bring to you little-known regional market-driven dishes, such as the poor man’s bouillabaisse, the winter squash bastelles from Corsica, and the pascadous, which will become your new favorite way to cook assorted greens.

The book first came out a couple of years ago, and I have been immensely gratified by the feedback I continue to receive daily from readers, on social media and offline.

All the recipes are vegetarian, many of them are vegan or veganizable, and I have also prepared an index of recipes containing possible allergens so you can assess if the book is for you; just email me and I will send this index (a spreadsheet of recipe names and associated allergens) to you at no cost.

So if you’re ready to enrich your digital library of cookbooks with a title that has no equivalent — French vegetarian is an underserved niche! — you will find The French Market Cookbook wherever e-books are sold to North American readers, such as the following platforms (remember the sale ends on October 30!):

• Amazon
• Barnes & Noble
• Books A Million
• Google Play Store
• iBooks

Note: This promotion is limited to US- and Canada-based readers as my publisher is American. I’d prefer to make it accessible to my international readers as well, but publication rights have strict limitations and it’s not up to me unfortunately. As someone who lives outside the US, I know it’s frustrating. I think the book is a great value at the regular listed price, too, but I may be biased. ;)

And while I’m at it, I wanted to share two other time-sensitive deals, accessible to all!

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I have been the proud owner of both a juicer and a blender for a while now. I’ve had a bit of a learning curve with both and I imagine I’m not alone, so let me pass along some of my best tips for juicing and smoothie-making.

If you want to report back on your own experience and share tips of your own, I would love for you to do so in the comments! I’ll be interested to compare notes with you, and other readers will benefit as well.

When is a good time to drink juices and smoothies?

My initial resistance in adopting juices and smoothies was this: I couldn’t quite see how they would fit into my daily eating habits. I wasn’t really looking to consume more food than I already was, and wasn’t too keen on trading any of my favorite eats (vegan lunch bowl, anyone?) for a tall glass of anything.

But! Those tall glasses quickly won me over and they are now most welcome, on three occasions in particular:

• Smoothies as a standalone breakfast, which I can sip on while getting ready for work, or sitting on the couch watching my kids punch each other — mostly in good fun — with my boxing gloves. (I took up boxing, people! It’s so fun! Have you tried it?) Because I add filling elements (see below), a 7am smoothie holds me over until lunchtime, even through pretty active mornings.
• Cold-pressed juices as a complement to my lunches. I love my weekday lunch bowls and they are typically vegetable-heavy, but some days it’s faster to make myself a quick sandwich, and round it out with a green juice.
• A smoothie or a juice is an amazing afternoon pick-me-up. It’s energizing and refreshing, and serves the double purpose of feeding and hydrating me.

I don’t, however, make it an obligatory or daily thing. Some weeks I crave them every single morning, other times I feel like eating other things instead. Or my schedule gets busier and I can’t get my act together to prepare them. It’s all good.

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{Scroll down to enter to win Well Fed Weeknights.}

There is no one-size-fits-all in nutrition. It isn’t a popular thing to say because we all prefer quick fixes and overnight transformations. But the truth is, health is highly individual, and self-experimentation and self-discovery are the only pursuits that will get you anywhere.

I myself have an inclination toward vegetarianism; I turn to plant-based foods by default. However, when I have leaned too far in that direction, I have noticed I don’t do well relying so heavily on grains and legumes. And when I dabbled at a paleo style of eating* I realized that it may, in fact, be closer to what my system needs to thrive. (This explains all the paleo-friendly recipes in my archives.)

I am, however, an omnivore by taste and by trade, and I strive to find a happy middle ground between what my brain tells me I want to eat, what my body tells me I need to eat, and what the world tells me is available to eat. Day by day, meal by meal, I follow my appetite and try to stay in tune with how I feel.

But the common theme woven throughout is my insistence on real food, and no one is more on board with that than Melissa Joulwan, whose paleo blog is based on that very premise.

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