While I am all for complex meals, forays into foreign food and slow cooked wonders, some evenings just call for the basics. Like meat n three veg. Pretty much my staple diet growing up, and certainly nothing to sneer at. Rather, it can be quite endearing, and easy, when time is short and motivation for anything more complicated is lacking. We had one of those nights this week. I picked up some chicken breasts on the way home from work, with no idea what to cook with them. Add in a sick baby and a sick husband, and well the idea of creating anything too spectacular disappeared rather quickly! Instead, I opted to flatten the chicken breasts, and spread a good layer of basil pesto on top. (ps. I maintain that raw chicken is possibly one of the saddest sights I ever did see!) Then rolled up the chicken, and fastened them with toothpicks. I was working this particular afternoon, under the ever-watchful eye of the little Miss. Who, despite having a cold and infections in both ears, still found the inclination to empty my Tupperware cupboard while I worked in the kitchen. Later that evening, all I had to do was pop some veggies in the steamer, and bake the chicken for 35 minutes at 180C. The result? Moreish and moist chicken breasts, flavoured beautifully with the pesto addition. And a good amount of veggies on the side, to get some vitamins into this ailing household. A lovely little take on the ol meat n three veg! What about you? Are you a meat n three veg kinda family?