doesn't have to take all night especially if/when you step off the Four Basic Food Group stuff. There's no reason to have meat every night, even if you're not vegetarian. Rice (twenty minutes to cook) with steamed vegetables (seven minutes) is plenty nutritious enough. Save the meat for special occasions and then you won't O.D. on it. This nation as a whole is protein toxic.

But there are also a lot of things you can do with chicken (provided that it has been raised with respect and slaughtered in a humane fashion) that don't take very long.

Slap a chicken breast under the broiler with just some mustard on it. (I don't use yellow mustard for this but I guess you could.) It cooks quickly and cleanly, is relatively low in fat and tastes a lot better than it sounds. The mustard gives the chicken a more complex flavor.

Or just stir fry it with the vegetables and flavoring of your choice. My favorite is Tamari. Chopping vegetables doesn't take more than a minute or two.

I hear you on the cost of organic produce. But for me, especially _because_ I live alone and cook for one, the difference isn't that large and it's worth it to me.