Happy belated Memorial Day! My rare three-day weekend left me feeling wildly ambitious, so naturally I decided it was the perfect time to repaint our bedroom. We live in one of Columbus’s Southside Historic District’s antebellum homes, and anytime we start a project, it somehow stretches far beyond the amount of time we confidently swore it would take.

Would you laugh if I told you after three days of ceaseless work, I still haven’t even started painting yet?

I’m personally laughing – but not in a “haha, foolish girl” kind of way. More in an “I’m this close to old-house-DIY-induced mania” kind of way. Like they say, if you don’t laugh, you’ll cry.

I spent three days simply prepping the room and never once cracked open a paint can. Our old house has shifted and settled over its nearly 190 years of existence, and every homeowner before us has clearly worked tirelessly to keep up with the cracks, gaps and pulls. Now, apparently, it’s my turn to carry the torch.

I had gaps in old floorboards to fill, trim to caulk, windows to reglaze, 12-foot ceilings to dust and tons of peeled, cracked paint to sand away (no lead paint was found, thank goodness). And, in typical antebellum fashion, the room is huge and before you know it you’ve spent 3 hours shaping up one corner.

I’m not entirely sure why I believed any of this could be accomplished in a single weekend, though I will pat myself on the back for maintaining a sense of hopefulness and positivity throughout the ordeal. I’m sure it helps that I really (really) love this ancient, wonky house.

As you can imagine, food drifted by the wayside. At the risk of all of you judging me, I’ll be honest that I consumed three different frozen pizzas over the course of three days — yes, for both lunch and dinner. But by yesterday, the madness had to stop. My body demanded a vegetable.

So maybe you also spent your long weekend preparing your house to be painted. Maybe you had to work like my husband — park rangers rarely get warm, camping-centric holiday weekends off. Or maybe you had three glorious days off and now, like us, you’re staring down a short workweek and craving maximum flavor with minimal effort.

That’s how I found myself deep in the world of sheet-pan recipes searching for something easy but not boring when I stumbled across Maple Harissa Chicken with Butternut Squash. Perfect.

I skimmed the recipe and realized I already had most of the ingredients at home — minus the harissa.

I was absolutely, 1000% not about to go to Kroger, so I decided gochujang would have to do in place of the harissa. Harissa and gochujang are both iconic chili pastes, but they hail from different culinary traditions and feature completely distinct flavor profiles, textures and primary ingredients, so be warned this does shift the flavor of the dish — though we still found it delightful.

Recipe author Nargisse Benkabbou notes that the quality of the harissa matters here, so if you use it, look for one with a rich, complex flavor rather than overwhelming heat.

A quick freezer inventory revealed a bag of frozen butternut squash from Kroger’s Simple Truth brand — the only frozen butternut squash I can ever seem to find — plus a bag of mukimame, which is basically edamame’s slightly sweeter cousin. I also had some golden petite potatoes hanging around in the pantry waiting for their moment.

The recipe comes together easily. Chicken thighs are coated in a vibrant marinade made with harissa — or gochujang, in my case — maple syrup, garlic and warm spices, then roasted alongside butternut squash, potatoes and pops of mukimame until everything is caramelized and golden.

The balance of sweet, spicy and savory flavors makes this recipe deeply satisfying and endlessly adaptable. You could easily swap the butternut squash for sweet potatoes or carrots depending on what you have on hand — or hiding in your freezer. The marinade would also work beautifully with salmon fillets or slabs of firm tofu, though you’d want to shorten the cooking time.

We served ours over rice, though I think couscous and flatbread would also be excellent. Maybe next time — when I have the emotional bandwidth to make flatbread.

Until then, my frozen-pizza-filled body is rejoicing over this simple, easy, vegetable-packed meal.

MAPLE HARISSA CHICKEN WITH BUTTERNUT SQUASH, POTATOES AND MUKIMAME

Yield: 4 to 6 servings

Ingredients:
2 1/2 to 3 pounds bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs (about 7 chicken thighs)
Sea salt
2 Tbsp. harissa paste or Gochujang paste, to taste
2 Tbsp. maple syrup
2 Tbsp. olive oil
1 1/2 Tbsp. soy sauce
1 1/2 tsp. ground cumin
1 1/2 tsp. sweet paprika
3 garlic cloves, minced or pressed
1 10 oz. bag of frozen butternut squash (I used Kroger’s Simple Truth brand)
1 12 oz. bag of frozen mukimame (I used Kroger’s Simple Truth brand)
1.5 lbs bag of petite potatoes (I used Kroger’s Petite Gold Private Selection)
Chopped cilantro (optional), for garnish
Couscous, rice or flatbread, for serving

Directions:
■ Heat the oven to 400 degrees. Add the chicken thighs to the sheet pan and season them on both sides with ¾ teaspoon salt total.
■ Make the marinade: Combine the harissa (or gochujang), maple syrup, olive oil, soy sauce, cumin, paprika, garlic, ¾ teaspoon salt and 2 tablespoons water in a small bowl and stir to mix.
■ Add the frozen butternut squash and potatoes to the sheet pan with the chicken. Pour the marinade on top and use your hands to coat the chicken, squash and potatoes on all sides. Arrange the chicken, skin side up, and the squash and potatoes in a single layer. (Set the bowl aside.) Roast the mixture for 30 minutes, until the chicken starts to brown.
■ In the bowl containing the marinade, add the mukimame and toss to coat with the leftover marinade.
■ When the chicken has roasted for 30 minutes, remove the pan from the oven, scatter the mukimame on the pan and roast for 10 to 15 minutes more, until the chicken is cooked through and golden and the squash and potatoes are lightly charred.
■ Garnish with cilantro if desired, and serve immediately, with couscous, rice or flatbread.