Honey Lemon Chicken

It’s Monday morning again – the sure-fire way to ruin a weekend. How was your weekend? Mine wasn’t so great.

Although it did involve a fancy dress birthday party, shopping and a dinner party, it also involved two baking disasters, a handful of arguments and a broken toe (ouch!).

I over-baked some shortbread thumbprint cookies so instead of being soft, delicious clouds of butter, they’d taken on that weird, hard, candy-like taste you get when you cook cookies for too long. I also followed a recipe for 100-calorie crescent rolls – the recipe used avocado instead of butter – but instead of fluffy, flaky pastry puffs, I had rock-solid door stops.

My Official Treat Taster gave up smoking 6 weeks ago. Well, he swapped regular smoking for smoking an electronic cigarette – which he lost on the taxi ride home on Friday. I had to persuade him to buy some nicotine gum instead of cigarettes. I spent the whole weekend wishing I didn’t care about his health as much as I do. His cigarette cravings are even stronger than my chocolate cravings.

And to top it all off, I accidentally kicked the door frame on Friday evening, leaving with a ridiculously painful, swollen and bruised toe. The pain I can deal with, it’s the length of time it takes me to get anywhere that’s really winding me up. I can’t even get sympathy because My Official Treat Taster is too busy tracking his electronic cigarette package online every two seconds.

Is that enough complaining? It feels like enough complaining. One thing I could have done with this weekend was this chicken. It’s so so easy to throw together and tastes fabulous. Go ahead – try it!

Honey Lemon Chicken

Ingredients

2 chicken thighs

1 tablespoon olive oil

4 tablespoons honey

2 tablespoons whole grain mustard

juice of 2 lemons

zest of 1 lemon

½ teaspoon garlic powder

½ teaspoon onion powder

Pinch salt & pepper

Pinch of cayenne

1 tablespoon corn flour

Recipe

1. Preheat the oven to 400°F. Dry the chicken thighs and lightly score the skin with a knife.

2. Whisk together all of the other ingredients. Using a pastry brush, brush half of the mixture onto the chicken and place in the oven to cook.

3. Remove the chicken after 15 minutes and brush half of the remaining honey and lemon sauce on top. Place back in the oven to cook for another 15 minutes then brush with the remaining sauce.

4. Cook for a final 15 minutes or until the skin is crispy and the chicken is cooked through.

Umm… Happy Monday?

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Sweet & Sour Chicken Enchiladas

Just roll with me on this one. It doesn't take much to figure out what was going through my head when I created this dish. I was craving Mexican food – specifically something wrapped in a tortilla and covered in sauce and bubbling cheese – but I wasn't in the mood for Mexican flavors.

What I was in the mood for was Chinese food – specifically juicy chicken coated in a thick sweet and sour sauce. Once I got the idea of Sweet & Sour Chicken Enchiladas in my head I couldn’t even tempt myself into eating anything else. When I was preparing this meal, My Official Treat Taster kept asking what was for dinner and I was reluctant to tell him, sure it would put him off. He seemed sufficiently satisfied with my reply of chicken, cheese and ketchup, which isn’t really that far off.

The result was fantastic! I can’t remember where I heard this phrase mentioned – possibly a blog – but I’ve got the warning to “Never try and combine dishes from countries that are far apart” in my head. And to whoever possibly wrote that possible blog post I possibly read I say: get in the kitchen and whip these up for I have proved you wrong!

Sweet & Sour Chicken Enchiladas

Ingredients

4 tortillas

1 cup shredded chicken

¼ cup sweet corn

½ onion, diced

diced green onions

1/3 cup cheese, grated

1/3 cup sugar

2 tablespoons ketchup

¼ cup vinegar

½ tablespoon soy sauce

Recipe

1. Preheat the oven to 360°F/190°C and combine the sugar, ketchup, vinegar and soy sauce in a pan over a medium heat. Stir regularly until the sugar has completely dissolved then remove from the heat. You’ve just made sweet and sour sauce!

2. In a bowl, mix together the shredded chicken, sweet corn, onion and half of the sweet and sour sauce until the chicken is well coated. Divide the chicken and vegetable mix equally between the tortillas then roll them up and arrange them side by side on a baking tray.

3. Pour the remaining sweet and sour sauce over the enchiladas, ensuring they’re all equally covered. If it helps, use a pastry brush during this stage.

4. Sprinkle on the cheese and bake for around 20-30 minutes or until the enchiladas are fully warmed through and the cheese is bubbling. Top with the diced green onions before serving.

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Shredded Moroccan Chicken

Happy Friday! We made it through the week, guys! I can see the weekend on the horizon getting closer and closer with every word I type. Sometimes I love spending hours in the kitchen cooking lavish meals on the weekend, but sometimes I just want something that’s easy to throw to together without sacrificing any of the flavour. Cue this Shredded Moroccan Chicken.

Chicken is the staple meat in our house which we consume at least two times each week – mainly because it’s healthy, cheap and incredible versatile.  I’m always looking for fancy new chicken recipes, but sometimes I just want to fall back on an old favourite.

This recipe for Shredded Moroccan Chicken is one of my ultimate favourite meals because it’s so full of flavour and easy to prepare. You need to leave the chicken to marinate for at least an hour, so keep that in mind in you plan on serving this meal.

Shredded Moroccan Chicken

Ingredients

1 cup cooked and shredded chicken

1 tbsp paprika

1 tbsp ground cumin

1 tbsp ground ginger

1 tbsp turmeric

1 tbsp cinnamon

Black pepper

1 tbsp olive oil

2 cloves garlic, minced

½ onion, peeled and finely sliced

½ cup white wine

2 tbsp lemon juice

1/3 cup raisins

1 cup chicken stock

Recipe

1. Combine all the spices in a container. Toss in the chicken coat well with the spice mix. Let the chicken marinate for 1 hour in the fridge.

2. In a frying pan, heat the olive oil over a medium heat. Add the garlic and onion and cook until the onions are translucent.

3. Add the chicken, white wine, lemon juice, raisins and stock. Bring to a then reduce the heat to low and cook for 20 minutes, stirring regularly, or until the sauce has reduced by about half.

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Chicken Taco Chilli

Chilli is a great dish to enjoy on cold winter evenings. I came up with this recipe in an attempt to find a type of chilli that I enjoy. I love the idea of succulent beef chunks in a rich, spicy tomato sauce, but when it arrives on the table, I'm always disappointed. I'm not sure if that says more about my fussiness or my cooking!

This chicken taco chilli recipe is a great Mexican take on a traditional classic. The additional ingredients really take this dish to a whole other level that I feel regular chilli recipes really lack.

I can't wait until the clocks go forward! These pictures were taken using the mother-in-law's daylight lamp and just seem to give the photos a hint of blue. Bring on summer!

Ingredients

1 chicken breast

1/2 onion

1 garlic clove

1/2 red pepper

1/2 cup kidney beans

3tbsp sweet corn

1/2 cup chopped tomatoes

2tbsp tomato paste

3tbsp taco seasoning (I used this recipe for home-made taco seasoning - it's my favourite!)

Recipe

1. Place the chicken in a saucepan and add enough water to just cover the chicken. Bring to a simmer and cook for between 20-30 minutes. When fully cooked, drain the water and shred the chicken with two forks.

2. Chop the onion, garlic and red pepper and fry over a medium heat for 10 minutes. Add the kidney beans, sweetcorn, chopped tomatoes, tomato paste and taco seasoning. Let simmer for another 10 minutes.

3. Add the shredded chicken and cook for a final 10 minutes, stirring regularly.

Balsamic Chicken with Bruschetta Sauce

My favourite dinner recipes are those which require very little effort, yet taste amazing. This balsamic chicken with bruschetta sauce takes hardly any work, but looks and tastes great.

Keep in mind that this recipe calls for over-night marinating. You could always just marinate the chicken for a few hours, but the flavours only develop really well if you marinate for over 12 hours.

This dish is the perfect weeknight dinner for two.

Ingredients

Chicken

1 large chicken breast

50ml balsamic vinegar

1 tbsp olive oil

1 clove crushed garlic

20g brown sugar

Bruschetta sauce

125ml chopped tomatoes with sauce

½ chopped onion

1 clove crushed garlic

1 tbsp balsamic vinegar

1tsp olive oil

Recipe

1. Cut the chicken breast into 4 evenly-sized strips and place in a container/plastic bag with the balsamic vinegar, olive oil, crushed garlic and brown sugar. Shake well to coat then leave over-night to marinate.

2. To make the bruschetta sauce, combine the tomatoes, chopped onion, crushed garlic, balsamic vinegar and olive oil and blend thoroughly until there are no large chunks left. Leave in the fridge until you’re ready to serve.

3. Cook the chicken in a frying pan over a medium-high heat for around 20 minutes. The high heat will cause the marinade to form a crispy, sticky coating on the chicken – yum! Meanwhile, heat the bruschetta sauce in a saucepan or microwave.

4. To serve, balance one piece of chicken on top of another in the middle of the plate. Drizzle the sauce in a circle around the chicken and serve.