Wednesday, August 22, 2012

Spicy Honey Chicken from OBB

Confession, there really are just two reasons I have not posted for a long time.  One is I got pregnant and stopped cooking until I had the baby.  And two, I have been cheating on my usual recipes...I have a new love affair with the website Our Best Bites.  At least one or two dinners a week, and a handful of side dishes come from these girls.  I own the cookbook and frequent their website a lot and really love their stuff.

After I had the baby, I jumped right back into baking and cooking like my usual self, but I felt silly posting recipes as an amateur always using other recipes but my friends and neighbors keep asking if what they are eating is on my blog and most of the time I say "No, it is from Our Best Bites."

Then the Apple Dumplings recipe was requested which is from Allrecipes.com, and then I made Green Chile Chicken which is one of my "originals" and someone was begging for that recipe so I thought I should update the blog with a few more of my staples and give the credit where credit is due!

Now back to Our Best Bites, they are FANTASTIC, but many of their recipes just take too long and are a bit complicated.  The point of my blog is easy and yummy.  One of their signature dishes is this Spicy Honey Chicken and we LOVE it here in our house.  Everyone eats multiple servings (the baby included!) and you can't go wrong.

The best part?  It really is easy.  No marinating, takes less than 30 minutes (and really only 20 if you have the spice mixture pre-made like I do.)  and you can stock up on ingredients a month out so it is a go-to dinner.

Ok, enough of the prelude.  Go buy boneless, skinless chicken thighs and honey....and then do this:


INGREDIENTS:

8 boneless skinless chicken thighs, about 2lbs  
***I don't even thaw...one of the first steps is trimming the fat and I just do that under running warm water on a plate in the sink and they are ready by the time I am done. And I will echo what they say about this...just use thighs, breasts or tenderloins just are not as good.
2 t vegetable oil

Rub
2 t granulated garlic
2 t chili powder
1/2 t onion powder
1/2 t coriander
1 t kosher salt
1 t cumin
1/2 t chipotle chili powder

Glaze
1/2 C Honey
1T Cider Vinegar

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Combine the rub spices in bowl and mix well.
2. Use kitchen shears (or a pair of clean scissors) to trim off any excess fat from the chicken pieces.Pat dry. 

3. Drizzle oil over chicken and rub in with your hands to lightly coat all the pieces. Then toss chicken with the spice rub to coat all sides well. Use your hands and get in there! Grill chicken for 3-5 minutes on each side, until cooked through.

4. While chicken is cooking, warm honey in the microwave so it’s not so thick. Add the vinegar and combine well. Reserve 2T honey glaze for later. Take the rest and brush on chicken (both sides) in the final moments of grilling.  If you don’t have a bbq, try it on an indoor grill pan or use your broiler. Just be sure to open a window in case you burn your glaze!
5- Drizzle extra glaze over chicken on the plate after you pull them off the grill

YUMMY!  Great plain, or with rice, or on salads.

TIP:  Make a large "batch" of the rub and have on hand
1/2 cup granulated garlic
1/2 cup chili powder
2 tbls onion powder
2 tbls coriander
1/4 cup kosher salt
1/4 cup cumin
2 tbls chipotle chili powder

Country Apple Dumplings

So, I got this recipe from Allrecipes.com and have to say it is one of my most requested.  The best part about it??  IT IS SO EASY!  And you know what the secret is?  A can of Mountain Dew.  And THAT, my friends, automatically makes it a WT recipe.

So worthy.

Country Apple Dumplings

INGREDIENTS

2 large Granny Smith apples, peeled and cored
2 (10 ounce) cans refrigerated crescent roll dough
1 cup butter
1 1/2 cups white sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 (12 fluid ounce) can or bottle Mountain Dew

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease a 9x13 inch baking dish.

2. Cut each apple into 8 wedges and set aside. Separate the crescent roll dough into triangles. Roll each apple wedge in crescent roll dough starting at the smallest end. Pinch to seal and place in the baking dish.
3. Melt butter in a small saucepan and stir in the sugar and cinnamon. Pour over the apple dumplings. Pour Mountain Dew (or other citrus soda, like Mellow Yellow or even Squirt would work) over the dumplings.
4. Bake for 35 to 45 minutes in the preheated oven, or until golden brown.

Serve with cool whip, ice cream or just eat it straight out of the pan like my husband does :)