Garlic & Brown Sugar Chicken

I've been seriously slacking in the kitchen department lately so I turned to Pinterest for inspiration. You can see my recipe wishlist here and recipes I've tried (along with my feedback on them) here.  I like to think that I'm a pretty good cook.  I come from a family of great cooks and I think I've learned a few things along the way.

Comfort food is my favourite, who doesn't love mac'n'cheese (besides my husband...but that's another story). As it turns to fall I've been craving home cooked comfort food.  Tonight I decided to try out a pinterest find - Garlic & Brown Sugar Chicken.  There were several pinterest links to different recipes, I used this one as my starting point.

It's super easy.

Ingredients

- 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts 
- 4 tbsp light brown sugar
- 4 gloves of garlic, grated or minced
- 3 tbsp olive oil

Directions

1. Pre-heat oven to 500 degrees

2. Line Baking sheet with parchment paper or grease baking dish

3. Grate garlic into warm oil (or add minced) and cook until soft.

(TIP - I love my microplane zester for garlic, I have this one from Pampered Chef. It's amazing)

4. Add the brown sugar to the garlic and combine, remove from heat

5. Put the chicken in baking dish

6. Season with Salt & Pepper as desired

7. Add garlic & brown sugar mixture to chicken, distribute evenly

8. Bake uncovered for apx 20 minutes or until cooked through

I ate mine with roasted potatoes topped with some grated Grano Padano

Big Batch Curry Cayenne Chicken

In order to make Flexible Dieting/IIFYM work, meal planning is a must.  Trying to wing it will generally leave you trying to find foods with 10g of protein, 3g of fat and 16g of carbs at the end of the day and that can sometimes be difficult.

I like to prepare a week of lunches at a time (if at all possible) and I will often eat the same thing - or very similar things - every day for a week because I don't mind doing it and it makes my life easier.

This is one of my go to chicken recipes.  It works on its own or in a salad or with a side of pasta.  Versatility is also key.

I start with 1kg of boneless skinless chicken breasts (hitting it bang on a kg can be hard, but get it as close as you can!)

I then create my spice blend
1 tbsp onion powder (8g)
1/2 tbsp curry powder (3g) - If you're not a big curry fan you may want to reduce this, it can be intense!
1/2 tbsp cayenne pepper (4g)
3/4 tsp salt (9g)
4 tsp extra virgin olive oil (20ml)

I let the whole thing marinate for about half an hour or so and then grill it on my indoor grill.  Once it's cooled enough to handle I slice it and break it out into 100g portions.  Doing this makes it really easy to grab an go and know that it's a perfect portion.

Most of the time I buy frozen chicken breasts at Costco - huge cost savings.  I will often season the meat as it thaws.  I generally try to avoid putting the meat on the grill before it's completely thawed, but sometimes it happens...

This recipe makes 6 perfect 100g servings (well...it did today.  Depending on how much moisture cooks out of the chicken you may end up with more or less)

They breakdown like this

192 calories/1g carbs/5g fat/32g protein.