I skipped the gym again today. I realize this is a carnal sin on the eve of summertime. However, as of last night my legs were still unbearably sore from a combination of my squats and dead lifts on Friday and hot yoga on Saturday (I’m talking the walking funny kind of sore). Add to that the fact that Scott’s 7:00 am client had to cancel and it’s a Monday, and you have a no-brainer sleep-in morning.
So instead of a work out, I give you food. You are getting the upper hand here.
If any of you have a Pinterest account, I am sure you have seen the “Man Pleasing Chicken” recipe that went viral a few months back, and is still a regular occurrence on my feed. Well, this is my version of that recipe.
Allow me a brief tangent. If you don’t have Pinterest, I recommend you sign up now. It is a game changer for meal planning. It allows you to “pin” all of the recipes you find from food blogs, news articles, and random websites to one place so that you can go back to them at a later date when you are ready to cook.
I primarily use it for recipes, but you can pin anything you find on the Internet to the various boards you create (think home decorating board, fashion board, shoe board, exercise board, etc.). As a warning, it’s highly addictive and a complete time warp.
Back to the chicken. This is one of my “go-to” week night recipes. If I’ve had a bad day at work and cannot fathom going home to cook dinner, I’ll scratch whatever was on the menu for that evening, grab some chicken thighs on the way home, and make this instead. The ingredients are so simple and common that I always have them in my pantry.
It honestly takes about 10 minutes to throw everything together, and leaves you the 30 to 40 minutes of cooking time to hang out with the family, read a magazine, or peruse Pinterest for more quick and simple weeknight recipes.
And its healthy, which seems utterly impossible once you take a bite. You can make it even healthier by subbing the chicken breasts for the chicken thighs (not worth the flavor sacrifice in my opinion). If you do choose to substitute with chicken breast, do yourself a favor and brine the chicken for about 20 to 30 minutes before cooking to help lock in the juice. Dry chicken breasts are the worst.
Try serving it with some roasted green beans or asparagus. Toss the asparagus or green beans with about a tablespoon of olive oil, season with a little salt, pepper, and garlic powder, and throw them in oven during the last 15 minutes of cooking. It’s truly the perfect Manic Monday meal.
Honey Dijon and Rosemary Chicken Thighs
Serves: 4
Prep Time: 10 Minutes
Cook Time: 30-40 Minutes
Total Time: 50 minutes
Ingredients:
8 boneless skinless chicken thighs
3/4 cup Guinness Dijon Mustard (any whole grain mustard will do, this one just looked fun)
1/4 cup Dijon Mustard (like Grey Poupon)
1/3 cup honey
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
1 bunch of rosemary, finely chopped (about a cup unchopped)
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon pepper
Directions:
Preheat oven to 425 degrees. In a bowl, mix mustards, honey, apple cider vinegar and rosemary. Rinse and dry chicken and place in a greased oven safe casserole dish. Season with salt, pepper and garlic powder. Pour honey Dijon mixture over chicken. Bake 35 to 40 minutes until chicken is cooked through.