Seriously Spicy Citrus Chicken

I <3 this recipe! This is my third time making it in the past few months. I'm feeling a little tired tonight so I'll skip the monologue. But, trust me when I say this one's a keeper!

Seriously Spicy Citrus Chicken

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 lbs chicken tenderloins or breasts
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1/2 cup lime juice
• 1/4 cup lemon juice
• 1 Tbsp + 1 tsp red pepper flakes
• 1 Tbsp + 1 tsp minced garlic
• 1 tsp ground ginger
• 1/4 cup Splenda
• green onions, chopped

Directions:

1. Heat oil in a large skillet over medium high heat
2. Add chicken, and cook until golden brown on both sides (4-5 min per side)
3. While chicken is cooking, mix together lime juice, lemon juice, red pepper flakes, garlic, ginger and Splenda. 
4. Once chicken is cooked through, pour sauce into pan and let simmer for about 2 minutes.
5. Place chicken on a serving plate and pour a few tablespoons of sauce over them. Keep the residual sauce for dipping. 
6. Garnish with green onions and serve!

Ta-da!

Pork Tenderloin al Diablo

I made this recipe for the first time about a month ago, and have been routinely using the sauce from this as a dipping sauce for anything I can possibly think to dip in it. Chicken tenders, shrimp, pork rinds or tortilla chips... you name it, it's probably going to be delicious if you dip it in this awesome sauce. Also I'm pretty sure this is where the expression "awesome sauce" originated. Just saying.

In any case, the pork is good, don't get me wrong. But it's pretty much just a means to being able to eat the sauce. I told Mike today I was making this pork tenderloin al diablo recipe, and his enthusiasm went from about a 2 to a 10 when I reminded him that this was the recipe with the amazing sauce. Admittedly, if you don't like spicy stuff, it's not for you. (It is called "al diablo" after all). But you could probably modify the mustard to a less spicy version and it would taste milder and still delicious. 

The original recipe called for extra-hot horseradish mustard, but try as I might, I couldn't find any kind of spicy horseradish sauce at all. So I opted for a very spicy habanero mustard. I'm guessing any hot mustard (not yellow mustard though) would work if you can't find my exact kind. So, find a mustard that works for your preferred level of heat and enjoy!

Pork Tenderloin al Diablo

Ingredients:

• 1 pork tenderloin, trimmed
• 1 Tbsp canola oil
• 1/2 cup chicken broth
• 1 Tbsp Habanero mustard
• 1 Tbsp Dijon mustard
• 1/4 tsp chili powder
• 2 Tbsp heavy whipping cream
• 1 Tbsp cold butter
• 1 Tbsp fresh chives, chopped
• Salt and black pepper, to taste

Directions:

1. Preheat your oven to 375 degrees F. Season the pork with salt and pepper.
2. Heat oil in an ovenproof skillet over high heat.
3. Cook pork until browned on one side, about 3 minutes.
4. Flip pork over and transfer skillet to preheated oven.
5. Cook pork until it's browned and is still slightly pink in the center, 25-30 minutes.
6. When pork has about 10 minutes left, pour chicken broth into a small pan and heat on high until it starts to boil.
7. Whisk in cream, both mustards, and chili powder. Continue cooking until mixture is reduced to a thick sauce, about 5 minutes.
8. Remove from heat and whisk in the cold butter. 
9. Remove pork from oven and slice into 1/2 inch slices. Pour sauce over pork and top with chives.

That's it! You just made the best sauce on the planet. Way to go. :)

Insanely Addictive Chicken Tenders

The original name for the recipe this dish is based on is Heroin Chicken Wings. At first I wasn't even thinking about the name of it, and was thinking along the lines of heroic chicken. That makes total sense, I know... but hey I wasn't considering it too carefully. In any case, once I made this I understood the actual meaning. These things are crazy addictive! I made 2 large chicken breasts worth of the tenders and Mike and I polished them all of within a matter of minutes. 

It's a really good thing I didn't make more or I'd be deeply regretting it right now. A word of advice, don't make any more of these than you're willing to eat immediately. Because I dare you to be able to stop yourself from eating them. Just try, seriously. And when you fail I'll be like "Told you so!". Heh.

Also, if you are planning on making more than two chicken breasts worth of tenders, make sure to increase all the cheese and spice amounts. I ran out of the cheese/spice mixture with two chicken breasts and was originally planning on using a third. (So instead I just covered the third in a ton of parmesan and baked it along with them... probably will still turn out good for lunch tomorrow!)

But, don't say I didn't warn you. Once you start eating these, there is no going back. Proceed with caution, faithful readers. :)

Insanely Addictive Chicken Tenders (aka Heroin Chicken)

Ingredients:

• 2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• 1 cup grated parmesan cheese
• 2 Tbsp dried parsley
• 1 Tbsp dried oregano
• 2 tsp paprika
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp pepper
• 1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 6 cloves garlic, minced
• hot sauce

Directions:

1. Cut chicken breasts into finger-sized pieces and set aside.
2. Preheat the oven to 350 F and line a baking pan with aluminum foil.
3. Combine the parmesan, parsley, oregano, paprika, salt and pepper in a bowl.
4. Combine the olive oil and garlic in a separate bowl.
5. Take each piece of chicken and dip it in olive oil bowl, roll it in the cheese and spices mix, and place in the foil-lined pan.
6. Bake for 40-45 minutes. 
7. Once you've removed them from the oven, place them on a plate and pour as much hot sauce as you desire all over them. 
8. Sit back, relax, and enjoy your newest addiction. 

That's it! Night!

Slow Cooker Pesto Ranch Chicken

I do love me a good slow cooker recipe. It does basically all the work for you. Dump all the ingredients into the crock pot, stir, turn it on, and leave. Come home and Hey-- dinner's ready! :) Brilliant invention if there ever was one.

This recipe is one of the simplest imaginable. Especially if you use store-bought pesto. 4 whole ingredients and no work! My only issue with this recipe is that it is very rich. Probably all the olive oil in the pesto. I took a while to eat the portion you see pictured. But it is delicious and easy so still worth trying. (I might decrease the amount of pesto and increase the amount of broth next time though.)

Anyway, I won't ramble on too long today. I need a nap! But here's the recipe:

Slow Cooker Pesto Ranch Chicken

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 to 2 lbs chicken thighs
• 1 8 oz jar of pesto
• 1 packet dry Ranch seasoning mix
• 1/2 cup chicken broth

Directions:

1. Place chicken thighs, pesto, ranch packet, and chicken broth into slow cooker
2. Stir gently to combine the pesto, ranch and broth
3. Cover and cook on low 6-8 hours (or high 3-4 hours)

That's all for now!

The Ultimate Breakfast Sandwich (Another Saturday morning bonus!)

So I haven't had much time this week to post too many recipes. (Though I'm pretty sure that last one counts for like 3 because it's so awesome). But in any case, I made really awesome breakfast sandwiches for Mike and me this morning, and figured I'd share. :)

Super simple recipe but takes a little maneuvering with all your different pans (you will definitely be multitasking on this one). It's worth it though. There's a lot of ways you can adjust this recipe to make it lower or higher calorie, carb, protein, etc. It kind of depends on which area you're concerned about. I tried to focus mine on being very low cal and low carb, so I used low-carb bread, turkey bacon, and egg whites instead of regular bread, bacon and eggs. It's gonna taste good no matter what though. Don't even worry.

With that, I'll get to it. Have a great weekend everybody!

The Ultimate Breakfast Sandwich

Ingredients: (per sandwich)

• 2 slices bread
• 2-3 egg whites (or 1 whole egg)
• 1/4 avocado, sliced
• 2 slices turkey bacon or bacon
• shredded cheese of your choice (I used colby jack)
• hot sauce

Directions:

1. Start by frying up your (turkey) bacon, while that's cooking crack the eggs and slice the avocado
2. When the bacon is done, move to a plate and rinse/towel dry pan (careful it'll still be hot!)
3. Place pan back on hot burner and turn heat to medium
4. Put bread slices on warm pan and sprinkle cheese on one of the slices and layer on the bacon
5. While the bread is toasting on the pan, heat up a small pan to cook your eggs in.
6. Add eggs and scramble until they're cooked
7. Remove bread from pan when toasted, and place scrambled eggs on top of the bacon, douse with hot sauce, and place avocado slices on eggs, top with other slice of bread.

Told you it was a little tricky. You'll be thankful though that you tried it!

Bacon-Wrapped Jalapeno Popper-Stuffed Baked Chicken

Made this dish last night but was too engrossed in the emotional rollercoaster that is the Game of Thrones series and, therefore, did not post right away. But, I wasn't about to not post this one. Even Mike asked me if I was going to post this one to my blog and said, and I quote, "If there was ever a recipe deserving of your blog this is it." He also said something about wishing he was on death row so he could request this dish as his final meal. It's that good. :)

How could it not be though, honestly. It's got (turkey) bacon, cheese, cream cheese, jalapenos and chicken. And if you use the turkey bacon like I did and low fat cream cheese and reduced fat cheddar, you cut back on a LOT of the potential calories. It's still not super low cal but it's not bad and it's very low-carb, and delicious, did I mention delicious?

I recommend making this dish on a night where you have someone around that can help you with wrapping the chicken breasts. The first time I had Mike help and they turned out much prettier than this time. Although, admittedly, the presentation is fairly irrelevant once you've tasted it. Minus the somewhat tricky bacon wrapping part, it's a very easy recipe with pretty minimal prep and not a ton of ingredients. So, without further adieu, here it is!

Bacon-Wrapped Jalapeno Popper-Stuffed Baked Chicken

Ingredients:

• 2 small chicken breasts, pounded thin
• salt and pepper, to taste
• 1-2 jalapenos, diced
• 2 oz reduced fat cream cheese, room temperature
• 1/2 cup reduced fat cheddar cheese, shredded
• 4-6 slices turkey bacon

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F
2. Lay chicken flat, season both sides with salt and pepper.
3. Mix together cream cheese, jalapenos and cheddar cheese in a bowl
4. Place half of the mixture in each chicken breast, roll them up, and wrap them in 2-3 pieces of turkey bacon (depending on the size of your chicken breasts you'll need more or less)
5. Bake until cooked about 25-30 minutes.

Step 6 should be "bask in your own awesomeness" because you just made the best chicken of all time. :) Kudos.