U-try-it Recipe: Jerk Chicken

Who gets tired of chicken? Me. I absolutely despise chicken sometimes. I've been searching for recipes to make chicken less... boring. Here's a spin of Jerk Chicken. Not too spicy with a little sweet twist. I love this chicken!

Ingredients

1 teaspoon salt, or to taste
1 teaspoon ground allspice
1 teaspoon packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon onion powder
1/2 teaspoon dried minced garlic
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon dried thyme leaves
10-20 pieces of chicken
1/4 cup vegetable oil

Directions

Make the jerk rub by combining the salt, allspice, brown sugar, onion powder, garlic, nutmeg, pepper, ginger, cayenne pepper, cinnamon, and thyme. Toss the chicken pieces with the spice mixture, then cover, and marinate in the refrigerator 2 to 4 hours. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Pour the vegetable oil into a 9x13 inch baking dish. Place the chicken pieces skin-side up into the baking dish. Bake in the preheated oven for 1 hour 20 minutes, until no longer pink near the bone. Turn the oven on to broil, and cook until the skin crisps, 2 to 5 minutes.

Here is the chicken after I marinated it for 4 hours... this is the most important part!!!

yummmmmmmmmyyyy!! It smells sooo good coming out of the oven

I served the chicken with cabbage ( Click here for my recipe for the cabbage ), rice (box brand) and cornbread. Dinner was a delicious and it was great to take to work.

Recipe was found at Allrecipes.Com

Day One...

How many times have you started something and ended up pushing it to the backburner? I'm famous for having amazing goals and starting out strong but somehow, I end up dropping them off. My laid-back attitude doesn't help this situation either. I always tell myself "there's always tomorrow". This is true, but TODAY I want to begin Day one of STICKING TO MY PLANS.

I've blogged about going to the gym and trying to eat a healthier diet. Well... I must report I haven't been running in weeks. I can blame it on my focus with school but I'm not going to make excuses this time.

How do I plan on overcoming this issue? I'm going to write out a schedule each night- no matter how tired I am, how much homework/studying I need to do... that lays out what I need to get done each day. I will not go to sleep until each item is crossed off my "to-do" list. I'm hoping my list will get me in the habit of maintaining and keeping in order everything I need to do while holding me accountable if I fail to do something that day. I'm a work in progress.

One of my good girlfriends, Cherish, has committed herself to being my "get healthy" partner. My boyfriend is too much of a couch potato to commit to this. I'm hoping that he sees my efforts and want to get in on it.

I can say that I haven't gone to far off the healthier eating plan. However, I'm doing more research to get the most out of my diet versus just cutting fats out.

holding myself accountable... sticking to my goals.. It another day one to my journey to better.....

Healthy Eating

My boyfriend recently received news that he has high cholesterol. SUPER SAD FACE, right? Wrong. In my Anatomy and Physiology class, my professor is very anti-drug for everything and over the semester I have adapted this same ideology. When my boyfriend's doctor diagnosed him, the doctor wanted to prescribe him meds to lower his triglycerides (in short- a BAD cholesterol. Saturated animal fats. Used in the human body to store unused calories. I will discuss this in depth in a future entry.) . I, under the teachings of Dr. Watts (lol) tell him we could resolve this by eating a healthier diet and working out. We started simply by cutting red meat and pork out of diets and eating foods with no trans fats. I've been going to the gym doing 30-45 minutes of cardio twice a week (a few missed days but tried to maintain some form of exercise at home.. he's started to walk more around the property he works for.) Not much yet in the way true dedication but we're working on it. (ha) Tonight for Dinner I made Baked chicken breast, cabbage and mashed potatoes Here's the recipe for some Very moist and flavorful chicken breast and tasty cabbage. (oh those potatoes happen to be instant so, uh... read a box.)

Cabbage: -1 whole cabbage -1/2 stick of butter -1/2 cup of chicken stock/broth -1/2 bag of shredded carrots -Salt, pepper and onion powder, to your preference. 1. Pour 1/2 c. chicken stock/broth into pot. Bring to a boil, then lower heat to simmer. 2. Clean cabbage, cut in half to remove core. 3. Pull cabbage apart and place into pot. Fill halfway with cabbage and shredded carrots and season. Add remaining cabbage and carrots and add season. Place top on. 4. Cook for low heat for one hour. Cook longer if you desire a softer texture. Baked Chicken Breast

-1lb skinless,boneless chicken breast. -Olive Oil -Onion Powder -Old Bay Seasoning -Salt -Pepper -Aluminum foil 1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees 2. Clean chicken, pat dry and coat with old bay season, onion powder, salt, pepper on both sides. 3. Drizzle your baking pan with olive oil and place chicken in pan 4. Place aluminum foil over pan, cook for 10 minutes. Remove aluminum foil, flip chicken over and cook for an additional 10 minutes. My boyfriend loved it... maybe you and yours will too.

(but of course this simply yet yummy recipe is from my mother.)