Oven Crispy Honey Garlic Chicken Drummies

Recipe 46.
MMMM. We had these for dinner last night and I knew this was a recipe that was blog worthy. It was SO good. Like so so so so good. And the smell- wow! The bf asked me about 15 times "is dinner ready yet?". Worth the extra effort of heating the sauce versus marinading in the fridge before hand. Truth be told, I didn't measure anything other then the honey in this recipe. I truly feel that it's one of those things that you can eyeball your ingredients and still end up with success.

7                  chicken drumsticks, skin on.
1/4 C            honey
4                  dashes on Tabasco sauce
2 T               soya sauce
1 T               Worcestershire sauce
2 T               lime juice
4 cloves        garlic, minced

Preheat your oven to 375F (400F if you want that extra crispy skin!).
Meanwhile, in a saucepan combine honey, tabasco, soya, worcestershire, lime and garlic. Bring to a slow boil over medium-high heat and then reduce to simmer for about 10 minutes. Remove from heat.
Place chicken on a rack in a roasting pan and brush both sides with sauce. Bake at 375 for about an hour, or until juices run clear and chicken is no longer pink, basting with the sauce every 15 minutes. Do not baste when you remove from the oven. Serve with salad and rice or potatoes! Mmmmm. This is actually a wing recipe that I adapted for what I had on hand.

day 39, recipe 39: Asian Vermicelli Chicken Soup

Oh no, we've got germs in the house. My boyfriend is uber-sick so I decided to make a hearty chicken soup in hopes of making him feel better! I got this recipe awhile back from my momma and made a few tweaks to it based on other similar recipes I found on the internet!


6 C              chicken broth
4 C              fresh spinach, washed & cut into bite size pieces
1 C              mushrooms, sliced
1 1/2 C        matchstick carrots
4 ounces      vermicelli rice noodles
1/2              onion, cut into thin slices
1 t               ginger
3 T              fish oil
3 ounces      snow peas, halved
1/2 t            chili pepper flakes
1 1/2 C        cooked diced chicken
2                 stalks of celery, sliced

Bring a large pot of water to a boil and cook rice noodles until al dente. Drain and set aside.
Bring chicken broth to a boil and add carrots, celery, onion and snow peas; cook for 2 minutes and remove from heat. Stir in chicken, spinach, mushrooms, ginger, fish oil & chili flakes. Let stand for 3 minutes for flavours to absorb.
Place a heaping amount of rice noodles into a bowl & spoon broth and vegetables over top. Garnish with fresh tomato slices if you want!

day 35, recipe 35: Slow Cooker Greek Chicken & Potatoes

I don't think I've ever been happier to have dinner ready the second I walked in the door as I was last night. I was super exhausted and my dogs were barking. Being able to do nothing more then toss a salad & serve dinner was heaven. Slow cooker for the win, as per usual. I will say, this recipe wasn't as fabulous as I had hoped. I think that 8 hours was a little too long for my drumsticks but live & learn!

2 lbs                   mini red potatoes, washed & skin on
2 lbs                   chicken drumsticks or chicken thighs
1 onion               cut into big chunky slices
5 cloves              garlic, minced
1 T                     lemon pepper
1 T                     oregano
2 T                     olive oil
2 t                      fresh rosemary
3 T                     lemon juice

Place potatoes and onion in the bottom of the crockpot. Layer chicken over top.
In a small bowl, mix together remaining ingredients and then spoon over top of chicken. Sprinkle liberally with salt and then cover, cook on low for 6-8 hours. Serve with a salad & squeeze additional lemon juice overtop if desired.

day 34, recipe 34; Parmesan Chicken Salad Wraps

These made a delicious & healthy lunch! I made it using two boneless skinless chicken breasts and it made enough filling for 4 large wraps, but you could probably stretch it out if you used small/medium tortillas. I chose to use spinach wraps for added flavor!

1/2 C           low-fat mayo
1 T              lemon juice
2 t               fresh basil
2 1/2 C        chopped cooked chicken or turkey
1/4 C           grated parmesan cheese
1/4 C           thinly sliced green onions
3 T              finely chopped celery
                   salt & pepper to taste

For dressing; stir mayo, lemon juice & basil together. Set aside.
Combine chicken, parmesan cheese, onions and celery. Pour dressing overtop and stir well. Season with salt and pepper.
Serve immediately on bread or divide into portions for later consumption.

I refrigerated the mixture in a ziploc container and made my wraps one night ahead. I found they didn't get soggy at all and were even better the second day! Definite winner for an easy brown bag lunch. Pack some fresh berries & a yogurt and you'll have a satisfying meal!

day 27, recipe 27: Slow Cooker Butter Chicken

If I've ever needed a reason to love my slow cooker- it's today. Not only do I have a brand spankin' new one (thanks ma!!) but I decided to do NINE loads of laundry today. One of the little luxuries of living in an apartment is having use of more then one washer at a time. Sadly, we're only privy to three washers so it still took me about 6 hours, sigh.

ANYWAYS, I'm fairly certain that if I didn't have a slow cooker, we would have eaten kraft dinner & hot dogs for dinner...seriously. If you take anything away from my blog at all urbanites, it should be this; slow cookers are a god send.

1lb                 chicken thighs, skin on
1 can              diced tomatoes
1 can              tomato paste
2 T                 ginger
1 T                 curry powder
1 T                 chili powder
1/4 C              butter
1                    medium onion, halved & thinly sliced
1 t                  cinnamon

2 t                  garam masala
4                    cloves garlic, smashed
1/4 C              water
1 C                 plain yogurt
1/2 C              half & half cream
                      salt & pepper to taste
                      green onion, sliced (for garnish)

Turn your slow cooker on to high heat. Add the butter and cover for 15-20 minutes until it has melted. Add onions, garlic and spices.
Lay chicken on top of butter mixture. Pour tomato paste over chicken, then diced tomatoes & then water. Cover and cook on low for 8-10 hours (high 4-6). About 30 minutes before serving, add yogurt and half&half, stir well. Cover and cook on low for remaining 30 minutes. Serve over rice, spooning lots of sauce overtop! I also bought naan bread to make it a little more authentic!
As an after note, I probably would have not added the 1/4 C of water. The liquid in the diced tomatoes proved to be enough and I found that the "gravy" was a little on the runny side. You can always thicken up with flour or corn starch if you find this, but I'd air on the side of caution and just omit it, rather then ruin the buttery flavour!

Day 23, Recipe 24: Mediterranean Crockpot Chicken

I know, I know- I'm addicted to the slow cooker. I heard it's making a comeback, just sayin'. This is pretty much the adult version of "throw stuff in a pot" and see what happens. I forgot to take a picture before we ate it all.

4-6                 chicken thighs
1 jar                black olives, drained of liquid
1 jar                marinated artichoke hearts, 1/4 of liquid reserved
1 can               diced tomatoes with liquid
1/2                  red onion, sliced
5 cloves           garlic, whole

Yup, you guessed it- toss it all in that slow cooker! Turn on low for 6-8 hours or high for 4-6. I thickened the sauce after removing the chicken & served it over gnocchi as a side. Sprinkle both with freshly grated parmesan cheese! I thought it was okay, bf went back for a huge pile of seconds. The chicken was frozen when it went in so I cooked it on high and it was so juicy, it fell right off the bone!

Day 16, Recipe 13; Slow cooker to the rescue! (Chicken in Onion Gravy)

I found that this morning, I was endlessly searching for slow cooker recipes to compile for my return to work next week. Surely, if I plan on continuing this 365 day challenge, I'll need a roster of fall back slow cooker recipes to sustain the days that I work later then 7pm.
I sent out a small grocery list with my boy, naming a few household staples- if you can cook, a variety of fresh veggies, garlic, canned soups and meats can make satisfying meals on any budget. One thing I haven't really experimented with is onion soup mix. So, I present- chicken thighs with onion gravy in a slow cooker. Mmmm.

1-2 lbs                bone in, skin on chicken thighs
1 medium            onion, diced
2                         carrots, diced
2-3 medium          potatoes, skin on, scrubbed & diced into small cubes
1 can                   cream of celery
1                         soup can of water
1                         envelope onion soup mix
3 t                       corn starch
1/4 C                   water

Coat your slow cooker with vegetable oil spray. Layer onion, carrot and potatoes at the bottom. Place chicken thighs over top. Pour envelope of onion soup mix over chicken, then add cream of celery and water. Stir to mix and settle contents. Mix corn starch and 1/4 cup of water; stir into slow cooker.
Turn slow cooker onto high and cook for 4-5 hours, until chicken has cooker.
Serve overtop egg noodles, fettucine or rice with a green salad. Also makes a fabulous gravy/meal over mashed potatoes.