Honeyed Citrus & Garlic Chicken

 

The weather has been sunny and not cold enough to say we are in the middle of winter, so I decided to give them what they like best. Something fresh from the grill. MMM, it was delicious and they gobbled it right up! I think they wished there would have been more but there was plenty of salad and I let them have some bread and jelly to 'fill in the cracks'. :) They were happy and satisfied.

 

My husband and I are on a 24 Day Challenge and are in the 10 day cleanse phase of this so that means lots of salad, veggies, fruit and lean meat. Notice the absence of sugar? haha  The honey in this recipe is a bit of a stretch for that phase but I dislike cooking two different suppers for our family for the same evening so I decided to make my own rules. I only ate a little bit and ate plenty of salad and steamed broccoli. Good Girl! I know! :)

 

Anyway I got some chicken out of the freezer this morning thinking of a different recipe but somewhere between the mountain of laundry and my 3rd trip to High School this week, this time to watch another basketball game, (I love to watch the boys play sports!) that plan derailed and the sunshine beckoned and made me think of summer and grilling soooo... I had all this lovely citrus and fresh ginger in the fridge and everything else that I needed so I thought, why not?

 

I started by zesting and juicing a Meyer lemon and a Navel orange. I peeled a small bulb of garlic, yes, the whole thing, peeled some fresh ginger, added some sea salt, extra virgin olive oil, orange juice concentrate, and honey. I put it all in the blender and tasted it. Yikes, I thought, the kids will never eat this! So in went more concentrate and honey and more salt. Another taste, better but something was still not there. So I tried a small amount of Lite Soy Sauce. MMM, yummy! And if I make it on the grill the kidders will be happy! Yep, I was right, for the space of 20 minutes they sang praises. To me. :) In fact, we had to make sure they shared because you know, teenage boys, they don't care that the amount of lean meat to consume at one sitting should be the size of  a deck of cards. haha

 

4 Boneless Skinless Chicken Thighs

3 Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts

1 medium Orange, zest and juice

1 Meyer Lemon, zest and juice

2/3 cup Honey

2/3 cup Orange Juice Concentrate

½ cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil

1 small bulb Garlic, peeled

½ Fresh Ginger, peeled

(half dollar size)

2 teaspoons Sea Salt

1½ teaspoons Lite Soy Sauce

 

Place all ingredients into the blender and blend until smooth. Place chicken pieces into a gallon sized Ziploc bag and pour marinade into the bag. Seal and refrigerate. Allow to marinate for several hours. Bring to room temperature before grilling.

 

So after supper, without any of the guys knowing what the ingredients were, I asked them what the flavor was that stood out to them. I found it interesting because by their answers they each tasted a different ingredient. Lin said he tasted lemon, Andre said an almost spicy bbq sauce, that would've been the ginger. Shawn tasted the soy sauce and Anthony said it tasted like Terriyaki Sauce.

 

 So why with that amount of orange juice concentrate did none of them say they tasted orange? Because that was what I was aiming for. haha  Puzzling! But they all loved it, so I guess that was the important thing! :)

 

Have a wonderful evening!

♥Be Blessed!♥

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See Ya In The Gumbo