Honey-Lime Chicken

I have a serious love for all things cilantro and lime. Like fresh salsa with enough cilantro that you can smell it through the refrigerator door. Or even a little white rice with some fresh lime juice and chopped cilantro thrown in. But add a little sweetness and a touch of heat… and now we’re really talking.

Which is why I went absolutely nuts over this recipe.

This chicken is to-die for! The soy and lime keep things nice and fresh, while the Siracha and red pepper flakes pack just the right amount of punch. It was perfect served over the afore-mentioned rice sprinkled with lime juice and cilantro. Another plus? It was super easy! If you’ve got an hour to let the chicken marinate and 15 minutes to grill it, you can have dinner on the table in a snap. Gotta love it.

I hope this gets your weekend off to a good start. Toodles!

How-To: Herb Roasted Chicken

When you think of comfort food, what comes to mind? Macaroni and cheese? Lasagna? For me, the first answer is roasted chicken. Flavorful, succulent chicken with crispy skin, with a side of mashed potatoes and pan gravy. That tastes like home to me.

Roasted chicken is nostalgic – reminiscent of home-cooked Sunday dinner around mama’s kitchen table. Of happy times. Of love. Of family.

Roasted chicken is also highly versatile. You can eat it simply as roasted chicken. You can shred the meat and use it in a whole host of other recipes, like enchiladas or chicken salad. You can boil the leftover carcass and make stock or soup or chicken and homemade egg noodles (my personal favorite, by the way).

These days the grocery store makes it super easy to enjoy roasted chicken. You can easily pick up a hot, already-cooked, very tasty rotisserie chicken from the service deli at just about any grocery store for very cheap. I very frequently rely on these pre-made chickens myself.

But there’s something about roasting a chicken myself that just feels so… cathartic. It’s a ritual of sorts, which brings me back to a simpler time. When I roast a chicken, I feel connected to the past. I feel connected to my great-grandmothers, as I work through a process they no-doubt used more times than I can count. I imagine them watching me, working with me, and I feel alive and at peace.

But I digress.

The thing is, roasting a chicken is something everyone should know how to do. It’s a pretty basic skill, and a great way to save money by using cheaper, whole chickens instead of separate cuts. So come with me, and I’ll show you how.