Week 3: Sheet Pan Chicken Nachos

The Recipe
450g chicken breasts
1 bell pepper, sliced
1 large onion, sliced & divided
1tbsp taco/fajita seasoning
1tbsp oil
1 large tomato
1 lime
salt
Shredded cheese
Nachos
1 avocado, diced
Chili sauce / jalapenos (optional)

Preheat the oven to 200C.

In a small bowl, mix together taco/fajita seasoning and oil.

Place chicken, bell pepper and most of the onion (keep back ~1/8 for the pico de gallo) in an ovenproof dish and coat with the seasoning mix. Bake for about 20-25 minutes or until the chicken is just done. Remove chicken and slice thinly. Return to the pan and cover with cheese and half the lime cut into slices. Bake for another 5-10 minutes until the cheese is melted.

While the chicken is cooking, prepare the pico de gallo: Chop and deseed the tomato and chop op the reserved onion. Mix together and add lime juice from the other half of the lime. Add salt to taste. Let it stand for awhile for the flavours to mix properly.

Serve with nachos, avocado and chili sauce/jalapenos for a bit of a kick.

The Verdict
Really good. I'd probably add more veggies another time, but it was a nice alternative to the usual nachos dishes. You were supposed to add the nachos in the end too to heat them up with the rest, but I worried they'd get too soggy with the juices from the veggies, and it worked really well this way too.

Week 2: Baked Honey-Mustard Chicken

The Recipe
450g chicken
4tbsp honey
4tbsp dijon mustard
2tbsp apple cider vinegar
1tbsp soy sauce
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2cup chicken broth
rosemary

Mix together honey, mustard, vinegar, soy sauce, garlic and broth. Put the chicken in an oven proof dish and cover with the sauce. Season with a bit of rosemary (a little goes a long way!). Bake at 200C for about half an hour until the chicken is cooked through.

Serve with boiled or mashed potatoes (you'll want something to soak up all that yummy, yummy sauce!) and a salad or veggie sticks.

The Verdict
REALLY good! The chicken was yummy and moist - not dry at all. There was FAR too much sauce, but that's probably part of what kept it so tasty, so I'll just leave it as-is for whenever I make it next.

Week 1: Chicken Shepherd's Pie

The Recipe
1lb chicken breast, cubed
salt, pepper
Butter
250g mushrooms, sliced
2 cloves garlic, chopped
2tbsp flour
3/4 cup half-and-half or milk
1 cup chicken broth
1-2 bell peppers
Mashed potatoes
Parmesan cheese (optional)
Breadcrumbs (optional)

Preheat oven to 175C.

Season chicken with salt and pepper. Melt some butter in a pan and cook chicken until done. Transfer chicken to an ovenproof dish and set aside.
In the same pan melt more butter and saute the mushrooms until soft. Transfer to the dish. Add a bit more butter and cook the garlic until fragrant but not yet brown. Whisk in the flour and cook for about a minute. Pour in both fluids, whisking until smooth. Season with salt and pepper. Add bell pepper and leave to simmer for 2 minutes. Transfer to dish and spread the mashed potatoes on top. Sprinkle with parmesan cheese and/or breadcrumbs if you want to.

Bake for 45 minutes.

The Verdict
I'd accidentally added too much broth to the mashed potatoes so the texture was off. I have to remember that it has to be rather stiff for something like this. Otherwise I mostly liked it. The sauce was a bit bland, so I need to play around with the spices a bit (i.e. ADD some that aren't just salt and pepper), but the basic idea was good and an easy way to use up left-over mashed potatoes.