Sticky Chicken

This is one of our all time favorite dinners in our house!  It came about when I was pregnant with my second child and kept craving Wingers chicken.  The only problem?  Arizona doesn't have Wingers.  So I was on my own to come up with a copycat recipe.  I found a recipe online years ago, and then slowly tweaked it until it was perfect for us.  I love it because it is so versatile!  Serve it with sweet potato fries or just some carrot sticks and ranch dressing.  Or cut it up and serve it on rice with some veggies.  OR, you can cut up the chicken and put it in a tortilla wrap with some tomatoes and lettuce.  Yum, yum, YUM!  Even better is that it is so super quick and easy.

Sticky Chicken

1/3 c. brown sugar

1/3 c. Worcestershire Sauce (I actually put in slightly less than 1/3 c.)

1/4 c. ketchup

1 overflowing T. honey

2 t. hot sauce (like Franks) *can add more if you want more kick!

2 t. apple cider vinegar

12-16 oz frozen breaded chicken 

Bake chicken as directed.  Warm all other ingredients in a pan.  Toss fully baked chicken in sauce.  Bake at 350 for an additional 5-7 minutes or until sauce becomes thick and sticky.

Tips for Gooier Cinnamon Rolls

We love cinnamon rolls at my house.  Unfortunately, I only make them 3 or 4 times a year; if that!  However, we have been working on perfecting these rolls for awhile now, and I think this last batch has been the best by far.  When I asked my husband for improvements  for this round, he didn't have any for me!

Sorry for the sad cell phone photo.  I just happened to snap a photo right before I put them in the oven. When I made cinnamon rolls this weekend, I wasn't really planning on turning it into a blog post! :)

So.  Here's a few tips to get super gooey cinnamon rolls.

1.  Start with any basic roll recipe.  I go back and forth between a few different ones.  It doesn't really matter. just pick one that you like!

2.  Roll out your dough and spread softened butter on it.

3.  On top of that layer of butter, place additional pats of butter randomly across your dough.  I used 5 or 6 pats of butter for each set of dough I had to roll out (typically 2/recipe).

4.  Use brown sugar rather than granulated.  LOTS of brown sugar.  Seriously?  I don't think you need to worry about getting too much on there, and who eats these to be healthy anyway? ;)

That should provide you with yummy, bubbling deliciousness all around your rolls when you pull them out of the oven.  Obviously, the more butter and sugar you use, the more goo you'll get.
Enjoy! 

I Won?!?!!!

Thanks to a fun little giveaway over at Chef In Training last week, I won an awesome 3 month membership to E-Mealz. I am SO excited!!! I am totally one of those people who never wins anything.



But. This was the perfect giveaway for me to win! E-Mealz is awesome. They plan your meals for you each week (you can choose from a ton of different meal options; plans for couples vs families, gluten free, low fat, etc.), they give instructions on how to cook your dinner each night AND they make your shopping list for you. There is absolutely no planning on your part. Just log in once a week, print everything off and go to the store. YAY!!! I've been looking over their menus and it all seems to be stuff that my little family will eat. Again. SO. EXCITED.

Anyway, go check them out. They did not ask me to do a review; they have no clue I'm doing this. I just really love the idea. And love that I won. And am so excited (have I made that clear enough yet?) to try it out!

What's For Dinner?

Am I the only one who hates trying to plan meals? It is one of the hardest things for me to do.

This week, my family is starting fresh with a much healthier diet. I am cutting out as much refined sugar and white flour as possible, and drastically increasing fruits and veggies. In order to help keep us on track, each Monday I'll share our menu plan with you - and hopefully help give you some new ideas too!

Breakfast: Can choose (and/or mix and match) any of the following:
Whole wheat English muffins
Fresh fruit smoothies (includes yogurt and protein powder)
Yogurt
Whole wheat pancakes or waffles with strawberries
Applesauce

Dinner:
Disneyland Chicken (you can find the recipe here)
Bean & Cheese Tostadas
Stir Fry
Boneless Honey BBQ Wings (that recipe is here)
Homemade Pizza
Turkey & Cheese Sub Sandwiches

Lunches typically end up being leftover from the previous night's dinner. Snacks will include applesauce, yogurt, homemade zucchini bread and other fresh fruit. For our weekend treat, I will probably make homemade pumpkin chocolate chip muffins or cookies.

What are your favorite healthy meals?