Dijon Maple Chicken

Chicken.  Chicken. Chicken.  We eat a lot of chicken at my house.  Lately though, it has been getting a bit blah.  I want TASTE and ZIP and ZING! 

I am also a busy mom though, who doesn’t have time to get kids’ homework finished, fold the laundry, drive to swim team, AND make a fabulous new dish every freaking night of the week.

No I am not bitter…….just tired of food.  Food is such a pain in the ass. Buying it, putting it away, fixing it, cleaning it up, storing it, and loading & unloading the dishwasher……3x a day!  

Oh yeah, and then there is the planning and trying be healthy.  Gah!  I am so tired of food.  When I lamented my woes to my husband, his reply was, “But honey, you are keeping me alive.”

Okay, I guess food is good for something.  And now……back to chicken.

I found this recipe torn out of a magazine.  (I am not sure which one, but the article mentions a Trader Joe’s Cookbook.)  It was easy, and had ZINGtastik flavor.  The clean-up would have also been easy, if I would have remembered to non-stick spray the pan.

Dijon Maple Chicken
(The pictures are just so so.  Remember, I am tired.) 

Ingredients:

·        6 boneless skinless chicken thighs with the fat trimmed off

·        ½ cup Dijon mustard

·        ¼ cup maple syrup

·        1 Tablespoon white wine vinegar(I think white vinegar would do also)

·        Salt and pepper

Preheat your oven to 450 degrees.  Spray a baking dish with non-stick cooking spray.  Place chicken thighs in baking dish and sprinkle with salt and pepper.  In a small bowl, combine mustard, syrup, and vinegar.  Pour over the chicken thighs.  Turn the thighs in the dish so they get all saucy.  It should look like this...

Place the dish in the oven for 40 minutes, basting with the sauce after the first 20 minutes.  Remove chicken from oven and let it sit for a few minutes so it’s not boiling.  Baste the chicken with the sauce when serving.  Serve with rice or pasta and veggies.

The flavor of the chicken is more mustardy than maple-like…….savory and oh so tender.  Leftovers are great diced up and tossed into a salad.

Now go and non-stick-spray your baking dish so you don’t have to scrape it out the next morning, like I do.