One thing I really love about chicken breasts is their complete versatility and ability to take on other flavours easily.  They are like a blank canvas for  an abundance flavours, textures and ingredients . . .  so long as you don't dry them out.  Over-cooked, they are quite tasteless and not very pleasant to eat at all.

I've been to Buffalo, New York many times in my life time but I am sorry to say that I have never tried Buffalo Wings in Buffalo.  Shame that, because they are one of my favourite things ever.   The spiciness of that finger licking chicken . . .  and the wings are my favourite part of the chicken (naughty me)  . . . along with the cool creaminess of the blue cheese dressing . . . well, to me it's just the perfect combination.   A marriage made in heaven.  I have promised myself that if I ever have the chance to go to Buffalo again, I will indulge in some Buffalo Wings and at the place they are supposed to have originated from . . . The Anchor Bar.  Now that's one for the bucket list if ever there was one!

One of my favourite things to get when we are eating out is a Chicken Sandwich or Burger.   Yes, I know  . . .  we eat chicken all the time at home, and dollars to donuts I eat it again when we are out and about.  I am just a boring person I guess!  Chicken Sandwiches or Burgers can often be very high in fat and calories however and so today I created one which is delicious and a little bit healthier than normal, well certainly healthier than those breaded deep fried ones you get in the restaurants . . .  and not only that, but it is pretty economical as well.

 We eat a lot of chicken in this house and I am always on the search for new ways to prepare it, so that it never becomes boring.   Chicken is such a lovely protein in that it takes to other flavours very well and is so very adaptable.   I discovered what looked to be a very delicious recipe for a Chicken Pot Pie Crumble on Pinterest last week.  Chicken . . .  Check!  Pot Pie . . .  Check!!  Crumble . . .  Check !!!  The three together  . . .  well that just spells Winner Winner Chicken Dinner to me!

This recipe today is one of those store cupboard recipes that you can make up very easily when you have some meat leftover from a roast chicken or a roast turkey.  It uses things I normally always have in my cupboard.  Yes, as a North American I do keep mexican style ingredients at the ready.  I do love Tex-Mex food.

Well, it is day two of my Marmalade challenge and  what a delicious recipe I have to share with you today!  I was sent some delicious Marmalades to cook with earlier this month from the people at Mackays,  in honor of National Marmalade Week  (February 28th to March 6th) and asked would I like to try to create some new recipes using it.   I have risen to the challenge and this is the second recipe I created using their lovely marmalades.  For this one I used their old fashioned Dundee Marmalade, but I think any flavour would work well.

I saw this recipe on Food 52 and the idea of whole chicken pieces done in a gratinee really intriqued me.  It sounded fabulous and looked delicious.  I am a sucker for a Gratinee.  It sings to my heart every time.  I have had plenty of gratinee vegetables in  my time, and a few casseroles, but never whole pieces of chicken done this way!

Chicken with a Cheese and Ham Crust. Chicken with cheese and ham on top.  Not rolled. Just layered. Completely delicious.

 One of the things I love most about chicken is it's ability to go so very well with a lot of other flavours. It's just so very adaptable, and delicious.  The breast meat is of course a lot leaner, but also very easy to dry out . . .  the thighs and legs have a lot more flavour in the, and require longer cooking so that they are nice and tender, but it's no surprise that they actually have more flavour as they are the part of the chicken that gets the biggest workout!  (If you are not buying factory farmed chicken that is.  If you are, none of it will have much flavour)

I was  in  the grocery store on Saturday looking at the chickens. There are a lot of choices these days. In the bag, out of the bag, cut up, boneless and skinless, bone in skin on,  and even spatch cocked chicken for roasting,slathered in this that and the other.  Garlic butter, barbeque, spicy chili, etc.   Those already spatch cocked and seasoned birds cook in half the time of a whole bird, but they also cost roughly twice as much.  You are paying for the convenience I guess!

I had some leftover chicken which needed using up today and so I put it together with some bits and pieces and came up with a delicious casserole.  I know  . . . it uses tinned soup, but sometimes you just have to do what you have to do, and I will confess right now, I am not a tinned soup snob.  It has it's uses, and this is one of them.