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Chicken is something I eat a lot of. I try to only eat red meat very rarely. Maybe only once or twice a month. The rest of the time I eat chicken, or fish, or no protein at all.
Chicken used to be a fairly cheap protein, at least in the UK. I have found it to be fairly expensive here in Canada, but not quite as expensive as beef, which is extortionate in price!
Having said that, it is not at all unusual to pay almost $10 for two boneless skinless chicken breasts, which to me seems like a lot of money. I do like to buy the free-from chicken, which means it is chicken which hasn't been fed anti-biotics.
Most of the time what I will do is buy whole chickens when they are on offer and then cut them into pieces at home myself. It is a well known fact that the more your food is handled at the store, the more expensive it will be.
So, buying whole chickens and cutting them into smaller portions yourself only makes sense.
Don't get me started on the cost of good fish. The local fish plant around the corner from me will sometimes have it on offer at $6 a pound, which is a steal, but you have to buy ten pounds of it.
The breast of the chicken is the healthiest part of the chicken to eat. Its a very lean source of protein and fits into many diets including the Mediterranean Diet, and is considered to be quite heart healthy.
It also lends itself to a variety of methods of cooking and flavors. It actually has a very benign flavor itself, which means that it adapts to other flavors very easily!
Unfortunately, as it is so lean, it also lends itself to being over-cooked very easily and therefore becoming dried out. There is nothing so unpalatable as an over cooked chicken breast!
This chicken recipe I am sharing with you today has been adapted from a site called BellyFull and promised to be moist and tender, being perfectly cooked and filled with loads of flavor. Fool proof and delicious was the promise.
I have to say it delivered on all counts. I did adapt it to make only two servings. With there only being myself in this house, I don't want to be eating chicken for four days on the trot. Two I can manage!
WHAT YOU NEED TO MAKE OVEN BAKED CHICKEN BREASTS
Simple ingredients really. You know me. I don't do complicated if I can help it! Simple and easy is my favorite way to go!
- 2 (6 ounce) boneless, skinless chicken breasts
- 3/4 TBS soft light brown sugar
- 1/2 tsp Italian seasoning
- 1/4 tsp fine sea salt
- 1/3 tsp smoked paprika
- 1/8 tsp black pepper
- 1/8 tsp garlic powder
- 1/2 TBS light olive oil
Italian seasoning is a specific mix of herbs, etc. meant to be used in Italian cookery. It is composed of a mix of basil, oregano and parsley, plus a few other bits. It is very easy to make your own. You can find my recipe for it here.
Other than that I used light olive oil because basically I think it is a waste to use Extra Virgin Olive oil in cooking. Save EVOO for recipes that you know its delicious flavor will be highlight in and not hidden!
HOW TO MAKE OVEN BAKED CHICKEN BREAST FOR TWO
Easy, easy, easy. Success is all in the timing!
Preheat the oven to 425*F/220*C. Line a small baking sheet with some aluminum foil and spritz lightly with some non-stick cooking spray.
Measure the brown sugar and all of the spices and herbs into a small bowl and combine well using your fingertips to break up any lumps of sugar if there are any and thoroughly combining everything.
Put the chicken pieces into a plastic bag and bash lightly with the side of a rolling pin to even out their thickness. They should be no more than 3/4 inch thick to enable even cooking.
Place the chicken on the baking sheet. Drizzle with the oil and then massage it into the chicken on both sides. Sprinkle with the herb seasoning, again on both sides, coating as much surface area as possible.
Cook in the preheated oven for 18 minutes. The inside temperature should reach 162*F/72*C. It will increase to 165*F/74*C as it sits and rests.
Leave to rest for five minutes before slicing and serving. This helps the chicken to reabsorb any juices.
Serve hot with your favorite sides. I served mine with brown rice and a frozen broccoli cauliflower mix!
This really turned out tender and moist and yes, perfectly cooked. Timings really are just suggestions however. If your breasts are really large, you may need a bit longer and if they are quite small, then it may finish cooking sooner.
This was delicious. I have enjoyed one piece of chicken on the day and will enjoy the other piece turned into fried rice or as a tasty sandwich. You really can't go wrong!
Some other Chicken Breast recipes which you might enjoy are:
CRISPY CHICKEN BREASTS WITH A HONEY GARLIC SAUCE - Perfectly cooked with a deliciously spicy coating and served with a lush sauce that is the perfect balance of hot, sweet, salty and garlicky.
PARMESAN CHICKEN BREASTS WITH CRISPY PROSCUITTO - Fabulously tasty.
Moist and tender chicken underneath a crust of crisp Prosciutto ham and meltingly tasty Parmesan cheese. The perfect blend of savory and salty. What's not to like?
Yield: 2
Oven Baked Chicken Breast
Prep time: 5 MinCook time: 18 MinTotal time: 23 Min
Chicken breasts are coated in a simple seasoning mix filled with complex flavors and then cooked to tender and moist perfection.
Ingredients
- 2 (6 ounce) boneless, skinless chicken breasts
- 3/4 TBS soft light brown sugar
- 1/2 tsp Italian seasoning
- 1/4 tsp fine sea salt
- 1/3 tsp smoked paprika
- 1/8 tsp black pepper
- 1/8 tsp garlic powder
- 1/2 TBS light olive oil
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 425*F/220*C. Line a small baking sheet with some aluminum foil and spritz lightly with some non-stick cooking spray.
- Measure the brown sugar and all of the spices and herbs into a small bowl and combine well using your fingertips to break up any lumps of sugar if there are any and thoroughly combining everything.
- Put the chicken pieces into a plastic bag and bash lightly with the side of a rolling pin to even out their thickness. They should be no more than 3/4 inch thick to enable even cooking.
- Place the chicken on the baking sheet. Drizzle with the oil and then massage it into the chicken on both sides. Sprinkle with the herb seasoning, again on both sides, coating as much surface area as possible.
- Cook in the preheated oven for 18 minutes. The inside temperature should reach 162*F/72*C. It will increase to 165*F/74*C as it sits and rests.
- Leave to rest for five minutes before slicing and serving. This helps the chicken to reabsorb any juices.
- Serve hot with your favorite sides.
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I was going to go shopping this morning, but it started snowing and I decided to stay home. The roads are very clear, but not having driven in snowy weather for the better part of the last 23 years, I thought I just wasn't willing to chance it!
So I took a boo into my store cupboard and freezer to see what I had to make myself a meal from. I had some potatoes that had seen better days, but were still good for making mashed potatoes. I had a package of Cube steaks in the freezer, an onion in my cupboard and so I was good to go!
Cube Steak, which is also known as Cubed Steak or Minute Steaks. They are typically made from round steak, which has been cut into thin, smaller portions and then put through a tenderizing machine. The tenderizing machine gives them a rough texture covered with little indentations.
You can also often find pork steaks which have been tenderized in the same way.
They are less expensive than other cuts of meat, which is something that makes them quite welcome these days when we are all watching our pennies, and trying to make our grocery dollar/pound go as far as we can. They are a great way of being able to enjoy a piece of steak without breaking the bank! You can find out more about cube steak here.
I buy mine at Sobey's grocery store. Foodland and Safeway are stores which are associated with Sobey's. They don't always have it so when I see it I always buy a couple of packages (they usually come in packs of two) and then I wrap it tightly at home and freeze it for sometime in the future when I want a cheap steak dinner!
You can also make your own cube/minute steaks very easily. Just buy a piece of round steak, and then pound it with a meat pounder or a serrated knife. Just take care not to cut it all the way through. You only want indentations about 1/8 of an inch into the steak.
They lend themselves to either long slow cooking, or quick flash frying. They are beautiful cooked slowly in the crock pot with some mushroom soup. They are also great flash fried and used for a steak sandwich.
Today I decided to simply flash fry them and serve them with a tasty onion gravy. I was in a gravy kind of a mood. Especially where I had some potatoes I needed to use and knew would make great mashed potatoes. Steak, gravy and mashed potatoes. Food for the God's!
WHAT YOU NEED TO MAKE CUBE STEAK & ONION GRAVY
There is nothing complicated about this. Nothing at all. Simple ingredients done well. Quantities are given for two servings but can easily be multiplied to serve more if need be.
For the steak:
- 2 cube steaks (each one about 1/4 inch thick and approximately 4 inches by 5 inches in size)
- salt and black pepper to taste
- 1/4 tsp garlic powder (not salt)
- 1/4 tsp onion powder (not salt)
- plain all purpose flour to dust
- 1 TBS butter
For the gravy:
- 1 medium onion, peeled, halved and cut into half moons
- 1 TBS butter
- 1 TBS flour
- 1/2 cup milk (you may need a bit extra to thin the gravy as per your taste)
- 1/2 cup of beef stock
- 1/2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
- splash of hot sauce
- salt and black pepper to taste
You can of course use whatever herbs, etc. you wish to season the steak with. I like onion and garlic powders to use as a seasoning for beef and pork. Just make sure you use the powders not the salts. If you do happen to use salts, then you will not need any more salt for the recipe and do be judicious in its use.
There are many dried herbs which would work well with beef. Rosemary, oregano, tarragon and thyme immediately come to mind.
Any ordinary cooking onion will work well in the gravy. I used a medium sized one, but if you are really fond of onions you can use a larger one. I would not use a red onion as it wouldn't look nice in the gravy, but if you don't care what it looks like, then go right ahead!
For the beef stock I used Knorr Beef Bullion concentrate. I always keep some of that and the chicken one in my refrigerator. They are great for making up small amounts of stocks as needed, or for flavoring gravies, etc. They are concentrated and are easily re-constituted with water.
They also take up a lot less room than traditional cartons of constituted stock. When you live in a small place like I do where storage is at a premium things that don't take up much room just make sense.
HOW TO MAKE CUBE STEAK & ONION GRAVY
This really is quick and easy. So much so that you might want to have the other elements of your meal ready before you start cooking the steak.
First do the steaks. Preheat the oven to 200*F/90*C. Have a small dish ready to hold your steaks to keep them warm while you make the gravy.
Dust your steaks all over with the onion powder, garlic powder, salt and black pepper. Dust them with the flour patting it into help it adhere.
Melt the butter in a medium sized skillet over medium high heat. Once it begins to foam, add the steaks.
Cook until you just see a small amount of liquid collecting on top and then flip over. Fry briefly on the other side until golden brown. Remove to a small dish and pop into the oven to keep warm while you make the gravy.
Turn the burner heat down to medium low. Add the other TBS of butter. Once it melts add the onions. Cook, stirring frequently, until they have softened and begun to caramelize.
Add the flour to the skillet. Stir it into the onions.
Whisk in the stock and the milk. Cook stirring over medium heat until the gravy bubbles and thickens. Add the Worcestershire sauce and hot sauce and season with salt and black to taste. (I like lots of black pepper.)
Cook for several minutes to cook out any flour taste. If you think the gravy is too thick you can add a bit of milk to thin it.
Serve the steaks with some of the onion gravy spooned over top and your favorite sides.
Mashed potatoes are also very easy to make. I have to say that I really miss the packages of frozen mashed potatoes that you could buy in the UK. They were really good and to be honest it was cheaper to buy a bag of them than it was to make mash from scratch.
You could usually get a bag of mash for one pound at the shops. There was enough in the bag to feed four people generously.
Mashed potatoes frozen in pellets, ready to shake out into a casserole dish and heat up in the microwave. I used to dress them up with sour cream and spring onions sometimes. I really liked that you could shake out as little or as much as you wanted to use.
They also had very good frozen jacket potatoes over there that I used to buy. You could get packages of four larger ones, or packages of about six smaller ones. For seniors with smaller appetites the smaller ones worked out well.
They made for a very easy supper heated up with a can of baked beans spooned over top, or some tuna mayonnaise, or whatever you wanted on them really. A can of chili was especially nice heated and spooned over top, with some cheese scattered over top.
I don't know why they don't do the frozen mash or baked potatoes here in Canada. Pity that!
I enjoyed my steak and gravy today with some fluffy mashed potatoes, sweet corn and some sliced tomato. Someone brought a couple of big boxes of reject beefsteak tomatoes from the local nursery into church yesterday. I brought home a couple to use and they are lovely.
It was a really delicious dinner, and yes, I sat down and ate it while it was still hot, at my table. I had my favorite music playing in the background and it was lovely.
And now, I have to go and do the dishes! I have enough of everything leftover to make myself another meal tomorrow. Perfect!
I have one other cube steak recipe for two on here that is delicious. Pan Fried Steaks with Parsley Butter. Quick and easy, it also makes for a lovely dinner with mash and veg.
You could also use cube steaks to make Swiss Steak. This is something my mother used to make for us and that I also used to make for my family. It was a real favorite. Tender pieces of steak in a rich tomato gravy.
Yield: 2
Cube Steak & Onion Gravy
Prep time: 10 MinCook time: 15 MinTotal time: 25 Min
Tender juicy cube steaks, served with a lush beef and onion gravy. Quick, easy and delicious.
Ingredients
For the steak:
- 2 cube steaks (each one about 1/4 inch thick and approximately 4 inches by 5 inches in size)
- salt and black pepper to taste
- 1/4 tsp garlic powder (not salt)
- 1/4 tsp onion powder (not salt)
- plain all purpose flour to dust
- 1 TBS butter
For the gravy:
- 1 medium onion, peeled, halved and cut into half moons
- 1 TBS butter
- 1 TBS flour
- 1/2 cup milk (you may need a bit extra to thin the gravy as per your taste)
- 1/2 cup of beef stock
- 1/2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
- splash of hot sauce
- salt and black pepper to taste
Instructions
- First do the steaks. Preheat the oven to 200*F/90*C. Have a small dish ready to hold your steaks to keep them warm while you make the gravy.
- Dust your steaks all over with the onion powder, garlic powder, salt and black pepper. Dust them with the flour patting it into help it adhere.
- Melt the butter in a medium sized skillet over medium high heat. Once it begins to foam, add the steaks.
- Cook until you just see liquid collecting on top and then flip over. Fry briefly on the other side until golden brown. Remove to a small dish and pop into the oven to keep warm while you make the gravy.
- Turn the burner heat down to medium low. Add the other TBS of butter. Once it melts add the onions. Cook, stirring frequently, until they have softened and begun to caramelize.
- Add the flour to the skillet. Stir it into the onions.
- Whisk in the stock and the milk. Cook stirring over medium heat until the gravy bubbles and thickens. Add the Worcestershire sauce and hot sauce and season with salt and black to taste. (I like lots of black pepper.)
- Cook for several minutes to cook out any flour taste. If you think the gravy is too thick you can add a bit of milk to thin it.
- Serve the steaks with some of the onion gravy spooned over top and your favorite sides.
Thanks so much for visiting! Do come again!
Today I baked us another sheet pan recipe for our tea. Sheet Pan Macaroni and Cheese. It was a recipe that I had saved by Amanda Hesser on Food52. If you have never perused that site, I highly recommend you join it. It is a veritable cornucopia of delicious recipes and meal ideas.
As soon as I saw this recipe for Sheet Pan Mac and Cheese I bookmarked it as something I wanted to make. I love mac and cheese and I love sheet pan suppers. The idea that you could combine those two ideas was really appealing to me.
Macaroni and Cheese is one of my absolute favorite things to eat. I try not to have it very often because really, its quite high in fat and not that good for you, but every now and then I cannot help myself.
It is not something that my mother ever made for us when I was growing up. I am not sure why.
We did have macaroni, on occasion, but it was always served plain, mixed with tomatoes and ground beef as a sort of goulash. Never with cheese. The closest we ever came to mac and cheese was the occasional treat of the blue boxed mac and cheese. That was a very rare treat.
To be honest, I was rather fussy when it came to cheese when I was growing up. I didn't mind processed cheese, but I was too afraid to get stuck into "real" cheese. Mom would buy some cracker barrel at Christmas, but I could never be tempted to eat it.
It wasn't until I got married that I started to sometimes cook with "real" cheese and came to enjoy it. And, of course, when I moved over to the UK and got to taste really GOOD cheese, I fell in love with it.
I remember when I first moved to the UK, I would go to the Chester City Market to shop. They had all sorts of stalls in there. Meat/butchers, fish mongers, green grocers, bakers, and a beautiful cheese shop. They would sell sandwich sized bags of crumbled cheese ends for 50 pence. You never really knew what kind of cheese it was. It was just marked cheese.
It was a really good price really and I always picked up a few bags that I would then bring home and make us some mac and cheese, or cheese on toast or cheese filled omelets with. So good.
You can't live in a country that produces the best cheddar in the world and not fall in love with it! Then when I cooked at the Manor, I used to be responsible for putting together cheese trays to close their Dinner Parties with. You had to know what you were eating in order to put together a tasty tray.
I got to try and taste an abundance of different cheeses and really good cheeses to be honest. I really did fall in love with all sorts of cheese and have quite an experienced palate now. I love cheese.
One of the nicest ones I got to try was this one that their daughter's In-Laws had brought over from Germany. I think it was called Tete de Moine. It was a semi hard washed rind cheese and was secured on a board with a metal pole running up the centre of the cheese round which was attached to a cheese cutter handle. This tool was called a Girolle. It scraped around the surface of the cheese, paring it into thin rosettes, which greatly resembled carnation flowers. Very yummy.
That is not the cheese used for this very delicious Sheet Pan Mac and Cheese. For this you will want two strengths of a good cheddar cheese. And quite a lot of it. (Yes, it is very naughty!)
WHAT YOU NEED TO MAKE SHEET PAN MACARONI AND CHEESE
Other than a good sturdy sheet pan, basically only a very few ingredients.
- 1 TBS butter
- 12 ounces (3 cups/340g) extra sharp cheddar cheese, coarsely grated
- 12 ounces (3 cups/340g) sharp cheddar cheese, coarsely grated
- 4 cups (454g) elbow macaroni (or other small shape)
- 1/8 tsp cayenne pepper, plus more to garnish
- salt and black pepper to taste
- 2/3 cup (160ml) whole milk
Do try to get the best cheddar possible for this, both a strong and an extra strong (Old and Extra Old). You won't regret it. Also don't be tempted to use anything less than a whole milk for this recipe.
Whole milk will give you the rich result that you want. In for a penny in for a pound. You've got all that cheese, why quibble over full fat milk. This is not a recipe you want to be figuring out the calories and fat content of!
It is important that you use the right sized sheet pan for this. You want one where you can spread everything out in a nice thinnish layer so that you can get optimum surface crunch, with more of the macaroni and cheese being exposed to both the hot sheet pan and the hot oven.
If your pan is too small, your macaroni cheese won't get as crunchy. I don't know about you, but cheese crunch is one of my favorite things!
HOW TO MAKE SHEET PAN MACARONI AND CHEESE
I was amazed at how very easy this was to make. The hardest part is grating all the cheese!
Preheat the oven to 475*F/246*C/ gas mark 4. Using the TBS of butter, generously grease a rimmed sheet pan that measures 11-inches (28cm) by 17-inches (44 cm). Set aside.
Cook your macaroni according to the package directions, knocking 2 minutes off the cook time. Drain well, rinse, drain again. Pour the macaroni into a bowl.
Grate your cheeses and combine. Remove 2 heaped cups (2 1/4 cups/260g) and reserve. Toss the remainder into the bowl with the macaroni. Add salt, pepper and the cayenne pepper, again tossing to combine.
Spread the macaroni mixture into the baking sheet, spreading it out evenly. Pour the milk evenly over the surface. Sprinkle the reserved cheese evenly over top.
Sprinkle on some additional cayenne pepper if desired.
Bake for 15 minutes, uncovered, until golden brown and crisp in areas. Serve hot.
If you are looking for crisp, cheesy decadence, you really can't go wrong with this recipe. Its deliciously indulgent, with a lovely amount of crunchy bits, both on the bottom and the top.
Rich. Rich. Rich.
You probably don't want to know the fat and calorie content. I sent a goodly part of this home with my sister. It was really delicious and I didn't think I could be trusted not to do myself some serious harm with it in the house!
This makes a wonderful, once in a blue moon treat!
If you are looking for something not quite so indulgent, might I suggest the following:
SKINNY MAC & CHEESE - Lower in fat and calories, high in fiber and protein, but not compromised in flavor in any way. If you are wanting to indulge in Mac and Cheese without going over the top, this could be your Mac and Cheese. Its really very good.
BROCCOLI & CAULIFLOWER MAC & CHEESE - This is a delicious way to indulge your need for mac and cheese and at the same time get in two of your five a day. There is roughly half as much vegetables in this as there is macaroni, which helps to cut back on the carbs. This really is delicious and is one of my favorites!
Yield: 6
Sheet Pan Mac & Cheese
Prep time: 15 MinCook time: 15 MinTotal time: 30 Min
All I can say is oh my goodness! This is the cheesiest. Decadent.
Ingredients
- 1 TBS butter
- 12 ounces (3 cups/340g) extra sharp cheddar cheese, coarsely grated
- 12 ounces (3 cups/340g) sharp cheddar cheese, coarsely grated
- 4 cups (454g) elbow macaroni (or other small shape)
- 1/8 tsp cayenne pepper, plus more to garnish
- salt and black pepper to taste
- 2/3 cup (160ml) whole milk
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 475*F/246*C/ gas mark 4. Using the TBS of butter, generously grease a rimmed sheet pan that measures 11-inches (28cm) by 17-inches (44 cm). Set aside.
- Cook your macaroni according to the package directions, knocking 2 minutes off the cook time. Drain well, rinse, drain again. Pour the macaroni into a bowl.
- Grate your cheeses and combine. Remove 2 heaped cups (2 1/4 cups/260g) and reserve. Toss the remainder into the bowl with the macaroni. Add salt, pepper and the cayenne pepper, again tossing to combine.
- Spread the macaroni mixture into the baking sheet, spreading it out evenly. Pour the milk evenly over the surface. Sprinkle the reserved cheese evenly over top.
- Sprinkle on some additional cayenne pepper if desired.
- Bake for 15 minutes, uncovered, until golden brown and crisp in areas. Serve hot.
Thanks so much for visiting! Do come again!
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