Spicy Honey-Brushed Chicken & Cornbread

You'll have to excuse me for abandoning this blog for the past 10 days.  It should be inexcusable but I'd argue I had a very, VERY good reason - visitors! Specifically my parents and my sister who flew in for an almost-family reunion (sadly, we were missing a sister).  The visit was WONDERFUL! Such a great time and like all good visits, went by much too quickly.

Since I'm a such a planner, I had planned for their visit - options of what to do each day and the meals to make while they're here.  I had even prepped some of the meals before they came.  However, what I didn't plan for was AFTER the visit.  I dropped my sister off at the airport and realized I had neglected to plan what we'd eat for dinner for the next few days until I could get to the grocery store.  I managed to use up some meals from our freezer but Thursday night, I was stuck.  Luckily, I found this recipe for Spicy Honey-Brushed Chicken and had all the ingredients already in my kitchen. (I always buy lots of boneless, skinless chicken breast when it's on sale so I remove the fat, divide it into 3/4-lb. portions, wrap each portion in plastic and freeze them - it makes dinner a lot easier that way!) The meal was not only fast and easy to make but also delicious! Perfect for any weeknight meal.  

The cornbread went really well with this chicken recipe, too. I love cornbread, especially with honey (in fact, I even had one of my old coworkers keep honey in our office for when I had cornbread!). While I had tried a different recipe for our Thursday night meal, my dad's recipe is far superior so that's the one I've listed below.

Spicy Honey-Brushed Chicken

Taken from: Cooking Light

Serves 4

• 2  teaspoons  garlic powder
• 2  teaspoons  chili powder
• 1  teaspoon  salt
• 1  teaspoon  ground cumin
• 1  teaspoon  paprika
• 1/2  teaspoon  ground red pepper
• 1 lb. skinless, boneless chicken thighs (I used chicken breast because that's what I always have on hand)
• Cooking spray
• 6  tablespoons  honey
• 2  teaspoons  cider vinegar

-Preheat broiler and move rack to top shelf in the oven.
-Combine first 6 ingredients in a large bowl. Add chicken to bowl; toss to coat.
-Place chicken on a broiler pan or baking sheet coated with cooking spray. Broil chicken 5 minutes (try 3 minutes if using chicken breast) on each side.
-Combine honey and vinegar in a small bowl, stirring well. Remove chicken from oven; brush half the honey mixture on chicken. Broil 1 minute. Remove chicken from oven and turn over. Brush chicken with remaining honey mixture. Broil 1 additional minute or until chicken is done.

Cornbread

Taken from: my dad (and the Fannie Farmer cookbook)

Serves: 8

• 3/4 cup cornmeal
• 1 cup all-purpose flour (I've also used 1/2 cup all-purpose and 1/2 cup white whole wheat which produces a slightly denser but still delicious result)
• 1/3 cup + 2 tsp. sugar (I've cut this down to a scant 1/3 cup before for a slightly less sweet cornbread [since I cover mine with honey anyway])
• 3 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup milk (I use skim)
• 1 egg, well beaten
• 2 Tablespoons canola oil
• Optional: 3/4 cup of fresh corn kernels cut from the cob

-Preheat oven to 425. Spray a 8" square baking pan or muffin pan with cooking spray.
-In a large bowl, mix together the dry ingredients (cornmeal, flour, sugar, baking powder and salt).
-Add the milk, eggs and oil and blend well.  If using, fold in corn kernels.
-Spoon mixture into the pan or muffin tins.  Bake for about 20 minutes for baking pan and about 12-15 minutes for muffins (top will be slightly brown in spots and the cake should feel firm).
-Cool on baking rack (if using muffin tins, remove muffins immediately onto a baking rack).