Hi Everyone,
One more day closer to Friday! Woohoo!! Anyone have any plans for Cinco de Mayo? Not me, but I do plan on making some Mexican dishes and maybe a skinny margarita. After all it’s a holiday!
Remember when I made my Chinese Chicken Salad with Sesame Dressing? I told you I would post the recipe to the chicken I used. I’ve made this chicken about 3 times in the past month trying to get a decent photo of the chicken, but the photos never turned out, so now I got some ok photos, so I thought now would be the perfect time to share it with you!
This is probably one of the best chicken marinades I have ever made! The chicken is so tender and moist that you don’t even need a knife to cut it. It has quickly become a family favorite!
This is a very simple recipe too! All it is balsamic vinegar, Dijon mustard, garlic and thyme. Pretty simple ingredients. I marinated my chicken for about 4 hours, than popped it on the grill. It smells amazing on the grill too! I just love the smell of barbecue.
The chicken was perfect in my Chinese Chicken Salad. The flavors combined together took my salad up another notch!! I think this could be one of the reasons why my Husband loved it!
- 16 oz Chicken Breast, skinless, boneless
- 3 Tbsp. Dijon Mustard
- 3 Tbsp. Balsamic Vinegar
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 tsp. thyme, fresh or ½ tsp. dried
- Place chicken in a resealable plastic bag, take the air out and use a rolling pin to slightly flatten the chicken, be careful not to break the bag.
- For marinade, in a small bowl add dijon mustard, balsamic vinegar, garlic and thyme and mix until smooth. Pour over chicken. Re-seal the bag and refrigerate for 4 to 24 hours, turning the bag occasionally.
- Drain chicken and reserve the marinade. Grill chicken over medium heat for about 7 minutes, occasionally brushing with marinade. Turn chicken over and brush again with marinade. Grill for 5 - 8 minutes or until chicken is no longer pink.
I do really love this chicken! Like I said before I honestly think it’s one of my best chicken dishes yet and unbelievably simple. This would be perfect to put together before going to work. Then when you get home, all you have to do is grill or even bake it.
I have had a few comments from people wishing me luck and wondering how I was doing on my 3 – 5 day detox, so I thought I would fill you in on how the progress is going. Today I am on day 3, and so far so good. Monday and Tuesday I was exhausted, and from what you may have read from my post on Tuesday I had a headache from no coffee. I broke down and got a Starbucks Ice Coffee and my headache went away. Otherwise I have pretty much stuck to the program and I lost 2lbs in two days! Woohoo!! Thats without exercising. I just didn’t have it in me, I was soooooo tired, I was lucky I could do anything.
Today, on day 3 I feel so much better. I was getting tired this morning so I went to Starbucks and got a Trenta Ice Green Tea with no sugar no milk, just plain! Thats satisfied my caffeine fix and it gave me energy. Enough energy that I did my exercises today and I don’t feel tired! When I went to Starbucks, they were getting ready to make my usual ice coffee, when I told them I changed and went to green tea. They asked why and I told them I’m detoxing. You know what they told me. Coffee makes you bloat and they said so many people come in here and tell me how much weight they gained from drinking coffee, yet they don’t stop. Coffee alone only has like 2 calories a cup, it’s the bloating part and the additional sugar and milk that is put in it that makes you gain weight. Eck!!! So I am going to limit myself to one cup where I can enjoy it! Thats all!! I think it’s more habit than anything.
I’ve been tracking my calories on this detox and I am still eating 1500 or so a day, making my carbs, protein and fiber stats. I haven’t really craved bread which is amazing! But I was craving carbs yesterday, so I made quinoa, and you know what? It was the first time I made it and I liked it!! The recipe will be coming on Saturday.
So what do I eat? This is my typical day:
- 4:00am: 1 cup hot water with juice of 1/2 a lemon and 1 hard boiled egg white (weird I know)
- 7:30am breakfast: 1/3 cup Coaches Oats made with water topped with Strawberries, Blackberries and Blueberries
- 10am snack: Cut veggies dipped in a yogurt dip I made
- 12:00pm lunch: Mixed vegetable Salad with 2 oz grilled chicken and 1 tbsp. fat free balsamic dressing
- 3:00pm snack time: 1/2 cup greek yogurt with berries and 1/2 tbsp. peanut butter
- 5:00pm dinner time: 4 oz chicken, 1 cup quinoa or vegetables (any kind, like a sweet potato) and a side salad
- 6:00pm evening snack/dessert: smoothie with frozen banana, berries, coconut milk and yogurt
I have been filled, and I feel good! This was pretty easy except for my coffee part and trying to drink 16 cups of water. I haven’t made that goal, Monday was 12 cups, Tuesday 10 cups, and today 12 cups so far.
I’m going to go for day 4 tomorrow to see how I do, but I’m having my breakfast parfait jar for my breakfast, since I can eat everything in it! 🙂
Well thats it for my detox so far! I learned I should drink way more water, less coffee, more veggies! I’m still going to eat my bread and other goodies, but I plan on limiting them. Like I said I believe you can have anything in moderation!
Well my friends that it for me!! I’m off to have my dinner tonight, which is grilled chicken in a lime and jalapeno marinade. First time making it, if it turns out, I’ll share the recipe with you!
Have a wonderful day!!!
Classic Macaroni Salad
Strawberry Chicken Salad
Chicken Noodle Soup
Chicken and Apple Panzanella Salad
So glad to hear the detox is going well! My parents are overdue for a new (and improved) grilled chicken marinade so I’m definitely sending this along to them!
I wouldn’t say that coffee makes me bloat…it’s more like drinking two cups of ANYTHING makes my stomach feel full for a bit. And I’m strangely okay with that…I just love it so much!
I’ve made honey mustard chicken before, but I really love the idea of adding balsamic.
I am so excited for Saturday! It’s my nephew’s birthday party and we’re having margaritas and a bunch of Mexican treats. Including your wonton tacos 🙂 Kudos on keeping up with the detox! I don’t know if I could do that. I drink wayyyy too much coffee. I would probably get a pounding headache and pass out from exhaustion. It’d probably be a great thing to do for my body though…
This chicken sounds amazing! I love balsamic vinegar, will try this marinade soon! I wish I had the will power to do a detox. I just have to make small steps, but it would be nice to get a jumpstart.
Looks fantastic!
I am always interested to see what people have to say about detoxing – I’ve never done a detox myself, but I am very tempted. Just need to find the right one!
I’m not doing anything special for Cinco de Mayo either. But I love the looks of that salad! Have a great weekend!
The chicken looks terrific….every pic! As for the detox. I was afraid you were doing one of those vinegar, lemon juice, cayenne (only) things. I must have missed an important paragraph! The food you’re making sounds delicious and healthy and I’m glad you’re feeling better!
Thanks for the concern Ann. I could never do a detox that didn’t include eating! lol Basically I eat everything I did before, but cut WAY back on coffee from 6 cups a day to 1 and I drink more water. I guess I now know why they say water is so important for a healthy body.
Do you think this would turn out in the crock pot?
Hmmm, good question! I would say yes, what I would do is spray your crockpot with cooking spray, add the chicken. Than I would add a little bit of chicken broth, maybe 1 or two cups, so the chicken doesn’t dry out and it leaves your chicken moist, than I would add the rest of the ingredients in the recipe. I would think it would turn out and it would be tasty.