10 CHICKEN MARINADES + HOW TO STOCK YOUR FREEZER LIKE A BOSS

              

                                 

               

                                 

Theres nothing like fresh food. 

There’s also nothing like a day where you ran a million errands, got a flat tire that took an hour to fix, received a phone call that you left your credit card in one fo the stores you went into on your million errand run so you have to go back to said store and sit in the random 2:00 pm traffic again, to finally get home and remember that the little people who co-inhabit your home will somehow need to be fed. 

These are precisely the times having premarinated chicken in your freezer saves the day. 

Is it really so hard to throw some sauce on chicken and stick it in the oven?

No. It’s not. 

But, when you have so many other thing goings on, whether its a full work schedule, a busy week of holiday preparations or just a regular Wednesday (why are Wednesdays always so crazy?), it’s nice to know you can have a yummy home made meal with out getting a single dish dirty!

That’s right. You prep all these chicken when they’re fresh, freeze them in the marinade and then all you have to do is cook em up! It could not be simpler. 

Well, I guess you actually could cook them first then freeze them, but really, I don’t recommend that. There something about cooked frozen chicken that just isn’t right. Maybe it’s the texture, Maybe its in the reheating process, whatever it is, it’s just not ideal. Sticking something in the oven , when everything is already chopped, mixed and cleaned is so easy that  why not cook it fresh. Also, then its fresh. And hot out of the oven chicken, is always a crowd pleaser. 

So, I’ve put together 10 different recipes for you, together in one place, just to maker your life easier. I figure with ten recipes theres definitely a few out there for each of you. This way you could take 1 hour (yup, you can marinade all ten of these in less than hour)on a Sunday and be set for the next month!

A note about freezing:

I like to freeze these in ziplock bags. I squeeze out as much air as possible from the bags and somehow I think this helps the marinade really penetrate the chicken and and a whole extra burst of flavor. I also like to lay the ziplock bags flat into a 9×13 pan in the freeze sxo that during the freezer process if theres any drips I can just throw out the pan. Once all the chicken is frozen I remove the pan and stand my ziplock up vertically. This way I can always see what I have, its easy to take out and takes up way less space in the freezer to save room for things that are really important. Like ice cream. 

Also, please not that you can change up the cuts of chicken I use to reflect cuts that your family likes. 

Hope this helps you all this holiday season and all your long!

Happy freezer stocking!

✌🏻💜&🥕,

Danielle

  1. For the printable Apricot Soy Chicken marinade recipe click here
  2. For the printable Sticky Buffalo Bbq Chicken marinade recipe click here
  3. For the printable Moroccan-ish Olive Chicken marinade recipe click here
  4. For the printable Caesar Chicken marinade recipe click here
  5. For the printable Scallion Lime Chicken Cutlet marinade recipe click here
  6. For the printable Harissa Lemon Olive Chicken  marinade recipe click here
  7. For the printable Fig and Balsamic Chicken marinaderecipe click here
  8. For the printable Lemon Herb Chicken marinade recipe click here
  9. For the printable Pomegranate Teriyaki Chicken marinade recipe click here
  10. For the printable Chili Garlic Chicken marinade recipe click here

 

 

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VERY SAVORY DRY RUB BRISKET

I love a good piece of meat. Lately I’ve been especially liking my meat to have as much meaty flavor, texture and scent as possible. That means no more over sweetened pulled beef, sweet ribs or sweet anything for that matter. I want a piece of uber savory meat that I can sink my teeth into. 

That is what this brisket is all about. It’s a dry rub with no sugar, that is balanced out by the addition of wine to add a layered of sweetness that is perfectly balanced with the natural acidities that wine posses. 

Since these holidays are crazy, I’ve been trying to cut out as many cooking steps as humanly possible. So, for this brisket (or deckle), I skipped the searing and just started it off in the oven uncovered to help create a nice crust. 

It’s easy to make, uses simple ingredients and tastes extremely savory and satisfying!

For the printable Very Savory Dry Rub Brisket recipe click here

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THE ANTI-HONEY CAKE aka GOLDEN LEMON HONEY CAKE

I do not like hone cake and I am not sorry. I just don’t think they ever taste good. The truth is I like honey in the right amounts and when used in the right way but a bunch of honey mixed with some eggs and flours is just not what I want to eat at the end of a big meal. 

I want something light, and moist with just the right amount of sweetness. In fact, my favorite way too end a big meal is with a giant bowl-mug of steaming hot water mixed with a fresh piece of turmeric, ginger, a squeeze of lemon and a drop of honey. 

So thats what I did here. I put all those ingredients (minus the ginger because I did not want a spice cake) into cake form. 

If your looking for a proper traditional honey cake for the holidays, keep clicking. Because this is not that. If you do not like honey cake though but would like a cake that has a decent amount t of honey in it so you can be “yotzei” with the tradition of honey cake like me then DEFINITELY make this!

Aright no time to really sit and chat because the girls are still home so I gotta run and give baths. 

Happy cooking all!

For the printable Golden Lemon Honey Cake recipe click here

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5 EASY MARINADES, 1 HOUR – stock your freezer with 5 premartinated proteins in no time! PART 2

                            

 

Part 2 of stocking your freezer does not just come with 2 simple meat recipes. It comes with an added bonus of an extremely time appropriate salad for you to serve the brick roast with. 

Why did I that? Because you all rock!

The truth is that I felt like when you buy a brick roast and have it butterflied you walk away with 2 pieces of meat. I wanted you to be able to serviette meat once on its own, because it’s that good and then once again in a different, dressed up, still exciting way. 

These holidays are all about food and having repetitive meals is a huge no-no for me. Of course there are always a few staple like chicken soup, schnitzel and potato kugel, but everything else has got to be original or I’m basically just forcing myself to eat!

So here you go. Today’s recipes are:

  • Easy Korean Ribs
  • Butterflied Brick Roast
  • Steak Salad with Pomegranate Vinaigrette + Chimmichurri

If you followed the this post and the last post you should now have 6 perfectly marinaded cuts of meat that just need to be simply thrown into an oven or on a grill! All you have left to do is, well, everything else. But at least the meat is off your head! 

For the printable Easy Korean Ribs click here

For the printable Butterflied Brick Roast click here

For the printable Steak Salad with Pomegranate Vinaigrette + Chimmichurri  click here

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5 EASY MARINADES, 1 HOUR – stock your freezer with 5 premartinated proteins in no time! PART 1

 

“Stocking your freezer is easy to do. Stocking your freezer the RIGHT WAY, is an art form.” -Me

Ok, so thats not a deeply profound quote that I suspect anyone will ever repeat, but I don’t think it’s a super important and helpful tip for the upcoming holiday season!

It’s super imoprtant to know what to freeze and what not to freezer. Especially when it come to protein. Don’t freeze a cooked steak. It will not be delicious. No matter how you freeze it, or how you defrost it. Do not freeze a cooked standing rib roast. I know there are some who do, but I’m against it. A giant hunk of meat, not covered in sauce, will take for ever to defrost and by the time it does the meat will have a weird freezer-y (yup, its a word) taste!

Here’s what you should freeze:

  • Raw proteins that are pre-marinaded. 

Why? Because in this situation the freezing will actually enhance the quality of the meat. The marinade will penetrate the protein in a much more flavor inducing way and all you have to do when you want to eat is defrost and follow the cooking instructions!

  • Proteins that are braised. 

Why? Something about the liquids it cooks in keeps the meats very soft and very tender even after defrosting and reheating. There sone key rule to braising though. The protein must NOT be removed from the cooking liquids until it has completely cooled. That means no touching. At all! The eat will completely dry out. During the cooling process the meat will reabsorb a lot of those cooking juices and if you take it out it won’t have any juicy goodness to soak up.

  • Cakes and cookies!

Why? No idea but they freeze and defrost beautifully. I actually find that some cakes taste better after they’ve defrosted from the freezer. My only rule with freezing baked goods is that they must be left whole. No cutting a cake in half. Sorry! Wrap the baked goods in a few layers of saran wrap and then foil to keep them safely away from any possible freezer burn. 

For part 1 of these5 easy marinades I’m giving you 3 recipes. 

   

Miso + Apricot Roasted Turkey Breast 

Garlic + Rosemary Lamb Shoulder

and

Duck Fat Roasted Breast Of Veal

All of these can be marinaded in minutes and cooked up fresh,  simply and easily!

HAPPY FREEZING EVERYONE!

For the Miso + Apricot Roasted Turkey Breast recipe, click here

For the Garlic + Rosemary Lamb Shoulder recipe, click here

For the Duck Fat Roasted Breast Of Veal recipe, click here

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SALMON BURGERS + CHIPOTLE LIME CREMA

Everything about this is write. The fish swap for beef. The citrusy but slightly smokey crema. The crunchy pickled onions. It actually screams summer. 

Make these for dinner, only double the recipe. Because the next day, when your digging your feet not the sand, breathing in the salty air, THIS is what you’ll be craving. 

Happy Summer Everyone!

✌🏻💜&🥕, 

Danielle

For the printable Salmon Burger recipe click here

For the printable Chipotle Lime Crema recipe click here

For the printable Sumac Pickled Onions recipe click here

 

 

 

 

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LEMON, MAPLE AND GARLIC ROAST CHICKEN

 

The flavors of this chicken are all I need in the summer. 

Super bright from the lemon, just a touch of sweetness to balance out the acidity and lots and lots of garlic because, well, chicken and garlic are best friends forever. 

I included a bunch of different variations based on different cuts of chickens you may have in your house so that you can easily make this today. Or tomorrow. Or today AND tomorrow. 

Wait, also, I’m going to include links to the chimmi-schug pesto recipe and techie recipe. Why? Just because. 

Happy Monday Everyone!

✌🏻💜&🥕,

Danielle

For the printable Lemon, Maple & Garlic Chicken click here

For the printable Chimmi-Schug Pesto click here

For the printable Techina recipe click here

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