Foodie Friday!!

Hello all!

Alright, as you may already know me and Megan from "from flab to fab" are going to be linking up to do Foodie Fridays every Friday. So what is Foodie Friday? It is the day where Megan and I share our delicious, clean recipes with you all. You can see Megan's Foodie Friday recipe HERE.
 Without  further ado, I hope you enjoy this week's recipe!

So what is the theme this week? Chicken! And, what better way to kick it off than with some kickin chicken marinades.I'm obsessed with marinades and rubs! They are amazingly versatile and with just a few tweaks, you can change a marinade to fit any occasion or any side dish. I thought that I would give you two of my favorite really easy marinades to try out where one is pretty set in stone and the other is a very basic marinade guideline for you to tweak and make it fit your specific tastes. Here we go!

Italian Chicken Marinade

This marinade is amazing, easy, versatile, and a life saver when you are in a time crunch.

As you can see I need to make some more. :) Yes, this is a dry mixture which is awesome because you can just make a bunch of it and just store it away in a tight container until you are ready to use it. Plus, it is made from ingredients that you probably already have in your cupboard. Awesome, right?! Okay, here is what you will need:

1 TBS garlic powder                                                                    1/4 tsp thyme

1 TBS onion powder                                                                    1 tsp basil

1 TBS white sugar (you can also use stevia for this)                       1 tsp parsley

2 TBS oregano                                                                             1/4 tsp celery salt  

1 tsp ground black pepper

Place all of your ingredients in your air tight container, close the lid, and shake to mix everything together. It's as easy as that! Here is what it looks like all mixed up:

Mmm. It smells amazing! When you are ready to use it this is what you need:

2 TBS of your dry mix

2 TBS water

1/4 cup white vinegar

2/3 cup olive oil (you can also use canola oil if you prefer it)

Whisk it all together and, Voila! Italian Marinade. This marinade will marinade 4-6 medium sized chicken breasts or 8-10 breast tenders. What's even better about this mix? It doubles as an Italian dressing! It is so light and fresh that it goes great over spinach or romaine. This mixture could also, in theory, be used as a rub for grilled chicken as a dry mixture. I haven't tried this yet, but if you wish to try go ahead and leave me a comment about how it turns out. :)

Ok, next!

Basic Kickin' Chicken Marinade

This one is amazing because it works with just about any person's tastes. The ingredients are interchangeable and leave room for your own exploration and creativity. What does this mean? I'll show you...here is your recipe:

1-2 TBS vinegar

2-3 TBS Mrs. Dash (any kind, or you can use dried herbs of your choosing)

1-2 TBS mustard

1-2 tsp garlic or onion powder (this is totally optional)

1/4 olive oil

Sea salt and Ground pepper to taste

So now you can see what I meant by basic. This recipe is great because whenever I'm feeling bored with food and want to change it up, I can just use this guide to create my own flavor according to what I'm craving. For example, here are some options I like:

Depending on what flavor you want, you could use any one of these. If you have more in mind, go ahead and try them or leave me a comment telling me what kind I missed. For a smokey flavor, try malt vinegar. For a crisp flavor try apple cider or red wine vinegar. I have also tried sparkling white and red wines instead of vinegar. Yummm.

I personally love using Dijon or Honey Dijon mustard in this marinade, but there are endless options for what mustard to use. 

I don't have them pictured, but the people who make the original Mrs. Dash also have other Mrs. Dash spice combinations. Other than the original, I enjoy the Caribbean Mrs. Dash blend and the Tomato Basil Mrs.Dash blend. 

As soon as you decide what flavor combination to try, put all your ingredients in a big plastic bag, seal it, and shake to mix everything. Add your chicken, seal, and shake again to coat all the meat. Then let your bag sit for roughly 3 hours or longer if you wish. Because of the mustard and vinegar, you can also freeze this marinade for 2 weeks! Just thaw when you need it. :) This marinade is also good for 4-6 chicken breasts or 8-10 strips.

I know this was long, but hopefully now you have some inspiration to go cook a chicken masterpiece of your own! If you try any flavor combinations, I didn't mention or have not tried, leave me a comment about them and I will try it out. Also, if you liked these recipes and want to see more marinades, dressings, or packaged spice mixes made from scratch, let me know what you want to see and I will attempt to recreate your store bought must-haves with a clean twist.

Thank you guys for reading!

buh bye!

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