Honey Balsamic Chicken

This recipe is courtesy of Budget Bytes!

Another quick dinner recipe that is yummy and can go with all sorts of things! Toss some vegetables with the chicken, too, and it's doubly good (if you like vegetables; I don't).

Ingredients

2 medium chicken breasts

1/4 cup balsamic vinegar

1 clove garlic, minced

2 tbsp olive oil

salt and pepper to taste

1 tbsp butter

2 tbsp balsamic vinegar

3 tbsp honey

Directions

1. Slice the chicken into six diagonal strips. Place the strips in a ziplock bag with the 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar, garlic, 1 tbsp olive oil, and the salt and pepper. Mix the ingredients all together and let marinate in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.
2. Heat the remaining olive oil on a skillet over medium heat. Cook the strips until browned on both sides. Remove chicken onto a plate.
3. Turn the heat to low. Add the butter and remaining 2 tbsp balsamic vinegar. Stir everything up in the skillet. Add the honey, increase the heat, and let the sauce simmer until thick (approx. 5 minutes).
4. Add a pinch of salt and pepper, then add the chicken back into the skillet and toss until coated. Toss in vegetables for extra yummy and serve with rice!

Honey Mustard Salmon

This recipe is courtesy of Cooking Classy!

If you're looking for a really quick, easy, and yummy salmon dish, this one is perfect. It takes hardly any time and makes little mess.

Ingredients

2 salmon fillets, cut into 4 pieces

1 1/2 tbsp dijon mustard

1 1/2 tbsp honey

1 clove garlic, minced

3/4 cup Panko bread crumbs

1 tbsp chopped parsley

1 tsp lemon zest

2 tbsp olive oil

salt and freshly ground black pepper

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with greased aluminum foil.
2. In a small bowl, mix together the dijon mustard, honey, and garlic. In a shallow dish, mix together the Panko bread crumbs, parsley, and lemon zest. Add olive oil and toss to evenly coat the crumbs.
3. Brush the tops of your salmon with the honey mustard mixture. Then dip the coated salmon in the bread crumbs. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Repeat until all of the salmon fillets are coated.
4. Bake for 13-15 minutes. Serve with steamed asparagus and lemon wedges.

Italian Easter Bread

This recipe is courtesy of Grains of Earth!

I put myself in charge of Easter dinner this year because I had a ton of new recipes I wanted to try out! While everything turned out delicious, this Ukranian Easter bread was my pride and joy. It turned out so perfect. Yes, that is a whole duck egg in the middle. The great thing about this bread is you can make it for anything - just leave the egg out of the middle. It won't compromise the bread shape and you can save it for Easter, to make it special.

Ingredients

2 1/4 tsp yeast

1 1/2 cups milk

pinch of salt

1/3 cup salted butter

2 eggs

1/2 cup sugar

3 1/2 cups (approx.) flour

1 egg, beaten with 1 tsp water

6 eggs, dyed or not (your choice)

pearl sugar

Directions

1. In a small saucepan, warm the milk and butter together, just until the butter is melted.
2. In a large mixing bowl, combine yeast, salt, eggs and sugar. Add the warm (too hot and it will kill the yeast) milk mixture.
3. Add one cup of flour, mixing in between, until the dough is smooth and no longer sticky. You may end up using more than 3 1/2 cups of flour; that's fine.
4. Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and knead until smooth.
5. Placed in a greased, covered bowl, and let rise for 1 hour.
6. Punch dough down and divide into 12 pieces. Roll the pieces out into 1-inch thick ropes about 14 inches long. Taking two pieces, pinch ends together and braid, then form into a loop and pinch together.
7. Lining a baking sheet with greased aluminum foil, place braided circles on it.
8. Once you've braided all of your loops, cover the sheet and let rise for 1 hour.
9. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
10. When the circles are done rising, brush with the egg wash. Place a whole, raw egg in the middle of each circle. The egg will bake through in the oven. Sprinkle the circles with pearl sugar as generously as you like.
11. Bake for 20 minutes. Cool on a rack.
12. NOTE: because of the eggs in the middle, this bread does need to be stored in a refrigerator. If you don't put the eggs in the middle, store it like any other bread!