LEMON & HERB CHICKEN WITH A FETA-AVO SALAD

Hey guys!!!
I'll keep this one short and simple.
I made some chicken last night. Was craving a healthy meal so grilling was the only way to go.
I got some chicken, a lemon and some herbs and made this meal!













Ingredients:- [serves 3]

3 Chicken thighs and 3 drumsticks
Half a pack macarroni
Half a bag mixed salad
Ranch dressing
2 avocados
1 pack feta cheese
Salt to taste
3 cloves garlic
4 sticks Fresh thyme
Black pepper
Half a lemon

I started by boiling the water for the pasta. Once it was at a boil, I added the macaroni and cooked it for about 7 minutes. I made sure not to overcook the pasta because it would make the salad mushy. Once the pasta was cooked I drained the hot water out and used cold water to cool the pasta and stop the cooking process. I put it aside thereafter.

I followed by heating my oven to 180 degrees.

I then peeled the skin off my chicken, chopped and added the garlic and squeezed half a lemon over it. 

I also mixed it some thyme leaves by running my fingers through the stick from top to bottom. I then seasoned with black pepper, a dash of salt and some vegetable oil. *You can leave to marinate for half an hr if not overnight. You can also use a whole lemon for a more tangy taste*

I then put my chicken on a foil paper and wrapped it well and popped it into the oven.

After about 15 minutes I got the chicken out and unwrapped it, still leaving it in the foil but open at the top.

At this point it was half-cooked and very moist but I didn't want it to get too runny so I opened it up to have that slight crunch on the outside.

It cooked for another 15 minutes, over which I made sure to turn the chicken to brown evenly on all the sides.

Once the chicken was done, I removed it from the oven and mixed my salad.

 I used a large bowl. I washed and dried the mixed salad and mixed it with the pasta, feta and avocado cubes. I then topped it off with ranch dressing and some salt to taste.

And vuala, dinner was ready.
Simple, healthy and tasty.
The lemon and thyme works so well together. Its a subtle but aromatic flavor that goes really well with the feta-avo salad. You can use another dressing if you are conscious about the calories in the ranch dressing.

Enjoy.
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Jaz.

BBQ ribs with plantain & salad with homemade dressing

Hey guys!
Hope you're having a blessed week.
Now tell me who doesn't love some spare ribs done with a barbecue sauce. Yumm!!  I had been planning to make them for the longest time ever* well two weeks felt like forever!* I always loved barbecue sauces and I finally got the chance to make one myself.
On top of that I opted to make a salsa dressing since I forgot to buy one for the salad. It came out even better than I had expected, which was to my surprise seeing I hadn't tried this out in yrs. I guess recipes are timeless!!! :-) :-)

So this recipe serves up to 6-8 pple.

Ingredients:-                                                    

1 kg spare ribs
Plantain
1 pack mixed bag of lettuce
4 cloves garlic
5 tomatoes
Ketchup
Dark brown sugar
Worcestershire sauce
Dark soy sauce
Apple cider vingegar
Cayenne pepper
Black pepper
Mayonnaise
Half an orange
1 pack tomato paste
Vegetable oil

Method:
I started of by making the tomato purée for the barbecue sauce. I didn't want to buy any of that in a can cause everything tastes so much better when it is homemade. I washed my tomatoes and put them in a sufuria filled with water and left them to boil for about 10 min or until the peels started falling off. After that I poured out the hot water and started peeling them carefully. *you can leave them in a bowl of cold water to cool for about 2min* Also remember to cut the top hard part off.

I then placed the peeled tomatoes in a blender and blended them for 1 min straight.

In another sufuria I started mixing my ingredients for the barbecue sauce which included 1 cup dark brown sugar * not mumias because it isn't as dark*, half a cup of apple cider, quarter cup dark soy sauce, half a cup Worcestershire sauce, 1table spoon cayenne pepper, half a packet tomato paste and 1cup ketchup. I then put my sufuria on the stove and stirred it continuously as it heated up. Do this for about 5 min or until the sauce thickens and darkens into a smooth dark brown sauce.

Once it is done, put it aside for about another 10 min to cool and then mix half of the sauce over the clean spare ribs and refrigerate for half an hr to marinate.  You can also opt to do this the night before for the meat to marinate well.

[My friend Sheila helping me with cleaning and cutting up the ribs]

As the meat marinated, I placed a cooking pan with oil on the hot stove, peeled my plantain and cut it up for frying.  This takes a very short while if you buy the ripe plantain bananas. Fry them until they begin to brown on the outside. Once they are cooked, place them in a bowl over kitchen tissues/serviettes to drain out the oil.

   [ION: These were the biggest plantains I have seen]

After 20-30 min are up, remove from fridge and prepare another sufuria by cooking some chopped up garlic. Once the garlic is cooked, add marinated ribs and cover. Leave them to cook for about 10-12 minutes and make sure you stir it occasionally to prevent them from sticking in the bottom of the sufuria.

Heat oven to 180 degrees. Once ribs are cooked, place on a baking tray and cover with the remaining barbecue sauce. Place them in the middle of the oven to make sure heat-temperature is moderate. Grill them until they start sizzling which takes about 5 min.

Wash bag of salad and drain out the water. In a small bowl or cup mix 5 tablespoons mayonnaise, 4 tablespoons ketchup, a dash of black pepper, and half an orange until dressing is smooth and tasty. You can mix Tabasco or abit of chilli to spice it up.

 Serve over salad, with BBQ ribs and fried plantain.

If you have any BBQ sauce left you can pour some over the ribs.

Enjoy your meal!

P.s you can use this sauce on other meats such as chicken or beef. Try it and share it with a friend. Awaiting your feedback.