Last night’s dinner was inspired by a couple of recipes that I had seen posted recently. Coconut Cilantro Chicken Drummies by Maya Nahra, RD, LD and green beans inspired by Jane Maynard’s post on Makes and Takes “My Favorite Way to Cook Vegetables”. I served both of these up with a little brown rice.
Maya had mentioned that organic free-range chicken is very affordable in cuts other than the boneless skinless chicken breast. I found two packages of legs for about $6.50.
I modified the recipe to use the maple/agave blend I had on hand (instead of agave nectar). I also omitted the cayenne so that the chicken wouldn’t be too spicy for the kids. The adults sprinkled some Vulcan’s Fire Salt on top at the table and that gave it some nice spice.
Maya had cooked her chicken on the grill, I stuck ours in the oven at 350 for 40 minutes. Then I turned the heat up to 500 for about 8 minutes to get the skin nice and crispy. The chicken was moist and delicious. Next time I will sprinkle some fresh cilantro on top before serving because I really enjoyed the cilantro flavor but could have had more.
I prepared our green beans just as Jane suggested, but added some toasted sesame oil after the beans had finished cooking. It only takes a teaspoon of the stuff to add some great flavor. Just make sure you buy toasted sesame oil if you want to try this at home.
Perfect green beans.
What did you have for dinner last night?
Another great way to do green beans is to cook them in the pan (just like you did) or on the grill. Then when they are almost done add a little bit of taco seasoning and toss to coat. SOOO good. We stumbled upon this one night when we were having mexican but I couldn't think of any veggies. I was going to serve plain green beans and remembered I had picked up a package of TJs taco seasoning.
The chicken looks delicious but I'm not a big coconut fan…was it overwhelmingly coconut-y?
You always have great recipes! I love sesame oil! Not sure mine is toasted or not, curious to check when I get home.
Jess, I had never though of taco seasoning. Sounds interesting! The chicken was definitely not too coconutty. Actually, my sis-in-law doesn't like things with coconut flavor and she loved this chicken. I think it had a nice mild flavor and made the chicken nice and moist.
Nour, thanks for the comment š
what a delicious looking dinner! and your green beans are beautiful….and sesame oil is a great idea! š
Alysa! YOU are amazing š An inspired RD who inspires all those around here š Plus it touches my heart that your kids are seeing and experiencing this healthy living at a young age!
Jane, I was just trying to make my green beans look as beautiful as yours š
Maya, thank you for inspiring me to inspire others š I am so happy that my kids don't know any different than whole wheat bread and brown rice.