Spicing Up Your Go-To Protein

I don't think I have ever explained why I have a somewhat limited array of recipes on this blog.  If you read often, or if you know me pretty well, you would notice I only eat chicken, turkey, fish and shellfish.

It's sort of a long story, but when I was growing up my family had cows we raised on our farm and sent to the butcher.  It may seem cruel but after I got yelled at by the butcher's wife, I only started eating the meat from the cows we raised.  The butcher's wife told me that if I was going to eat beef, I was foolish not to eat the all natural and humanely raised cows from our farm.  So during high school I decided I would only eat beef if it came from our cows.  And consequentially I stopped eating beef when I went away to college, because after not eating beef for so long, my body would reject it in a very painful way.

So, for nearly 8 years, I have been mostly beef free.  I'm not against eating beef, but at this point it would be tough to try to bring it back into my diet.

The point of this story is that I eat a lot of chicken (and by default so does Tim).

Pic courtesy of Freefoto.com

The positive factors about chicken is that it is relatively inexpensive, works into recipes well, and is one of the healthier proteins.  The downside of chicken is that eating it can become repetitive and it can easily become overcooked.

Chicken settles well into many recipes, but I struggle if I am trying to quickly make a boneless skinless chicken breast taste delicious on its own.  I like to marinate them overnight, but when I forget I turn to spices.  A spice rub is a great way to infuse flavor into your chicken (or meats of any kind) when you don't have the time to marinate.

Here's my recreation of a spice rub from Allrecipes.com.

1 1/2 tablespoons paprika
1 tablespoon garlic power
2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons onion powder
2 teaspoons dried thyme
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper (****this makes the rub spicy!, if you are adverse to heat try starting with a half a teaspoon and work your way up, remember you can always add more, but you can't take away****)
2 teaspoons black pepper

Makes enough for 2 or 3 boneless skinless chicken breasts.  Mix the spices together.  Rinse the chicken breasts and pat dry and apply to the chicken.  Cook the chicken in a pan with cooking spray/oil/butter, or toss on your stove top griddle or George Foreman.  You can also bake them in the oven.  Once the weather is nice, or if you grill despite cold weather conditions, head out and and cook your spice rubbed chicken on the grill.

What's your secret for making a boneless skinless chicken breast tasty?

-Tomorrow is Pumpkin Wednesday!