Honey, Orange, and Sriracha Glazed Chicken Thighs

There are days when I come home from work, and I have absolutely no idea what to make. I had some chicken thighs defrosted, and a hankering for something sweet and spicy, and I thought honey and Sriracha would be a really nice mix.

Feel free to play with the flavours. I wrote the recipe to be fairly mild, but ended up adding another 1/2 tbsp to the sauce mix, which made the sauce itself pretty spicy, but the finished chicken was delicious and juicy with a slight hint of spice.

Ingredients:

• 4 skin on, bone in chicken thighs
• sea salt and fresh cracked pepper
• 1/4 cup honey
• 2 tbsp sriracha sauce
• 4 tbsp cup fresh squeezed orange juice
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• small bunch of fresh thyme, leaves picked

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.


Liberally season both sides of the chicken thighs with salt and pepper and set aside in an oven safe baking dish.

In a separate bowl, combine the honey, sriracha, orange juice, olive oil, and picked thyme leaves and stir until thoroughly mixed. Arrange the chicken thighs in the dish and spoon 1/2 of the mixture on top of the chicken thighs.

Bake for 25 minutes, and remove from the oven. Spoon the remaining honey sriracha sauce over the thighs and bake for an additional 20 minutes or until the juices run clear.

Serve with rice and a lovely salad.

Creamy Oven Baked Macaroni and Cheese

If you're like me, Macaroni and Cheese is the ultimate comfort food. A boxed childhood lunch, this creamy made-from-scratch recipe will prompt you to toss out every box of Kraft Mac and Cheese you have in your pantry!




Ingredients:

• 1 8oz. box of elbow macaroni, cooked and drained
• 2 Tablespoons butter
• 2 Tablespoons flour
• 1 cup milk
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• salt and pepper to taste
• 2 cups shredded sharp Cheddar and Mozzarella
• 3 tablespoons Ricotta
  

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Prepare macaroni by directions on box and drain well.

In a saucepan, melt butter over medium heat. Add flour and whisk to remove lumps.

Slowly pour in milk and cook, while whisking, until thickened. Pour in heavy cream slowly.

Season with salt and pepper.

Add cheeses and stir until melted.

Add macaroni and stir.

Pour mixture into 2 qt. casserole dish.

Bake for 20 minutes.

Braised Hoisin Short Ribs

First and foremost, I LOVE braised meat. When it's so tender it falls off the bone, you know it's the most tremendous comfort food. This recipe, by David Leiberman in Dave's Dinners, is a fantastic way to spend a lazy Saturday afternoon, prep is only a few minutes for the ribs, and you can work on the sides within the last 30 minutes of the main's cook time.



Ingredients


For the ribs:

• 3 pounds beef short ribs, about 10 ribs
• Salt and freshly ground pepper
• 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 10 to 12 garlic cloves smashed
• 1-inch piece ginger, peeled and sliced into 1/4-inch slices
• 12 ounces good ale (recommended: Bass)
• 3 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
• 1 cup hoisin sauce

Directions



Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F.


Season the ribs generously with salt and pepper. Heat the vegetable oil in a large heavy pot with a lid (Dutch oven) over high heat. Brown the ribs on all sides, in batches if necessary. Remove the ribs and pour off all but a couple tablespoons of the rendered fat.


Return the pot to the stove, lower the heat to medium and saute the garlic and ginger for about 3 minutes. Add the ribs back to the pot. Add the beer and the vinegar. Stir and then cover and bake for 2 hours.

Remove the pot from the oven. Pour the hoisin sauce over the ribs, return the pot to the oven, and cook, uncovered, for 30 minutes.

Remove ribs and ginger from sauce. Strain fat from the top of the pot so that you're left with just the good stuff.








Serve with Creamy Mashed Yukons and Sesame Snow Peas.