Chicken.  You can cook it so many ways.  It is delicious and healthy, but it is easy to fall into a routine when cooking this on a very regular basis.  I came across this recipe on the Kraft website and immediately book-marked it and sent the link to my sister.

Jamie and I eat a lot of chicken (as you already know) so another recipe for our weekly repertoire is always good, but what caught my attention with this preparation was lemon.  Yum, I love lemon, so I knew I had to try this one out 🙂

Now, I take a completely different approach than many people when it comes to new recipes.  I love trying them out on friends.  One of two things will happen, it will be delicious and we all have a great dinner over this new flavour combination, or it doesn’t turn out, we order a pizza, and we have an entertaining story and shared experience from the cooking disaster.

The first time I made this, we invited over our newlywed friends, Jen & Tom.  They were recently married, and we wanted to have them over to celebrate.  What I love about this recipe is that a lot of prep work can be done earlier in the day. You then have more time to entertain when your friends arrive because all you have to do is a few simple steps and pop the dish in the oven. Fifty minutes later, you are having dinner!

The original recipe called for bone in chicken drumsticks and thighs, but I used bone-in skin-on chicken breasts.  Chicken breasts are a healthier choice, and this way, no-one is fighting over the white meat 😉  The other trick I did with the chicken was to pan sear the chicken breasts with some olive oil and Italian spices.  This created a nice crust on the chicken breast and created a lovely piece of meat to present at the dinner table.

Another substitution I made was the amount of lemon that was called for.  The original recipe called for one lemon cut into wedges.  I used at least two, but could have used three lemons.  I have found that the more lemons used, the brighter the taste.  The fresh taste of lemon paints a lovely picture of summer-time and fun times to come.

The final amendment I made to this was the addition on fresh thyme.  The fresh herbs combined with the Italian seasoning used during the searing provided a fantastic taste and presentation.

I highly recommend this dish.  We have made it a few times now (most recently when we had Laurel & Jeff over for dinner).  It is so easy, so incredibly tasty and it looks amazing on your plate 🙂

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Adapted from:
Kraft Canada
Lemon Chicken Oven-Bake

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 1/2 cup chicken broth
• 1 tbsp honey
• 2 tsp minced garlic
• 4 bone-in skin-on chicken breasts
• 2 tbsp extra virgin
• 1 1/2 tsp Italian seasoning
• 2 cups mini potatoes
• 2 lemons, cut into wedges
• Sprigs of thyme

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400°F.
2. Heat 2 tbsp of olive oil in skillet over medium-high heat.  Add Italian seasoning to pan.  Sear chicken breasts on both sides and remove from heat.
3. Mix olive oil, broth, minced garlic and honey.
4. Place seared chicken and potatoes in 13×9 baking dish; drizzle with olive oil mixture.  Add lemon wedges and sprigs of thyme.
5. Bake 45 – 50 minutes, or until chicken is done and potatoes are tender.  Serve fresh cut lemons and sprigs of thyme as garnish.
6. Enjoy!  It is Awesome 🙂