Blackened Chicken & Cilantro Lime Quinoa

It’s been a make something new every day kind of week around here. So I’m about to plunder you with recipes and delicousness so hold on tight, and grab a bib if you are known to drool.

1^st up on the food tour is…

Blackened Chicken Breast and Cilantro Lime Quinoa with Greek Yogurt Avocado Puree

Original Recipe From Baking with Blondie.

Ingredients

2 Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts
½ Teaspoon of Paprika
¼ Teaspoon of Salt
¼ Teaspoon of Pepper
¼ Teaspoon of Cayenne Pepper
¼ Teaspoon of Onion Powder
¼ Teaspoon of Cumin
1 Teaspoon of Olive Oil
2 Cups of Low Sodium Chicken Stock
1 Cup of Quinoa
Juice and Zest from Two Limes
A Dash of Salt and Pepper
2 Tablespoons of Cilantro, chopped
2 Avocados
½ Small carton of Greek yogurt

 Teeny bit of milk to thicken sauce to desired consistency

Directions

Combine all the dry seasonings in a small bowl. Mix them together and then season both sides of each chicken breast. 

Add the teaspoon of olive oil to a large pan or skillet. Heat the olive oil for a minute over medium/high heat. Add the chicken breasts to the pan. Cook for seven minutes on each side with the lid on.

Add the chicken stock and quinoa to a medium sauce pan. Bring to a simmer over medium/low heat. Reduce the heat to low and simmer for ten to fifteen minutes with the lid on, until all the stock has been absorbed.

After the chicken breasts have cooked all the way through, remove them from the pan and let them rest for seven minutes before slicing them.

Add the warm quinoa to a large bowl. Toss in the lime zest, lime juice, salt and pepper, and chopped cilantro. Mix to combine.

Serve the sliced chicken breast on top of the quinoa. If you find the blackened seasoning too spicy, you can add a quick and easy avocado cream sauce to cool it down.

 *to make avocado sauce, combine avocado, greek yogurt, teaspoon of lemon juice and a little cilantro in a mini-food processor. Add milk to obtain desired consistency.

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Oooh baby was this yummy. The quinoa reminded me of Chipote’s rice which I could probably stuff my face with all on it’s own. But the tenderness and yumminess of the chicken with the quinoa snaps anyone right out of Chipotle’s rice dream world and into a delicious real life dinner. I opted out for the avocado sauce because I had purchased Trader Joe’s plain Greek yogurt which tasted very vanilla-y to me and was not realized until tasting the pureed avocado sauce. Promise it was plain, I double and triple checked out of pure astonishment of how vanilla this plain yogurt was. Logan persevered and repeatedly told me he couldn’t taste the vanilla-ness when he ate it with the quinoa and chicken, but I refused to succumb to the wrongness that Trader Joe’s had inflicted on me.

No changes to report with the exception of I used less cumin, as cumin and I are barely friendly with each other – I just hate the stuff honestly. But other than that this was delicious and for sure going to make an appearance on our table once again!

Noming Score: 4/5