Remember that time I stopped blogging for like...3 years?
Woops.
Anyway, in that amount of time I had some major life changes! I moved to a different country, got a new job, and stopped cooking as much as I used to. I missed the blog though, so I want to keep up with it, maybe just more sporadically! You missed me too, right? RIGHT???
For my glorious return, I decided to try and copy one of my favorite meals from a restaurant called iQ Food Co. that I frequent for lunch. It actually turned out pretty well! Here was the original version: http://iqfoodco.com/menu/type/hotboxes/blueberry-crunch/
Ingredients you'll need (makes enough for 2 people):
- 1 chicken breast, pounded thin
- 1 cup of brown rice
- 1 apple
- about 6 mini carrots
- a handful of blueberries
- a handful of candied pecans, or sunflower seeds...or any type of nut really
- a 1/4 cup of feta cheese, crumbled
- salt and pepper
For the dressing:
- 2 tablespoons of olive oil
- 2 tablespoons of balsamic vinegar
- 1 teaspoon of Dijon mustard
- 1 tablespoon of honey
I think that's it!
First things first, we'll need to bake some chicken. Preheat your oven to 375 degrees, and salt and pepper both sides of the chicken. Line a shallow pan with parchment paper, and throw the chicken in the oven for about 15 minutes, or until the juices run clear. Should be pretty quick if it was pounded thin.
While that's working away, you'll want to julienne the apples and carrots, and get the pecans, feta and blueberries ready to go. Colorful, no?
You can also whip up the dressing. Just whisk the honey, oil, balsamic and dijon mustard with a fork until completely combined. Give it a taste, if it seems out of whack you can mess with the proportions a bit. I like the dressing to be pretty strong since it's going to be what actually flavors your rice and chicken. I also used ground mustard, but I think the regular Dijon would be better as far as texture goes. You can't win them all.
You'll also want to get started on the brown rice! Just follow the directions on the package, I was just using the minute rice so it took about 10 minutes for everything to be ready.
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Ok! Once the chicken is done, chop it up into bite sized chunks, like so....
\Perfect! Now, putting everything together. Put the rice on the bottom of a bowl, and place the chicken on top of the rice. Laugh at Mac (the golden retriever in the pic below) and give him a piece of chicken because he's trained you well.
Now add all the fresh fruit and carrots, topping everything off with the feta and chopped up pecans!
Last, but certainly not least, drizzle everything with the balsamic dressing.
Voila! I usually attack this by mixing everything up into one big mess so I get a bit of everything in each bite. It's so crunchy and satisfying. The sweet and tangy dressing just makes it so delicious. Also everything is pretty basic so I feel pretty good about eating this kind of stuff :)
Enjoy!
Courtzilla
