Recipe Reviews: Lemon Chicken and Cauliflower Rice

Ratings

Shutterbean's Lemon Chicken: A+
Nom Nom Paleo's Cauliflower Rice: A+

Do you ever have those meals where everything just seems to go together perfectly? A beautiful symphony of mingling flavors and textures that make your taste-buds shout for joy? That happened for me last night, and the whole meal was very healthy! Healthy food that tastes good? What?

As soon as I saw Shutterbean put out this recipe for Lemon Chicken I couldn't wait to try it. Lemon is one of my favorite things to add to cooking and we're all familiar with my obsession with Lemon Squares. And the fact that she used chicken thighs intrigued me. I don't use chicken thighs often but they're on sale frequently, so when my local store had boneless, skinless chicken thighs on sale, it was like it was meant to be. 

In my continuing effort to be healthy I was looking into paleo recipes. The concept has always been interesting to me, and since I'm trying to be careful about blood sugar, cauliflower rice seemed like the perfect solution. I found Nom Nom Paleo's version by doing a search in Pinterest. Her Cauliflower Rice recipe was simple, and used coconut oil (another ingredient I've always been interested in trying out but was always intimidated.

Both recipes came out absolutely amazing. I wish I hadn't been so hungry that I didn't stop and take the time to take pictures with my real camera (sorry about the Instagram pic). The only change I made to either recipe was the addition of parsley to the rice instead of Trader Joe's 21 Seasoning Salute. I didn't have any on hand, and since parsley tends to go with lemon flavors and also the thyme and oregano used in the chicken, I gave it a go and I was not disappointed. I roasted a little asparagus in olive oil, garlic, lemon juice, salt and pepper, and it was a perfect meal. Tom had most of his plate cleared before I even sat down. 

I can't wait to try variations of both of these recipes in the future. I'm already thinking cooking Cod or another type of white fish would be perfect in place of the chicken. And I can't wait to add different spices to the basic cauliflower rice recipe depending on what it's going with. Maybe a little saffron with a Mexican recipe? Mmmm. Look like I'll be buying cauliflower regularly now!

Lemony Summer Quinoa Pilaf and Ricotta Tart

I love lemon. I worked for a year or so on a Perfect Lemon Square recipe because the other recipes I tried weren't lemon-y enough. I frequently make mini cheesecakes with pure lemon curd on top. And I love roasting asparagus with lemon and garlic. The smell, the taste, the vibrant yellow color. Everything about lemons just make me happy. ANYWHO, I've been working on modifying two recipes that were fine on their own but weren't quite right for me.

My Perfect Lemon Squares

Confession time: I listen to music when I cook or bake. More like blast music. And more like terrible top 40 songs, not really music. My soundtrack for this recipe? "Can't Hold Us" by Mackelmore and Ray Lewis and "Heart Attack" by Demi Lovato. 

I've been inexplicably obsessed with both of these songs lately. I just want you to picture a freckled white girl in a cardigan, dancing around her kitchen, rapping or belting out pop songs into her mixing spoon. Either way it's a scary thought even to me. I shudder to think what would happen if anyone ever saw me.