Secret Recipe Club: Spiced Citrus Chicken

Once again, it is the reveal day for the Secret Recipe Club!  This is the first time that Kelsey has passed the honor over to me, Kim, and asked me to be a part of this fun group of bloggers.  Each month we are assigned another blog to follow and choose one of their recipe.  It is a fun way to find new bloggers, gather new recipes and to support other food bloggers in their quest to reach more followers!

This month we had the pleasure of following Cookin' With Cyndi. While exploring her blog, I was amazed at the quantity of food that she makes ahead and freezes.  Being a person who decides dinner the day I am cooking, I was in awe of how much preparation and freezing she does in a day.  One day in Sept, she prepared and froze 17 different meals and multiple days of them.  She is my hero....if only I could be that organized and prepared! I love all her canning recipes also and and looking forward to trying the Apple Pie Filling!

 For the reveal day, I choose her Spiced Citrus Chicken recipe.  I loved the fact that I had all the ingredients on hand,  it was something new for chicken and that it was a fast fix.  I did not freeze it ahead of time but I did marinate the chicken in the citrus sauce for a half hour ahead which is planning ahead Kim's style.  It was very moist and had great flavor.

Spiced Citrus Chicken

2 Tablespoons Olive Oil
2 Tablespoons Lime Juice
2 Tablespoons Orange Juice
2 Tablespoons Lemon Juice
2 Tablespoons Chili Powder
2 Tablespoons Paprika
1 Teaspoon Cayenne
½ Teaspoon Pepper
½ Teaspoon Salt

Combine olive oil, juices, and remaining ingredients in a gallon-sized reclosable freezer bag. Add 4-8 pieces of chicken - any pieces will do... breasts, wings, thighs, drumsticks, bone-in, skin-on, boneless, skinless, etc. Freeze.

To cook: Thaw overnight in refrigerator. Then you can either a) cook it in the crockpot on LOW for 6-8 hours, b) cook it in an uncovered pan in the oven at 350˚ (boneless - 30 minutes; bone-in up to an hour), or c) grill.

---this one gets a definite thumbs up from both of us. The citrus juices helped to tenderize the chicken (we used boneless thighs and breasts in this one), and the spices went well with the citrus. We ate this with baked sweet potatoes - a good contrast to the spicy chicken.