Recipe: Healthy Baked Sesame Garlic Chicken

Hi my sweets! I feel like it's been forever since we talked (really, it's been three-ish days) because I've been a little absent on the blog lately. I've been feeling pretty awful with absolutely no energy and that's why you haven't seen any posts from me over the last couple of days.

Even though I've been feeling pretty rough for the last couple of months, there's one thing I always make sure I do - regardless of how tired I feel - and that's to make sure we're still eating good, healthy meals. 

I could be lazy and give into my lack of energy and serve up convenience meals, but real food makes a real difference in how you feel so it's important to make fueling yourself a priority. 

Funnily enough, I've found my fatigue has actually forced me to be more creative when it comes to dinner times for a couple of reasons. The first is because I'm so tired and run down that I feel kind of over everything, so creating new and interesting meals is one way to ensure I'm still eating nutritious meals - and the second is because I've been either getting Jesse to help me more in the kitchen or making just one meal for the both of us rather than two different meals (as previously my umpteen million food intolerances meant I'd cook two meals so Jesse didn't have to eat the same three flavours over and over - hallelujah for a healing stomach!).

This Sesame Chicken is one new addition to our dinner rotation that we've been loving. It's a bit of a haphazard recipe, made as a bit of an experiment, but it's so delicious and we can't help making it week after week. In fact, we just made this last night for dinner, served up on rice with stir fried veggies and a side of avocado for this weirdo avocado obsessed girl (but seriously, try it - it works!)

We've also served it up in lettuce cups, wraps, eaten on its own with a side of veggies; the possibilities are endless. Best of all, whilst the chicken bakes away getting that somewhat crispy coating you can prepare everything else - so it all comes together in minutes!

But nevertheless, let me share the recipe with you so that you can make it yourself! >> 

Healthy Baked Sesame Garlic Chicken Recipe serves 1, easily multiplied

low fat, gluten free, clean eating friendly, refined sugar free, low carb

1 serve chicken breast, sliced into thin strips 

1 clove garlic, crushed 

1 tsp sesame oil 

1 tsp honey 

15 ml (3 tsp) gluten free soy sauce or coconut aminos*

1 tsp rice wine vinegar (make sure it's GF!) 

1 tsp cornstarch/cornflour 

To serve: steamed rice/veggies of your choice/avocado - the choices are endless!

• Preheat your oven to 180C/355F. 
• Line a small baking sheet with baking paper and set aside. 
• In a small bowl, mix together your sauce ingredients (garlic, sesame oil, honey, soy, rice wine vinegar and cornstarch) and set aside.
• In a small frying pan, coated with non-stick cooking spray or lightly greased, cook your chicken pieces until just lightly browned.
• Add your cooked chicken pieces to your sauce mix, stir and pour onto your prepared baking sheet.
• Bake your chicken until your sauce has turned golden and thickened and your chicken pieces are cooked through. We like our coating a little bit on the crispy side and bake it for a little bit longer - the choice is yours.
• Serve over rice with stir fried or steamed veggies, in lettuce cups or wraps or however you fancy!

UPDATE: We've actually change how we've been making it lately after making a mistake one time and loving the results. Instead of adding the sesame oil to the sauce mixture, leave it out and then add it to the chicken once it's in the oven. We mix up the sauce, put it on the chicken and bake for 5 minutes, then drizzle over the oil and bake until golden and crispy!

Notes:

*We use Coconut Aminos as a soy free soy sauce alternative as I'm sensitive to soy. Believe it or not, it does actually taste very much like soy sauce (in fact, we prefer it to soy sauce) and is perfect for this recipe!

But tell me, what's your favourite dinner right now? What's the one meal you keep coming back to week after week?

And when you're feeling tired, what's one thing that always picks you back up?

For me it's my family and friends - Jesse will tell you I put on a happy face when I'm with them, but I really do feel better when I'm around the ones I love - they're a happy distraction from the pain and fatigue!

PS: Thank you to each and every one of you who has sent me a sweet email to let me know you're thinking about me/praying for me or just to check and see how I was doing. I cannot thank you enough for your thoughts and prayers - each and every email puts a smile on my face and I'm getting back to each and every one of you as quickly as possible!! Big, huge love to you all!