Make-Ahead Chicken Breasts with Cilantro and Lime

Prepare the chicken the day before,  have the tomatoes ready too.  Even the pasta can be cooked ahead of time.  Just drain it, rinse in cold water and toss with a little olive oil. Then, when dinnertime rolls around, a half hour of cooking and you've got this beautiful meal to sit down to.

3-4 servings (about 1 lb) spaghettini
4 boneless chicken breasts
3 tbsps + 1 cup chopped cilantro
zest and juice of 1 lime (an extra one to garnish)
2 tbsps + 1/3 cup olive oil
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cumin
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp sriracha chili sauce
1 pint grape (or cherry) tomatoes

Mix together 3 tbsps chopped cilantro, zest and juice of 1 lime, 2 tbsps olive oil, salt, cumin, 2 garlic cloves and sriracha sauce. 

Spoon over chicken breasts and return to fridge for a few hours or overnight.

In a small bowl mix 1/3 cup olive oil, 1/2 cup chopped cilantro, 2 garlic cloves and toss with the tomatoes. And don't forget to cook the pasta.

When it's time for dinner simply arrange chicken in a 13 X 9 baking dish and surround it with the tomatoes.

Bake at 450 F for 20 -25 minutes, basting with the pan juices the last 5 or so minutes.  You can also broil for a couple of minutes to brown. Remove chicken to plate.

Zap the pasta in the microwave if it had been cooked ahead of time and toss it in the baking dish with the tomatoes, garlic and olive oil.

Garnish with the other 1/2 cup of chopped cilantro and you are good to go.

Cranberry Lime Cake Donuts

I never knew this.  The first Friday in June is National Donut Day!  Wikipedia says the event was created by the Salvation Army in 1938 to honour the men and women who served donuts to soldiers during the first world war.

So to recognize National Donut Day I made these citrusy cake donuts.

 Donut ingredients:

1/2 cup margarine, softened
1 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla
2 eggs
1 tsp. lime juice
1  2/3 cups flour
1  1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup chopped fresh (or frozen) cranberries
zest of one lime (divided in half)

Preheat your oven to 350F and prepare donut pans with cooking spray.

Cream the margarine and sugar together in a bowl, then add vanilla, eggs and 1/2 the lime zest.

Mix the flour, baking powder, salt and ginger together and alternatively add the milk and dry ingredients to the bowl, ending with milk. Now mix in the lime juice. Fold in cranberries.

Fill donut pan about 2/3 full.  (I might have filled them a little more than that)

Bake small donuts for 9 minutes and large for 12 minutes.

While waiting for them to cool, prepare the glaze.

Glaze ingredients:

3/4 cup icing sugar
2 tbsps lime juice
the other 1/2 of the lime zest
Red or pink food colouring

Sift the icing sugar and mix the lime juice in.  Set aside 2 tbsps of glaze in a small ziplok bag. Dip the cooled donuts in the glaze and sit on a rack so the extra glaze can drip off. Sprinkle with remaining lime zest.
Add a little red food colouring to the reserved icing and squeeze it around in the ziplok to mix.  Snip a small corner off and drizzle over the donuts.

The glaze will set in a couple of hours.

This recipe makes 9 large and 12 small donuts.

Happy National Donut Day!

Adapted from http://www.laurenslatest.com/cranberry-orange-cake-doughnuts