Honey Key Lime Chicken & Squash Zucchini Bake

Courtesy of www.allrecipes.com
Let me start off by saying I don't normally have an abundance of key lime juice in my house, but as of this week, it just so happens I do. The juice comes in this great, large bottle so that you can experiment with all kinds of recipes! Key lime pie is on my list for this weekend, but for now, honey key lime chicken! Aside from making sure you can marinate the chicken for at least one hour, this is simple. Ideally, you would grill the chicken outdoors, but since it's February in DC, I baked the chicken this go around. I decided to throw in some squash and zucchini as well, since I had some on hand. All I have to say is the smell of key lime juice baking is MMM MMM GOOD!

Ingredients:

• 5 tablespoons key lime juice
• 2 tablespoons honey
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1/2 teaspoon lemon pepper
• 4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
• olive oil to grease the baking dish
• basmati rice

In a resealable plastic bag, mix the key lime juice, honey, garlic, and lemon pepper. Place the chicken in the bag, seal, and shake to coat. Marinate in the refrigerator at least 30 minutes, turning the bag occasionally.  Preheat an outdoor grill for high heat. Grill the marinated chicken about 8 minutes on each side, until no longer pink and juices run clear. Discard remaining marinade.The other option is to bake the chicken at 350 for about 25 minutes, or you could use a skillet or an indoor grill. I baked it this go around since grilling outdoors isn't exactly an option right now. Cook the basmati rice according to package and place the chicken on top of the rice.

 Squash & Zucchini Bake:

• squash, cut into slices
• zucchini, cut into slices
• approx. 1/2 cup of bread crumbs
• approx. 1/2 cup of shredded Italian blend cheese, or parmesan
• approx. 1 tb olive oil, salt, and lemon pepper 

Saute the vegetables in a skillet with about 1 tb olive oil, and some salt and lemon pepper. Once they get a little tender/brown on the edges, transfer from the heat and place into a dish for the oven. Top with the bread crumbs and cheese. Bake at 350 for approximately 10 minutes or until the cheese melts.

Key West Grouper

Courtesy of www.allrecipes.com
All of this cold weather has made me yearn for warmth -- which makes me think of seafood -- which makes me research various recipes, ultimately resulting in grouper with a key west flare! I like to buy whichever seafood is fresh and in the weekly spotlight at Harris Teeter (Arlington is blessed with a great Harris Teeter, in my opinion). Grouper isn't available as often there, and when it is, it's usually pretty pricey. Therefore, I took advantage of this sale! This was a very easy dish to make, and as always, was tasty as leftovers for lunch the next day :)  I served this with one of my now favorite orzo dishes, which can be found in the scallops recipe here.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup softened butter, plus more for baking dish
• 4 (8 ounce) fillets grouper
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon lemon pepper, or to taste
• 2 teaspoons garlic powder
• 2 teaspoons onion powder
• 1/4 cup key lime juice
• 1/4 cup fresh orange juice
• 12 slices lime

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Lightly butter a 9x13-inch glass baking dish and set aside.
2. Season the grouper fillets with salt, lemon pepper, garlic powder, and onion powder; place into prepared baking dish. Spread about 2 tablespoons of softened butter over the top of each fillet. Pour in the lime and orange juices, then cover each fillet with 3 slices of lime, and 2 slices of orange.
3. Bake in preheated oven until fish is opaque and flakes easily with a fork, about 15 minutes. Mine actually took a bit longer, probably closer to 25 minutes. Just keep an eye on it.