Grilling Honey Mustard Chicken and Other Blogs that Really Cook!

With the Labor Day weekend quickly approaching, I thought you would enjoy some great dishes to share with family and friends on the grill. My mother-in-law and sister-in-law have wonderful gardens and were kind enough to send some fresh picked zucchini and squash home with us to make a great side for our chicken. Before we start with the food, I want to share with you some blogs I really enjoy.

Since I eliminate the “Big, Bad 8” and gluten from my recipes, I thought it would be good to share some blogs that focus on specific dietary restrictions – this time the feature is gluten.

The first blog is a great new friend to the allergenista community, Gluten Free Betsy, she has a wonderful blog. I personally love her allergen free travels around the south side, it is creative, resourceful and I can’t wait to follow her travels around my old stomping ground. Gluten Free Betsy is a personal blog of a hip, twenty-something Chicagoan dealing with celiac disease and living a gluten free lifestyle for the past ten years. Gluten free product reviews, restaurants with gluten free menus, gluten free recipes, and gluten free/celiac news and events are discussed. Betsy really delivers, this blog is a definite must visit!


The second blog that should be on our list is from an old friend. About 5 years ago, I used to own a Minuteman Press Franchise and Jenn Sutherland was one of my clients. When we went out to eat, I was always amazed that Jenn ate gluten free, I couldn’t at the time imagine giving up the things that had become Jenn’s lifestyle, funnily enough she suspected I might have issues with gluten since I shared with her that I always felt run down. It’s such a small world! The Whole Kitchen is a great resource for gluten-free recipes, I’ve noticed that many of her recipes can easily modified to be free of many of the Big, Bad 8! It has been so nice to reconnect with an old friend with a new common passion, in fact we plan to get together and cook, soon I hope! I always am so hungry after visiting The Whole Kitchen… you will love this blog!

It’s time to eat!

Since I go to a French cooking school (the Cooking and Hospitality Institute of Chicago ), I thought through my posts I would start sharing with you terms that rule the French kitchen. The first one is “Mise en Place” or everything in its place. This term is the basis for every recipe in that everything you need to cook your dish should be prepared and measured out in advance. Before I went to school, I would start the onions cooking and try to mince the garlic while the onion cooked, this never worked well and made the cooking process more stressful then need be. By having everything ready, you can focus on building of flavors in your dish, trust me, if you aren’t doing this already, it will change the kitchen for you!

Grilled Honey Mustard Chicken
Serves 4-6



1 tablespoon olive oil
½ yellow onion, small dice
1 clove garlic, minced
¾ cup honey
¼ cup dijon mustard
¼ cup distilled white vinegar
1 teaspoon Kosher salt
1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
2 pounds boneless chicken breast

Sauce
Heat saute pan over medium-high heat.
Add olive oil and heat another minute.
Add onion and sauté until onions have some color, about 3 minutes.
Add garlic and pinch of Kosher salt and pepper and sauté 2 minutes. Make sure not to burn garlic.
Add white vinegar and let reduce for 30 seconds and add honey and vinegar.
Bring sauce to a boil and then reduce flame to simmer for 5 minutes or until sauce thickens.
Reserve ¾ of sauce to top finished chicken, take remaining sauce with you to the grill.

Heat grill on high flame for 10 minutes.
Take a paper towel with canola oil on it and rub it over the grill, heat grill another minute.
This is what is called seasoning the grill, it makes the cooking surface like a non-stick surface.
Turn grill down to medium.
Put chicken on grill, you will see the chicken start to cook and come up the side of the breasts. Once the chicken is 2/3rds done on the first side (about 5 minutes) turn. You will notice beads of sweat forming on the top of the breast.
Brush honey mustard sauce on chicken breast.
Cook 2nd side about 3-4 minutes. Turn chicken again, add sauce.
Turn again and let sauce cook 1 minute.
Use reserved sauce to top chicken breast.

Grilled Squash, Zucchini and Red Pepper

1 zucchini, cut in strips
1 yellow squash, cut in strips
1 red pepper, cut in strips
2 tablespoon olive oil
1 teaspoon Kosher salt
1/8 teaspoon black pepper

Add all ingredients and mix thoroughly.
Heat grill on high flame for 10 minutes.
Take a paper towel with canola oil on it and rub it over the grill, heat grill another minute. This is what is called seasoning the grill, or making the cooking surface almost like a non-stick surface.
Turn grill down to medium.

Grill veggies 2-3 minutes per side until tender with nice grill marks.

Enjoy!