Monday Meals: I Learned Something This Weekend

There is a reason there are no honey mustard maple beef recipes out there. Yesterday, I felt like making something delicious, so naturally I went to a maple inspired dish. Though everyone everywhere has recipes for honey mustard maple chicken -- which I've made a few times -- I wanted to try it with beef. I feel like I've been eating chicken a lot lately and wanted to switch it up. It was a mediocre success that left me simply shrugging and putting most of it in the fridge for later consumption. Not that it wasn't fine (because with honey mustard and maple syrup how can it be bad?), it just didn't turn out as delicious as I wanted. The beef was tough and the sauce was kind of...weird with it. I'm not sure how else to describe it.

I based it off of this simple recipe for chicken with a delicious sauce that I found over at Witty in the City. Suffice it to say, I'll probably stick with chicken from now on when I want honey mustard maple goodness.

I thought it would look exactly like this, only beef. I was wrong.

Oh well. Live and learn, right?

Monday Meals: Honey Mustard Maple Chicken

We all know how fond I am of maple, so I was so excited to find out that making something that combined two of my favorite things, maple syrup and honey mustard, I was more than ecstatic. There are lots of pinterest recipes on this, like here and here, and all of them are simple to make and delicious to eat. My variation has mushrooms and a bit of rosemary. And I know I should do measurements, but I kind of fly by the seat of my pants in the kitchen, clearly. That's part of the fun! And anyway, if you're cooking with fresh, delicious ingredients, I don't think you can really go wrong.

Honey Mustard Maple Chicken

2 chicken breasts

honey mustard

maple syrup

sliced mushrooms

minced garlic

olive oil

fresh rosemary



Heat oil (or butter) in a pan with minced garlic and brown the mushrooms. Cook the chicken over the stove about half way through. In a separate bowl, mix honey mustard and maple syrup together. (I like the sauce a little more liquid-y, so my honey mustard to maple syrup ratio is about 30:70. More honey mustard will yield a thicker sauce, more syrup a runnier sauce. It doesn't really matter as long as you're happy with it. It's your chicken, right?)

Put the half-cooked chicken on a baking sheet with sides about an inch or two high. Add the garlic mushrooms. Drizzle the sauce over the chicken. Place rosemary sprigs on and around the chicken. Bake at 350 for about 20 minutes or until the chicken is cooked all the way through.

I like to have broccoli or green beans on the side and maybe some brown rice or mashed potatoes. Any extra honey mustard maple sauce goes right on that starch. Oh, and make sure you have a glass of red wine to wash everything down.