Grilled Chicken with Rustic Mustard Cream

I pulled a Grilled Chicken with Rustic Mustard Cream recipe from the Cooking Light website, and it turned out to be a quick and flavorful meal. I made a few tweaks to the recipe, including the addition of more salt to the oil/rosemary mixture (which probably decreases the "light" part, but I find chicken horribly bland without proper seasoning). I used split chicken breasts for this recipe, which is essentially "bone-in" chicken--I just find bone-in to be much more flavorful. I removed the skin from the chicken with a paring knife and grilled until a golden brown (about 6-7 minutes per side); because split chicken breasts are thicker than boneless chicken breasts, I then popped the chicken into the oven on 375 degrees and finished baking (approximately 20 minutes). This type of food prep--searing on a high heat on a grill and then baking--can result in a juicier chicken because the quick sear helps lock in the juices from the start.

Another tweak to this recipe was adding a tablespoon of sour cream to the mustard cream--it just adds another depth of flavor.

Sides included egg noodles (one of my favorites--when I had my wisdom teeth cut out when I was young, my first request was cold egg noodles since I wasn't allowed hot food for a few days; I just fixed these according to the package directions, adding a bit more salt and a few tablespoons of butter) and roasted broccoli.

Roasting broccoli adds amazing flavor to regular broccoli, almost a nutty flavor, and it couldn't be easier. Just toss fresh (not frozen) broccoli florets (about 3 cups) with a few tablespoons of canola oil, salt and pepper, and spread out on a baking (cookie) sheet in a single layer. Roast for about 20 minutes in an oven preheated to 425 degrees, turning once halfway through roasting time. Roasting broccoli will turn the tips a golden brown, so don't worry if you sneak a peek and think you're burning the broccoli halfway through. When the broccoli is done, pull off the baking sheet and toss with olive oil and your choice of cheese and nuts (I've used parmesan and pecans for this, with some lemon zest, but we went with crumbled bleu cheese for this version; walnuts would have made a great addition if we had not finished those off earlier in the day).