31 Days of Frugal Meals // Day 13 Key West Grilled Chicken

How is everyone's weekend going? We went on a little date to NOLA last night for the Blues & BBQ festival and had a blast, but more on that tomorrow. Maybe it's just me, but wake up hungover every time we go to New Orleans at night...and I don't even drink. I don't know if I get it by osmosis, or if it is just the insane amounts of nasty mixed with all the cigarette smoke. Either way, yuck. For someone who ate their weight in pulled pork and only drank water and Sprite it makes no sense that I woke up with a headache. This is every time though, something about the places just dishes out hangovers like the plague. 

This frugal meal is hands down a favorite, it doesn't look cheap at all, but happens to be very cost effective. The secret I think is in the side dish, cauliflower is low no cost and low on carbs and that makes me a happy girl. 

Source: iowagirleats.com via Kristen on Pinterest

Here is Iowa Girl's original recipe with my changes in pink:

Serves 4 - adapted from AllRecipes.com
Ingredients:
For the Key West Grilled Chicken:
1/4 c soy sauce (lower sodium soy sauce)
1/4 c honey
3 tbsp vegetable oil
3 tbsp fresh lime juice (1-2 limes worth)
3 crushed garlic cloves
1/2 jalapeno, seeded
4 chicken breasts (thighs - cheaper)

For the Mango Salsa: 
1 mango, chopped
1/2 jalapeno, seeded & minced
2 green onions, sliced
1 minced garlic clove
1/4 cup cilantro chopped
juice of 1 lime
salt & pepper to taste
(I am leaving the mango salsa out all together, I made it the first time I made this recipe and we weren't huge fans I am either going to leave it out all together or add a little homemade pico de gallo to the top) For the Cilantro-Lime Cauliflower Rice:
6 cups shredded cauliflower (about 1 head)
4 tsp vegetable oil
salt
1-2 tbsp fresh lime juice
1/4 c cilantro, chopped (leaving it out and just adding it to my serving, Jeremy hates cilantro)

Directions:

1. For the chicken: Whisk together soy sauce, honey, vegetable oil, lime juice, and garlic in a small bowl. Place chicken breasts in a ziplock bag and pour mixture on top. Add jalapeno, squish to coat chicken in marinade, then refrigerate for 1 hour, or up to 8 hours. Grill chicken over medium-high heat for 4-5 minutes a side, basting with the leftover marinade a few times as it grills. (if you don't have a grill use a George Foreman or just cook it in a skillet)

2. For the mango salsa: Combine all salsa ingredients in a bowl. Refrigerate until ready to use. (left it out - replace with salsa or pico de gallo)

3. For the cilantro-lime cauliflower rice: Shred cauliflower using the shredding blade on a food processor, or by hand with a flat or box grater. Heat vegetable oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add cauliflower, season with salt, then saute until soft and just starting to turn golden brown, about 10 minutes. Turn off the heat, then add 1 Tablespoon lime juice and cilantro. Taste and add more lime juice if desired.

*Tip: To make all three components of this recipe you’ll need 1 bunch cilantro, 1 jalapeno, and 4 limes.

Overall this a really cheap and easy to make recipe, all of the ingredients are cheap  and you have very little waste aside from leftover cilantro...but I love it and add it to everything. 

This post is part of  the 31 Days series hosted by The Nester every October. Click here to see other days in the 31 Days of Frugal Meals series.