Spiced Chicken

The New Year is here, and it’s time to refocus. It’s not that I’ve fallen off the wagon, but December was a relatively stagnant month for me with regard to weight loss. I own a catering company, and, as you can imagine, December is a bit busy. Just a bit. I wasn’t eating off plan… I just wasn’t eating on schedule. That’s always been my problem– I get too busy to eat. So, my December food journals have a lot of “white space,” and as a result, my rate of loss slowed down considerably. To make matters worse, the long hours and stress of catering during the holiday season left me feeling very uncreative in the kitchen.

But 2012 is here, and it’s time to get back to business! I have big plans for 2017 and at least one of those plans involves a bathing suit.

Goosebumps.

I am living proof that eating all of your allotted on-plan food makes a difference. So, the best thing for me to do was get back in the kitchen and come up with something creative and unique to tantalize my taste buds and get me interested in eating again. It also had to be quick and easy (because I’m still a little pooped from the holiday season). This recipe definitely satisfied–it has a lot going on flavor-wise, but comes together in a snap. The use of Chinese Five Spice Powder adds great depth of flavor with just one spice. If you don’t have this in your pantry, I highly suggest it. There are many variants of Chinese five- spice powder, but it is basically a mixture of five spices common to Chinese cooking. The most common combination consists of star anise, cloves, cinnamon, Sichuan pepper and fennel seeds. The powder is sweet and fragrant, and the spice compliments the blackberry sauce perfectly.

And FYI—my 9-year-old daughter practically licked the plate, so make this for your family with confidence and enjoy the start of the New Year with visions of bathing suits dancing in your head…enjoy!