Chia Charged Chicken

The Chia nut butters are so versatile, I have tried them on toast and they are both delicious but my favourite is the one with coconut. I thought it tasted like it would be amazing with chicken so decided to have a little experiment with flavours and see what happened. I liked the result and my mum also said she loved it so here is the recipe for all of you to try, again it is pretty easy and quick to do so perfect for those of you that don't have much time on your hands.

• 2-3 carrots chopped into small chunks
• 1/2 a yellow pepper chopped into small chunks
• Handful of spinach roughly chopped (optional extra)
• 2x decent sized chicken breasts
• All spice
• and of course the most important ingredient the chia nut butter!

First you will need to use 1-2 heaped teaspoons of chia nut butter (per chicken breast) and rub it into the chicken, then place it on a tray and cook in the oven at 180degreesC/gas mark 4-5 for around 20-30 minutes. The cooking time varies depending on the size of your chicken, I tested mine by slicing it in half (it will be sliced at the end anyway), it should not have any pink colour and should be white.

While the chicken is in the oven place your rice with 1 and a half cups of water into a pan along with the pepper and carrots and place on the heat. (Using a lid on the pan helps cook it quicker) You will need to check regularly that it's not boiling dry, otherwise it will burn to the bottom! (If it is and is not cooked yet then add a little bit more water). The rice takes around 20minutes to cook, but give it a little taste when you think it's ready to get it how you like it, I like to have a tiny bit of crunch rather than have it really soggy. It's your personal preference. Once it is cooked drain any excess water and complete the next step.

I added a level teaspoon of all spice to my rice after it was cooked, as I wasn't sure how it would taste but it was good. If you fancy experimenting you can always try adding this into the water and rice before cooking, I think it will be just as nice and perhaps infuse the rice more. This is something I think I will try next time (this is definitely a recipe that may become a regular for us!)
Once you have completed all of the above place your rice on the plate then slice your chicken and lay it on top of the rice. If you want to have spinach sprinkle this around the edges of the plate.

 Finally you need to make the sauce, this is so easy you just need to put a heaped dessert spoon of chia nut butter into a pan to heat and add small amounts of water while continuously stirring until you get a creamy sauce consistency. You will need to make this right at the last minute as it doesn't take long at all and is best served straight away. For an extra bit of chia charge you could add a sprinkle of chia seeds over the top.

I really enjoyed this and it was great how the chia nut butter cooked on the chicken had gone crisp and had a slightly different flavour to the creamy sauce on top. I hope you enjoy this as much as I did, please let me know what you think if you try it.