Food: Instant Pot- Buttery Honey Garlic Glazed Chicken

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I keep saying that each recipe is my favorite.  I just can’t help it.  Not to toot my own horn here… but I kinda gotta- THIS IS DELICIOUS.  Holy balls!  Another recipe that’s soooo easy!

The chicken came out so tender- but not to where it had lost its structure.  It seriously was a melt in your mouth sweetness that was followed by the littlest bit of peppery kick.  I wanted more.  There was so much flavor and juiciness – as my dad would say “It makes you wanna slap yo’ mama!”

The honey combined with the garlic and the dashes of cayenne… heaven.

Here’s where I tell you about where I got my honey.  You can scroll down to the recipe if you want- I won’t be offended- because if I were you- I’d get cooking right away on this amazing dish.

Steve and I lived in the downtown area when we began dating.  He had moved in with me into a cute corner townhouse.  We had a little side yard- and our landlord was AWESOME.  (I see you, Andrew).  He let us have a garden- mostly hot peppers- and even grow hops.  Yes, y’all, hops… like you put in beer… for Steve’s brewing.

I mean, we even made and smoked our own bacon.  For real.  I even made cracklins!  We are making more- so I will post on that later!

But the best part was our bees.  We really wanted to get back to nature- but we were in the city.  Steve came to me one night and had a crazy idea to take a beekeeping class together.  I LOVE biology, and I love Steve- so of course, I said yes.

The more and more we learned the more fascinated we became.  Bees are amazing creatures.  They are so incredibly intelligent and have an amazingly beautiful way of life.  Unfortunately, they are in danger.  So, we decided to help.  How?  By buying some hives and giving the bees a chance to flourish in the city.  We wrote to our landlord and he okayed it as long as we asked the city.  We did and they said yes.  The bees were put, technically, on city property.  But let me tell you they did SO WELL.  There was a stream for their water, we planted tons of flowers, and they had all the clovers they could dream of.  Who would’ve thought that they would do so wonderfully in the city!?

We have what is called Warré Hives.  They do not have the premade comb and are considered “sustainable-practice”.  They are closest to what you would find out in the wild.  So, when you remove a box to get honey, you essentially must destroy the comb.  We rarely did this, as we were not raising bees for the honey- but they produced enough to share.

We thought when we made the move out to the country that it would be a better place for our bees.  Boy, were we wrong.  Prior to our move, our bees had already tried to swarm, but we caught them (I was about 7 months pregnant catching bees you guys).  They had grown so much that we had FOUR hives going at one point!  The names of our queens/hives?  Hehehe.  Freddie Mercury (Queen duh),  Barry Gibb (BEE Gees), Polly (Pollinator), and the last one I don’t think we named.  Anyway, we moved them appropriately- at night, when mostly all are inside.  I say we, but really it was my poor Bubbins that did it all on his own- as I had literally given birth to Julia a few weeks prior and was on NO LIFTING restriction.  We all know I didn’t listen.  We started noticing a decline in our bees.  They hadn’t found the creek behind our home, and were bugging (haha) our neighbors bird baths.  So maybe they struggled a bit on that front.  But something wasn’t quite right.  We began noticing lots of dead/dying birds in our neighborhood/yard.  Birds that looked drugged almost.  Then our bees.  Lots of bees outside of their little doorways.  Bees are very neat and will toss out any dead they may have.  Steve and I both scanned them for mites, or any other disease- but saw nothing. I began to realize what was happening- PESTICIDES.  Someone in our area had been using pesticides.  I didn’t really think- more farms- more chances of chemicals.  I also didn’t think more neighbors- more people caring for their garden- more chances of chemicals.

As of today, we have empty hives.  I could almost cry.  BUT we will get more and we will teach our little one the beautiful world of the pollinators.  So, if you’re reading this, and you have a garden of flowers or veggies or even a nice lawn- please consider making sure that the bees and other wonderful pollinators are safe with the products you may use.  We need them to make the world go around.

So that, my friends, is where I got my deliciously au-naturel honey.  Maybe that’s what makes this recipe even sweeter.

Ok, ok, I’ll step off my soapbox.  ON TO THE RECIPE!

Buttery Honey Garlic Glazed Chicken

Here’s what you’ll need:

Ingredients

Sauce:

• 3 tbsp. honey
• 1 tsp. of brown sugar
• 2 tbsp. soy sauce
• 3 tbsp. of chicken broth
• 3 dashes of cayenne pepper

Chicken:

• 1 1/2 lbs (4) Chicken Thighs, bone in
• Salt
• Ground black pepper
• 1 tbsp. vegetable oil
• 1 tbsp. minced garlic
• Chopped parsley or cilantro
• 4 tsp. butter- sliced into pads

Kitchen Stuff:

• Instant Pot, Slow Cooker, Stove or oven
• Measuring cup
• Mixing bowl
• Measuring spoons
• Spatula
• Tongs

This recipe is so gosh darn good.  Please let me know what you think in the comments!  Did you do anything different?  Any tips or tricks!?  So excited… let’s do this!

 

If you make this recipe, be sure to take a photo and hashtag it
#MADMADAMMOM