Maple Glazed Chicken, so good!

Maple, what a beautiful flavour. Maple goes with everything you can imagine. Maple syrup is a natural sweetener, the nectar of the Gods, discovered first
by our Native American Indians, “sinzibuckwud”, the Algonquin word for it means literally “drawn from trees”. This sweet water from the Maple tree has been useful in cooking long before recorded history here in North America. I love maple syrup.  I love absolutely everything about Maple trees actually except for raking leaves…  Growing up, maple trees and maple syrup played in a big part in my life showing me one of the most beautiful and many wonderful things mother nature offers. As a kid, I loved climbing the huge Maple tree in my yard that shaded my round tire sandbox, hanging from a branch upside down, swinging as high as I could from a tree swing, and every spring sneaking a small taste of sap when my parents weren’t looking.  I spent many long hours in the sugarbush behind our small farm with my dog Prince, spending an entire day exploring fabulous wild flowers with my sisters, eating lunch from my Dad’s tin lunch box, playing with sticks in the babbling creek with the water tumbling over the rocks and over the top of my rubber boots, and every spring visiting the farmer, Mr. Beard in his sugar shack, watching the sap gently boiling down, and producing the most beautiful taste ever known.

I love syrup poured over a stack of pancakes or french toast, on vanilla ice cream, in a dish with bread and butter on the side to soak it up,  just like Dad made when it was his turn to make dessert.  It is so easy to enjoy this sweet nutritious syrup in main dishes, side dishes or desserts.  One could practically eat maple syrup all day in every recipe starting from breakfast through to dinner.  I have a friend who uses it as a cooking liquid to poach his eggs.  Use it as a sweetener for applesauce, salad dressing, muffins, baked beans, hot cereal, squash, cake, pie, bread, fudge, milkshakes, coffee, tea. Who can resist that ever sweet maple-leaf shaped candy?

Here is an amazing chicken recipe, that I particularly love to do.  It is so easy and so tasty. The soy sauce and sesame oil add a smokey teriyaki flavour. Explore for yourself the beauty of Maple Syrup.

MAPLE GLAZED TERIYAKI CHICKEN

• 4-5 skinless, boneless chicken breast cubed, or skinless, boneless thighs
• 2-3 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger root
• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/3 cup maple syrup
• 2-3 tablespoons dark sesame oil
• 1-2 teaspoons ground black pepper