Ta-da! Matt made me this banner a while ago and I haven't had an occasion to use it yet. This seemed to be as good a time as any!

Well, as previously stated, this is going to be a record of possible chicken seasonings for our usual method (bake at 450 for 20 minutes coated lightly with olive oil.) This first foray didn't go very well...

Seasoning Ingredients
-1/2 Tsp of Paprika
-1/2 Tsp of Salt
-1/2 Tsp of Ground Pepper
-1/2 Tsp of Onion Powder

Results: HORRIBLE ):

I don't know why I thought this would be good. Firstly, a 1/2 Tsp is too much for a single chicken breast. Informal measurements should be used just to lightly coat the meat rather than make a scrapable layer of it.

Second, if you've ever had seasoning salt on fries, this is basically the recipe, except switch out the ground pepper for garlic powder. So, I basically made seasoning salt chicken. And it was pretty awful. Maybe the same flavor in smaller quantities? Somehow I just don't see it working out.

One of the difficulties Megan and I have when it comes to the subject of cooking has very little to do with time or technique; it has to do with health. While making fun, amazing dishes is...well, fun and amazing, it isn't always the healthiest choice one could make.

And I have a hard time saying that she's wrong.

After all, one only has to watch an episode of "Paula's Party" on the Food Network to realize that the key to good eating is often five or six cups of butter. While these dishes might be fun and delicious, they're definitely not something one should be eating on a daily basis.

So most of the time, Megan and I just eat chicken and vegetables. It's boring, but it's healthy and it's relatively easy.

When I make the chicken, though, I usually do something to mine. Open the spice rack and throw something on there at random. Sometimes the results are really good, sometimes they're just adequate. But I got to thinking the other day that perhaps there could be a more thorough way to deal with my chicken diet. What if I started measuring the things I added to the chicken? What if I started recording it? What if I set out to find specific flavors?

So that's what I'm going to do.

My hope is that the results will develop a "suite of spices" that one can reference and utilize to create any taste of food possible while using the same, tried and true cooking method. I have no idea how many different flavors I'll be able to find. Heck, there might only be five. But it will hopefully engage my cooking brain while saving our arteries from the five cups of butter.

So if any of you have any chicken rubs (can you put a rub on a chicken? Have to look that up), marinades, or seasoning combinations, post in the comments or send me an email! Heck, if you have ones that don't even go on chicken, let me know anyway and I'll give it a shot.

Here's to chicken.