Chicken and Spiced Apples

I was trying to figure out how I was going to go about this experiment this last weekend because I didn't really want to be confined to just one cookbook or one type of food or anything. So I decided I will be using the internet and recommendations/suggestions by friends for everything. One of the main requirements for these recipes is that I want to try to make healthy meals. I'm not talking about cardboard only 2 pieces of celery kind of healthy...I mean come on, I love to eat haha. So as long as it isn't deep fried with 8 pounds of butter and 1 cup of salt, I think it can be a possibility. My parents and I just recently started the 90 day challenge at Lifetime Fitness and basically that's just whoever can lose the most percentage of their body weight wins. Well I have been doing really well with the exercising but the eating is the hardest part for me. I found this awesome website though that I think will help with that! Eatingwell.com is awesome; it has a lot of variety and shows how long it will take, the portions it will make, and the nutritional breakdown.

So for my first experiment I found this recipe called chicken and spiced apples on eatingwell.com. I love apples and I like chicken, but together? I really was not sure how this would turn out. But it incorporated a lot of spices and I really felt like doing something like that. I found that the prep to cooking really kind of sucks, I'm by no means a pro when it comes to knife skills! I think with practice, though, it may start to feel more natural. So I made this meal and my parents said it smelled amazing when I was cooking it. I really need to work on my timing (I am a lot slower than the recipe suggests) and presentation! For this recipe I decided to place the chicken and apples on a bed of brown rice with broccoli and onions mixed in.

Here is the recipe I used for this dish:

Ingredients

• 2 apples, preferably Braeburn, peeled and thinly sliced
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 3 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided
• 3 teaspoons unsalted butter, divided
• 1 1/8 teaspoons herbes de Provence, (see Note), divided
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
• 1 1/2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts, trimmed
• 1 cup reduced-sodium chicken broth
• 1 teaspoon freshly grated lemon zest

Preparation

1. Toss apple slices with lemon juice and cinnamon in a small bowl. Heat 1 teaspoon oil and 1 teaspoon butter in a medium nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add the apples and cook, stirring occasionally, until tender, about 5 minutes. Keep warm.
2. Mix 1 teaspoon herbes de Provence, salt and pepper. Place chicken between sheets of plastic wrap and pound with a meat mallet or the bottom of a small saucepan to a 1/2-inch thickness. Sprinkle the chicken on both sides with the seasoning mixture.
3. Heat 1 teaspoon oil and 1 teaspoon butter in a large skillet over high heat. Add half the chicken and cook until no longer pink in the center, 2 to 3 minutes per side. Remove to a platter and keep warm. Add the remaining 1 teaspoon oil and 1 teaspoon butter to the pan; heat over high heat. Cook the remaining chicken in the same manner.
4. Add broth, lemon zest, the remaining 1/8 teaspoon herbes and any accumulated juices from the chicken to the pan. Cook, stirring to scrape up any browned bits, until slightly reduced, about 3 minutes. Spoon the sauce over the chicken and serve with the sautéed apples.

Tips & Notes

• Ingredient note:
• Herbes de Provence is a mixture of dried herbs commonly used in the south of France. You can find commercial mixtures in specialty stores, but it is easy to make your own. Mix 1 tablespoon each (or equal proportions) dried thyme, rosemary, oregano, marjoram and savory in a small jar. If desired, add a pinch of dried lavender and crushed aniseed.

Nutrition

Per serving: 191 calories; 6 g fat (2 g sat, 2 g mono); 72 mg cholesterol; 6 g carbohydrates; 0 g added sugars; 27 g protein; 1 g fiber; 292 mg sodium; 342 mg potassium.
Nutrition Bonus: Niacin (65% daily value), Selenium (29% dv).

  I made this on 8/22/2010 , so that begins my experimenting!

Add on: (because my friend, Priya, so nicely pointed out that I didn't say anything about how it was). I was surprised with how this one tasted!! The apples actually made it so good, I wanted each bite to have apples in it because I loved them so much! I accidentally overcooked one of the chickens (not mine haha) but when I had it cooked correctly I really enjoyed it. The spices made it taste really interesting and it definitely filled all of us up! The leftovers were also very delicious as well!