A Quick Little Dinner

Hello

I hope this finds you all well. I know I've been on a bit of a hiatus, but I'm wanting to get right back into the blogging I enjoy so much. My last post explained a little of why I needed to take a break, and I thought I was going to be back after that, but I guess I just wasn't ready yet. I think I am now, though, and I want to share an easy post with you here. A quick little dinner I made tonight, thanks to a Weight Watchers recipe, believe it or not. And it was quite good. It passed the family taste-test with flying colors. And it really was quick to whip up.

Here's the recipe:

Lemon Chicken With Broccoli

Ingredients
      2 Tbsp all-purp flour, divided
      1/2 tsp table salt, divided
      1/4 tsp black pepper
      2 tsp olive oil
      12 oz uncooked, boneless,
      skinless chicken breasts
      1 1/2 cups fat-free, reduced-
      sodium chicken broth, divided
     2 tsp minced garlic
     2 1/2 cups uncooked small
     broccoli florets
     2 tsp lemon zest, or more to taste
     2 Tbsp chopped fresh parsley
     1 Tbsp fresh lemon juice

Directions
Combine 1 1/2 Tbsp flour, 1/4 tsp each salt and pepper on a plate. Add chicken and toss to coat. (I cut up the chicken into little chunks)

Heat oil in a nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add chicken and cook, turning as needed, until lightly browned and cooked through, about 5 minutes (mine did take a bit longer), remove to a plate.

Put 1 cup broth and garlic into the skillet; bring to a boil over high heat, scraping up the browned bits from the skillet. Add broccoli; cover and cook 1 minute.

In the measuring cup, stir together remaining 1/2 cup broth, 1/2 Tbsp flour, and 1/4 tsp salt; add to skillet and bring to simmer over low heat.

Cover and cook until broccoli is crisp-tender and sauce is slightly thickened, about 1 1/2 minutes. Stir in chicken and lemon zest, heat through.

Remove skillet from heat and stir in parsley and lemon juice, toss to coat.

Makes 4 servings, about 1 cup per serving.

And this is how I adapted it:



I gathered my ingredients. $12. That's it. Believe it or not. Including the 1 3/4 lbs thin cut and trimmed chicken, and I have three breast left to freeze for another meal.

 

I chopped the chicken into bite-sized pieces, mixed the flour, salt and pepper, and tossed each piece. Not as time consuming as you'd think, besides, I found it to be a perfect time to think.

I'm sure I used a bit more than the 12 oz of chicken, I didn't weigh it, but it turned out to be perfect for the amount of flour the recipe called for.

                                                 Fitting snug and perfect in the skillet...

                       

               The recipe suggested angel hair pasta, rice or couscous. We love couscous, but we always have that, so I thought angel hair pasta would be the perfect match up. I know the pot looks small, but the pasta shrank down quickly and it worked out just fine.

   

I added the broth and garlic, scraped the pan, and added the broccoli and let it simmer. This is where I had to improvise a bit. The next step in the recipe says to add 1/2 Tbsp flour to the 1/2 cup broth and add that to the pan, cover and cook until the sauce is thickened. This did not happen...

                                                   Lemon Zest from one large lemon...Yum!

 Anyway, back to my not-so-thick sauce...I uncovered the skillet, added the chicken and zest, and that still did not thicken the sauce. I was afraid that if I let is simmer any longer, my broccoli would turn to mush. So I quickly added another 1/2 Tbsp of flour and viola! Immediate thickness.  Not to mention how wonderful it smelled!

You can serve this separately, with some pasta tossed in olive oil and a little salt, pepper and garlic....

                                                             ....pair them side by side ....

...or serve on top of the pasta like I did, all tossed up...

DELISH!

I hope you are encouraged to try this one. I was done cooking and we were sitting down to dinner within 30 minutes. And for just $12 for all three of us, with pasta and chicken left over for another meal, what a bargain.

I've got a ton more pictures of places and things we've been doing lately, and I can't wait to share them with you, so check back for that. Also, if you read my other blog, I've got some great ideas brewing for over there, as well.

Thanks for reading today!

Have a great week...

Nanette