Balsamic Chicken

In keeping with my second New Years resolution I wanted to not depend so heavily on my usual salads and quinoa mixes this semester. Last year I overdid it with the paninis and pastas in the kitchen, and as I have not even touched my George Foreman since last spring, I didn't want to completely ruin for myself the healthier meals I have gone for this year. In my resolve to find new ways to revamp the old, I saw a recipe for balsamic chicken and quinoa and figured, well looks easy enough and I already have all the pantry ingredients...

I ended up tossing in some broccoli I had in the freezer as well, and used brown rice instead of quinoa as it was what I had on hand. Overall, the recipe was a walk in the park - minimal need for my nonexistent knife skills and with the extra time built in for the vegetable and chicken mixture to simmer with the vinegar and tomato combination there was no guess work needed on if the chicken was fully cooked. I'm also a big fan of balsamic vinegar and use it as salad dressing or just drizzled on some tomatoes and mozzarella so all in all, this recipe was a win for me. Try it out sometime!

Ingredients
Olive oil: 1 tablespoon
Yellow onion: 1, thinly sliced
Red bell peppers: 2 large, sliced
Garlic: 4 cloves, minced (may substitute 1 teaspoon garlic powder)
Chicken breast halves: 4 (4- to 6-oz) skinless, boneless
Red pepper flake: ¼ teaspoon
Coarse salt: ¼ teaspoon
Ground black pepper: ¼ teaspoon
Balsamic vinegar: ⅓ cu
Diced tomatoes: 1 (15-oz) can, well drained (preferably no salt added)

Directions
1. Coat a large sauté pan with oil, and preheat the pan over medium-high heat. Add onion and bell pepper and sauté for 5 minutes.
2. Add garlic (or garlic powder) and red pepper flakes and sauté for 1 minute, stirring constantly.
3. Season chicken breasts with salt and pepper. Add chicken breasts to the pan and cook for 4 minutes on each side.
4. Add vinegar and tomatoes, and bring liquids to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium-low, and simmer uncovered for 25 minutes, stirring occasionally. Serve with quinoa and sautéed greens.

Recipe Source: Parade magazine 


**Note: from this post onward I will only be posting once weekly (Monday's at 8 am) as well as biweekly for my Friday Five series (every other Friday at 8 am). I hope to be able to get back to my original posting schedule, but until my time permits I am going forth with this new schedule in an effort to not overextend myself with the start of this new school semester. Moreover, I want my content to remain original, inspired, and a quality I am proud of. Until I am able to find a better balance with my school responsibilities, prepare content in advance to avoid last minute deadlines, and better schedule pictures for fashion posts to be taken, I do not want the effort I put into posts to suffer as a tradeoff for remaining on the same posting schedule. Thank you for understanding!**