Weeknight Chicken Dinner

Someone who reads my blog made a comment to me that I only make fancy stuff that she will probably never try and requested some regular dishes that she could make at home.

Here is the thing... I like the challenge of a complicated recipe and tasty combinations, but I don't make the fancy recipes all the time.  Do I make them? Yes. Do I eat them? Yes. Do I make them multiple times a month, most likely not, except maybe for the Cookies and Cream Popcorn!  Most of the recipes that I post here are good ones that I like and I use when baking, usually for special occasions or when I get bored, but they are not my basic nightly go-to things.

Most nights I make regular food, usually of the semi-homemade variety.  I enjoy cooking, baking especially, but most of the time I am tired from work, busy with coaching or just don't feel like taking a ton of time to make something fancy.  While I may not make an elaborate meal each night for dinner, like the cheese and crackers with some olives I found in the back of the fridge...those were okay to eat, right?  I do try and take the time to sit down minus the television/phone/or book I may be attached to, plate my food and sit at the dinner table to eat.  It is the ten or twenty minutes I take to wind down and just relax, often with a glass of wine in hand and a good meal on the table.

So here is my dinner from tonight.  Nothing fancy, in fact more of a semi-homemade dinner with a few extra touches.

Lemon Pepper Chicken with Garlic Green beans, Cornbread Stuffing and a Mustard Wine Sauce
(while the title is fancy, the prep is not...promise!)

Lemon Pepper Chicken with Mustard Wine Sauce

1 pre-marinated lemon pepper chicken breast
1/4 c. white wine (and a bit more for your glass)
1 tbs milk
1 tsp dejion mustard


The chicken was a pre-marinated, individually packaged chicken breast that I had previously taken from the freezer and thawed.
Slice the chicken breast in half so that you end up with two thin chicken breast pieces, this helps with the cooking time and helps avoid dry chicken.
Place chicken in a pan over medium heat with about a teaspoon of olive oil in the bottom.
Cook on one side until edges are no longer pink. About 10 minutes.
Turn chicken and then place lid on the pan and cook until center is no longer pink. About 10 minutes.
(I am not great at cooking chicken on the stove top and it ends up looking like it was attacked by an ax murderer because of all the times I cut to check the inside to see if it is done!)

Remove chicken from pan and allow to sit.  At this point you should have a great layer of brown chicken bits in the bottom of the pan, add the wine and deglaze the pan (scrape the brown stuff off the bottom after the wine is added so that the flavors join.
Next add the milk and mustard and stir to incorporate.  Turn the heat to low and let the sauce cook down until it is thickened.  Just be sure that you do not let it cook down so much that it sticks to the bottom of the pan.
Pour over chicken.

Corn Bread Stuffing

Start water boiling for a box of cornbread stuffing mix.  Yep, in a moment of hunger I picked up a box on sale at the grocery store!
Follow the directions on the box to prepare.

Garlic Green Beans

1 bag frozen french cut green beans
1 clove garlic
1-2 tbs butter
salt to taste

Boil or steam a bag of frozen french cut green beans until tender.
Remove from heat and drain beans before adding additional ingredients.
Add 1 clove of garlic finely minced or grated.
Add butter and salt.
Stir to incorporate butter and garlic.

Lemon Chicken Noodle Soup

I am borrowing from Panera Bread with this soup recipe...kind of. I was there for lunch a week or two ago and loved the combination of the light lemon and the savory chicken broth. I thought...I can make that, and I was able to re-create it at home with stuff that I already had on hand. I often just throw things together and somehow they end up tasting good. This is a trait that I inherited from my mom, but my sisters somehow did not manage this knack for throwing things together. So at their encouragement, I am trying to be better about writing down what I add to the pot and have measurements to create a recipe that others could follow. So here is my re-creation of a great soup I had at lunch out.

Lemon Chicken Noodle Soup

1/2 c. small pasta like orzo, cooked
1 clove garlic finely chopped
1 tbs. parsley
1/4 tsp. celery seed
Zest and juice of 1 lemon
Broth from Steamed Chicken (see below)
1 1/2 c. chopped Steamed Chicken
1/2 lb chopped spinach (I used a bundle of fresh Swiss Chard from the Farmers Market)

Put the chicken stock in a pot and place over medium heat. Add the garlic, lemon zest and juice, parsley, celery seed and salt and pepper to the stock and bring to a boil. Add the chopped spinach or chard and let cook until bright green in color. Then add the chicken and pre-cooked pasta. Simmer over low heat for 10-15 minutes and serve hot.

Steamed Chicken

Chicken breasts with the bone, but no skin
1 onion quartered

In a soup pot place the chicken and onion, then cover the chicken with water so that it has a 1/2 of water covering it. Remove the chicken from the pot and bring it to a boil. Add the chicken back into the boiling water and boil for 3 minutes. Cover with a lid and remove the pot from the stove. Allow the chicken to sit covered for 3 hours then either refrigerate or use. Remove chicken and chop for soup or chicken salad, use the broth for soup.