Check out this balsamic chicken and veggies dish

It's been a while since I've blogged, and since no one really wants to hear how I'm struggling a little with the current WIP as of late, I'm going to write about food instead.

One of my high school contemporaries--and in a Six Degrees of Separation angle, the mother of one of my wife's math students--had posted a recipe for One Pan Balsamic Chicken from Tasty on Facebook over the weekend, and it was so mouth-watering that I needed to try it. My mom also posted it, so that must have been a sign. I made it Thursday, and I altered the directions a little. Instead of one pan, I used two to keep everything relatively warm.

Doesn't this look fantastic?

Here's what you'll need:

As many chicken breasts that you and your family will eat, tenderized and sliced into no more than 1 1/2-inch wide lengths
An 8-ounce package of mushroom slices
Green Beans, between a quarter of a pound and half a pound
A cup of grape tomatoes, halved the long way
Salt and pepper to taste
Olive oil
1/4 cup Italian dressing
1-2 tablespoons of honey
3 tablespoons Balsamic vinaigrette

In the first frying pan, coat with olive oil and toss in your mushrooms, cooking them down on high for a few minutes, stirring and tossing. They should go from their pale gray coloring to a darker shade of sandalwood. Add your green beans to this, turn the heat to low, and cover.

In the second frying pan (once the first is covered), coat with olive oil and toss in your chicken breasts, adding salt and pepper to taste. We tenderize our chicken, so it's relatively flat; also, I had put the breasts into the oil whole without slicing, which led to the chicken being slightly undercooked and I had to zap it for about 50 seconds to finish it off. When the outside edges of the chicken grow white, turn the chicken. Keep doing this every few minutes in order to cook the chicken through, probably four turns or so, especially if your chicken is sliced (you live and you learn). As you're waiting for the chicken, remember to stir the mushrooms and beans a few times. Once done, set the chicken aside.

In the same pan that you used to cook the chicken, it's time to make your balsamic glaze. Don't worry if there are little pieces of chicken still in the pan: use that to your advantage! Add the Italian dressing, then the honey, then the Balsamic vinaigrette. Cook it on high for a few minutes, stirring until the concoction is all dark and bubbly.

By now, the mushrooms and beans should be ready. Toss the chicken in, along with the halved grape tomatoes. Then, pour your balsamic glaze over the top of it, then stir and cover for about two minutes.

I served this with white rice, drizzling some of the extra glaze over it to give it some additional flavor.

My bride thoroughly enjoyed this, so I'm being allowed to make it again. This next time, I will totally trim the chicken down to size.

Enjoy!

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