Happy Accident Chicken Recipe

So last week I had a bunch of random odds and ends on hand in the kitchen, waiting to be eaten, but that didn't add up to any existing recipe I had. These ingredients included: chicken breasts, half a bag of spinach, some chicken broth leftover from another recipe, and an onion that was starting to age. I decided to cobble some bits and pieces of several recipes together and hope for the best. Surprisingly, the result was quite tasty, cheap, and healthy. Here's what I did:

1 lb boneless, skinless chicken breads, cut into small fillets and lightly salted
1 medium onion, coarsely chopped
1 tbsp olive oil
2 cups chicken broth
3 garlic cloves, minced
2 pinches red pepper flakes
1/2 bag fresh spinach
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 box whole wheat couscous

First, I'd like to note that I salted the chicken for the same reason that you'd brine a whole chicken--adding salt prior to cooking usually results in a more tender, juicy end finished product. This doesn't make the salt overly salty, since I don't add salt later in the process as many recipes would typically have you do.

Moving on, I started by heating the olive oil in a large nonstick frying pan over a medium heat and adding the onions. I let the onions cook for somewhere around 6-8 minutes, allowing them to soften and sweeten a bit. Next, I added the chicken breasts, red pepper, and garlic, cooking the chicken until the underside was a golden brown, then flipping. In doing so, I made sure to move the cooked onion out of the way so that the chicken breasts made contact with the bottom of the pan. Once both sides were a golden brown, I added the chicken broth, then put a lid on the frying pan. I let the chicken breasts cook through--it was somewhere between 5-10 minutes, and I determined the cooktime by using a meat thermometer. Once the chicken was basically cooked, I spread the spinach on top, poured the lemon juice on top. I let this cook for a minute or two, allowing some of the chicken broth to cook off. When the spinach had just begun to wilt, I removed the lid, pulled the pan off the heat, and served. I had whole wheat couscous ready and waiting as a side dish.

The final dish was really quite tasty, especially considering the haphazard way I went about throwing it together--the lemon juice, for instance, was almost an afterthought, and I had intially planned on having frozen broccoli on the side rather than incorporating fresh spinach directly in the dish. The chicken came out very juicy, tender and flavorful, the onions were nice and sweet. The chicken, onions, spinach and couscous all worked well together, and the overall meal was reaally quite healthy. The best part was that it was a quick meal, and fairly cheap: I spent less than a half hour in the kitchen, including prep time, and spent less than $10 on the meal, thanks to a recent sale on chicken breasts.

I made this meal mainly because of a lack of options, but I honestly think I'll add it to my list of regulars (recipes, that is). I'm planning on going back on Weight Watchers within a few weeks of the baby's birth, and I know this meal will fit in nicely in terms of nutrition and points values.