I know Kate already mentioned in her Scoop Post yesterday, but it’s been so fun for us to see the response to Wednesday’s post. We had no idea the interest would be so huge so we are now working like crazy to pull something awesome together while we’re all motivated! If you haven’t left feedback on that post, head over and do so. We’re going through all of the comments getting lots of awesome ideas. Give us about a week and we are hoping to launch something amazing for you all!
I’ll cut to the chase on today’s recipe. It’s a pretty simple chicken dinner, and a good example that shows healthy food can still involve things like potatoes and whole milk. It caught my eye in this month’s Cooking Light because it’s a one-dish dinner (love those!) and as I was flipping through the magazine I realized I had all of the ingredients on hand to make it (love that too!) Now, I will admit that while I adore Cooking Light Magazine, this recipe had a few issues, and after checking some online reviews I realized I wasn’t the only one who thought so. So I made a few easy changes to the cooking method to thicken the sauce and add a little more flavor and I loved the end result. This recipe is nice for those of you with smaller families because it’s made for four. Most of you already know that I’m a sucker for any recipe that involves lemons.
To start, you’ll slice some baby red potatoes in half (yes mine are in quarters- what can I say, I’m a rebel).
While those are simmering away, heat up a big skillet. The biggest you have. Do you all have a big giant skillet? Everyone needs a huge skillet. Check out this one- it’s on sale right now for about $20, down from $50! That’s the pan I use more than any other in my kitchen. It’s a must-have if you ask me. You could do this in an electric skillet as well. Brown up some chicken breasts and then pop them in the oven to finish cooking. You can make this whole dish in an oven-proof skillet, but I found it much quicker to transfer my chicken to a baking sheet so I could prep the rest of the recipe while the chicken cooked. That change made this meal super quick to make- under 30 minutes.
Back to our potatoes. Once those are done boiling and drained, you’ll cook them in the same pan you started the chicken in. You’ll need to drizzle the pan with a little olive oil first. I used our Lemon Extra Virgin, but Garlic, Rosemary, Basil, or even Bacon would be great in this recipe.
and some mushrooms go in there, too. The olive oil combined with the browned bits from the chicken makes for such great flavor.
While those are browning, whisk together some milk and flour. We’re using whole milk, which you really need in order for the sauce to have body. When I need whole milk, I don’t buy a big ol’ carton, I grab one of these little bottles, which is usually just enough for a recipe.
Here’s one area where the original recipe went tragically wrong. It called for almost 2 cups of chicken broth, leaving a thin soupy mess of a sauce. I cut that down by half – just 3/4 cup and whisked it in the pan to thicken before adding everything back in. Since I was eyeballing here, keep the rest of your broth close by, and if you need more to thin the sauce a little, go ahead and add in a little more. Add in some green beans and simmer those in the sauce to start cooking. Then you’ll add in the rest of the potatoes and mushrooms, and also the chicken.
If this looks like something you’d love, but that your kids wouldn’t touch, you can do what I did and just dice up the finished chicken for them and drizzle some ranch dressing on the potatoes. Gottta do what you gotta do!
*If your chicken breasts are particularly thick, consider slicing them in half instead of pounding.
3. Line a baking sheet with foil and set aside. Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add 1 teaspoon oil to pan. Sprinkle chicken lightly with salt and pepper. Add chicken to pan; cook 5 minutes or until chicken is browned. Turn chicken over and cook for 1 minute. Transfer chicken to foil-lined pan and place in oven for 10 minutes or until chicken is done.
4. While chicken is cooking, add remaining 2 teaspoons oil to skillet. Add potatoes, cut sides down to one side of the skillet, and the mushrooms and garlic to the other. Cook for 3-5 minutes or until browned, stirring mushrooms and garlic. Remove vegetables from pan and set on a plate to the side.
5. Combine milk and flour in a small bowl, stirring with a whisk. Add flour mixture and 3/4 cup of the chicken broth along with a sprinkle of salt and pepper to the skillet and whisk until smooth. Bring sauce to a simmer, and add beans. Simmer 2-3 minutes or until sauce starts to thicken. Add lemon slices, potatoes and mushrooms, and chicken. If sauce is too thick, add small amounts of chicken broth to thin. Reduce heat and simmer 3-4 minutes or until beans are crisp-tender. Season with additional salt and pepper to taste and then sprinkle with parsley.
Thanks for doing this! I had dog-eared this recipe in my Cooking Light and am glad to have some modifications since it’s flawed. Looking forward to seeing what you all decide to launch for fitness/health!!
How large is the can of chicken broth. I usually buy the carton which is 32 oz. – is it the same size? Thanks…this sounds delicious!
I think a can is usually about 14 oz, usually just shy of 2 cups of broth.
Just as I was reading the part where you were giving the variation for kids my five year old son walked by and said “ooohhh…that looks GOOOOOD. Pin that!” I am currently investigating a possible alien abduction and replacement. I did pin it because whether it is my son or not he’s got good taste.
So there is no lemon juice added? Just the lemon slices at the end? Was that enough lemon taste for you or would you squeeze some extra in there? This looks delicious!
We added some extra and it was perfect for our tastes!
Thank you for putting the nutritional information at the bottom of the recipe!
This chicken looks amazing! Love lemon with it.
What sides would you make to go with this?
Or is it enough on it’s own?
Wow! This looks like exactly the kind of dinner that I love–quick, easy, with a variety of fresh flavors and textures, and healthy too! You girls are amazing. You’ve totally changed the way I see food over the last couple years since I found your blog. Can’t wait for your new cook book! I also love how genuine and real you are. I never feel preached to reading your posts.
I’ve loved your recipes! I’d love some skinny recipes to help me and my family with our health/fitness goals so count me in!
Sounds delicious. Why is it that when you post “who wants to get fit?” you get over 1000 comments but when you post a healthy recipe you only get a handful? I promise to comment on every healthy recipe you post so you will know that someone appreciates them. Happy healthy January!
This looks so good and attractive! Must check it out one sunday!
Yay! This looks and sounds great! I agree with Ellie, above. I will follow your great recipe posts, because that is a part of the “doing” that is required to get fit! eating healthier foods is a part of the equation. thanks!
Yum. Looks like something I would love! Thanks for the healthy dinner ideas that can be prepared on a busy night.
Weird question for you all. Is there any way to replace the milk with something that isn’t dairy? I’m off dairy for awhile and trying to figure out how to make yummy sauces without milk. Thanks!
Making this tonight – so excited! My husband accidentally bought canned green beans :/ I imagine I should go get some fresh ones when he isn’t looking.
I am going to put this on the menu for this week. Thanks!!
This was really delicious! I couldn’t see where to add the thyme, so I left it out.
I love one-pot meals! Your skillet ziti is still one of my favorite recipes! I can’t wait to try this one!
I made this tonight. Holy mama! It was so amazingly delicious. The only things I did different were – I didn’t have whole milk, so I substituted cream (and added a zillion calories), and I forgot the thyme and parsley. I’m excited to try the lower fat, herbed recipe next time. THANK YOU!! This is now a family favorite! My kids even loved it!
Perfect timing – the fiance and I were just talking last night about how we need to eat more healthy meals. This looks great and great for you without limiting the “good” ingredients (I mean, no offense, but who wants to eat a kale salad with beans sprinkled on top?).
Green beans and lemon are 2 of my husband’s favorites! Thanks for making me look like such a good wife tonight! Delicious!
I made this tonight and it’s a new family favorite! Delicious! One question though on something I noticed… Recipe calls for thyme, but after I made it, I noticed I forgot the thyme! Reread the recipe and can’t find where it’s listed in the steps. Could someone provide some insight? Thanks!
We enjoyed this! I messed up with the sauce–added 5T of flour instead of 5t….oops! Once it heated through, I added a ton of chicken broth and extra lemon and it wash fine. No one even knew. Phew! I look forward to making this again the right way! I love lemons too. We have a bunch this time of year in Tucson.
Made this tonight and it was not great. 🙁 For one thing, your recipe doesn’t say where to add in the thyme. I added it into the flour/milk base. My chicken was overcooked–I cut it thin and by the time it was browned, it really only needed an extra few minutes to cook all the way through, not a whole 10 minutes in the oven. My sauce ended up overpoweringly lemony. Not totally inedible, but close! I guess my lemon slices were too thick (even though I thought they were pretty thin) and I could have done with half the slices, half as thick. Bummer, because I think this had good potential and I like that it was a complete meal (protien, veggies, starch) in one dish.
for another yummy, healthy recipe!
Made this tonight and it was delish!!!! Using your lemon olive oil was perfect if you like lemony chicken. The whole family liked this dish. Thank you for posting the nutritional info with it. I finally joined the My Fitness Pal nation and this really helps!
This was seriously so good! My husband made it for dinner (lucky me) and he just added a little fresh lemon juice at the end to give it extra flavor. We all loved it, and it’s now part of our regular rotation. Thanks, ladies!
I’ve made this twice. It was pretty good. I made a little pasta for my kids instead of the potatoes and doubled the sauce the second time and they loved it. Yay for an easy, healthy dinner!
We loved this! It was such a yummy, flavorful, full of goodness meal. A few things to note: 1) this is NOT a thirty-minute meal. It took me nearly an hour from start to finish. 2) double the sauce. There just isn’t enough sauce to really even simmer the beans. 3) I used nearly paper-thin lemon slices but I think fresh lemon juice would be just as great. 4) adding spinach and kale is a wonderful addition. Thanks again for this great meal!
Just made this tonight, but I subbed in asparagus for the beans and used purple potatoes (they were purple all the way through!) I was looking for a recipe that used a bunch of the produce that came in my bountiful basket this week, and this fit the bill. We got lemons, mushrooms, potatoes and asparagus this week. It looked and tasted AMAZING! Thank you!
A friend recommended this recipe a couple of weeks ago and I finally got around to trying it. Oh. my. word. YUM!! My husband and I had make a conscious effort not to scarf it down. My kids…well they’re just picky, so their opinion doesn’t count here. I took Holly W’s advice and doubled the sauce – glad I did. I also added the thyme to the sauce along with the salt and pepper. I didn’t add any extra lemon and it was plenty of flavor for us, but I might try adding just a little next time to see if we like it more…lemony. 🙂 Thanks for another fantastic recipe!
I just made this and it was SOOOOOOOOO yummy. We all loved it, even my one-year-old. But I didn’t ever add the thyme because it wasn’t in the directions. When should I add it? Any suggestions?