chicken with flavor!

I adapted this recipe from a French cooking "light" cookbook.  A misnomer, really, southern French cooking is already pretty light--don't think of the heavy sauces of the central/northern regions.

Anyway, in a preheated, HOT skillet sprayed with a healthy oil (I use olive), brown boneless, skinless chicken breasts on both sides; should take about five minutes or so.  Remove from pan and place on plate.  Turn heat down a little.  Add as many carrots and cut up onions as you'd like (1/2 cup each is what I used, but next time, more carrots!) that you have tossed with a tiny bit of oil (I just sprayed 'em).  Add about 3-4 garlic cloves, crushed (a teaspoon of two if you buy pre-crushed (bleach)).  Cover the pot, cook 3-4 minutes, stir (scraping the bottom, a little black is good), and cook for another 3-4 minutes.  The carrots should start getting tender and the onion should be becoming translucent.  Now, for the suprising part.  Add 1-2 tablespoons of vinegar (NOT white distilled--you don't want to be eating floor cleaner, do you?  Balsamic (use a cheap version, don't waste the expensive stuff on this) or cider are best).  Cook for about 1 minute.  Add 1-1.5 cups of chicken stock or bouillon (you can use the instant stuff, read the directions), and a smidgen of sweetener (avoid refined sugar.  Use honey, or even better, a little packet of stevia).  Scrape the bottom if anything is stuck to it, add back the chicken, cover, reduce heat to simmer, and simmer for 15 minutes.

Serve as is, or with a healthy starch (quinoa, barley, brown rice (preferably basmati), sweet potato) and a fibrous vegetable, or replace the starch with another fibrous vegetable.  The sweet-and-sour tang makes a nice foil to the simplicity of the chicken and the sweetness of the carrots.  The browning of the carrots (if that should happen) brings out other woody flavors, too.

Make ahead, and it's just as good.  I found that you can freeze into portions in zip-loc bags so you can take them to work or school and subject them to a microwave :).

"If there's nothing else that's relevant, I'll be leaving now"

"Today's mighty oak is just yesterday's nut that held its ground"

Sounds sort of like the hunan kung pao we make at work. For some variety you can also throw in some shrimp, diced red peppers and diced celery when you add the carrots, and top with peanuts. We do these on farkay noodles, though I'm not sure of their nutritional value. Brown rice sounds like a delicious alternative though!