Strawberry Glazed Chicken Breasts

It is beginning to be that awkward time of year, when you aren't quite sure if you should put away your warm clothes for good or not. I am also discovering that this is the awkward time when you realize that all the food I have bought over the past year needs to either get eaten or thrown out by move out time. I'm leaving this apartment (good riddance) in a few weeks, so new recipes need to come out of terrible ingredient choices.


Today I was looking at this collection of recipes on a Word document that my dad sent me. He told me he hasn't tried this one yet. I'm really glad I found it, because it was delicious and I already had the ingredients (sort of).

1 cup chicken broth
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar (I only had apple cider vinegar)
1/4 cup strawberry jam
2 tbsp cooking oil
6 boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 clove minced garlic
salt and pepper


In a small bowl, whisk together the broth, mustard, vinegar, and jam. Season the chicken breasts with salt and pepper, then in a skillet over medium-high heat, cook the chicken breasts in oil for about 3 minutes on each side. Remove the chicken from the skillet, and pour in the broth mix to deglaze the pan, scraping up any brown bits on the bottom of the pan. Add the garlic. Return the chicken to the pan, cover and cook for about 5 more minutes, until it is cooked through. Once the chicken is done, set aside and wrap in tin foil. Bring the liquid to a boil for about 3 minutes, until the mixture has reduced to a thick glaze. Pour over the chicken and serve with rice. 

Chicken with Prosciutto

My cousin Jessi, the one with the famous guacamole recipe, sent me a couple of new recipes to try out. I finally got around to her simple chicken breast and prosciutto dish, which sounded delicious, and came out even better than I imagined. The recipe only calls for a couple of ingredients so it's great to make when you don't have a lot on hand.

2 thin sliced chicken cutlets
4 thin slices prosciutto
1 tbsp pesto sauce
1 tsp garlic, chopped
ground pepper
oregano

makes 2 servings

Roll up the individual pieces of prosciutto and place 2 on one half of each chicken cutlet. Spread pesto on prosciutto. Fold over the other half of the chicken and use toothpicks to hold in place. Sprinkle pepper and oregano generously on the outside of the chicken. Cook in oil and garlic over medium to medium-high head until the chicken is no longer pink inside. Remove toothpicks and enjoy!

As you can see, I didn't have thinly cut chicken, so it's not as pretty or as easy to cook as I would have liked. The recipe called for fresh basil, which I did not have. But I did have some of my dad's homemade pesto sauce in the freezer, so I substituted and think that it gave an even better flavor than the basil alone would have. It also called for thyme, which my spice self seems to be lacking. I poked around on the internet and looked at other chicken and prosciutto recipes, and oregano seemed common in many other ones.