Stress Eating and Mom’s Chicken

What started out as a very calm and peaceful morning turned into a very stressful day with troubling news from home. I ate a couple gummi bears (the haribo kind—SO good) at work just because. When I got home from work I wanted “real” food…so I decided to whip up a quick home cooked meal. Cooking really is such a stress relief to me and when the day hasn’t been that great, I often turn to the kitchen. I decided this morning to give those frozen chicken breasts another shot and had one defrosting in the fridge all day (no more cooking in the microwave!!!)  so I made my mom’s Chicken Piccata with roasted lemony fingerling potatoes. Here’s the recipe that I scaled down to serve 1:

Chicken Piccata

1 chicken breast (about 5 ounces or so)

1/4 cup flour

about a half tbsp olive oil (just a quick whirl around the pan. I never measure)

2 tsp paprika

dash cayenne

good dash sea salt and pepper

juice of one lemon plus additional slices

about 4 tbsp chicken broth or water or white wine. whatever you got

minced parsley to finish

1. Pound the chicken breast thin with a meat mallet (I used a wine bottle. haha).

2. Combine the flour and spices in a plastic bag and shake well. Add the chicken breast and shake.

3. Heat up the oil in a skillet (I used a cast iron). When it’s spitting hot, add the chicken breast and cook for about 3 minutes per side until JUST done (even a little underdone). Remove and set on paper towels.

4. Add the chicken broth/liquid and the lemon juice to deglaze the pan. Cook for about a minute then add the chicken back in and cook until the chicken is done and the sauce has thickened up a bit.

5. Serve with minced parsley on top.

***I roasted three fingerling potatoes that I drizzled with evoo and dusted with sea salt for about 20 minutes at 400. When they were ALMOST done but not quite, I added them to the chicken in the cast iron and got them all hot, crispy and lemony.

The end result wasn’t really the prettiest meal ever, but it sure tasted amazing!!! The chicken was MUCH better this time around when I let it defrost a little first then cooked it on the stove. No more evil microwave action here!

I also had a spinach salad with balsamic vin. and a square of dark chocolate, obviously. Sorry for the fuzzy not-so-great picture. I don’t know what happened!

For a snack tonight I’m bringing this little packet of granola that I found at work today. I also found these fingerling potatoes at work today. It’s amazing what you get when you work at a restaurant!

Hopefully tonight is a quick night. I would love to be able to go home to Tampa tonight but if I get out early I think I’m just going to go to bed early, wake up  and work out then drive home.