Let Your Cookware Multi-Task For You With This One-Skillet Lemon Chicken Dinner

By Kay MacInnis, Registered Dietitian, Providence Health

WOW! It feels like we went full speed ahead right into busy season. That’s when homemade healthy food feels too challenging to fit in. But home-cooking CAN work even when life gets a little crazy.

If you have multiple things going on at once, have your cookware do the same. By that I mean, veggies, starches, and proteins all in one pan. One skillet dishes, like the recipe here, do just that. You even get a little fiber with the skin on the red potatoes and haricots verts.

Weeknight Lemon Chicken Skillet Dinner [Recipe source: Cooking Light]
Ingredients:
• 12 ounces baby red potatoes, halved
• 1 tablespoon olive oil, divided
• 4 (6-ounce) skinless, boneless chicken breast halves, pounded to 3/4-inch thickness
• 3/4 teaspoon kosher salt, divided
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, divided
• 2 thyme sprigs
• 4 ounces cremini mushrooms, quartered
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme
• 1/4 cup whole milk
• 5 teaspoons all-purpose flour
• 1 3/4 cups unsalted chicken stock
• 8 very thin lemon slices
• 1 (8-ounce) package trimmed haricots verts (French green beans)
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
Preparation:
1. Preheat oven to 450°.
2. Place potatoes in a medium saucepan; cover with water. Bring to a boil, and simmer 12 minutes or until tender. Drain.
3. Heat a large ovenproof skillet over medium-high heat.
4. Add 1 teaspoon oil to pan.
5. Sprinkle chicken with 1/4 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper.
6. Add chicken and thyme sprigs to pan; cook 5 minutes or until chicken is browned.
7. Turn chicken over.
8. Place pan in oven; bake at 450° for 10 minutes or until chicken is done.
9. Remove chicken from pan. Return pan to medium-high heat.
10. Add remaining 2 teaspoons oil.
11. Add potatoes, cut sides down; mushrooms; and 1 tablespoon thyme; cook 3 minutes or until browned, stirring once.
12. Combine milk and flour in a small bowl, stirring with a whisk.
13. Add remaining salt, remaining pepper, flour mixture, stock, lemon, and beans to pan; simmer 1 minute or until slightly thickened.
14. Add chicken; cover, reduce heat, and simmer 3 minutes or until beans are crisp-tender.
15. Sprinkle with parsley.

Nutrition information: 342 calories, 8.6 gm fat, 110 mg cholesterol, 43 gr protein, 23 gr carbohydrate, 642 mg sodium

Join Kay MacInnis, Registered Dietitian, for her monthly award-winning Providence Cooks! cooking classes in Columbia, SC. The class tackles various dietary hurdles by creating, with her team of chefs, a multi-course gourmet meal that promotes health and fits within dietary restrictions. All guests enjoy the healthy sit-down meal with live Q&A from Kay, the chefs, and other special health expert guests.
Call 800.424.DOCS (3627) to learn about the next Providence Cooks!