lovethechefblog

On Tuesday of last week I had a little extra time so I decided to be creative in the kitchen. As some of you know, I work part-time as the Director of Marketing for my husbands company and I keep my grandson who Cohen who is 4 years old. When I pick him up from pre-school he is usually so tired that I have a hard time keeping him awake on the drive home. He naps for about 2 hours every afternoon which works out great for me to cook. Although sometimes I want to take a nap too but I would rather do something creative.

I had 5 boneless, skinless chicken thighs thawed for dinner and had no idea of what to do with them. I opened my fridge and acted like I was on “Chopped”. My basket included, balsamic vinegar, spinach leaves, goat cheese and bacon. Not a hard basket I know, but it was my choice!

I made a marinate for the chicken with:

1/4 cup balsamic vinegar

2 TBS  dijon mustard

1 lemon juiced

3 garlic cloves sliced

1TBS olive oil

I put the chicken thighs and marinate in a zip-lock bag for 2 hours in the fridge. I did move the chicken around after an hour to make sure it was all covered.

After I marinated the chicken I put the chicken and marinate in a saute pan and cooked for about 20 minutes, flipping the chicken once. I know you are thinking….the marinate? Yes the marinate. As long as you bring it to a boil for 10 minutes it is fine. After cooking the chicken, I took the chicken out of the marinate and set it aside.

Using the same pan I then added:

1/2 cup chicken broth

2 TBS  balsamic vinegar

2 TBS flour

a little bit of salt and pepper

I cooked the sauce on med high until it thickened and then added the chicken back into the pan with the marinate. I let it cook for another 5 to 10 minutes.

In the mean while I had bacon cooking at 350* in the oven. I placed it on a cookie sheet for about 20 minutes covered with foil and it worked out great. After cooking the bacon I placed it on a paper towel to get the grease off.

I place a handful of spinach on the plate and sprinkled bacon and goat cheese over the spinach.

Then I added the chicken to the top of the spinach and drizzled with the sauce that I made from the marinate, more goat cheese and more bacon. I have to say it was very good. I even surprised myself with the taste.

You could serve this meal to company and they would be so impressed! It was not hard to do.

This meal has so much flavor and could be served with a baked sweet potato. I did win CHOPPED but I was the only one in the kitchen, however, I did not receive the $10,000.00 check.

You can cook….just give it a try!