Hibernation Time

Cooking Light, January, 2012

I hate this time of the year.  The novelty of cashmere and turtlenecks has worn off.  The stores are all featuring "cruise wear" and that just depresses me.  It's winter and there's just nothing that will make me happy.

I have to admit that starting in about November I give up on the pedicures.  I mean, come on?  What's the point?  No one's going to see my feet except for Ted and I'm not even sure he takes all that much notice of them anyway.  So, all those sandals in the stores?  Forget it.  I cannot consider trying them on for at least another couple of months.

Leaving aside the whole sandal thing, I barely want to leave my house.  I hate feeling cold so I just hunker down and wait out the big chill.

This leaves me with a lot of time to putter around my house.  I wish I could report that I get all kinds of things done.  I wish I could tell you that my cabinets are all perfectly organized and that I'm always up to date on the laundry and ironing.  Nope.  I spend all my time in the kitchen, cooking up a storm.  When I'm not cooking, I'm browsing cookbooks and magazine for something new to make.

Lately I'm really been into my new issue of Cooking Light.  On Monday night I made the Chicken and Chorizo Stew and tonight I made the Maple Mustard Glazed Chicken.  I have to tell you, for something so light on the fat and calories, it really was scrumptious.  And it was a quickie too.  It took just a few minutes to prepare.

So what's my excuse today?  It took me just minutes to make a gourmet looking dinner and I never did get around to organizing those cabinets.

Recipe:  Maple Mustard Glazed Chicken
(Cooking Light, January, 2012)


Ingredients:

2 teaspoons olive oil
4 (6-ounce) skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup fat-free, lower-sodium chicken broth
1/4 cup maple syrup
2 teaspoons chopped fresh thyme
2 medium garlic cloves, thinly sliced
1 tablespoon cider vinegar
1 tablespoon stone-ground mustard

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400°.

Heat a large ovenproof skillet over medium-high heat. Add oil; swirl to coat. Sprinkle chicken with pepper and salt. Add chicken to pan; sauté 2 minutes on each side or until browned. Remove chicken from pan. Add broth, syrup, thyme, and garlic to pan; bring to a boil, scraping pan to loosen browned bits. Cook 2 minutes, stirring frequently. Add vinegar and mustard; cook for 1 minute, stirring constantly. Return chicken to pan, and spoon mustard mixture over chicken. Bake at 400° for 10 minutes or until the chicken is done. Remove chicken from pan; let stand 5 minutes. Place pan over medium heat; cook mustard mixture 2 minutes or until liquid is syrupy, stirring frequently. Serve with chicken.