As some of you know, I’ve been participating in the Outside the Box Challenge, which has encouraged me to make new things, use new ingredients, change my workout and think more about what I eat. This week’s challenge was to use an herb you haven’t for a while and report on how it went. I made three different recipes using fresh tarragon (I always never use fresh herbs), and thought I’d share my favorite.
(I know it looks blurry, there was a lot of steam)
The best things about this recipe for Chicken Tarragon from AllRecipes:
- 10 ingredients, 9 of which I didn’t need to go to the store for
- 35 minutes
- 1 skillet, 1 baking dish, knives, and couple cutting boards are all the dishes you need.
I love dishes where you throw everything in the oven and it all cooks together. I’m not even sure it was necessary to brown the chicken (confession: I used turkey breast–it’s what I had!)…mine didn’t really brown and it still tasted good. Plus, we’re getting 2 meals worth of vegetables out of the recipe. I’ll probably try it out again, perhaps using different vegetables and herbs to see what I can create. If you’re looking for an easy dinner, I’d definitely check out the recipe.
Side note: there wasn’t any grain in this recipe, so I decided to make another side. Brian suggested I use up the container of Israeli couscous that’s been sitting in our pantry forever. I decided to attempt a cheaper, less fresh, version of Giada’s Mediterrean Salad, which is still one of my favorite things. I prepared a dressing of lemon juice, dried basil, pressed garlic and salt, poured it over the cooked couscous and added a handful of dried cranberries. Despite missing the fresh basil and lacking mint and almonds entirely, the pasta tasted amazingly similar to the original dish. Now we need to get more Israeli couscous so I can eat this all the time!
