Balsamic Chicken & Mushrooms

So my sister saved my butt today when it came to dinner! Once again, I failed at time management and was scrambling at 5:00 for a dinner idea(surprise, surprise…or not really, if you know me). She had saved a recipe from Tip Hero, a page on Facebook that I’m sure you’ve heard of – and if you haven’t, check it out! It’s got great recipes that are generally quick and easy.

The one my sis had saved recently was a balsamic chicken, mushroom and green bean one pot wonder. Perfect!! I LOVE one pot wonders. And this one looks and sounds so sophisticated, what with the balsamic vinegar and mushrooms, so that’s a nice little bonus. My littlest does NOT like mushrooms – not even slightly! It can take her over an hour to finish a dish that has mushrooms in it, no joke! But when they’re smothered in a thick, tangy, sweet sauce, even she was able to stomach eating most of them…With a little prompting and bribing from me. (Yup, I am NOT above bribery when it comes to certain battles with my littles!)

Tip Hero calls for mushrooms and green beans, but I didn’t have those so I used frozen peas instead. (They worked just fine, although next time I would have defrosted them first to cut down on the amount of water in the pan.) I also used coconut oil to saute the veggies because it’s the best kind of oil for me. You can use any kind you have on hand, though. I put the mushrooms in first and let them saute for a few minutes on their own until they started to darken up a little, then I tossed in the peas and added a pinch of salt.

I moved them over to a plate and added more coconut oil to the pan to cook my chicken next. I used chicken thighs, which are a little thinner than breasts so they generally cook a little quicker. Be careful doing it this way though, the oil spits and trust me it HURTS!

Once the chicken was cooked through, I moved that to another plate and added the balsamic vinegar, Italian dressing and honey to the pan and let that simmer and thicken up. Tip Hero has all of the actual measurements, I just winged it. I used the most Italian dressing, only a few tablespoons of honey (although next time I would definitely add a bit more) and maybe a 1/4 cup of balsamic. Don’t quote me on that number though. I learned to cook from my grandma, who’s handwritten recipes -seriously- have measurements like “half a handful,” “a pinch,” or sometimes no measurements at all, just ingredients! I learned early to judge my ingredients by how they fit in my hand, but I know that drives some people crazy (like my husband, who likes things to be exact). If you’re like him, definitely check out TipHero!

 Once the sauce is thick and bubbly, dump everything back into it and toss. I ate mine over some left over couscous I had on hand, but everybody else in my family decided to eat it plain. It would probably be delicious over rice or even noodles, too, though.

Yummy!! It was really good, and pretty quick to throw together. Let me know if you try it out in the comments below!