Garlic-Roasted Chicken Breasts + Happy New Year!

Um, what? When did we go through a whole 'nother year???

And two-thousand fourteen... doesn't that just seem so far in the future? Not like it is the end of today's date... yet it is. Weren't we just all stocking up on extra supplies just in case the Y2K bug destroyed life as we knew it?

However we got here, Happy New Year! I am glad we all made it through another year -- and hopefully thrived. 

I, for one, had a ridiculously busy and crazy (crazy-good) year. Work, travel, extra responsibilities that take extra time, precious moments spent with loved ones...

You may have noticed blog posts dwindling over time... it was not because I didn't care to keep up with it. Rather, it was because I was juggling many balls at a time, and sometimes you just have to let a ball drop here or there. It happens. But I miss blogging. My hope is that I will be able to pick that ball up more, but if it means another ball must drop, I cannot let that happen. We shall what this year has in store!

I hope you are looking forward to wonderful things ahead of you, and that you were able to leave 2013 behind with a smile. Here's to new adventures waiting for us... CHEERS!

GARLIC-ROASTED CHICKEN BREASTS

WITH LEMONY BROCCOLI & PINE NUTS

Recipe slightly adapted from Everyday Food, September 2003

SERVES 6  •  PREP TIME: 10 MINUTES  •  TOTAL TIME: 1 HOUR 10 MINUTES

ingredients:

• 4 heads garlic
• 8 sprigs fresh rosemary
• 4 large boneless, skinless chicken breast halves, rinsed and patted dry
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• Sea salt and freshly ground pepper
• 1 large head of broccoli, stalk removed
• Juice from ½ lemon
• 1/3 cup pine nuts

directions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Slice the tops from garlic heads, reserving the bottoms; arrange the tops, cut sides down, in the center of an 11-by-17-inch roasting pan. Place 1 sprig of the rosemary over each garlic top, and arrange the chicken breasts over the garlic.
2. Place the reserved garlic bottoms, cut sides up, next to the chicken in the pan. Drizzle the chicken and garlic bottoms with the olive oil. Season the chicken with salt and pepper; place the remaining 4 sprigs of rosemary on top.
3. Roast the chicken for 30 minutes; turn the garlic bottoms cut sides down, and rotate the pan. Continue roasting the chicken until the skin is browned, the juices run clear, and an instant-read thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the meat registers 165 degrees, about 30 minutes more.
4. While chicken is roasting, prepare broccoli: heat a large skillet over medium-high heat and add 1-2 tablespoons olive oil. Add broccoli and pin nuts. Squeeze juice from lemon. Add salt. Cook until tender and remove from heat.
5. Pour the pan juices into a measuring cup; skim the fat from the top. Serve the juices with chicken and roasted garlic.

The roasted garlic makes an excellent topping for toast. Just squeeze cooked garlic cloves out of paper skin and use a fork to mash on top of sourdough or other rustic bread. Sprinkle lightly with salt.

COST: $14.42      COST PER SERVING (6): $2.40

Unprocessed    //    Gluten Free    //   Dairy Free