Lemon-Paprika Chicken with Chickpeas and Couscous

I made this for dinner and I think it's really good. I don't mean I think it's good but no one else does, I mean I think it's good - hard to know for sure because instead of fresh thyme I used dried and used waaaaaaay to much. Like the dish was so heavily thyme-seasoned it was hard to taste the other ingredients! But from what I can tell, minus too much thyme, I think the dish is really good! 

Other than overdoing the thyme, my changes are that I didn't have fresh lemon so I used bottled juice and didn't serve with wedges; I added garlic powder instead of cloves; I omitted the red pepper; and I made a box of pine nut couscous that I had on hand. 

• 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
• 1 T. tomato paste
• 3 T. olive oil
• 2 t. paprika
• 2 t. chopped fresh thyme
• 3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• salt and pepper
• 4 skinless, boneless chicken breasts (6-8 oz. each)
• 1 15 oz. can chickpeas (don't drain)
• 1 red bell pepper, chpped
• 3/4 cup couscous
• 2 T. chopped fresh parsley
• lemon wedges for serving

1. Preheat oven to 375'. Whisk the lemon juice, tomato paste, 2 T. olive oil, paprika, thyme, garlic and 1/2 t. each salt and pepper in a small bowl. Pat the chicken dry with paper towels; season with salt and pepper. Rub the chicken with 3 T. of the lemon-paprika mixture to evenly coat.
2. Heat the remaining 1 T. olive oil in a large ovenproof skillet over medium-high heat. Add the chicken and cook until browned on one side, about 5 minute. Meanwhile, remove 3 T. liquid from the can of chickpeas and transfer to a medium bowl. Drain and rinse the chickpeas. Add to the bowl with the chickpea liquid and add the remaining lemon-paprika mixture and the bell pepper; toss. Flip the chicken and scatter the chickpea mixture around the chicken, scraping any liquid into the pan. Transfer the skillet to the oven and roast until the chicken is cooked through, 8 to 12 minutes. 
3. Meanwhile, cook the couscous as the label directs. Fluff the couscous with a fork.
4. Remove the chicken to a plate. Add the couscous to the chickpea mixture and stir together to absorb the pan sauce; season with salt and pepper. Slice the chicken and divide amount plates along with the couscous-chickpea mixture. Top with the parsley and serve with lemon wedges. 

4 servings. Per serving: calories 580; fat 18g; carb 47g; pro 55g; sugar 6g; fiber 8g.

from 3/21 Food Network Magazine

 4.12.20: 🔥week 15

4.12.19: dog in the blog - food bowl tip

4.12.18: one year old's birthday cake

4.12.17: granola cookies

4.12.16: tidying up

Quinoa Salad

I was home for lunch and starving, of course I couldn't find anything to eat that sounded good - about the only thing in the fridge was some leftover quinoa from making the spinach and beet salad the other night (click here for that post) so decided to throw together a quick salad. A can of garbanzo beans, some feta cheese, a handful of fresh cilantro, chopped sun dried tomatoes (told you I didn't have much on hand - I raided the pantry to see what sounded like it would go good!) and tossed with olive oil, a splash of lemon juice, salt and pepper. This turned out to be yummy and satisfying - Dave even liked it! Quinoa salad! I wouldn'ta thunk it hahaha. Sometimes throwing stuff together turns out great (and sometimes it doesn't, but that's a different story)!

Roasted Garbanzo Beans

I roast just about everything - asparagus, green beans, broccoli, carrots, cherry tomatoes (click here to see that post, so good)...you name it I've probably tried to roast it. One thing I really love to roast is canned garbanzo beans - have you tried them? Great to add to a salad (it's especially good in my almost Greek salad, click here for that recipe), serve as a side dish with chicken or pork, or eat plain as a snack - they get crunchy and remind me of popcorn. They really remind me of popcorn if you turn up the oven too high and they start exploding and popping in the oven! For real, be careful opening the oven door if you hear them start popping - they'll fly around just like air-popped popcorn!

Rinse well and drain a can of garbanzo beans. Spread out in a single layer on a baking sheet, drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with coarse salt. Put in the oven 350'-400' (I usually start high and if they start popping I turn the oven down) and let them roast until they are done to your liking. Sometimes I just do them for a few minutes so they are hot but not too crunchy, other times I leave them in longer...and sometimes I forget they're in there and they get really really crunchy and those are good too! Just experiment to see how you prefer them - they taste much different after roasting them.