Balsamic Chicken

Mason bought balsamic vinegar about a year ago. He is in love with the stuff. I personally do not like it. I'm not a big fan of vinegar, this one included. Anyways I told him that didn't know of too many recipes that included balsamic vinegar. The other night I needed something to cook and I came across the unopened balsamic vinegar in our pantry. I decided to finally use it and so I looked online for a recipe and found this.


Ingredients
      1/3 cup balsamic vinegar
   1/2 cup chicken broth
   2 tablespoons white sugar
   1 clove garlic, minced
   1 teaspoon dried Italian herb seasoning
   4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
   1 tablespoon olive oil

Directions
1. Whisk together the balsamic vinegar, chicken broth, sugar, garlic, and Italian seasoning in a bowl, place the chicken breasts in the marinade, and marinate for 10 minutes on each side.
2. Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Remove the chicken from the marinade and reserve the marinade. Place the chicken in the heated pan and cook until they start to brown and are no longer pink inside, about 7 minutes per side. Pour the marinade into the skillet, and cook until it thickens slightly, turning the chicken breasts over once or twice, about 5 minutes.


http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Balsamic-Chicken/Detail.aspx?prop31=3


Both Mason and I loved the chicken. It was very flavorful and it wasn't too vinegary for me. I did make some changes, I prepare two marinates, one for the chicken that I let marinate in a ziplock bag for 2 hours instead of 20 minutes, and then another for when I was cooking the chicken. I also added chopped red onions to the pan at the end.

The chicken paired amazing well with Pasta Roni's Garlic and Olive Oil Vermicelli.

Pineapple Chicken

2 Pieces of Chicken
Butter
Pineapple (cut up)
Rice (cooked)

Sauce:
3/4 Soy Sauce
3/4 Brown Sugar
3/4 to 1 cup Lawry's Teriyaki with Pineapple Juice Marinade
6 Tablespoons Worcestershire Sauce


Defrost chicken. While chicken is defrosting in the microwave, mix soy sauce, brown sugar, teriyaki sauce, and worcestershire in a small sauce pan. Let sauce simmer the whole time. Cut up a pineapple. Cook rice in rice cooker. Melt butter in the pan that you are going to cook the chicken in. When chicken is defrosted put it in the pan to cook. Put some of the sauce on the chicken once it has cooked a bit and continue to add a little bit of the sauce throughout cooking. Once chicken is done cooking, put pineapple in the pan with the chicken to warm up.

Then serve pineapple and chicken on the rice. Any excess sauce can be put on rice as desired.

Any extra pineapple that you did not cook can be cut up in a bowl with kiwi, mango, and banana for a really good fruit salad.

Zesty Chicken Marinade

(Marinade for 12 pieces of chicken, halve this recipe for four to six pieces)

1 cup oil
1/2 cup vinegar
2 tablespoons Miracle Whip or Miracle Whip light
3 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 tablespoon salt (to taste)
1 tablespoon pepper
2 tablespoons thyme
1 tablespoon garlic salt

Whisk together all ingredients in a small bowl. Use to marinate chicken pieces at least 30 minutes and then to baste the meat as it cooks in the oven or over hot coals.

Serve with Lemony Rice and/or Roasted Green Beans