Mediterranean Chicken

Whoa!! I've been a blog slacker lately. Life has been pretty boring around here. Just working a whole lot. I'm looking forward to Labor Day for a day of rest and a long weekend that also consists of Bama's first football game of the season!! SO EXCITED!!

Tonight for dinner, I had NO idea what I was going to make. I had chicken I needed to cook, so I had to think of something to do with it. I thought about grilling it, but I'm out of the Moore's marinade that I use. I thought about making some poppyseed chicken, but I was out of the soups I need for that. SOOOOOO, I rummaged through the pantry and found a can of olives, a can of diced tomatoes, and a jar of quartered, marinated artichokes hearts. I decided to make Mediterranean Chicken. I kind of got the inspiration from a dish I had at The Cheesecake Factory a couple of months ago. It was Mediterranean Mahi Mahi and it was absolutely delicious! They serve it over mashed potatoes, so that's how I served my chicken. I was really afraid it would be a big fail, but it turned out so good!! Here's the "recipe". (I really just threw this stuff together and some of these measurements are guesses)

Ingredients:
1 tsp olive oil
2 chicken breasts (although the amount of the topping mixture could have used about 3 breasts)
Italian Seasoning
1/2 small can of black pitted olives, chopped roughly
1/2-3/4 can diced tomatoes (mine were flavored with Basil & Oregano, which worked well)
1 small jar of quartered, marinated artichoke hearts chopped roughly(next time I'll either use more artichokes or less olives)
CAPERS would be good also, but I didn't have any.
Sprinkle of salt and pepper

Directions:
1. Heat oil in nonstick skillet over about Medium heat.
2. Season one side of chicken with Italian seasoning....feel free to use this liberally. HINT: The chicken may have better flavor if marinated in a Greek dressing, or even in the Olive Oil Vinaigrette. I just didn't have enough time for that. :)
3. Put chicken seasoned side down into skillet and brown. Season other side while in the pan. Flip over and brown the other side. Take chicken out of skillet and put aside.
4. Add olives, tomatoes, and artichokes to pan and simmer for about 5-8 minutes. Here's a little something special I did. To add a little more flavor, I added a splash of the liquid from the artichokes, as well as maybe 2 tbsp of some Olive oil vinaigrette that I had in the fridge. It has a little balsamic vinegar in it, which works well with the other ingredients. You could also just use a touch of balsamic vinegar if you have that.
5. Add chicken back to pan and drop heat just a tad, especially if it seems too high(all stoves are different). Let chicken continue cooking in tomato, olive, and artichoke mixture. I scooped some up and put it on top of each chicken breast, then covered to finish cooking through.
6. I finished it off with a little basil on top when I served it for some color. I served mine over some Ore Ida Steam 'n Mash potatoes, and it was wonderful!! Here's the finished dish:

I will definitely be trying this again! Tomorrow is Friday! Woot Woot!! What are your plans? We plan on fixing up the front yard a little bit. We (I) trimmed the hedges last weekend, but they need a bit more cut off of them. I also want to re-mulch around the bushes and the tree in our yard. It makes things look so fresh with new mulch! I'm almost fully recovered from all of the weed pulling I did too. I did SO much pulling of weeds, with my bare hands!! (Gloves are on the Lowe's list also!) But, the bushes look so much better now, and hopefully after this weekend, they'll look great! We shall see. :-)

I hope you guys had a fantastic week, and you enjoy your weekend. Try to make it last! (Easier said than done, huh?)