First of all – don’t judge my two starchy vegetable sides on this plate.
Second of all – remember my sweet potato saga? This was my attempt to overcome it. And it failed.
Thirdly – just because this particular dinner ended in yelling (me) and crying (my child) doesn’t mean the meal was a complete bust. As a matter of fact, before I told my daughter to just go to her room if she was going to carry on like that, she claimed the bacon-wrapped Italian chicken we were eating was “the best chicken EVER.”
Yep, the reason for her dinner-ending fit was that I wouldn’t give her more chicken until she ate some more sweet potatoes. If it weren’t for the chicken, my stubborn child wouldn’t have eaten anything for dinner at all! (She doesn’t really like corn, either. Serving it was all part of my strategy to make the sweet potatoes look like the best option. #fail)
Bacon-Wrapped Italian Chicken is a recipe I found in Simply Summer by Kate at Modern Alternative Mama.
Bacon-Wrapped Italian Chicken
2 lbs chicken breast, boneless and skinless
Juice of 1 lemon
1 cup water
1/4 cup onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, chopped
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp thyme
1/4 tsp sage
1/4 tsp basil
6 – 8 slices of bacon
6 – 8 thin slices of Gruyere cheese
Combine ingredients from lemon juice to basil, and use as marinade for chicken. Chicken should marinate for at least two hours (though overnight is best. If you think ahead. Which I didn’t.). Remove chicken and wrap each piece with one or two pieces of bacon. Thin bacon works best.
Heat a skillet on medium high (or medium, because medium high was too hot on my stove). Fry chicken until bacon is mostly cooked, about 5-8 minutes per side. Place chicken in a pan and top each piece with cheese slices (I actually used mozzarella, not Gruyere.). Bake at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes to finish cooking.
Simply Summer suggests serving with Italian salsa with tomatoes, onions and Italian seasoning. Nobody in my house loves tomatoes, though, so we passed on that part. Next time I’m making sure to fix this meal for people who like tomatoes, because I think it sounds good that way!
What’s the best chicken YOU’VE ever eaten (or made)?
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Your daughter is not alone. I don’t like sweet potatoes either. Nor does my boss. I just found this out last week. And, I only found this out last week because my six month old loved the sweet potatoes I gave her, but then they gave her a bad tummy ache. The scientist in me had to replicate this experiment again to make sure it was the sweet potatoes…but only once more. (Plus, I hadn’t witnessed the tummy ache, but was only told about it from day care workers that observed my extremely happy baby have a grumpy morning 14 hours after eating the sweet potatoes.) Yes, this is a reason scientists don’t make the best parents. Anyway, a couple of days later, the results were the same. So, we’ll be holding off on the sweet potatoes for a few more months.
I think, actually, that your scientific tendencies make you a GREAT parent! You’re not just making decisions or changes willy-nilly; you’re basing your choices on facts, not feelings. This is smart, if you ask me! The sweet potatoes, on the other hand, I just can’t understand. I looooove them! ;)
Wow! I haven’t had a chance to look through this book yet, but…YUM!!! That chicken will be on our dinner table some time this week :) I’m getting hungry just looking at it!