Dijon Chicken, Zero Calorie Spiced Roasted Carrots, and My Last Day of Freedom

Today Josh and I spent our (well, my) last day of zero responsibility watching Breaking Bad. It started off a pretty interesting show, a high school chemistry teacher newly diagnosed with lung cancer turns to cooking meth to pay for his treatments and provide for his family. The first few episodes were quite compelling: the cinematography was fantastic, the juxtapositions amusing, and the main characters sympathetic. But soon things started to slow down, and we're waiting for them to become interesting again. The verdict is still out as to whether this show will be a keeper.

While on our Netflix spree today, I made a couple things I've found on Pinterest that I've been meaning to try. The first is zero calorie spiced roasted carrots. The original recipe is from here.

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

1/2 tsp. paprika

1/2 tsp. chili powder

1/2 tsp. garlic powder

1/2 tsp. sea salt

6 carrots

Cut about 6 carrots into wide slivers or chips. Place your spices and carrots in a large ziploc back and shake well. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper and roast carrots at 450 F for 20 minutes or until the edges are a crispy brown. I roasted mine for 20 minutes, and the edges weren't quite a crispy brown yet, but these were still pretty good, at least for vegetables. I don't particularly like vegetables, but I'm trying to eat more and these made for a tasty snack. I forgot to add salt so I had to add it after the fact. Maybe I just really love salt (I do), but I thought these were loads better with the salt!

The next thing I made has been described as "so good it can't be described--explosion on your taste buds" chicken, but that title was way too long, so I'm just calling it dijon chicken. The original recipe can be found here. 

1 1/2 lbs skinless chicken breast or thighs

1/2 c. dijon mustard

1/4 c. maple syrup

1 Tbsp. rice wine vinegar

salt and pepper to taste

fresh rosemary (optional)

Place a 1.5 lb package of chicken into an tin foil lined oven-safe baking dish. Salt and pepper your chicken to taste. Mix together your dijon mustard, maple syrup, and rice wine vinegar, creating a sauce. Pour about 3/4 of your sauce over your chicken, coating each side thoroughly. Bake at 450 F for 40 minutes or until the chicken is no longer pink and the juices run clear. About halfway through baking, baste the chicken in the remaining sauce. Let the chicken rest for five minutes upon taking it out, and sprinkle it with fresh rosemary, if desired. 

I thought this chicken turned out pretty good. I baked mine thoroughly, but it doesn't quite look like the chicken in the picture--perhaps because I used breasts instead of thighs? Not sure. Also, I forgot to salt and pepper the chicken! I was so enamored with the dijon sauce that that detail of the recipe completely escaped my attention :( I suspect it will turn out better if I do that next time. 

All in all I'd say this was pretty good. I love the dijon flavor, and the maple syrup sweetened things up without being overpowering. As it turns out, rice vinegar is pretty much the same thing as rice wine vinegar--at least, that is what the internet consensus is (I've seen some who disagree). This would've been nice to know a few months ago when I was at the store wondering why they had rice vinegar, white wine vinegar, but no rice wine vinegar! 

Anyway, I should probably be getting to bed, as I start my first day of work tomorrow. I recently got a temp job that I'm hoping may turn into something more if I do a good job and play my cards right. I don't want to count my chickens, though. I'll let you know how it goes!

Oh and one more thing! Josh got his law books today :) He was pretty stressed out about making sure he had the right ones in time (Harvard isn't too great about making the book list available much ahead of time), so I'm glad we finally have them (well, most--he's still waiting on one) on our shelf. They look rather boring to me, but he's excited so I'm happy for him :)