When I go grocery shopping, I try to get items that can make a variety of different dishes. In this recipe, I combined all of my pantry staples to make a quick and easy weeknight meal. I made this recipe up on the fly because I wanted something healthy, yet satisfying for dinner. This dish is heavy on the protein and you also get your veggies seamlessly mixed in.
The first staple from my kitchen in this recipe is the chicken. Since I am cooking for one most of the time, I keep my chicken in the freezer and defrost it when I need it. Freezing it makes sure that the chicken will last longer, that way I won’t be wasting any.
The second and third staples that go hand in hand are canned Great Northern beans and stewed tomatoes. I keep these in my pantry for when I want to whip up my Grandma’s sausage soup, hearty pasta e fagioli, and endless other possibilities. I use stewed tomatoes because it saves me the cooking time and imparts more flavor than raw canned tomatoes. Canned goods are also super cheap, so take advantage of them.
The final staple from this recipe is kale. I use kale to make salads, put in smoothies, make kale chips, and saute with some garlic for a quick side dish. Some may think kale is basic, but it’s cheap and very versatile. At my grocery store, I can get a huge bundle of it for $1. I’ve explained why I have all of these things, now let me tell you how I put them all into one harmonious dish.
What you need:
Servings: 2
Cook time: 30 mins
- 2 chicken breasts
- Season with:
- 1 t salt
- 1 t pepper
- 1 t paprika
- Season with:
- 1 can Great Northern Beans, drained
- 1 can stewed tomatoes
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- ½ a small onion, small dice
- ¼ cup white wine
- ¼ cup chicken stock
- 1 t Italian seasoning
- 2 t red pepper flakes
- 1 T olive oil
Get it goin’
As most of my recipes start, heat up the olive oil in a medium saute pan on medium-high heat. Chop up the onions and garlic and put them in the pan.
Once the onions are translucent, add the red pepper flakes, Italian seasoning, white wine, and chicken stock to the pan and let it reduce (until it’s not a wine facial anymore).
Once that’s reduced, add in your beans and tomatoes. I forgot to drain the beans when I was making it, but learn from my mistake and drain them for yourself. If you drain them, you won’t have to wait forever for the liquid to reduce like I did. Let that simmer for 15 minutes and in the mean time, you can start the chicken.
Heat up another medium sautée pan with olive oil. Season the chicken with salt, pepper, and paprika and add it to the heated pan. Let it cook for 5 minutes on each side to ensure a nice crust from the spices. I personally like to cut in my chicken to make sure it’s done because ain’t nobody got time for salmonella.
At the very last minute before you are about to serve, add in your kale. You still want it to have a little texture to it, so stir it into the bean mixture after you have cut the heat.
When it’s all said and done, it should look like this. If not, it will still taste good so who cares about the plating. Hope you enjoy!
