Chicken with Provencal Sauce

Why have I been slacking at posting lately?  The answer to this is: I don't know.  All I do know, is that I want to make this post short and sweet.

Sorry this picture sucks, I know.

I will just tell you straight up.  This chicken dish is the bomb.  In case you live on a different planet and don't know what that means, it means it's the bomb diggity.  Oh gosh.  I really don't know why I just said that but I feel like an old-school high school cheerleader from "Bring it On."

HA.  But really, in all honesty I had my doubts about this chicken recipe from Cooking Light.  I shouldn't have, because almost all of the recipes I have tried from Cooking Light have been successes, but for some reason this just did not really excite me too much.  But boy was I WRONG!  It was SO flavorful and moist and overall YUMMY.  The recipe originally calls for the "Herbes de Provence-" a french herb blend. If you can find it, great.  I could not, so I looked up the ingredient components in Herbs de Provence- thyme, savory, marjoram, rosemary and lavender flowers.  I found this "recipe" here.  Basically, I scaled down the proportions, left out the lavender (didn't have it and didn't buy it) and it worked great.  I just mixed the spices together before beginning the recipe.


Chicken with Provencal Sauce
adapted from Cooking Light

• 4 (6-ounce) skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 1 cup fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth
• 1 1/2 teaspoons dried herbes de Provence (or roughly about 1/2 tsp. thyme and rosemary each, 1/4 tsp. savory, and 1/8 tsp. marjoram combined together)
• 1 teaspoon butter
• 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
• Fresh thyme sprigs (optional- I left them out)

Preparation

• Place each chicken breast half between 2 sheets of heavy-duty plastic wrap; pound to 1/2-inch thickness using a meat mallet or rolling pin. Sprinkle chicken evenly with salt and pepper.
• Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add chicken; cook 6 minutes on each side or until done. Remove chicken from pan; keep warm.
• Add garlic to pan; cook 1 minute, stirring constantly. Add broth and herbes de Provence; bring to a boil, scraping pan to loosen browned bits. Cook until broth mixture is reduced to 1/2 cup (about 3 minutes). Remove from heat; add butter and lemon juice, stirring until butter melts. Serve sauce over chicken. Garnish with thyme sprigs, if desired.