Maple-Glazed Chicken with Roasted Brussels Sprouts and Fuji Apples

Happy Tuesday! Hope you made it through Monday. Yesterday seemed like the longest day ever. I don’t know if it is because I started back eating healthy and really looking forward to dinner, or it was because I knew Eric was off all day. The day we both have our off days together will truly be a day for the books!

So if you follow me on my Two Forks, One Budget Instagram, you saw yesterday morning I was meal prepping. I have never done this before when trying to eat healthy, and I think this is the key to success. Here are my reasons why: you can grab food out of fridge quickly, it keeps you on track, and it’s a great way to plan meals and save money. It was so nice this morning to grab my lunch and run out the door. Yesterday, I prepared a salad with chicken, sweet butter lettuce, ½ cup low sodium black beans, ½ cup low sodium corn, 5 tomatoes, ¼ cucumber, and 5 carrots with a light ranch dressing with a teaspoon of low sodium taco seasoning in it. This is my lunch all week, and it is so yummy! I also planned out my snacks (1 orange, 20 mini pretzels, and 1 cup cantaloupe). If you are anything like me, I am a big snacker, so it’s important for me to plan snacks or next thing I know, I’ll be eating ½ block of cheese and a pound of grapes. So follow me on Instagram if you need healthy snack/lunch ideas. We can figure this out together!

Let’s talk about this recipe I cooked last night. When I found this recipe, I guess I didn’t read it closely enough. When I arrived home, I realized that the recipe call for the brussels sprouts and apples to be raw and in the form of a slaw. I have never tried raw brussels sprouts and since I just started eating them, last night was not the night to try. So I decided to change this recipe and roast the figi apple and brussels sprouts. Y’all, I am a genius. OH MY GOSH, Eric and I were picking the crumbs off the sheet pan after we were done eating. Eric said it was now in his top favorite meals, and it was the best chicken I have ever cooked. I had never roasted apples, so this was me truly experimenting, and man were they good! I think this is a good substitute for potatoes as well, and I will start doing this more often. The chicken had so much flavor—who knew red wine vinegar and lite maple syrup was the key to amazing chicken. Yum!

Ingredients

2 (4 oz) boneless, skinless chicken breast
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt, divided
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, divided
2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
3 tablespoons red wine vinegar, divided
2 tablespoons lite maple syrup
8 ounces brussels sprouts
1 medium Fuji apple, cut into cubes

Instructions

• Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees.
• Cut brussel sprouts in half lengthwise; slice crosswise. Cut Fuji apple into small cubes. Place 1 tablespoon oil, 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar, 1/4 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper in a large bowl; stir well with a whisk. Add brussel sprouts and apple to bowl; toss to combine. Put on baking sheet and spread out evenly. Place in oven for 28 minutes. Turn on broiler on high for 2 minutes. Watch closely you don’t want them to burn. The broiler adds a crunch.
• Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Sprinkle chicken with 1/4 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Add 1 tablespoon oil to pan; swirl to coat. Add chicken to pan; cook until done, flipping on each side while cooking. Remove from pan; keep warm. Add 2 tablespoons vinegar and syrup to pan; bring to a boil. Cook 1 minute. Return chicken to pan; turn to coat with glaze.

Happy Eating!

Original Recipe- Maple-Glazed-Chicken