Balsamic Chicken with the Perfect Mashed Potatoes

Sunday came around and I hadn't really been to the store for groceries like I usually do. I woke up that morning and figured we would have some kind of chicken and potatoes since that was about all we had in the house. I decided to wing it and make a balsamic chicken with mashed potatoes. I found a recipe that looked like something I had in mind and went from there. I was very impressed on how well it turned out. You will have to cut me some slack since I didn't entirely follow the recipe so there is a lot of dumping of things and estimates of how much I used.
Balsamic Chicken

2 chicken breasts
salt and pepper to taste
1/4 cup flour, seasoned with salt and pepper
2 Tablespoons olive oil
6 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup +/- balsamic vinegar, divided in half
2 cups +/- chicken broth, divided in half
1 bay leaf
1/4 teaspoon thyme
1 Tablespoon butter

Pound chicken to uniform thickness. Season with salt and pepper. Dredge chicken in flour mixture.

Heat oil in a large skillet over medium high heat and saute chicken until lightly brown on one side, about 3 minutes. Turn chicken over. Continue frying the chicken for 3 more minutes. Then add the garlic, half the vinegar, half the chicken broth, the bay leaf and thyme. Cover tightly and simmer on medium low for 10 minutes, turning once at 5 minutes. If the liquid begins to get too thick, add a little more of the chicken broth.

Once the chicken is cooked through, transfer to a plate and cover with foil to keep warm. Set aside. Add the remaining vinegar and chicken broth to skillet scraping the bottom of pan to loosen everything. Continue simmering the sauce, uncovered, over medium high heat until thickened (about 7 minutes.) You can strain out some of the garlic if desired. Swirl in the butter and discard the bay leaf. Pour over chicken and serve immediately.


I served this with green beans and mashed potatoes. I found the perfect way to make mashed potatoes. I wish I could tell you that they are low fat/healthy for you since I use low fat yogurt but that would be a lie.

We really like garlic mashed new potatoes. I made mashed potatoes with russet potatoes the other day and they seemed a little grainy to me. I had 4 new potatoes and a bag of russet potatoes so I figured I would just throw them all in the same pot and see how it turned out. I think they were the best mashed potatoes I have made yet.


Perfect Mashed Potatoes

4 red potatoes, peeled and diced
2 russet potatoes, peeled and diced
water
salt
1-2 Tablespoons butter
2 ounces cream cheese
3+ Tablespoons low fat plain yogurt
salt and pepper to taste

Place potatoes in a pot and cover with water. Salt the water. Bring to a boil and cook potatoes until tender. Drain.

Mash the potatoes and add butter, cream cheese and yogurt. Combine until smooth. Add more yogurt if needed to reach a smooth and creamy consistency. Season with salt and pepper to taste.