Recently J and I decided to plan a last minute trip the week after Christmas. You see, I have a pretty sweet gig at work and every year at Christmas time we all get either the week of Christmas or the week of New Year’s off. This year, for the first time, I am taking the second week off so I will be off 12 days straight. Hallelujah! J is a ski-fanatic and has been dying to go for a loooong time, so we’re going to take a road trip to Colorado to go skiing for a few days.
However, trying to book such a trip just a few weeks out proved to be a little challenging. Because, you know, most people plan in advance and most lodging was already booked. But alas, we finally found a place and booked it yesterday. Squee!! Of course, I say that but I’ve never skied and I hate cold weather so…yeah. That’s love for ya right there. I am excited about taking a little vacation, though. And, the plan is for me to take ski lessons, though my less-than-graceful self is a little terrified that I’ll go tumbling down a snowy mountain. But by-golly, I’ll give it a try. If I hate it or I can’t take the cold, I’m quite sure I can find other things to do while my hubby skis to his heart’s content. Spa day, anyone??
One part of our search criteria for lodging was a place that had a kitchen. Because yes, we are going on vacation, but no we don’t want to eat out for every meal. J usually says that he’d rather eat my cooking than any restaurant anyways. “It’s not Jaidy cookin'” is usually the response if I ask him how something is at a restaurant. Isn’t he the sweetest?? We won’t be planning anything elaborate, and the place we got doesn’t actually have an oven, but does have stove-top burners, which should be juuust fine. Simple is better since we don’t want to spend a lot of time cooking, but we do want good, home-cooked meals.
And when the sauce is chock full of citrus juice and herbs, there’s no doubt that it’s going to taste amazing. I opted to sub butternut squash for the potatoes the recipe originally called for because I had some that I needed to use up and it sounded like it would go great with the chicken and green beans.
Boy was it!! J and I both gobbled this dish up and had leftovers for lunch the next day! You can always use red potatoes or sweet potatoes in place of the butternut squash, but I strongly suggest giving it a try as-is, first!!
- ¼ cup olive oil
- 2 large lemons, one juiced one sliced
- 2 naval oranges, one juiced one sliced
- 3 cloves of garlic, minced
- 2 Tbsp honey
- 2 Tbsp Italian seasoning
- 1 tsp onion powder
- ¾ tsp crushed red pepper flakes
- salt and pepper, to taste
- 1 1/2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken breasts
- 1 Tbsp dried thyme
- 2-3 sprigs fresh rosemary
- 2 cups cubed butternut squash
- 2 cups trimmed green beans
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
- Whisk together olive oil, lemon juice, orange juice, garlic, honey, Italian seasoning, onion powder, red pepper flakes, salt and pepper.
- Add chicken to a 9×13 baking dish, then add the butternut squash and green beans and distribute evenly in the dish and around the chicken.
- Pour the olive oil mixture over the top, making sure to coat each piece of chicken well.
- Sprinkle thyme over the chicken and add rosemary springs to the dish.
- Place the orange and lemon slices around the chicken pieces and throughout the dish.
- Bake for 35 minutes, or until chicken is cooked through and veggies are roasted and softened.
- Remove from oven and serve!
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