Chicken with Brussels Sprouts in Mustard Sauce

I've been finding the need for fairly quick meals lately as I've been going to the gym in the afternoon with Alex more and more often.  By myself, I am not a huge gym fan.  I really like my at-home workouts with Jillian Michaels DVDs.  I always feel like the drive there and back is kind of a waste of time (all 5 minutes that it is).  I like getting changed out of my sweaty workout clothes right away.  And I pretty much just don't like being around other people.

I know, I know.  That sounds so curmudgeonly....  But I get really irritated by the blasting music from the aerobics studio.  (Is it that hard to close the door?)  I can't stand 'family night' when all the treadmills are taken over by 12 year olds walking at a 2.2 with no idea what they are doing and basically wasting a perfectly good piece of workout equipment.  And I know working out isn't supposed to be a beauty contest or anything, but I hate when I get the smelly old man using the elliptical next to me...  That grunts.  Really loudly.

Even worse, the Rec Center that we use actually tries to limit people to 30 minutes on cardio equipment.  I'm sorry, but I just don't find that sufficient.  I need a solid 40 minutes to feel like elliptical / treadmill time takes the place of Jillian.  Usually I just ignore that rule.  But I always feel a little guilty when doing so.  And the last thing you should feel after a solid, sweaty workout is guilt.

However, I've decided to try and start incorporating some running into my workout and found a 20 minute treadmill workout online that combines walking intervals with increasingly faster running intervals.  This requires trips to the gym.  And if I'm going to go with Alex, I have to wait until he gets home from work.  If he gets home between 4 and 5, after a workout and shower, we're pretty much ready for dinner.  Right.  Now!

I found this recipe on Pinterest (surprise, surprise!) and it immediately appealed to me as a quick and easy healthy post-gym meal.

Recipe:
2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
3/8 teaspoon salt, divided
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
3/4 cup fat free, low sodium chicken broth, divided
1/4 cup unfiltered apple cider*
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
2 tablespoons butter, divided
1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley or 1 teaspoon dried
12 ounces brussels sprouts, trimmed and halved

*Finding apple cider in Ohio in February is probably not going to happen.  I did look at the grocery store but came up empty and subbed apple cider vinegar instead.

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.  Heat a large, oven-proof skillet over high heat.  Add 1 tablespoon olive oil to skillet.  Sprinkle chicken with 1/4 teaspoon salt and pepper; add to pan.  Cook until browned, about 3 minutes.  Turn chicken; place in oven.  Bake at 450 degrees for 9 minutes or until done.

Remove chicken from pan; keep warm.  Heat pan over medium-high heat.  Add 1/2 cup broth and cider (or apple cider vinegar); bring to a boil; scrape pan to loosen browned bits.  Reduce heat to medium-low; simmer 4 minutes or until thickened.

Whisk in mustard, 1 tablespoon butter, and parsley.

Heat remaining 1 tablespoon butter and 1 tablespoon oil in a non-stick skillet over medium-high heat.  Add brussels sprouts; saute 2 minutes or until lightly browned.  Add remaining 1/8 teaspoon salt and 1/4 cup broth to pan; cover and cook 4 minutes or until crisp-tender.

Serve sprouts and chicken with sauce.

Verdict:
First of all, after all that planning (and, ahem, ranting), Alex came home from work ready to complain, watch TV, and drink wine.  So no gym.  Next time.

Second, to those of you who know my eating habits, this may seem like an odd recipe choice.  I don't like mustard.   I never use mustard.  Much to my parents' bewilderment, I persist in drowning my hot dogs in ketchup.  I know, it's un-American.  And while this recipe, mustard and all, sounded appetizing, the thought of mustard on a hot dog is still gag-worthy.

Both Alex and I loved this meal.  The chicken was well cooked, moist and tender.  The sauce brought a bit of a tangy zing to the meal.  I did sub apple cider vinegar for unfiltered apple cider out of necessity..... Using apple cider may cut the zing.  Also, in the online reviews some people mentioned adding a tablespoon of brown sugar to cut the zing.  But personally, I liked the zing and don't feel the addition of sugar would be necessary to our tastes.

Pan cooked brussels sprouts are a favorite of mine, and I liked the touch of chicken broth added to the pan.  In the future, I will probably omit the butter from that stage and just use a little extra olive oil.  Personal preference.  I also cooked the sprouts about 3 minutes longer than indicated and after eating them thought they could have been cooked even a bit longer than that.  But my stove is a piece of you-know-what and most online reviewers mentioned that they thought the sprouts cooked particularly quickly.

Also, back when I was registering for wedding gifts, one pan my mom said was an absolute must-have was a skillet that could go from stove to oven and back to stove.  In the last 6-almost 7 months, I have needed said skillet for stove-to-oven purpose exactly zero times...  But it certainly came in handy for this recipe, and I was glad to have the right equipment!

By the way, when you take your skillet out of the oven, it will be HOT.  And it will remain HOT while you are using it to cook the mustard sauce.  So you probably shouldn't grab the side of the skillet to shift on the burner like you normally would when cooking a sauce.

Not that I know anyone who would do such a thing...