Moroccan Chicken

This dish combines the tastes and colors of fall with oranges, apricots, and leeks. Add the Moroccan spice blend of cinnamon, cardamom, and cumin and something sublime happens.

Ingredients:

1 pound skinless, boneless, chicken thighs or breasts
1 tsp olive oil
1 leek, sliced to make 1 cup
1 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground cardamom seeds
1/2 tsp ground coriander
1/4 tsp crushed red pepper
1/2 cup sliced, dried apricots
1 14.5 oz can stewed tomatoes, along with the tomato juice
1 can mandarin oranges, or 2 fresh Satsuma oranges, peeled and sectioned

Directions:

Cut chicken thighs or breasts into largish bite size pieces. Heat the olive oil in a nonstick sauté pan. Add the chicken pieces, along with the leek and cook for about 5 minutes. Add the spices to the pan, along with the apricots and the can of stewed tomatoes. Bring to a boil, cover, then reduce the heat to a simmer and cook until the tomatoes are hot, another 2 to 3 minutes. Uncover, add the oranges and simmer until everything is hot. Serve with rice, quinoa, or couscous, and a side vegetable or salad.

Serves 4

Stealthy Cooking Tip: Adding tomatoes along with apricots, oranges, and spices makes this an appetizing and healthy main course. When you serve this with a side vegetable or salad, this increases the amount of vegetables eaten at a meal. Eating 4j-5 servings of fruits and 5-6 servings of vegetables each day is one way we can increase our healthy quotient. How big is a serving? 1/2 cup is the usual size of a serving of fruits or vegetables. Exceptions to this rule are salads, where the serving size is 1 cup and dried fruits, where a serving is 1/4 cup. Fruit and Veggie up!