Chicken In Mustard Cream Sauce with Red Grapes~Basilmomma

I'm doin' a little dance because it's guest blogger Wednesday.

I'm always excited to have a friend in the kitchen and I love to see what our friends

 are bringing to the table.

I was very fortunate to connect with this next Momma blogger through facebook. 

I gotta tell ya, it's always nice to meet friendly folks, isn't it? 

The world has enough Negative Nellies to populate the entire Atlantic Ocean. And those Nellies have no trouble announcing their presence to the rest of us, am I right? 

If the Nellie is someone I know personally, then I do my best to slap them over the head

 with a healthy dose of happiness. 

Ok, slappin' and happiness probably don't belong in the same sentence, but you get where I'm going with this. If that doesn't work, then I try to sweeten them up with some sort of cupcake. Usually the Jello-O Poke Cupcake. It's my happy weapon of choice.

It works. 

Sometimes.

So it is always refreshing and absolutely lovely to meet genuinely good people.

 And Heather, from Basilmomma, is what I consider to be one of those good people.

Heather's blog is all about family meals. She is a Mom and a wife and she knows a thing or two about getting a good meal on the table.

Many of her meals are not only tasty but time-friendly as well. And for a busy Momma, quick and yummy meals are always welcome!

Everyone, please give a warm welcome to Heather!

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A little about me....

Some people throw themselves into a hobby. Knitting, painting, scrapbooking….I choose to cook. I like to think of cooking as a means to an end. Now, I don’t just mean whipping up some Hamburger Helper between swim practice and Zumba, I mean researching the perfect recipe, tweaking it to be my own and making magic with the LG.

Cooking for myself and my family is more than just a necessity.  I truly enjoy it.  Now, that doesn't mean that I wake up every morning, tie on an apron and start taking orders.  No way!  But I do enjoy the happiness that a tall stack of pancakes or a dish of steaming hot enchiladas brings my 3 Boys!  Nigella Lawson once said when asked what she thought of a particular dish on Iron Chef, that if the food brings her pleasure to eat then it is good. 

My food isn't fancy but it is real.  My recipes aren't from Le Cordon Bleu but they were tested in my kitchen and they work for me.  My Panel of Judges seem to agree as well :)

So I hope you enjoy reading about my culinary successes as well as my failures......  and all of the life that happens along the way.

Now onto the recipe....

Every once in a while, when I am in a rut, I look for something different to make.  Something that starts a conversation at the dinner table.  "What is this...What made you decide to put these 2 things together..?", questions along those lines.  I know this doesn't sound "normal" but I like to talk about food, flavors and cooking with my Family.  Maybe I just like the instant feedback. Maybe I get tired of talking about school, swimming, work and Phineas and Ferb :)

About 4 years ago I was watching 30 minute meals.  I caught the tail end of the episode in which Rachel made a chicken and grapes dish.  I had the sound off (sorry...I have to) so I didn't catch the ingredient list or the name.  I just knew it looked good so I filed it away in my mind for later.

I later found her recipe online.  I have made it several times and have refined it into something that is my own and that my whole family will eat.  I have also made this for company and I have to say it was a success.  It is an unusual pairing of chicken, cream, mustard and grapes.

 This is best served over a little nest of whole wheat couscous.  I have found that couscous is a very underused side dish .  I boiled 2 C of chicken stock (or water...or a combination of both), a pat of butter and the leaves of 1 sprig of fresh Thyme.  When it came to a boil I added 2 C of couscous put a lid on it and took it off of the heat.  I just let it all hang out to the side until the rest was done.  This is a great food to serve to little ones because it is so scoopable and goes with just about anything.  Even my picky child prefers it to rice sometimes!

Chicken in a Mustard Cream Sauce with Red Grapes

Ingredients:
coarse salt/pepper
2 TB butter
1/4 C flour
2 LB chicken tenders
1/2 C white wine :)
1/2 C stock or broth
1 C heavy cream (you could use half & half but it may take a little longer to thicken up)
1/4 C grainy mustard (I used Grey Poupon Dijon)
1 1/2 C red seedless grapes, sliced in 1/2.


Directions:
Heat a little olive oil and the butter in a large deep skillet. 

Dredge the chicken tenders in the flour and add to the hot pan.  Sprinkle the salt and pepper over the chicken.
Cook the chicken until browned and cooked through.

Add the wine and let it bubble and cook down on medium heat, 1 minute or so....not precise!


Next, add the 1/2 C stock.  After a minute or so add the mustard to the cream and lightly mix.  Add that mixture to the chicken.

Simmer this for about 5 minutes on medium/low.

 Remove from heat and fold in the grapes.

Serve this over the couscous and a nice sauteed green vegetable like broccoli (I LOVE VEGGIES!!) or asparagus. 

This whole meal took me 30 minutes to make, just have all of your ingredients at the ready.

I guarantee you will like this.  It is different than your usual chicken dish....you just have to think outside of the box !

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Thank you so much to Heather for sharing such a unique family-favorite recipe with us today. It's always nice to see new and different recipes that I can add to the usual rotation. Gotta keep my family on their toes!

I hope y'all will take the time to peruse through some of Heather's recipes
 over on her blog.

Also, Heather is hanging out on Facebook as well as Twitter. 
Be sure to tell her I said hello if you stop by!

Enjoy!

Printable Recipe Here