Moroccan Chicken with Brown Rice and Lemon Sauteed Spinach

This chicken dish features the spices of Morocco for a healthy, flavorful dinner.

Ingredients

Servings 4  

For the brown rice:

• 1 1/2 cups instant brown rice

For the chicken:

• 2 tsp. paprika
• 1 tsp. cumin
• 1 tsp. ground ginger
• 1 tsp. turmeric
• 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp. pepper
• 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (all visible fat discarded)
• 2 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil or canola oil, divided use
• 1 small onion (chopped)
• 2 clove fresh, minced, or, sliced garlic
• 14.5 oz. canned, diced, low-sodium tomatoes
• 1/2 cup water

For the lemon sauteed spinach:

• 1 Tbsp. olive or canola oil
• 6 cups spinach (washed, dried)
• 1/2 lemon OR 2 tsp. jarred lemon juice

Directions

For the brown rice:

1. Prepare brown rice according to package instructions. 

For the chicken:

1. In a small bowl mix paprika, cumin, ginger, turmeric, cinnamon and pepper.
2. Place the chicken on a plate or pie dish and coat with spice mixture. Allow chicken to stand in spices for 1 hour or refrigerate overnight.
3. In a medium skillet, heat oil over medium-high heat. Add chicken and brown for 5 minutes.
4. Reduce heat to medium-low, add water, top with onions, tomato and garlic.
5. Cover and cook for 10 minutes then flip chicken and cook for 30 minutes more until chicken is cooked through.

For the lemon sauteed spinach:

1. In a saucepan or skillet, heat oil over medium-high heat.
2. Add spinach, handfuls at a time, leaving enough room to stir. If all the spinach won’t fit in the pan let some wilt down and continue to add spinach until all leaves are wilted.
3. Remove from heat and squeeze lemon over spinach (or sprinkle juice from jar).

Source: American Heart Association