The Slow Kitchen: Easy Baked Chicken Breast and Vegetables

Let's say it's Thursday night. You're feeling a little worn out, you're short on time and food-related creativity but you're not ready to call for pizza. You still want to prepare a healthy, nutrient-packed dinner that everyone will love but, ugh, can't someone else do it?That's where this super easy baked chicken breast and vege dish comes in. Just like other recipes in The Slow Kitchen series, this weeknight dinner is simple, easy, healthy and full of real ingredients. Enjoy!

Easy Baked Chicken Breast and Vegetables

(Serves 4, Ready in 45min)

You’ll need:

• 2 whole chicken breasts
• 1 sweet potato - skin on, roughly chopped
• 1 zucchini - roughly chopped
• 2 handfuls of mushrooms - sliced
• handful fresh basil leaves
• 2-3 handfuls baby spinach
• 1 tin crushed tomatoes
• 1 tin red kidney beans - rinsed and drained
• olive oil
• 2 cloves garlic - crushed
• salt and pepper
• brown rice

Simply:

1. Pre-heat your oven to 220C/420F and put the brown rice on to cook.
2. Chop the sweet potato, zucchini and mushrooms and spread over the base of a non-stick baking tray (a deep one with a lid is perfect, otherwise use a castiron pan. A regular baking tray or casserole dish is also fine - just make sure you can cover it well with aluminium foil).
3. Lay the chicken breasts over the top of the vegetables and rub with garlic, basil, salt, pepper and olive oil.
4. Top the vegetables with the beans and then the tin of tomatoes. Drizzle this with a little extra olive oil.

5. Cover the dish and put in the oven for approximately 40 minutes, or until the chicken is steamed all the way through. (It should be deliciously tender.)6. Give the entire contents of the baking tray a good mix, add in the baby spinach and pop back in the oven for another few minutes.7. Serve over rice, topped with more basil, chilli sauce or the topping of your choice.

Variations/Additions:Meat-Free?: Leave out the chicken and add in some more veges. You could also up the protein content with some pre-soaked red lentils. (If this is the case, you may want to add a cup of vegetable stock to the mix too, as the lentils will soak up a lot of moisture.)More Vegetables: This recipe will work with virtually any vegetables you have on hand. Pumpkin, squash, kale, potatoes, carrots - they all cook up beautifully in the tomato base. Just note that you may need to add more crushed tomatoes or a cup of vegetable stock if you up the vege content by a lot.Vegan: Cut out the chicken, obviously, and you’re good to go.Gluten-Free: This is a gluten-free dish, happy days!