Balsamic Chicken with Roasted Tomatoes

I'm still on a liquid only diet, but thankfully things have been so hectic around here that I have recipes I haven't blogged about.  April and May really seemed to have flown by!  I'm sorry the blog got neglected, but hey... life happens :-)

At the end of April my surgeon told me he wanted me on a 1000 calorie a day diet to lose some weight before the surgery.  He also told me that the recurrence rate for people having to redo the surgery, in ten years, was 90%!  Outrageous!!! No way am I going through this crud again :-(   He then told me that the risk goes down to less than 10% if the person maintains at least a 25 BMI (Body mass Index).  That meant I would have to drop almost fifty pounds to keep my risk factors low.  What a great time to join WW!!!  I joined online and purchased a few cookbooks and just went for it.  Prior to the week of my 2 week liquid diet I had lost 15 pounds.  Hubby hasn't complained about any of the meals so they have husband appeal, too (An added bonus!).

I tried a chicken recipe from a magazine called "The Best of Weight Watchers; five ingredients 15 minutes.

We enjoyed it, but since I used a full chicken with skin left on (hey, its what I had on hand!) the flavor didn't absorb as much through the chicken.  I think that since I prefer to roast chicken with the skin on, I will put some of the mixture underneath the skin.  Keeping the skin on does keep the chicken moist, and yes.... I do remove the skin prior to eating.  Well, most of the time I do :-)  

Balsamic Chicken with Roasted Tomatoes

adapted from best of weight watchers; 5 ingredients 15 minutes

1 tablespoon honey

1 1/2 teaspoons olive oil

1 pint grape tomatoes

1/2 teaspoon salt, divided

3 1/2 pound chicken, butterflied

1 tablespoon grapeseed oil 

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1/4 cup Balsamic Vinegar

Directions
Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.
In a bowl, combine the honey, olive oil and tomatoes; mix to coat completely.  Place the tomato mixture on a foil lined baking sheet and bake for about 15 minutes, or until the tomato skins begin to burst.  Remove from oven, sprinkle with 1/4 teaspoon salt,balsamic vinegar, and set aside.

Prepare your chicken:
Make sure the chicken is thawed completely.  Cut the chicken down alongside the backbone and remove the backbone.  Pat dry with a paper towel... this is an important step since you will be putting it into a hot frying pan; This will keep the splatters to a minimum.

On your stove top, heat a large oven safe frying pan on high heat. Add the 1 tablespoon of grapeseed oil and when it becomes very hot- gently place the bird skin side down in the pan.
 Combine the remaining salt and pepper together. Season the top of the bird with the half the salt and pepper mixture. Immediately place the entire pan in oven for 10 minutes. Carefully remove hot pan from the oven, flip the bird over. Generously season the skin side with salt/pepper.                                                                         

 Return pan to oven and roast another 10 minutes. Add the tomato mixture and  resume cooking for another 15 -20 minutes, or until temperature reaches 165 degrees in the breast area.