Chicken with Olives and Lemons with a Handstand on the Side

I was just minding my own business the other morning, after leaving the grocery store, when the strangest thing happened:

I was putting the chicken for dinner (and this post) along with odds and ends, into the trunk when she yells at me, “Ma’am, would you please come over here?”

“Excuse me---are you talking to me?”  I yell back from the parking lot to the sidewalk where she and some guy stand watching me.

“Yes, can you please come here and help us out?”

OK, it’s daylight, people are around and about; curiously, I walk over toward them.

“Would you please hold my legs up in the air while my boyfriend takes a picture of me?”

“You’re kidding,” I laugh.

“No!”  “I want a picture of me doing a handstand, but I can’t stay up long enough for him to take a picture; so, when I get on my hands, please hold my feet up in the air.”

OMG!!!  How can I refuse her?  They’re a cute couple, not exactly “kids;” they look like they’re in their mid-twenties.

I tell her she really doesn’t want me in the picture.  “Let me take the picture and your boyfriend can hold your feet.”

“No, you’re fine,” she says.

Wow!  With that, she flips over and throws her legs up in the air.  She’s upside down now, balancing on her hands, as I’m reaching for her feet - perfect timing!  It’s almost like we’ve practiced doing this, as people walk by staring and surmising we’re probably street performers, or worse…

Then --- you know what usually happens when someone uses another person’s camera ~ something is wrong and she has to show him what to do.  So she jumps up to help him.

She’s tucking herself in at the waist now, and there she goes again ~ her feet shooting straight up in the air.  But, this time, she falls just as I am grabbing them, nearly taking me down with her.  

Finally, VOILA!!!  She does it --- a handstand in perfect form as her boyfriend snaps 2 pictures with me “proudly” holding her feet in the air!

She was happy and I was cracking up as I hurried to my car, thinking ~~~ it’s not even a full moon!  

Here’s about the chicken I bought:

Delicious!

Herbs combined with briny olives and tart lemons provide chicken with the “oomph” in this recipe that makes a tasty dinner for your family that is great for your friends too!

This is a tangy, healthy recipe slightly adapted from Cooking Light magazine.  Each chicken breast contains about 270 calories.  It’s delicious, citrusy, garlicky baked chicken with olives adding a bit of saltiness.  The aromas coming from the oven weren’t bad either!

Ready for the oven

Chicken with Olives and Lemons

Adapted

Ingredients:

2 teaspoons lemon zest

¼ cup lemon juice

1 tablespoon olive oil

2 tablespoons minced garlic

4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves

Cooking spray

1 teaspoon dried oregano*

¼ teaspoon dried rosemary**

1 teaspoon seasoned pepper

15 oil-cured olives, pitted and sliced in half***

1 large shallot, sliced

1 lemon, thinly sliced

Method:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Coat a 9” x 13” broiler-safe glass or ceramic baking dish with cooking spray.

In a small bowl, combine first 4 ingredients.

Add chicken and marinate for 15 minutes at room temperature.

Sprinkle chicken with oregano and the next 4 ingredients (through shallot).

Top with lemon slices.

Bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes.

Remove chicken from oven.

Preheat broiler to high.

Place chicken 3” from broiler element.

Broil on high for 3 minutes or until chicken is browned and done.

*or 2 teaspoons chopped fresh oregano

**or ½ teaspoon chopped fresh rosemary

***olives from the deli or salad bar

Serve with hot cooked orzo or rice.

This dish was a hit with us and I will be making it again and again!

Be sure to visit my friend, Linda’s blog @My Kind of Cooking for great tips on Tuesday’s and good and easy recipes every Friday!