Roasted Chicken Breasts with Brown Rice and Cherry Tomato Salad

Dishes like this are one of my most useful reasons for having a recipe blog. On the one hand, a meal like this is so simple you really don't need a recipe, but it is one that is so good, that when desire strikes to make it again, I would wonder, "How EXACTLY did I make that?" That's definitely happened to me more than once.

I am happy to share this delicious chicken and rice dinner with you. It's easy and healthy and full of flavor. We've been eating a lot of brown rice in my house lately and the one thing I am finding is that I really like to pair brown rice with something acidic. Mixing the salad with bites of rice is an amazing flavor combination. This is really my type of go-to dinner dish.

Roasted Chicken Breasts with Brown Rice and Cherry Tomato Salad

~serves 4~

What you need:

For the roasted chicken

4 bone-in skin-on chicken breasts, trimmed and patted dry

spices - whatever you prefer, I used salt & pepper, garlic powder and paprika

1 1/2 T. melted butter

For the cherry tomato salad

10.5 oz pkg. cherry tomatoes, halved

1/4 c. thinly sliced red onion

3 T. slivered kalamata olives

2 t. red wine vinegar

1 T. extra-virgin olive oil

salt & pepper to taste

1/3 c. torn, fresh basil 

1/3 c. crumbled feta cheese

cooked brown rice

What you do:

1. Preheat oven to 375. Place chicken on a baking sheet and season with spices, salt & pepper - how ever much or little you like. Place chicken skin-side up and brush with melted butter. Roast until internal temp. reaches 160 (somewhere around 35-40 minutes, depending on the size of the breasts).

2. While chicken is roasting, toss together tomatoes, onion, olives, vinegar, oil, salt & pepper in a medium bowl. Set aside til chicken is done.

3. When chicken is done, add the basil and feta to the tomato mixture. Serve the salad along side the chicken and rice.