WINNER WINNER, CHICKEN, sun-dried tomato, and orzo DINNER!

Now THIS is a keeper! Nick said it was one of his favorites! Try it out, and see what you think. I pulled this off of eatingwell.com and it had received 5 stars. We agree with the ratings! I took step by step photos, so enjoy the progress of the pictures. Here's a teaser though of the end product!

Okay so here we go!

Ingredients:

8 oz of whole wheat orzo (WHOLE WHEAT TASTES COMPLETELY DIFFERENT THAN WHITE, but if you can't find it, go with white anyways!)

1 cup water

1/2 cup chopped sun dried tomatoes, divided

1 plum tomato, diced

1 clove of garlic, peeled

1.5 t dried marjoram, divided

1 T red wine vinegar

2 t plus  1T olive oil, divided

4 boneless, skinless, chicken breast halves (I bought 3 big whole breasts and butterflied them because they were cheaper!)

1/4 t salt

1/4 t pepper

1 bag frozen artichoke hearts (Couldn't find these, so I used 2 cans of whole artichoke hearts, but really, 1 can would have been plenty, quartered!)

1/2 cup grated parmesan

Directions:

First, cook the orzo according to the box directions. Drain and rinse. Set aside.

Meanwhile,  place the water, half of the sun-dried tomatoes, the plum tomato, the garlic, 1 t of the marjoram, the vinegar, and 2 t of the olive oil in a food processor or blender. Pulse until mixed, but still chunky! It will resemble salsa:

A this point, transfer the juice/sauce into a pan to boil it in soon!

Season your chicken on both sides with salt and pepper and brown in a skillet with 1 T of the remaining olive oil. My chicken took awhile, but if you have thinner pieces, probably about 2-3 minutes per side. Mine were more like 5-6 minutes per side!

At this point, once they have finished cooking, set them aside and cover them to keep them warm.

Now, pour your tomato sauce into a pan and bring to a boil. Measure out about 1/2 of a cup and set aside (to pour over chicken at the end before serving!)

Once it is boiling, reduce heat and add the remaining sun-dried tomatoes, orzo, artichoke hearts (drain these if you buy the canned kind!), and 6 T of parmesan cheese. Cook about 2 minutes until orzo has been warmed and cheese is melted throughout pot:

At this point, you may be sketched out by my pictures. BUT PLEASE. I wouldn't post a bad recipe!

You can either slice up the chicken and serve it over the orzo, or you can leave it as breasts (which for time's sake, I did!)

Top each person's plate of chicken and orzo with a sprinkle of dried marjoram, parmesan cheese, and reserved sauce.

TO DIE FOR. Eat 2 servings- there's no way you can't! AND TRY TO FIND THE WHOLE WHEAT ORZO!

A couple pictures for you!

ENJOY :)

Nick sure did! WE BOTH went back for seconds! I cannot urge you enough to MAKE THIS DISH! It only takes a total of about 30 minutes!