Balsamic Chicken

Do you ever have those days where you want to make dinner, you want to craft some beautiful dish that would make Julia Child proud, you want to be the culinary master of your kitchen, but you just can't find the inspiration?

I do.

Those days make for some rough grocery store trips, let me tell you.  I'll just stand in the middle of the Trader Joe's produce section looking around thinking, "What on earth is a potato even good for!?"

Well fret not, my friends, because I have a solution for you and it's called balsamic chicken.  I discovered it as I casually perused the food section of pinterest (while irritatingly blocking the tiny aisles of the produce department - but that part isn't important) and I am soooo glad that I did!  Balsamic vinegar just has a magical way of turning boring foods into exceptional ones, doesn't it?

Recipe after the jump!

Savory Orange-Roasted Tofu and Asparagus

Up until I made this recipe, my entire life experience with miso consisted of two dishes: miso soup, and my father's oatmeal.

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, my Dad puts miso in his oatmeal.

Usually he accompanies this addition with the comment "Hey Katie! What does THIS remind you of?" while ceremoniously displaying a spoonful of brown gook.

As you can imagine, the obvious correlation he drew between miso and...other things I won't name here...didn't exactly turn me into an 8 year old miso fan. In fact, I've spent my whole life avoiding miso and assuming it tastes like some gross cousin to peanut butter. Recently however I've been trying to branch out of my normal food rut, and when I saw this recipe in my favorite cookbook I had to try it.

You guys. This recipe. Is sooooooo delicious. Thank goodness I was just cooking for myself, because after taking a minor break when my better senses said, "Katie stop putting food in your mouth!!" I returned to finish the whole thing in one night.

Miso is a bit expensive to buy upfront, but you don't use much at a time, and just a tablespoon has considerable nutritional benefits (what's up vitamin b12!). If you are also a little afraid of miso I think this is probably a great training wheels dish - the sweet of the orange juice perfectly counteracts the more salty qualities of the miso, and the tofu just soooooaks up all the goodness! Yummmmmmmm

-Recipe after the jump-