Lemon-Thyme Chicken with Cranberry Salsa, Roasted Veggies and Lemon Spinach

I met a great doc today who seems to be able to bridge the gap between western medicine and natural medicine. She put me on antibiotics for my bacterial infection even though in western medicine the pathogen that I have would be considered to be normal. But she was willing to agree that it might be causing me a problem and was worth a shot to see what would happen with the antibiotics. I guess I'll know if there is any improvement in 10 days. But I feel better just knowing that I now have a doctor who will at least listen.

I cooked up a great healthy dinner tonight that was loaded with antioxidants and anti-inflammatories, just to make sure my body has the best chance possible to heal. The vegetables and fruit, high in fiber, should be tolerated because they are cooked or roasted. If you are concerned about the crystallized ginger, leave it out of the salsa. You could substitute salmon for the chicken in this meal and make it even healthier. Also, consider serving it with brown rice, instead of roasted potatoes.

Lemon-Thyme Chicken with Cranberry Salsa (serves 2)

Ingredients:

1/2 cup fresh or frozen cranberries

1/2 cup fresh or frozen bing cherries, pits removed

2 T. apple juice concentrate

2 T. minced crystallized ginger

1 chicken breast, halved

1 tsp. dried thyme

2 T. lemon juice

2-4 T. olive oil

salt and pepper

cauliflower, broccoli, red or purple potatoes, red onion (enough for 2 people)

1 10-ounce bag of spinach

Directions:

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Wash and chop veggies, potatoes for roasting in oven. Toss with 2-3 T. olive oil, salt and pepper. Place on a sprayed roasting pan and slide in the oven for approximately 30 minutes.

Prepare chicken for grilling in the oven. Place 1 T. lemon juice, salt, pepper, thyme and smidge of olive oil in a bowl. Coat the chicken with the mixture. Place the chicken pieces in a grill pan with a bit more olive oil. Brown for a few minutes and then slide in the oven to finish cooking.

Prepare the cranberry/cherry salsa. Simmer cranberries, cherries, apple juice concentrate, ginger in a saucepan over medium heat until the cranberries and cherries are soft. Remove from heat. Saute the spinach in a large, heavy pan or skillet with 1 T. olive oil. Cook over medium high heat until the spinach is wilted. Add salt, pepper and 1 T. lemon juice. Toss to coat.

Serve chicken on a bed of lemon spinach with a dab of cranberry salsa on top and a serving of roasted veggies and potatoes on the side. And thank yourself for cooking something that's this healthy and delicious.