Real Simple?

Last night I was planning on making a recipe from my latest issue of Real Simple. I honestly didn't think this recipe would be that hard, but then again I didn't take my total lack of motor skills or mental concentration into account. I really am not that great at multi-step cooking. Now I'm sure you're wondering to yourself, "Aside from toast, doesn't most cooking require more than one step?" And yeah, you'd be right. But the fact remains that since this recipe required me to put things in a skillet, remove them, add more things in the skillet, move to oven, and then back to the skillet with more ingredients that I should probably have realized I would be doomed. The outcome tasted good, but if you think that it looked anything like the picture below, you are sadly mistaken. I would recommend this recipe if, you know, you're not task-handicapped like me.

Sauteed Chicken With Corn and Edamame
Recipe from Real Simple; Serves 4
4 ounces sliced bacon
1 tablespoon olive oil
4 6-ounce boneless skinless chicken breasts
3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1 large red onion, thinly sliced
2 cups frozen shelled edamame, thawed
1 1/2 cups corn kernels, fresh (2 ears) or frozen

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
• In a large skillet, over medium heat, fry the bacon until crisp, about 6 minutes. Transfer to a paper towel-lined plate. Discard the drippings. Wipe out the skillet and heat the oil over medium-high heat.
• Season the chicken with 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Cook until golden brown, about 3 minutes per side. Transfer to a baking dish and roast until cooked through, about 8 minutes.
• Meanwhile, add the onion to the skillet and cook, stirring occasionally, until soft, about 8 minutes. Add the edamame and corn and cook, stirring occasionally, until heated through, 2 to 3 minutes. Break the bacon into pieces and add them to the skillet. Stir in the remaining salt and pepper. Spoon onto individual plates and serve with the chicken.

My notes: Most of the problems with this recipe were my fault. My chicken breasts were definitely larger than 6 ounces, but I'm kind of limited to what I can find and afford at my small grocery store. So, I had to bake them for longer than 8 minutes. Much longer. Which then threw off the onion mixture. Also, I can never, ever get bacon to cook crisply in a skillet. After 6 minutes I had 3 soft pieces of cooked bacon. I threw it in the oven with the chicken, and it got a bit crisper. I tore it into bits, which allowed me to only use the meaty portions of the bacon, eliminating at least some of the fat. From now on I refuse to cook bacon any way other than in an oven. Also, since my chicken breasts were really big, I just cut them into big chunks and mixed them in with the bacon and veggie/bean mixture. This meal was pretty good, actually, but not worth the amount of time and effort it took me to complete it. Josh for some reason, despite being a man, didn't like the smokiness of the bacon with everything else. Real Simple mentions you could go sans bacon to cut the fat, and apparently Josh would support that suggestion. Another note- try to remember when you've just taken a dish out of a 400 degree oven. Luckily I let go of it quickly enough that I barely burned my fingers.