Well, I’m officially on Spring Break!!  This year is kind of a bizarre year for me, as I’m going no where for the break.  A year ago, I was in Texas.  I believe I was in Austin at this point, doing shots of Fireball with my cousin and one of my best buddies in the whole wide world, working off the emotional and physical hangover of being in Houston for St. Patties Day.  This year, nothing.  My St. Patties Day consisted of going to the gym, doing some rowing, cheering on folks doing their 13.2, then sitting around and shooting the breeze with my gym homies while drinking margaritas.  Seriously, have I mentioned that I completely love that bunch?  Because I do.

So this year, my Spring Break is packed full of couch sitting, book reading, cooking when I feel like it, and beautifying myself!  I literally have an appointment every single day….so NEXT week when I hit up Austin, TX for the PaleoFX conference, I’ll be even more smokin’ hot that usual!  I can’t freaking wait for that!!!  I’m going to be such a stupid fan girl about the entire experience….ugh.  I can see it now….

Confession time:  I’ve been eating a TON of sugar lately.  I’m blaming it on hormones.  In all seriousness though, in the last 5 days, I’ve made 2 batches of that avocado chocolate pudding…..and a chocolate hazelnut pie (that I PROMISE I’ll post here when I make one that sticks around long enough to be photographed…) and ALL of it is gone.  In my defense, I shared the pie with the gym and my parents, but STILL!!  Get a GRIP Meister!  Damn.  I just bought 2 legit bikinis…which is an entirely foreign concept for me, and all I can think about is freaking sugar…..when I should be thinking “2 piece, 2 piece, 2 piece…..”  Whatever.

I made this chicken Marsala tonight.  Actually, there is not REAL Marsala wine in it, but heck, it’s essentially the same thing.  No big deal.  It’s so good.  Anytime onions and mushrooms can get all caramelized and delicious together, count me IN!  Not to mention, it includes some ghee….which is a new love of mine.

Chicken Marsala

• 4-5 chicken breasts, pounded thin (1/2 to 3/4″ thickness)
• 1 pound mushrooms, sliced (use whatever variety floats your boat)
• 2 medium yellow onions, sliced
• 4-5 cloves garlic, minced
• 5-6 sprigs fresh thyme, leaves stripped off the stems
• 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
• salt and pepper to taste
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 tablespoons ghee (or grassfed butter, or leave it out if delicious butter flavor isn’t your thing)

1. Pound out your chicken breasts so that they are thin, 1/2 to 3/4″ thick.  Lightly salt and pepper both sides.
2. In a large skillet, add 1 tablespoon of olive oil and 1 tablespoon of ghee and let it warm up.
3. Place chicken in your skillet.  You may have to do this in 2 batches depending on how big your chicken ended up getting.  Cook 2-3 minutes on each side.  This should cook it almost all the way through since you pounded it out so thin!
4. After chicken is cooked/browned on both sides, remove from pan.
5. Add the additional olive oil and ghee to your pan, let melt.
6. Toss in onions and begin to saute, 3-5 minutes.
7. When they start to soften up, add in your mushrooms.
8. Let onions and mushrooms cook together until they reduce down in size and begin to caramelize.  This may take 15-20 minutes.  It’s WORTH IT!
9. When the are all caramelized goodness, or when you hit 20 minutes in on it, add in your garlic and your herbs.  Stir it all in to combine and cook for another 5 minutes.
10. Add back in your chicken and cover it with the onion and shroom mixture.
11. Cover and cook on low for an addition 5 minutes or so or until you are ready to serve.
12. Plate it up and ENJOY!!  I served mine over baby spinach leaves.  They got all wilty and delicious when I topped them with the steaming chicken and veggie goodness!

I’ve got tons of yummy leftovers from that one!  Can’t wait to get after them later in the week!  I’m terrible at planning meals during breaks, so it’ll be nice to have an actual meal rather than throwing together some lunchmeat, a sweet potato, and some nuts.  Typical.  Just like snow days….Anyways, back to rendering bacon fat!  Sending delicious Marsala love! Peace, Love, and Paleo.

-Meister