Peanut-Crusted Chicken Breasts with Cilantro-Garlic Sauce

Sorry for the bad lighting in all of the pictures for this post, but I have finally replaced the light bulbs in my kitchen.  For the longest time I was using only one light bulb in the ceiling fixture when I'm really supposed to have three!  I know, I'm lazy when it comes to the simplest of things.  I'd also like to apologize for not posting as often as I'd like.  I'm back in school now, and some of the classes I am taking require a lot of studying, like my Financial Accounting class.  My professor for that class thinks he's such a great teacher, but really all he does is reread from the text, and won't explain things further than that!  As for my other classes, one of them is on-line, and the other is a computer class which I thought I would hate, but so far it's my favorite.  The last class I have I still have not met with due to the class being on a Monday and classes officially started on 1/22 which was a Tuesday.  Also this past Monday, our classes were canceled because of the snow/ice storm.

Now onto the chicken recipe, also another apology, I'm on a diet and you'll probably be seeing a lot of chicken and fish recipes because I need to lose this extra weight I've been carrying for the past four years.  This recipe came from my Robin Takes 5 cookbook.  Each recipe has five ingredients (sometimes six), and they are all very simple and quick to do.

I wasn't a big fan of this chicken recipe, I still ate it all, but I don't think it's a recipe I will ever make again.  I don't know what I didn't like about it, the peanuts or the sauce.  I think it was the sauce, I really hated the texture and the blandness that came with it.  But hey, you might like it! 

Here's what you'll need:
4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves (about 5 ounces each)
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 cup finely chopped dry-roasted salted peanuts
1 cup reduced-sodium chicken broth
1 cup fresh cilantro leaves
2 cloves garlic, chopped

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Brush the chicken all over with the oil and transfer the chicken to a shallow baking dish.  Season the top of the chicken with salt and freshly ground pepper.  Arrange the peanuts all over the top of the chicken.

Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, until the chicken is cooked through.
Meanwhile, combine the broth, cilantro, and garlic in a blender and puree until smooth.  Transfer the mixture to a small saucepan and set the pan over medium heat.  Bring to a simmer and cook for 5 minutes.  Season to taste with salt and freshly ground black pepper.

Serve the chicken with the cilantro sauce spooned over the top.

Enjoy!