Rosemary Chicken with Wild Rice

Another one of Weight Watchers' one-dish dinners that I've incorporated into my meal plans. The combination of orange marmalade, rosemary, and Dijon mustard might sound weird but it's really good.

Ingredients:

• 2 smallish-sized boneless/skinless chicken breasts (about 4 ounces each or a total weight of 1/2 pound), cut into 3/4- to 1-inch cubes
  
• 2 carrots, diced
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tsp fresh rosemary, minced
• 3 tbsp sugar-free or reduced-sugar orange marmalade
• 2 tbsp Dijon mustard
• 1/2 cup wild rice
  
• Salt & pepper

Begin cooking the rice; most wild rice takes close to an hour to fully cook so you can use this time to prep the rest of the ingredients and still have time to kick back in front of the TV, read the newspaper, do some laundry, play with the cats...

With about 15 minutes left of rice cooking time, heat the olive oil in a large sauce pan or skillet over medium heat. Add the garlic and cook until golden, about 2 minutes. Add the chicken and carrots and cook, stirring frequently, for 5 minutes. Add the rosemary and continue cooking for 4 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through. Add the orange marmalade, mustard, salt, and pepper; stir to combine and cook for 3 minutes. The rice should be done now; drain any excess water and add the rice to the chicken mixture. Stir to combine and serve.

Makes enough for two good-sized portions. According to my Weight Watchers cookbook, a "generous" 1 cup of the stuff is 6 WW Points.

In other news I must be doing something right because the scale this morning said 161.4. That's a full 4-plus pounds less than what it said on Tuesday. I've been very carefully tracking Points and not going over my daily allowance because I am so determined to reach Goal before the end of the year. If my scale is to be trusted I have 6 more pounds to lose.

Watch for a picture post the first day I slip under 160 pounds, territory that hasn't been visited in 11 years.