skillet chicken with apples & cranberries

a week and a half ago, the three of us picked more apples than we could ever eat. after turning about 20 pounds into unsweetened applesauce for the baby, whipping up a batch of my favorite apple chicken chili, i still had a few pounds left (and still have a few stragglers now in my crisper drawer). sure, i could have canned apple pie filling, made apple pie, made a crumble (which i actually did and forgot to post, so check it out here, just be sure not to cook it too long & burn your pecans), or eaten my new favorite salad a few more times, but i wanted something different. i remember ripping this out of a magazine at some point in the last couple years and was lucky enough to actually find it in my mess of "bookmarked" recipes. speaking of bookmarked recipes...does your google reader look like mine? it's chock full of way more recipes that i'll ever be able to make in a lifetime let alone the next year or two. one of these days i need to sort through it...right after my digital photo files are organized, my photo books are done, my clothes are sorted by season and color, and the dozens of other organizational projects are done. it never ends, does it?

skillet chicken with apples & cranberries
adapted from eating well
30 minutes, serves 4-6

1 pound boneless skinless chicken breasts or chicken tenders, cut into thin strips
3/4 teaspoon dried thyme
2 large or 6 small crisp apples, cored and thinly sliced (peeled or unpeeled, your choice)
1 large red onion, sliced
3/4 cup apple cider
1 cup fresh cranberries
1 tablespoon flour

1. season chicken with salt, pepper, and about 1/4 teaspoon dried thyme. coat the bottom of a large skillet with olive oil and place over medium heat. add the chicken and cook until browned on all sides (the chicken does not need to be cooked completely at this point). transfer to a plate.
2. coat the bottom of the skillet again with oil. add apples, onion, 2 tablespoons cider and 1/2 teaspoon thyme. cook until the apples and onions have softened, about five minutes.
3. add cranberries to the apple mixture and sprinkle flour over everything. stir to combine and cook for about one minute, or until there are no more dry flour spots.
4. add the chicken back to the pan and add the remaining cider. cover and cook until the sauce has thickened and the chicken is cooked through, about 5 minutes.