Spiced Chicken Thighs and Barley

Several of you asked for the recipe I mentioned on Mother's Day, so here it is! I doubled the amount of spices in the original recipe from Cooking Light, but feel free to readjust to your own individual taste. Enjoy!

1 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp chili powder
1 tsp salt
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp dried mint flakes
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp ground pepper
6 (4 ounce) chicken thighs, skinned
1 Tbsp vegetable oil
Cooking spray
1-1/2 cups chopped onion
1 cup chopped red bell pepper
1 Tbsp low sodium soy sauce
3-1/2 cups low-salt chicken broth
1-1/4 cups uncooked pearl barley
1 (14.5 ounce) can diced tomatoes, drained

1. Combine the first 7 ingredients in a small bowl, and rub chicken with half of spice mixture.
2. Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet coated with cooking spray over medium-high heat. Add chicken; cook 2 minutes on each side or until chicken is browned. Remove chicken from the skillet.
3. Add a bit more oil if necessary, then add chopped onion, bell pepper and soy sauce. Cook over medium-high heat 3 minutes or until vegetables are lightly browned. Add broth, barley, tomatoes and remaining spice mixture, and stir well. Add chicken to skillet, nestling into veggie mixture. Bring to a boil; cover, reduce heat and simmer 55 minutes or until chicken is done. Let stand 15 minutes.

Yield: 6 servings (serving size: 1 chicken thigh and 1 cup barley mixture).

CALORIES 302 (15% from fat); FAT 5.1g; PROTEIN 22.3g; CARB 42.8g; FIBER 9.2g; CHOL 65mg; IRON 2.9mg; SODIUM 491mg; CALC 57mg