As much as I love cooking there are days when it is the last thing I feel like doing. In such scenarios there is one trick that revives my affection for toiling over the oven- getting weird and unusual ingredients. The moment I found these purple yams my creative juices started flowing and I was looking forward to preparing something new. Both yams and butternut are quite sweet and starchy, making them sweet and satisfying. Combined with fiber-rich chickpeas and light zucchini, they all make the chicken into an easy one-pot dish. Some fresh herbs and lemon add in lots of flavour and a bit of broth keeps the chicken moist. 
One of the best improvements we can make nutritionally is just to add more plants to our diet and something like this, with a few different types of vegetables and some legumes thrown in, is the kind of thing I choose when I need something nourishing, relatively low maintenance and filling. 
- 6 chicken breasts
- 1 540 ml (19 oz) can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
- 1 zucchini, sliced thinly
- 1 onion, sliced thinly
- 2 purple yams, sliced thinly (around 2 cups)
- 1 small butternut squash, julienned (around 2 cups)
- 1 meyer lemon, sliced thinly (or an orange for a more sweet, subtle flavour)
- 1 small bunch fresh tarragon (or thyme or savory are similar)
- 1 cup chicken or vegetable broth
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- Sea salt and freshly cracked black pepper
- Preheat oven to 400°. Lay the chicken in a large pot and place the herbs, vegetables and chickpeas around. Drizzle with the olive oil and broth then sprinkle with salt and pepper. Over with a lid or foil and bake for 40 minutes, remove the cover and bake for 20 more minutes.
