Balsamic Cream Chicken with Mushrooms and Onions

[This recipe was originally posted in conjunction with the Meijer ad week of 1/27/13 - 2/2/13]

I pin a lot of recipes, and I even try some of them!  This recipe is one of the few that have been repinned to my "Made and Loved" board.  Not every recipe makes the cut, but this one was so good that I wanted to make it again the following week!  My sad photography skills do NOT do this chicken any favors.  But just trust me on this one.  (Or you can check out a better picture at the site of the original recipe.) The chicken was tender, and the sauce was full of delicious flavor...as in, upscale-Italian-restaurant-delicious-flavor!

I originally found this recipe over at Peace, Love, and Low Carb.  Options and Tips

• I'm going to be honest here:  this is one of those recipes that you need to start about 45 minutes before you plan to eat.  You won't be actually working for the entire 45 minutes, because there are times when the chicken and/or sauce just has to simmer.  But be prepared to spend some time in the kitchen for this one.  And it's oh-so-worth-it!
• Time-saving tips:  1.  Wash, dry, and chop your mushrooms ahead of time.  Slice the onion ahead of time.  2.  The recipe says to carmelize the onions first and set them aside, but I actually started the chicken and sauce first, and then worked on carmelizing the onions while the chicken and sauce were simmering.
• I used baby bella mushrooms for this recipe.
• Calorie-saving tip: use half and half instead of heavy cream, or use a higher-fat milk and thicken it with a bit of cornstarch/milk mixture.  It won't be quite as creamy, but still good.
• Keep your side dishes simple.  This recipe requires a hands-on time off and on throughout the cooking process.  Therefore, if you have a potato dish that is made ahead and baking in the oven, you won't have to fuss with that while you're working on the chicken.
• Instead of serving this chicken with a potato or rice dish, you could double the sauce recipe and serve it over pasta.
• "Peace and Love" was listed as an ingredient in the original.  After reading the comments, I'm still not sure if it's a real ingredient or not.  Either way, I didn't use any spice called Peace and Love, so you can make it without it and it will still be delicious.
• I did weigh my chicken, just out of curiousity.  The recipe calls for 1 1/2 lbs of chicken breast, and I was able to get 6 medium-sized pieces out of that 1 1/2 lbs.

This recipe comes from Ooh Shiny!