Chicken Stew with artichokes

What do you do when you find yourself and bachelor or bachelorette for the week with no food in the house and no one to cook for? Call a friend who will volunteer to bring chicken and wine as long as you have something to put the chicken in. "will a pan do?" I asked..."thats a start" retorted Vicky, causing me to scour the bare cupboards for something to make with chicken and wine. To my suprise, I found that a lot of unrelated ingredients can come together to make a tasty meal. Here is what I found in my cupboard:
Flour
Salt
Pepper
dried basil
garlic powder
allspice
crushed red pepper
baby carrots
frozen lima beans
a can of artichoke hearts (something every kitchen should have all the time)
Vermouth (mmmm)
fresh orange juice
chick broth
a pack of Spanish rice

As soon as the 3 chicken breasts (boneless, skinless) arrived, I washed it and trimmed the fat and cut into bite sized pieces. Then dredged the pieces in a mixture of the first seven ingredients above (a dash of everything except the flour and garlic powder) The allspice was really suprisingly tasty in this. Heat a few tablespoons of olive oil in a large pot and brown the chick on all sides with some added minced garlic and an onion if you have it.
As soon as chick is browned, add a handfull of baby carrots and a smattering of lima beans and let the veggies get tender. The add the can of artichoke hearts and cut them up a bit in the pot with a knife and fork. stir the mixture up all the while to cook the chicken. Add the orange juice next (I used one orange) to glaze everything. Vermouth (just a dash) or white wine. Let the flavors meld for a while before adding about a 1/4 cup of broth. You don't want this to be soupy. After the broth addition, let the whole simmer down and then wisk in a tablespoon of the leftover flour mixture to thicken what sauce there is.

Serve over the rice. Makes enough for two.

Enjoy!
Seth