Lemon Zucchini Chicken

I am not one who can have the same meals every single day.

 My husband sure can, but not me. 

I love variety, I love texture, I love taste, I LOVE FOOD. 

So this dish came out of my desire for a quick, protein packed lunch with a kick.


I really love the taste of lemon and chicken. One of my all time favorite Italian dishes is chicken piccata where it is infused with wine, lemon, and capers. 

However, this dish may not have battered chicken in a wine sauce but it does have quinoa--a new staple to my diet-- lemon, zucchini, and sauteed onions. 

So if your looking for a quick, clean eating, and filling dish give this a try 


Recipe adapted from The Gracious Pantry

Ingredients: 
5-6 oz chicken breast, cooked
1tbs  olive oil 
1/4 onion, chopped
2 tbs lemon juice 
1 zucchini, chopped 
1-2 tsp garlic powder
salt and pepper to taste 
1/4 quinoa, cooked

Directions: 

Heat a skillet with oil on medium heat. Add onion and saute for 2-3 min, until onions start to turn clear. Add in chopped Zucchini and cook for 1 min, until tender.
Add in chicken and stir in seasoning. 
Add lemon juice and let cook for 2 min until everything is well heated and juices are combined. 

Remove from heat. 
Scoop out lemon chicken mixture and top over a bed of quinoa. 

 

ENJOY!!!!

Honey Soy Chicken Breasts

The sweet smell of all-day, marinated chicken baking in the oven is delectable to the senses. 

This simple, melt in your mouth, Honey Soy Chicken is perfect for your easy week night menu and truly doesn't require a lot of attention or clean up (YEAH!!!) 

Simple.Sweet.Soy

Ingredients 
4 chicken breasts 
1/4 cup honey 
1/3 cup light soy sauce 
1/2 tsp ground pepper 
4 garlic cloves, minced 
1tbs ginger, grated (I omitted this because I didn't have it) 

Directions:
Whisk together the honey, soy sauce, pepper, garlic, and ginger in a small bowl. 
Place chicken breasts in a zip lock bag and pour honey-soy mixture over the chicken.
Give it some good shakes and place in the fridge to marinate a few hours/over night--pretty much until your ready to cook it. 

Preheat oven 375 
Place marinated chicken on a foil-lined baking sheet (easy clean up, told you!) and brush some of the sauce over the chicken. 
Bake for 45 min. 
Take the extra sauce and place it in a small sauce pan on LOW heat to simmer. 
Brush sauce on chicken every 10 minutes until chicken is fully cooked through. 

 Serve with some Fried Rice and/or veggies. 

ENJOY!!!!!

Healthy Popcorn Chicken

Chicken is a staple in our diet. 

So I love making new recipes with it. 

This one was so fun and easy; a perfect healthy and quick dinner.

Adapted from food.com
Ingredients:
2 large chicken breasts
1 cup panko bread crumbs
1 large egg
1 tbs dijon mustard
1 tbs milk 
1/2 tsp salt

Directions:
Preheat oven to 450. 
Grease a baking sheet with cooking spray or olive oil.
Cut chicken in 1 inch pieces. 
In a small bowl whisk egg, milk, mustard, and salt. 
In a pie tin, or on a large plate, pour bread crumbs.
Dip chicken in egg mixture then in bread crumbs. 

Line breaded chicken on baking sheet and spray with cooking spray.

Bake for 10 min. Then flip. Spray flipped chicken and bake for 8-10 more minutes.--watch closely they will brown quickly. 

 Enjoy!!!!

Chicken Piccata W/ Greek Yogurt Cream Sauce

 

Lemon and chicken go well together, 

but what makes it even better is whole wheat pasta and a creamy sauce. 

I put this dish together in a short amount of time and it turned out wonderful. My husband even stopped before he left the room--well after his second bowl--to tell me he "really liked the dish"; and thus it is going on the blog. 

This is a multi-tasking meal prep dinner. There is no lag time. But everything is timed pretty well and ends warm and ready to be eaten. 
So put on your apron and cook away!

Adapted from Lifeasalofthouse and plainchicken.com
Ingredients:

Chicken
2 Large chicken breast or 4 small (I seriously had GIANT chicken breasts so I used 2 and cut them in half)
1 egg
1/2 cup Italian bread crumbs (plain works just add oregano, basil, salt pepper, rosemary, and thyme)
1 tbs butter (I used parkay)
1 tbs extra virgin olive oil

Pasta
2 cups whole wheat penne pasta + 3 1/2 cups water to boil (This is more than enough for 2 people--adjust amount based on amount feeding)
*OPTIONAL 1 quarter of a chicken bouillon cube (just kicks it up a notch)

Creamy Cheesy Sauce
2 tbs butter (I used parkay)
6 tbs lemon juice (the juice from 2 lemons or just the stuff from the bottle)
2 garlic cloves, minced
salt/ pepper/ basil, to taste
1/2 cup Plain greek yogurt
1/2 cup shredded Parmesan cheese ( I cheated here, I only had the powdered stuff that comes in the bottle and used a little more than half a cup. STILL TURNED OUT AWESOME!)


Directions:

Whisk egg in a shallow bowl
Place bread crumbs in separate shallow bowl
Heat Large on Medium skillet with 1 tbs butter and 1 tbs olive oil
Pound breasts into a fillet using your fist or a meat mallet. Approx 2 inches thick
Pat dry and then  dip in egg mixture and then bread crumbs. 
Place in skillet and cook for 4-5 min each side. NO TURNING.
-- you are welcome to cut your chicken breast in half once this time is up to make sure they are cook through (they really should be) but if not just leave  them in the pan, cover with a lid, turn the heat down, and let them "cook" while your continue the rest of the meal--

While breasts are cooking....make pasta

Bring a small sauce pan with 3 1/2 cups water to boil, add quartered bouillon cube and then pasta. 
Boil for 7 min, or al dente.

While pasta is boiling.... start sauce

Mince garlic and place in a bowl with 6 tbs lemon juice.
Measure out 1/2 cup greek yogurt set aside. 

Chicken should be done  now...turn pan to low, with lid, to keep warm or place on plate and cover with foil.

Once pasta is done, set aside 1/2 cup pasta water and then drain the rest. 

Dump pasta in a small bowl with a drizzle of olive oil to keep from sticking and cover to keep warm 

SAUCE TIME: 
In the same sauce pan that you made the pasta melt 2 tbs butter on medium high heat. 
Whisk in minced garlic and lemon juice and then add greek yogurt, salt, pepper, and basil to taste. Whisk until warm. 
Add cheese and stir until melted.--if you see your sauce thickening too much add some of the reserve water to loosen it.

ALL DONE!

Toss pasta with sauce and top with sliced chicken.

ENJOY!!!!

Sun-Dried Tomato Cream Sauce Chicken

Sun dried tomatoes are a luxury food for me. 

I love them on anything and everything 

(Well maybe not cereal). 

Most Italian restaurants have some dish with sun dried tomatoes and I usually go for that dish.

So when I found this recipe from Gabbi's Kitchen for a cream sauce chicken that had sun dried tomatoes I said "MAKING" and added the ingredients to my grocery list. 

Of course I adapted the recipe to fit this healthy foodies lifestyle by dropping the heavy cream and using plain greek yogurt 1:1.

Turned out wonderful!

Ingredients:

4 boneless chicken breasts, 
1 tbs olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
1 1/2 tbs butter (I used Parkay) 
2 tbs flour
1/2 cup onion, chopped (I used half of a small onion)
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 cup sun-dried tomatoes, chopped (I used sun dried tomatoes in olive oil, worked just fine!)
1 1/2 cup reduced sodium chicken broth
1/2 cup Plain Greek Yogurt
Whole wheat pasta

Directions: 

Heat skillet with 1 tbs olive oil
Rinse and pat dry chicken. Pound breast flat and then rub with salt and pepper as desired. 
Place chicken breast, ugly side down (you'll know) in heated oil and saute for 5 min on both sides, until chicken is NO LONGER PINK, COOK THROUGH. 
Remove from heat and place to the side, covered. 

Chop onion, and mince garlic. 
Melt butter in large sauce pan, then add onion and garlic. Cooke until soft. 
Add sun-dried tomatoes. Blend
Add 2 tbs flour and with whisk in hand slowly add chicken broth. Constantly whisk to remove lumps. 
Whisk in Greek yogurt. Stir for 3-4 min.
Take off heat and stir every once in awhile while it continues to thicken. 
Make Pasta. 

Serve chicken over pasta. 

ENJOY!!!!

Greek Yogurt Chicken Parm Bake

Are you ready for this? 

5 min prep dinner!!!! 

 

I know, I know you  I'll give you some time to collect yourself

. . . . . . . . . . . . 

Alright, 

Now, this is an awesome, very healthy, melt-in-your-mouth, chicken dinner that everyone will love. (my husband sure does!)

Apparently the original recipe uses mayo, but I found this amazing recipe from Life of Meg, which substitutes the flubber for greek yogurt!



One can never go wrong with greek yogurt  
(my new food obsession!) 

Seriously. 

Ingredients:

• 4 chicken breasts
• 1 cup plain Greek Yogurt
• 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese, shredded or crumbled
• 1 tsp garlic powder*
• 1/2 tsp salt*
• 1/2 tsp pepper

               * I have just used 1 tsp garlic salt instead of garlic powder and salt before.

Directions: the 5 min part

Preheat Oven 375

Line a baking sheet with foil (TRUST ME, DO THIS and you'll thank me later when your not trying to scrub of cooked cheese on a pan...we've all been there) and spray with cooking spray. ( I used my misto!)

Mix greek yogurt, Parmesan cheese, garlic powder, salt, and pepper in a bowl.

Pat dry chicken and coat in yogurt mixture (both sides). 

Lay on baking sheet. 

Bake for 45-50 min until golden brown spots appear on chicken.

TIP: Around 40-45 min carefully dump juices that have accumulated in the pan--this will help reduce burning

TIP: Turning oven to broil for 1-2 min (AFTER DUMPING JUICES) will help create those savory
brown spots. Be careful to watch everything on BROIL so it doesn't burn.

Pair with some delicious veggies.

ENJOY!!!!

Nutritional Information: the really awesome part

serving 1 baked chicken 

215 cal*3 carbs*4 sat fat*23g protein*2 g fiber

Sweet and Sour Chicken and Fried Rice

WINNER!!!! 

Yup, it won the "husband said it was his favorite dish" Award

Success. 

Make it, Bake it, and Enjoy. 

 Recipe adapted from of life-as-a-lofthouse.blogspot.com

Ingredients for Sweet and Sour Chicken:

Coating:

• 3-4 boneless chicken breasts
• salt + pepper
• 1/4-1/2 cornstarch
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1/4 cup canola oil

Sauce:

•   1 1/2 cup sugar
•   8 tbs ketchup
• 1/2 apple vinegar & 1/2 cup distilled white vinegar 

you can use 1/2 white vinegar but the apple vinegar made it have a phenomenal taste

•   2 tbs soy sauce
•   2 tsp garlic salt  
• 1 can of chunk pineapple 

 Directions: 
 
Preheat oven to 325
Wash and pat dry chicken then cut into cubes. 
Salt and Pepper as desired.
Prep one small bowl of corn starch and another small bowl of whisked eggs

Dip the cubed chicken first into the corn starch, THEN into the eggs (yes, you didn't read it wrong)

Place onto a plate (obviously mine almost over flowed)

Heat large Skillet with oil on Medium heat and then quick fry till chicken egg mixture is cooked on the outside but the chicken is not cooked through. Remember to mix it around while frying. (The smaller cubes the have the less time to fry because the chicken will cook through faster so be careful)

Place cooked chicken into a 9x13 pan

Whisk all ingredients for sweet and sour sauce in a small bowl and pour over chicken.

Bake for 15 min then flip/stir chicken. Repeat 3 more times for a total of an hour. (I turned my heat up to 350 for the last two 15 min intervals, but all ovens vary so adjust accordingly.)

Sauce with thicken and caramelize as it bakes. Trust me.

Ingredients for Fried Rice:

• 3 cups cooked  rice (day old or leftover rice works best! I used brown rice and made it the night before and refrigerated it)
• 3 tbs sesame oil (I used olive oil)
• 1 cup frozen peas and carrots (thawed)
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 2 tsp minced garlic
• 2 eggs, slightly beaten
• 1/4 cup soy sauce

In a large skillet or wok heat oil over Medium-High heat. Add Peas/Carrots, Onions, and garlic and stir fry until tender.

Move Mix to one side of the skillet and add in semi-whisked eggs. Stir fry until scrambled. (its okay if some peas and carrots get in those eggs)

Turn heat to Medium-Low and  stir in Rice and soy sauce. Mix until thoroughly warmed.

Serve with chicken on top of rice or off to the side. 

ENJOY!!!!

Slow Cooker Honey-Glazed Garlic Chicken

Mouthful of a title I know, but it did make your mouth water so keep reading and maybe no one will notice the drool. 

This was my FIRST crock pot/slow cooker recipe! 
Now, since I moved out to the mid west it was almost a taboo to say that sentence since its a staple cooking machine out here. 
So I knew it was time to break it out!

Thanks to one of my new favorite websites: myfoodfridge.com I was able to find this recipe at 6 am in the morning (I had been struggling for a few days with not having an ingredient or two and didn't want to run to the store; this website solved my dilemma) and had it cooking all day, allowing the house to smell like honey glazed deliciousness.

It was enjoyed on top of brown rice with side of mixed veggies. 

It's SUPER EASY so have no fear...

Ingredients:

4 chicken breasts (they can be frozen)
1/2 cup reduced sodium soy sauce
1/2 cup natural ketchup
1/2 cup honey 
3 minced garlic cloves


Directions:

Place chicken at bottom of slow cooker/crock pot. Mix soy sauce, ketchup, honey, and garlic in a small bowl. Pour over chicken and cook on low for 6-8 hours or high 3-4. I found it was done at or before 6 hours ( I mean when I pushed on the chicken with a fork it just fell apart:See picture below). So I turned it to warm until dinner time!

 Serve over rice and spoon extra sauce from pot onto chicken. 

ENJOY!!!!

Healthy Chicken Parmesan

I'm all about the "nothing is off limits" rule for dieting because for me that is deprivation and my body just wants it more if I deny it.... 

So I found a healthier way to eat this normally FAT and CARB loaded dinner

for easy cost of only 255 cal a piece of chicken: smothered in bread, sauce, and cheese...I know, just trust me and read on...

Healthy Chicken Parmesan

adapted from Feedingmytemple.com

Ingredients:

• (4) 4oz chicken breasts thawed

• 3/4 cup seasoned breadcrumbs  (I just used plain and seasoned myself with Italian seasoning, garlic powder, and paprika)

• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder (if you did what I did above add if you like the extra taste!)

• 1/2 teaspoon Italian seasonings (same....add if you want extra)

• 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese (make sure if using fresh they are grated small...I had to break mine into small pieces)

• 1 1/2-2 tbsp butter, melted  (I used Parkay...you can use 2 egg whites to sub)

• 3/4 cup reduced fat mozzarella cheese (OR just more Parmesan. that's what I did)

• 1 cup marinara or your favorite spaghetti sauce (Again I made my own with tomato paste, Italian seasoning, minced garlic, oregano, salt and pepper.)

• cooking spray ( used our MISTO!)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 450°.
 Line large baking sheet with foil (easy clean up) and spray lightly with cooking spray.

Combine breadcrumbs, Parmesan cheese, garlic powder, and Italian seasonings in a bowl. Melt the butter in the microwave in another bowl (this is usually melted after about 20 seconds, so watch it closely.) If using egg whites just place in bowl. Lightly brush the butter or egg whites onto the chicken, then dip into breadcrumb/cheese mixture. 

Place on baking sheet and repeat with the remaining 3 pieces of chicken.

Lightly spray a little more cooking spray on top (this makes it nice and crispy) and bake in the oven for 20 minutes. 
 Remove chicken from oven and spoon sauce over each piece and top with mozzarella or Extra Parmesan cheese and bake another 5 minutes or until cheese is melted.

ENJOY!!!!

Healthy Cream Sauce Chicken

Well I was in search of  healthy wine cream sauce chicken recipe...wine+cream=healthy? yeah right.

SO I made my own!

Ingredients:

• 4 boneless chicken breasts
• 1 tbs olive oil
• 1 tbs butter (I used parkay)
• 2/3 cup reduced sodium chicken broth
• 1/2 cup Plain Greek Yogurt
• 2 tbs lemon juice
• 1 tbs brown sugar
• Sea salt (Rub)
• Table salt and Pepper to taste (sauce)

Directions:

Swirl olive oil and butter in a large skillet on Medium-High heat. Let melt till the butter has little to no bubbles left (not brown!).
Meanwhile, Cut any fat off chicken breasts, then pat dry with a paper towel (helps them brown) and rub sea salt on breasts.

When ready, place chicken breasts (pretty side down first) in skillet and leave for 5 min. Then flip and leave for 4 min.
Check chicken is done with temp reader (165 deg) or slice the middle and look to make sure not pink.
Take out chicken, place on a plate, and  keep warm.

Add chicken broth and lemon juice to skillet (leave left behind chicken bits and juices) and and let boil to a little more 1/4 cup of liquid. (so the sauce is not thin in the end) stir every once in awhile.

Reduce heat to low and stir in 1/2 cup of Greek yogurt.
Slowly add brown sugar and salt and pepper taste.
Stir every once in awhile.

Cook any other things may want and then spoon sauce over chicken and serve!
(I chose red potatoes and broccoli) :)
ENJOY!!!!