In a chicken breast rut?

Do you buy boneless, skinless chicken breasts from the big box stores, frozen in a big bag? I do and have done so for years. It's an economical way to stock your freezer and they are pretty healthy, as meat goes. The easiest way to deal with them is simply to marinate them in Wishbone Lite Italian dressing and grill them. When my children were little, we cooked that alot, once prompting my husband to declare, "If I see another grilled, boneless, skinless chicken breast, I am going to puke!" I believe that was in the "grilling them to leather stage", his own fault, as he would not listen to me about length of cooking time, etc. Fortunately, he's gotten over it, now pays attention to the amount of time you should cook them, and we get much better results!

Speaking of MUCH better results, here's a delicious take on those ubiquitous breasts, pan fried and simmered briefly with a herb infused mushroom wine sauce that is a great dinner for two or more! I combined several recipes I looked up -- don't you just love epicurious.com? I didn't have EVERYTHING for any one of the recipes I liked, so I "winged" it. Don't you love it when your kitchen experiments work out deliciously? We'll definitely be having this again!

Chicken breasts with Mushrooms and Wine

Chicken Breasts with Mushrooms and Wine

Serves 2

2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, thawed if frozen
1/4 c. all purpose flour, mixed with 1/2 tsp. kosher salt and a pinch of black pepper
1 T. olive oil
1 T. butter
8 oz. creminini "baby bella" mushrooms, sliced
1/4 c. Vidalia or other sweet onion, or shallots
1 clove garlic, minced
1 T. chopped fresh rosemary
2 tsp. chopped fresh thyme or 1/2 tsp. dried thyme
1/2 c. dry white wine (I used pinot grigio)
1/2 c. low sodium chicken broth or stock
In a large, non-stick pan, melt the butter with the olive oil, over medium-high heat. Dredge the chicken breasts in the flour mixture, and place them in the pan. Cook the breasts for 4 minutes on each side. They should be lightly browned. Remove and set them aside. Add the mushrooms, onions, garlic and herbs to the pan (if you need to, you may add another tsp. of olive oil).

Mushrooms, onion, garlic and herbs

Cook the vegetables and herbs briefly, 3-4 minutes, stirring them around. Add the wine and broth to the pan. Bring this to a boil. Turn it down a little and let the mixture reduce for 5 minutes. Taste for seasoning, adding salt and pepper as needed (how much depends on your broth). Put the chicken back into the pan and cover it.



Chicken breasts simmering in wine and mushroom sauce



Cook for 8 more minutes and voila', perfectly cooked chicken and mushrooms. Serve with brown rice and steamed broccoli with little cheese grated over it.



Chicken and Rice and Everything Nice!

Very Veggie Pizza

As part of our ongoing journey to eat healthier, we are forgoing our usual Friday night pizza and switching it up to a Veggies Only pizza. So far, our favorite one for take out is the thin crust vegetarian from Pizza Hut. However, this one, that I made, has been the overall favorite. It hardly qualifies as cooking, more like assembling, so easy to do on a Friday night.

It was super simple to do! We bought a pre-made, thin pizza crust from the supermarket. First, I spread 2 T. pizza sauce over the crust and sprinkled that with 2 T. low-fat mozzarella cheese. Then I topped it with a clamshell of cherry tomatoes, cut in half, some sliced  red onions, a roasted red pepper from a jar, 1/2 a green pepper, and a can of sliced mushrooms. All good for you, right? Then I measured out 2 ounces of feta cheese and crumbled that over the top of the veggies. We baked it according to the directions on the crust, making sure not to overcook it. Using no meat and controlling the amount of cheese is the key to keeping this pizza "healthy" and good for you. I had put so many vegetables on it that we did not miss the cheese. Additionally, we limited our servings to two slices each, but they were so loaded down, that was plenty. Quick, healthy and delicious.

Another favorite way is to make my own crust (recipe here), top it with a little pizza sauce and mozzarella cheese, then pile on lots of peppers -- fresh green, roasted red, drained banana ones from the jar, and a few sliced olives. Not quite as low fat, but very, very tasty!

Lot of Peppers Pizza with Olives

Go veggie with your pizzas! They are really really good!

Thai Chicken Skewers With Spicy Peanut Dipping Sauce

Ok, here I am, a little out of my comfort zone -- Thai Chicken Skewers with Spicy Peanut Dipping Sauce, Potstickers and Snow Peas. I've gotta' confess -- I'd never cooked Snow Peas before and a I'd never even tasted a spicy peanut dipping sauce! That being said, it turned out well! After all, we KNOW that EVERYTHING Tastes Better when it's cooked on a stick, right? As we continue our quest to eat seriously healthy, we've got to mix it up, or we'll get bored, and that's never a good thing.

Thai Chicken Skewers with Potstickers and Snow Peas



First, I marinated the chicken breasts about 30 minutes before I skewered them. I mixed up the dipping sauce too, so the flavors would have a little time to meld. This is a lighter take on peanut sauce, cutting down on fat and calories by using some non-fat greek yogurt, instead of all peanut butter. While the chicken skewers were grilling, I cooked the Pot Stickers Straight from Trader Joe's! (Here's an earlier post about that store) and steamed the snow peas quickly when the chicken came off the grill. This meal took less than an hour, start to finish, including the time the chicken was marinating. It was easy, quick and tasted great AND it's healthy eating! Bring on the skewers and fire up the grill, it's a keeper! This would also be good served with some fresh veggie rolls that you can make or buy at the market. As an added bonus, if you should have any leftover chicken, you can create wonderful wraps for lunch with it. Try shredding up some cabbage, add a little hoisin sauce and wrap it up.

Thai Chicken Skewers
1 boneless chicken breast for every person, cut into large bite sized chunks
Marinade:
3 T. soy sauce
juice of 1/2 lime
1 T. fish sauce
1 heaping tsp. brown sugar
1 T. rice wine vinegar
This is enough marinade for 1 - 2 breasts. Whisk everything together and pour over your chicken. Let sit for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Preheat the grill and when it's hot, thread the chicken on to skewers. If using bamboo, be sure to soak them first.
While the chicken is marinating, make the Dipping Sauce.
Spicy Peanut Dipping Sauce
3 T. plain non-fat Greek yogurt
1 rounded T. smooth peanut butter
juice of half a lime
2 - 3 T. rice wine vinegar
zest of 1/2 lime
a pinch of dried hot pepper flakes (big pinch if you like it spicy)
1 T. minced fresh cilantro (optional, but we like it)
1 scallion, white and green parts, thinly sliced
Whisk together the yogurt, peanut butter, lime juice, vingar and zest. Stir in the hot peppers, cilantro and scallion. Let this sit for awhile so that the flavors have a chance to meld.
Prepare your potstickers according to the package directions. Make them from scratch if you want, but I promise, the ones from Trader Joe's are pretty darn good! Steam your snow peas briefly while the chicken is resting. Drain them, add a pinch of butter or soy sauce and salt very lightly.
Grill your chicken skewers 6 minutes on each side. Let them rest and remove from the skewers.
Steam your snow peas briefly while the chicken is resting. Drain them, add a pinch of butter or sesame oil or soy sauce. If you don't use the soy, salt them very lightly.
Voila! Easy, huh? Good too!

Quick and Easy, Healthy Marinara Sauce

When we say spaghetti at our house, we mean meat sauce. That's what spaghetti meant to my family when I was growing up and that's what it means when my kids ask for spaghetti. My mom was a pretty good cook, but there were a few dishes she really made well. One of them was meat sauce. She simmered it all afternoon and made enough to freeze so that we could have it again. I've tinkered around with her original method over the years, but it's still pretty close to what she made and what her mother made.

All that being said, over the years I've added different sauces to my cooking rotation (here's one). Lately, I've been making a super healthy marinara sauce. I got my inspiration from Giada on the Food Network, but have tweaked it just a little but, like I almost always do. For one thing, since it's just me and the hub around the house most of the time these days, I only make enough sauce to feed the 2 of us. It's a quick and easy sauce and full of veggies, so you can feel very virtuous when wolfing down your pasta. I found some delicious chicken meatballs by Sabatini at my local big box store, and often add 2 or 3 per person. Couldn't be easier! Whether you are vegetarian, trying to cook a little healthier of just need something good and quick to get on the table, you are going to love this recipe, I promise! If you are serving more than two, just double it. (This picture shows the sauce with the chicken meatballs added, but it's super good without them, too.)

Vegetarian Marinara Sauce with Chicken Meatballs

Vegetarian Marinara Sauce
2 T. olive oil
1 small onion
2 - 3 garlic cloves
4 baby carrots or 1 regular carrot
1 stalk celery
1  14.5 oz. can organic diced tomatoes
1/4 c. dry red wine
1/2 tsp. kosher salt
a pinch of freshly ground black pepper
1 tsp. dried basil or 1 T. minced fresh basil
1/4 tsp. sugar
Put the onion, garlic, carrots and celery into a mini food chopper and pulse until they are of uniform size and well chopped. If you don't have a mini food chopper, chop them all together until they are finely diced. Heat the oil in a heavy bottomed, deep skillet over low heat. Add the veggies and saute' them until they are soft and fragrant. Add the tomatoes, salt, pepper, basil and sugar. Bring the sauce to a boil. Cover the skillet, turn the heat down to low and cook for 30 minutes. Serve over your favorite pasta. If you are adding meatballs, simmer them for at least 20 minutes along with the sauce. This is a thick and chunky marinara, so stir it often and keep the heat low. Serves 2.

It's Grilled Cheese Day!

In honor of National Grilled Cheese Day, check out my blog post from last year and enjoy a great sandwich!
Ntional Grilled Cheese Month