chicken

Teriyaki Chicken Chopped Salad

April 10, 2017

There is a special place in my heart for salads. More often than not, I will order a salad when ever I go out to eat. They are healthy, dependable, and delicious!

Ironically, I rarely make salads at home. I find that I never have the right ingredients on hand to make a good salad, or lack the proper “star ingredient” to build my salad around.

That is, until I was provided with the new Johnsonville Flame Grilled Chicken to try out. I immediately knew what I wanted to do with their Teriyaki spiced chicken – turn it into a salad!

The best part about this salad is that comes together really quickly thanks to the pre-cooked chicken.

The base of the teriyaki chicken chopped salad is cabbage which I love putting in salads because it’s not only crunchy, but it holds up to dressing really well. It will actually keep a couple days, dressed and all.

There is also some romaine, carrots, bell pepper, cashews, and green onions in there, too. But like I said, the star of the show is the chicken.

The Johnsonville Flame Grilled Chicken is really nicely flavored not only with a dry rub, but after it’s heated up, it almost has this nice sauce that helps flavor the salad. The chicken pack actually comes with 3 individually wrapped chicken breasts. I had assumed that they were all in one bag so I would have to use all 3 at once (not a huge deal, but that’s a lot of chicken for 2 people). Nope! They were all in their own bag so I could use them whenever I wanted. Which makes it perfect to pack for lunches or when you just want a quick meal for one or two.

If you are watching your calories (like I am) this is also great, because each chicken breast is equally portioned, so you know you are getting exactly 3 ounces of chicken for only 80 to 130 calories and 18+ grams of protein.

I was very impressed with the quality of the chicken. Sometimes refrigerated chicken can be a little bit dry once it’s been reheated. But this chicken was really nice an juicy. We tried multiple flavors over the week, and they were all consistently flavorful and juicy. Somtimes you think that may come with some extra additives, but that’s not the case at all with the Johnsonville chicken. It is free of fillers, MSG, artificial preservatives, flavors, and colors. And all chicken comes right here in the US!

Another great thing about this chopped salad is actually chopping everything together. It might be little messy, but chopping everything together is a great way to get out a little stress!

I happen to love chopped salads because they are so much easier to eat! No big chunks of lettuce that you awkwardly have to fit into your mouth. You know what I am talking about.

And every bit has a little bit of everything, lettuce, chicken, carrot, bell pepper. The perfect bite, every time!The finishing touch is this easy and delicious sesame ginger dressing that you can just shake up in an extra jar and pour right on top.

This salad was the perfect quick and easy lunch. There was enough for my husband and I and plenty left over for lunch the next day. I will definitely be making the salad again next time I pick up a package of the Teriyaki Johnsonville Flame Grilled Chicken.

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Johnsonville. The opinions and text are all mine.

[amd-yrecipe-recipe:149]

Yellow Curry Chicken Meatballs

February 20, 2017

Over the past year I have fallen head over heels in love with yellow curry. I really can’t explain it, but I love the stuff. Without fail, at every Thai restaurant we visit, I will try the yellow curry and compare it to the last yellow curry I had. Then I come home and tweak my yellow curry recipe or jut try something a little bit different.

Like these yellow curry chicken meatballs.

I started with some ground chicken and almond meal. These meatballs are unintentionally Paleo. I had every intention of making a typical meatball with breadcrumbs, but it turned out, we were out of breadcrumbs. Almond meal to the rescue!

To the chicken I added some of my curry seasoning and an egg, and I mixed it all together. Then I formed them into golf-ball sized meatballs. I placed them into a hot skillet to brown on all sides.

Once the meatballs had browned, I added in some sliced onion and let them sweat down until they were soft and slightly caramelized.

After about 7 minutes, I sprinkled in the rest of the curry seasoning. I like to sprinkle this in before I add the coconut milk so that the spices can get a little nice and toasty.

After that, I just added the meatballs back into the pan to cook the rest of the way through and to let them soak up all that nice curry flavor!

I served these up with some cauliflower rice, but jasmine rice would also be great if you aren’t Paleo.

We loved the different take on the classic yellow curry chicken! The meatballs were super flavorful and tender. I have a feeling these would be a really great appetizer or party snack. I would scrap the rice for toothpicks instead.

They would probably be a great introduction to the world of yellow curry! Then someone else could fall in love with it as much as I have!

[amd-yrecipe-recipe:131]

Zoodle Pad Thai

February 1, 2017

My husband and I are lucky enough to live within waking distance of some pretty great restaurants. We have everything from good old Southern fried chicken to a raw-vegan restaurant. While my husband refuses to go to the raw-vegan restaurant, it is definitely one of my faves when my body is just craving something healthy. It was there that I was first introduced to the zucchini noddle (zoodle) pad thai. Even without the meat and the noddles, it was amazing and I have been itching to try something like it at home!

But in order to make thing something that my husband would eat, I had to add some meat and lightly cook the veggies. While he’s pretty good at trying everything I make, I think he draws the line at a bowl of uncooked vegetables.

I started by sauteing thin slices of chicken breast in a bit of sesame oil until the were browned and completely cooked through. I created some space on the pan and cracked in one egg, scrambling it and letting it cook through. Then I added in the shredded carrots (pre-shredded from the store), julienned red bell pepper, and my zoodles and gave them a good toss in the remaining oil and chicken. After about a minute, I poured over a very simple (and light!) pad thai sauce.

It only took about another 5 minutes for the sauce to thicken and caramelize around the strands of zucchini noodle, and for the veggies to get nice and tender.

After that, I just plated it up with some crushed peanuts, sprouts, and cilantro! Now I had my very own zoodle pad thai!

It was so delicious, but not overly heavy like a traditional pad thai can be with it’s thick peanut butter sauce. It was the perfect light dinner that I bet even my husband would enjoy!

[amd-yrecipe-recipe:122]

Chicken Zoodle Soup

January 16, 2017

As soon as our feet hit the ground back in Charlotte after the holidays, both my husband and I immediately got a cold. It was like our bodies knew not to get sick during the holidays and waited until the very second we got home. So not only were we exhausted from the trip, now we were sick, and Charlotte was also about 30 degrees colder. As you might imagine, nothing sounded better to us than chicken soup! Scratch that; nothing sounded better than chicken ZOODLE soup.

Zoodle (zood-l) n: a noodle made from zucchini.

Chicken zoodle soup isn’t a whole lot different than chicken noodle soup. In fact, they are exactly the same recipe. The only difference being the zoodles which makes this classic comfort food that much healthier. It was exactly what the doctor ordered….if that doctor were me or WebMD.

First I sauteed carrots, celery, and onion. Once they were a bit tender, I added in the chicken and chicken stock. I let the whole thing come up to a simmer, then I covered it and left it alone. I find that most soups are better when the have a chance to just sit and hang out for a while. All the ingredients warm up and get friendly with each other. It just seems to help the flavors develop.

At the very end, just when I was ready to serve, I added in the zoodles. Just like your classic noodle, the zoodles can get really mushy if they are cooked too long. And it doesn’t take very long for zoodles to get mushy. I prefer my zoodles to still have a little bit of a bite to it, like an al dente spaghetti noddle, which is why I liked to add them at the very end.

All that was left was to assemble a couple big bowls to soup for the both of us! The broth was so soothing for our soar throats. And we didn’t miss the noodles a bit. I think it helped to eat something so healthy! We both bounced back pretty quickly and got over our colds relatively quickly. Well, some more than others.

If you are on a no-carb or gluten-free diet, you need this recipe! Especially if you get sick! This will help you get through any cold…and who know, maybe it will actually help! Or at the very least, it will be a nice comforting, healthy meal to get you through the Winter.

[amd-yrecipe-recipe:117]

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Lightened Up Chicken Pot Pie

December 30, 2016

I wasted absolutely no time putting two of my Christmas presents to good use. The first, as you can see, is this beautiful pie dish. One of my very thoughtful and perceptive friends got this for me after noticing that I never make any pies on the blog. Well, there was a good reason for that…I didn’t have a pie dish! Now I do, so let the pie baking begin!

The second is Thomas Keller’s Ad Hoc cookbook. Another wonderful friend, who is also a big foodie, got this for me so that we try some of the recipes together. But I wasted no time and picked out his chicken pot pie recipe to try on my own first.

The trouble is that Thomas Keller, while a genius, doesn’t necessarily write the easiest recipes. Also, the chicken pot pie recipe was certainly not the healthiest. And after a food-filled holiday, my husband and I were craving something a bit healthier.

I started by sauteing the pearl onions in a bit of olive oil until they were slightly browned. I then added in the carrots, celery, and sweet potato, which is not only more flavorful, but much healthier than your average potato.

After a few minutes, I added in the chicken stock so that the veggies could soften up and become nice and flavorful. I also added some cooked chicken breast and frozen peas.

While all that was going on, I made a bit of a roux to thicken up the stock and make that creamy sauce around all the chicken and vegetables. Instead of a roux, Thomas Keller’s recipes calls for about a cup of bechamel sauce, which is rich, delicious, and very heavy. In other recipes, you will often see people add butter, flour, and heavy cream to get the same effect.

To lighten up my chicken pot pie, I made a roux/bechamel hybrid by mixing together butter and flour until I had a tight paste, then I whisked in some light milk and…..

Greek Yogurt!

My favorite healthy substitute!

After adding my roux to the pot, the stock tightened up immediately and became this creamy sauce that coated ever thing. It looked and smelled just like the filling in some of my favorite chicken pot pies.

The last change I made to the recipe to make it a bit healthier was to swap out the pie crust for some puff pastry. The pie crust alone probably adds a quarter if not a half of the calories to your average chicken pot pie. But the flaky puff pastry cuts out some of the calories and fat, and is equally delicious!

The worst part about this recipe was the waiting! We waited almost an hour for this bad boy to bake. But it was certainly worth the wait!

The puff pastry crust on top turned golden brown and nice and crusty, like you would expect from your chicken pot pie.

Once it was out of the oven, we wasted no time digging right in. We each had three slices of this pie, which probably negated any of the calories I saved by making all those healthy swaps. But we couldn’t help it…it was so good! I definitely didn’t taste “healthy”. Even though I didn’t follow Thomas Keller’s recipe to the T, I still learned a lot of took used a lot of his tips, which is why I am sure this resulted in one delicious dinner!

And in case your wondering…I did the math.

Mr. Keller’s recipe would have come to a whopping 1,500 calories per serving.

My recipe, was only 400! We probably could have finished off the pie and still consumed fewer calories than one of servings of his. I will certainly take that any day!

[amd-yrecipe-recipe:111]

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Authentic Chicken Doner Recipe

October 26, 2016

One of my favorite places to grab lunch during the week is this little hole in the wall Turkish spot a couple blocks from my office. Several of my coworkers had raved about it, so one day I tagged along.

“What would you like, sweetie?” the cashier asked

“Chicken kabab, please.” That was the only thing I really recognized on the menu.

“Shish or doner?” Apparently there is more than one variety of a chicken kebab.

“Uh. Uh. Doner?” I responded, even thought I had no idea what I was getting myself into.

When I opened the container back at the office I was certain that they gave me the wrong order. It wasn’t chicken skewered on a wooden dowel with some vegetables. It was just some chunks of chicken covered in some sort of red sauce (I wrongfully assumed tomato), over a bed of rice. Sure it looked edible, but it wasn’t what I ordered. My coworkers had never ordered the chicken doner off the menu, so they couldn’t provide any assurance that what I ended up with was actually good. Despite all that, I decided to dig in.

“Oh, this is pretty good!” I thought to myself after the first bite. Then I proceeded to clean my entire plate in a matter of minutes. It wasn’t just good, it was freaking fantastic!

A few months later, my husband and I went on our trip to Berlin and find out doner kabab is actually one of the most popular fast food dishes in the city. There is practically a doner kabab place on every corner. (I knew these were my kind of people!) Once we returned home from our trip, I made it one of my goals to try to recreate my favorite recipe.

I started by perfecting the marinade. Really, it’s all in the marinade. I combined some olive oil, lemon juice, paprika, garlic, coriander, and a bit of cumin in a shallow dish and gave it a good whisking. I tossed in about a pound of chicken thighs, making sure every nook and cranny of the chicken was covered in the marinade.

Side note: I prefer chicken thighs in this particular recipe because the meat stays nice and juicy. You could make it with chicken breast, but it might become too dry.

I let the chicken sit in the oil and spices for about 6 hours (overnight would be preferred), then I seared them in a cast iron skillet over high heat, and transferred them to the oven to continue cooking.

Once the chicken was cooked through and has rested for a bit, I chopped it up into chunks and plated it along with some lavash (flatbread), hummus, and a yogurt sauce (pretty much a tzaziki sauce).

The first bite was just about as good as my very first bite of chicken doner all those months ago. My husband and I piled the chicken onto the lavash and topped it with the hummus and yogurt to make a delicious gyro-esqu wrap. No matter how you eat it – in a wrap, on rice, on lettuce, and by itself. It is always delicious!

[amd-yrecipe-recipe:88]

Quinoa and Brussels Sprout Stuffed Acorn Squash

October 3, 2016

Of all the squashes in the grocery store this time of year, acorn squash probably gets the least amount of love. Everyone is going straight for the butternut, pumpkin, or spaghetti squash leaving the acorn squash all by it’s lonesome.

Well, I would like to change that because acorn squash is delicious and very versatile. My favorite way to eat acorn squash is to stuff it. I stuff it with anything from ground turkey to lentils and vegetables. What ever you would stuff in a bell pepper or pile on top of a spaghetti squash, you can probably stuff in the acorn squash.

This time around I stuffed my acorn squash with a stuffing made up of chicken sausage, brussels sprouts, and quinoa. I was thinking of doing a classic Thanksgiving stuffing, but then I thought I would do something a bit healthier. I replaced the bread with quinoa and the pork sausage with chicken sausage.

I started by roasting the acorn squash in the oven, and at the same time preparing the stuffing. I first made the quinoa and sauteed the sprouts, onions, sausage, and spices. Once the quinoa was ready, I added it to the sprouts and mixed everything together. The timing worked out perfectly, so that the stuffing was ready once the squash was nice and tender. From there, I just packed the stuffing into the squash and baked it together for a just a few minutes.

I love meals like this – stuffed squash, stuffed peppers – because they are pretty easy to throw together, there are easily adaptable, and generally pretty healthy. So even though 1 serving (1/2 squash, stuffed) is pretty big, its pretty healthy. There is the healthy carbohydrates from quinoa, vitamins K and C from the brussels sprouts, protein from the sausage, and vitamin A and potassium from the squash. That’s a pretty well rounded meal!

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[amd-yrecipe-recipe:82]

Buffalo Chicken Egg Rolls

September 28, 2016

One of our new favorite weeknight meals is my friend Michelle’s slow-cooker buffalo chicken. It’s easy. It’s actually pretty healthy. And it makes enough food to feed us for days. A couple weeks ago, I made a big batch of the buffalo chicken and had so much left over I had to find something else to do with it other than eat it on a piece of lettuce.

Enter the egg roll wrapper.

We have used egg roll wrappers to transform many of our favorite recipes, from chicken tacos, to teriyaki chicken, lasagna, you name it. Why not stuff some buffalo chicken in there, too?

Well, that was probably the best decision ever! The egg roll wrappers transformed the buffalo chicken into these perfectly portioned appetizers. They were a little bit easier to eat, a lot less messy, and were the perfect size to dip into some Ranch dressing.

I will warn you, the egg roll wrappers do take some getting used to. You have to roll it just right to make sure none of the filling falls out. I like to roll mine on the bias, so that I start with one corner rolling to the opposite. Tucking in the sides is key.

To make these a bit healthier (and because I wouldn’t know how to fry them if I tried), we bake these in the oven. I like to line them up on a cooling rack stacked on top of a cookie sheet. I brush them down with a bit of oil, then pop then in the oven until they are brown and crispy.

Like I said, they would make a great game-day appetizer, but we also love to eat these as our main meal. Three to four egg rolls is just the right amount for me and is perfectly satisfying along with some veggies or a salad. My husband can definitely put back a couple more. I also feel like kids would really like these, too. You could probably sneak some veggies into the egg roll and they would never know the difference.

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[amd-yrecipe-recipe:80]

Easy Teriyaki Chicken Bowl

September 9, 2016

I’ve mentioned this before, but teriyaki chicken is one of my favorite slow cooker meals.

It’s easy
It’s healthy
It makes a ton of food!

Every single time I make the recipe I have so much food left over that I am eating teriyaki chicken for days. It has forced me to be a little creative to find new ways to eat it.

This teriyaki chicken bowl is one of my latest creations heavily inspired by both Pinterest and all the food in the fridge we had to use before we went on vacation. I had the pineapple leftover from making tacos al pastor, and I always seem to have some sort of carrot in the fridge and broccoli in the freezer.

As you can tell, I clearly didn’t work too hard on this recipe. It was as easy as throwing everything into a bowl. I started with a healthy helping of brown rice, then topped that with all the other yummy ingredients. I sprinkled some extra sesame seeds on top for garnish (and to look pretty in the pictures). I also drizzled over some of the extra teriyaki sauce from the bottom of the crock pot.

I absolutely love the teriyaki chicken and pineapple combination. It may seem odd to have fruit in a rice bowl, but I promise you, the two are mads for each other. Then with all the other healthy ingredients, this is one filling meal! It makes the perfect easy dinner and leftovers are perfect for a weekday lunch!

To me there is nothing better than making one big meal and being able to stretch it out into 2 or 3. It just makes life so much easier!

[amd-yrecipe-recipe:76]

Southwest Chicken and Rice Casserole

August 24, 2016

Despite my love of cooking, there are just those days where my motivation and inspiration in the kitchen are really lacking. This typically occurs on Wednesday or Thursday when the stress of the work week have just worn me out. On those days, I have to fight the urge to run out and buy dinner (usually something pretty unhealthy) and force myself to make something, even if it’s just baked chicken and vegetables.

This Southwestern chicken and rice casserole was born out of one of those situations. I didn’t want to cook. And I really didn’t want to do dishes. I decided instead to make a quick and easy chicken rice casserole that only required one dish.

In the bottom of a casserole dish, I mixed together rice, chicken stock, sour cream, peppers, onions, and pico de gallo. I topped that off with some chicken breasts seasoned with taco seasoning. I then baked the whole thing in the oven while I snuck in a quick workout.

Don’t you love meals that allow you to multi task!? I sure do!

After the chicken was cooked through, I topped the chicken with some extra pico de gallo and cheese, the popped it back in the oven to get the cheese all melted and delicious.

All that was left after that was to serve it up. My husband and I each served ourselves one chicken breast. But along with the rice, I was full after only eating half a breast. If you want to make this for a larger group, I would recommend cutting each breast in half.

I have officially added this recipe to our list of easy weeknight favorites. It’s one of those recipes that is easy enough to convince me I don’t need to go out to the nearest restaurant, where I will probably make some bad decisions.

[amd-yrecipe-recipe:72]

Yellow Chicken Curry

August 15, 2016

I will admit that curry was one of those foods that always intimidated me. Without even trying it I had decided that it wasn’t for me. Well, not I can literally eat my words because boy was I wrong!

When I tried out the cook book One Pan Two Plates last month, one of the recipes that I decided to make (to push me out of my cooking comfort zone) was yellow chicken curry. I didn’t have high expectations. In fact, I was prepared with a back up meal in case my husband and I took one bit and it was terrible.

Well, we certainly didn’t need that back up…..it was amazing! Since then, I have been eating yellow curry every chance I get!

The other thing I wrongly assumed about curries is that they were too difficult for me to make at home. Sure, if I was trying to make my own curry paste, things might get a little complicated. But there are lots of good curry spice mixes out there to make life a little easier (my favorite). You could also make your own curry seasoning mix using dry spices you probably already have in your pantry.

And the rest of the dish is pretty simple, too. First, I saute the potatoes and onions in a large pan. While those are getting soft, I mix together my coconut milk and seasonings, which I then add to the potatoes. Once everything is mixed together, I add in the chicken and cook until the chicken is cooked through.

See how easy that was!? What the heck was I so afraid of?

What I didn’t understand about the deliciousness of yellow curry is that it’s sweet and creamy. The flavors are complex, but not overpowering. And to my surprise, when I started trying more and more yellow curries, I decided that I definitely like them on the spicier side. You can make curry as spicy as you want, but with yellow curry, since it is sweeter, the spiciness really balances it out.

I prefer to eat my curry over a big bowl of rice. Because the dish is relatively watery (which I actually prefer), it leaves this really flavorful sauce that I like to pour all over the top of the dish and have the rice just sop it right up!

[amd-yrecipe-recipe:68]

Shrimp and Chicken Paella

August 3, 2016

After making the Rosé sangria a couple weeks ago, I was feeling very nostalgic of the time I spent in Spain a couple years ago. Hands down, one of my favorite meals of our entire trip was the paella from the restaurant 7 Portes. They have an extensive menu of paellas, from “Americanized” shrimp and chicken paella to black paella, which is died with squid ink. At that time I wasn’t as adventurous an eater, so I stuck with the shrimp and chicken paella (typical American).

This trip down memory lane inspired me to make my very own paella. While I have made paella before (a long time ago), it is a little bit out of my comfort zone. We rarely (or never) cook any Spanish foods. Which is a darn shame because there are so many goods ones!

Gazpacho
Empanadas
Jamon and melon
Flan

Ok, so flan isn’t really my jam. But I am all about some jamon (basically prosciutto) and melon.

Okay, back to the paella! If you have never had paella before, think of it like a Spanish version of jambalaya. It’s not quite as spicy, but it’s filled with seafood, meat, sausage, and all sorts of flavors and spices.

I won’t bore you with the details of the cooking process. Mainly because I didn’t take any pictures of the cooking process. Whoops! Blame my Small Group who likes to show up on time to things! Geez, don’t they know I am always running late and want to take pictures of my food? Oh, that’s right, no they don’t.

But the key to a delicious paella is the safron, which I like to steep in the chicken stock while it warms up. And the paprika, which is the main spice in this dish. Both are very subtle flavors, but they make this rice dish so rich and delicious.

There is actually one other key to paella, and it is the type of rice you use. You can’t use just any ol’ long grain rice that is sold in every rice aisle of every grocery store in America. You have to use a short or medium grain rice (preferably medium grain) like an arborio or risotto style rice. I just picked up a bag that said “medium grain rice”, which was about 300% cheaper the the aforementioned styles of rice, and worked perfectly!

So there you have it my very Americanized version of paella. So sorry if you are disappointed that I am not sharing a truly authentic Spanish paella recipe, but it’s just so hard to find rabbit and snails around here (yep, that’s actually what’s in a lot of traditional paella recipes). I almost guarantee that you will love this recipe anyways, or maybe even more. It is a prefect dish to make for a big family dinner. Serve it up with a nice glass of sangria, and you will have yourselves a party!

Salud!

[amd-yrecipe-recipe:61]

Buffalo Chicken Lettuce Wraps

June 3, 2016

So fun fact about Lindsey: I have almost no tolerance for spicy foods. When the waitress at the local Thai restaurant asks me which level of spice I want I say “negative 5, thanks!”. Unfortunately I have surrounded myself with adventurous fire-eating people, like my husband who likes to add extra Sriracha to his ramen, or to my friend, Michelle, who doesn’t bat an eye at some Franks RedHot.

Michelle has been in town visiting from San Francisco for the past week and one thing we both have an appreciation for is cooking (and eating!). She is probably the biggest fan of the blog, so when she told me about her go to Buffalo chicken lettuce wraps, I knew I had to make them for the blog. What I didn’t consider was that Michelle’s spice tolerance is much more advanced than mine (and that we would accidentally buy the Franks RedHot Cayenne Sauce instead of the Buffalo sauce).

But despite the heat, these were soooo good (Michelle would never steer me wrong). I just had to douse mine with some extra ranch dressing, but since when has ranch dressing been a problem (never, that’s when)? So if you like super hot stuff, stick with the Franks RedHot. If you are like me and are a wuss, then Michelle recommends Buffalo Sauce which she says is so much better.

And for any of you Paleo folks out there, this hot sauce is Paleo and you can make your own Paleo Ranch dressing to make this entire meal 100% Paleo.

Following Michelle’s instructions, I placed some frozen chicken breasts in the slow-cooker, then doused it with the sauce. Next I sprinked on a Ranch dressing mix that I picked up from my local spice shop, but Michelle always uses the Nature Valley Ranch dressing packet, so use whatever one works best for you!

I also added a touch of honey to balance out the heat, but that is totally optional based on your spice preference. Then I set it and forget it! (Side note: does anyone remember those infomercials from back in the day? My dad totally bought one of those rotisserie ovens that Ron Popeil was peddling and we used it all the time!)

With about an hour left in the cooking time, I took two forks to the chicken to shred it. The chicken keeps cooking down and all the flavor soaks in.

At this point you could do just about anything you want with the chicken. Pile it onto a burger bun, spoon it into a taco shell, or – like we did – load it onto some Romaine hearts. As Michelle pointed out, the lettuce helps to cool down the heat from the sauce so it is the perfect pairing. Plus it’s healthy!

Doesn’t that look delicious? The chicken is so tender and flavorful. Of course I was heavy handed with the Ranch dressing for reasons already stated above. But Michelle, Billy, and I all thoroughly enjoyed them. I even had some leftover Buffalo chicken lettuce wraps the next day hoping that my I could improve my spice tolerance overnight. I will surely be making this recipe again (next time with the Buffalo sauce), especially if we are having friends over. It is a great dish to make for a large group and would be perfect for a tailgate or watch party!

[amd-yrecipe-recipe:38]

Sun Dried Tomato and Basil Egg Casserole

May 25, 2016

I have probably eaten more eggs in the past 6 months than I have in the last 6 years. I may be exaggerating a little, but not by much. Since changing up my diet at the beginning of the year to be more protein and fat rich, I have had to learn to enjoy more egg-filled breakfasts. Something that did not come easy to me. At the beginning of my first Whole 30, I reluctantly ate eggs for breakfast just about every morning thinking that all I had to do was get through those 30 days, then I could go back to my oatmeal or yogurt. Well, guess what. 5 months later I am still eating eggs for breakfast.

While now I appreciate the nutrition and energy they give me to start the day, they can still be a little boring. I am always trying to find new ways to cook them, finding inspiration everywhere from blogs to the Trader Joes. The latter is exactly where the inspiration for this recipe came. I was rummaging through their meat section reading the back of every label trying to find a sausage that didn’t have sugar in it when I came across this sun dried tomato and basil chicken sausage. From there the wheels started turning and eventually I decided that a sun dried tomato and basil egg casserole would be a great new way to eat my eggs in the morning.

Can you tell I do all my shopping at Trader Joe’s? I promise, this isn’t a sponsored post, it’s just that it’s where about 80% of the food in my kitchen came. Of course, the sun dried tomato and basil chicken sausage is the muse of this dish, but I am pretty certain you can find a similar sausage flavor at almost any store. For some additional flavor and to add some veggies to this egg casserole, I also added some peppers and onions. To make it easy on myself, I used the fire roasted peppers and onions, but you could also saute up your own and they would be great!

I first sauteed up the sausage then added it to the bottom of a baking dish along with the peppers, onions, and sun dried tomatoes. I poured over the eggs then topped it off with some freshly chopped basil.

The egg casserole only took about 30 minute to bake. I know it’s completely cooked through when the egg on top is no longer runny. Once it’s out of the oven I like to let it cool for a bit before I cut into it. Hot eggs can just fall apart when they are cut into.

What I love about an egg casserole like this is that it’s an easy breakfast or brunch option to make for a large group, or it can be made in advance and eaten throughout the week, which is exactly what I did. It fed me for a week and I didn’t get sick of it. The flavors in this are wonderful if not a little bit unexpected. It tastes decidedly Italian thanks to the basil and peppers, but eggs and Italian food aren’t two things I normally put together. Fortunately, it totally works! How could sausage and eggs not work?

[amd-yrecipe-recipe:34]

Mediterranean Chicken Bake

May 13, 2016

Healthy Mediterranean Chicken Bake

Even though I love the process of cooking and will happily embark on a recipe that I will know will take hours, there are some days where I just don’t want to. I want to come home and have dinner ready for me, or at the very least ready for me to pop in the oven with very little prep work. And although rewarding in other ways, I have found Paleo cooking rarely meets that criteria. There are so many ingredients to prep and various stages of a recipe to make up for the lack of gluten, dairy, etc.

That is exactly what inspired this Mediterranean Chicken Bake. It’s low maintenance with little prep work and can be made ahead of time if needed. It basically consists of lots of delicious veggies, chicken breast, and a mixture of herbs and spices. All I had to do was chop up the veggies and chicken and toss them together in a baking dish then bake until everything is nice and roasted.

I used a combination of artichoke hearts (I used frozen), onion, broccoli, tomato, bell pepper, and mushrooms. And for the spices I mixed lots of garlic with basil, oregano, paprika, crushed red pepper, salt, and pepper with some olive oil and lemon juice. I also topped it all with some pine nuts, but for those who want some extra flavor and are not afraid of a little dairy, some feta cheese would be amazing with this!

Healthy Mediterranean Chicken Bake

Of course you could bake your chicken and veggies separately, but then you would have another dish to clean, and nobody wants that. I love cooking everything together because then all the flavors meld together and chicken stays nice and moist.

This would also be a great dish to make ahead of time. I would mix everything together in the dish and the stick it in the fridge until it’s ready to be baked. That was I could immediately come home and toss this in the oven. Which is exactly what I need after a long day at work!

Paleo Mediterranean Chicken Bake

I would also recommend serving this over rice or quinoa if that’s on your diet. Since I made thing while I was on the Whole 30, I couldn’t, but I will be making this again soon and adding some quinoa on the side to soak up all the delicious flavors!

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Chicken and Quinoa Stuffed Avocados

April 13, 2016

If you live in Charlotte or happen to visit our fine city, one place you must stop in for a bite to eat is Viva Chicken. It’s a fast casual restaurant with some amazing Peruvian chicken dishes. One of their all time best sellers have to be their quinoa stuffed avocados: half an avocado stuffed with spiced red quinoa and topped with a chipotle mayo and balsamic sauce. Sounds so good, right?

Since I can’t eat at Viva Chicken every day (I wish I could), I decided to make my own version of their stuffed avocados at home. Except for my version I wanted to add some chicken and veggies so that I could feel less guilty about calling it ‘dinner’.

While I love avocados, this dish would be nothing without quinoa. Without it, it might as well be deconstructed guacamole. For those of you who have never made quinoa, don’t worry. It’s exactly like making rice! But a little more full-proof, in my opinion. The only difference is that I toast the quinoa before I add in the liquid to boil.

To start, I poured in the dry quinoa into a hot sauce pan and let the little grains toast, stirring every so often, for about 5 minutes. Then I added in chicken stock (water could be used, too) and let it come to a boil before turning the heat down and covering the the dish.

While the quinoa cooked, I sauteed up some bell peppers, onions, corn, garlic, and a chipotle pepper. Once the veggies were tender and the qunioa had absorbed all the liquid, I added the quinoa and some chicken (I used left over chicken breast. You can also use rotisserie chicken.), then mixed it all together. Now the only thing that was left to do was stuff the avocado!

This may be stating the obvious, but I waited until the very last minute to cut open my avocados. If you have ever worked with avocados before, you know how quickly they can brown. Once the filling was finished, I cut them down the middle, removed the seed, then piled on a generous amount of the quinoa and chicken mixture.

For avocado lovers out there, this is the stuff dreams are made of. Those of you on a low carb diet will absolutely love this recipe as a healthy lunch or part dinner. Hey, add an egg and call it breakfast for all I care! There tons of healthy fat, protein, and just the right amount of carbs. And if you are not an avocado lover, well, I am sorry. You are truly missing out.

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