Roasted Balsamic Chicken Dinner

Invite The Neighbors Over - This One's A Winner 

You know those recipes that are the ones that you pull out when your having company over or you want to make someone think wow this chick can cook? Yeah yeah I get it. I have a few of "those" recipes up my sleeve. My lasagna with homemade sauce, bruschetta chicken, my chili. The list goes on but this recipe is getting added to the collection. I was amazed with how tender the chicken was and what a great flavor it had. I wish I could give you "specifics" for this recipe but I can't because I made it up as I went along. Thats one reason why I am blogging about it now because I don't want to forget how I did it. 

Here is what you will need:

Ingredients

3 boneless skinless chicken breasts 

Pink Hymilayan Sea Salt 

Black pepper

3 cloves of fresh garlic

Mrs. Dash - Italian Seasoning 

1 pint of cherry tomatoes or whatever tomatoes you have on hand 

5 tablespoons of organic butter cut into "butter pads" for each tablespoon 

1/2 cup of fresh basil chopped 

1 cup of extra virgin olive oil 

1 cup of balsamic vinegar 

Whole wheat bread crumbs 

Directions 

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees

2. Rinse tomatoes pour into the bottom of a 13x9 inch glass pan

3. Cut chicken into bite size pieces 

4. Sprinkle chicken with salt, pepper and Mrs. Dash. Use as much or as little as you prefer

5. Using a garlic press - mince garlic then distribute onto chicken pieces 

5. Mix together balsamic & olive oil then stir and pour over the dish 

6. Add in chopped basil 

7. Place butter pads over the top 

8. Sprinkle with whole wheat bread crumbs on the top 

9. Bake for 35 minutes covered then another 20 uncovered to brown

* I served this over whole wheat cous cous. It tasted even better on the second day so be sure to enjoy the leftovers! 

Roasted Lemon Garlic Organic Chicken Dinner

Simple, Easy and Delicious - Lemon Garlic Roasted Chicken 

Well the other day I decided I that wanted to make a chicken for a nice Sunday dinner. I picked up a 4lb one at Wegmans and once I got to home I realized, I had never in all of my days of cooking made a chicken. I had done turkeys but never a chicken. I was hoping it was the same thing and it was so I was all good but at first I was worried I didn't know how to make it. Hence my confused look in the top left picture. I used a glass roasting pan and covered it with foil for the first 60 minutes and uncovered it for the last 20 so it could get brown. 

Ingredients

1 whole chicken - I prefer organic - we did 4 lbs and that was fine for our family of 3

2 lemons 

4 cloves of garlic

Olive oil

Fresh rosemary 

Organic chicken broth - again this could be non organic if you prefer

Pink Himalayan sea salt. 

Black pepper

Directions 

Preheat to over to the temp that the packaging suggests

Rinse chicken to remove the fluid it had from the packaging. 

Pat dry with paper towels

Using a basting brush apply olive oil all over the bird on both sides.

Season with salt & pepper

In the cavity of the bird pour a bit of chicken broth in it as well as pour some into the pan - just enough to cover the bottom

Also inside the cavity of the bird add in two peeled cloves of garlic as well as 3 small slices of lemon 

On the outside of the bird squeeze 3 - 4 more slices of lemon over the bird as well as crush 2 cloves of garlic and spread over the back of the bird 

I put some sprigs of fresh rosemary from my garden on the outside of the bird as well as inside

Mine needed to cook for 90 minutes in the oven. 

It fell off the bone and was very moist. I believe you could also do this in the crock pot if you wanted to start it in the morning it would be tender by dinner time. We enjoyed green beans and cous cous with ours. 

Perfect for the upcoming fall! Enjoy! 

Chicken Pineapple Salsa Stir Fry

Chicken Pineapple Salsa Stir Fry 

Ingredients

2 large boneless skinless chicken breasts – fat trimmed

3 garlic cloves minced

12 oz of fresh medium salsa

1 can of diced pineapples drained (fresh would be great too but I was low on time when I made this recipe and had some canned pineapple on hand. Typically I would always pick fresh over canned but in a pinch this was easier).

Brown rice

Salt

Pepper

Directions

Cut chicken into bite size pieces and place into a large skillet to brown

After chicken begins to turn white add in minced garlic and salt and pepper to taste. In a separate pan cook brown rice according to package, I made 2 servings of the rice for this recipe.

After chicken has cooked the whole way thru then add in diced pineapple and the 12 oz of fresh salsa

Cover and let this simmer together for 5 – 8 minutes.

Next add in the cooked rice – mix ingredients together and allow it to “marinate” for a few minutes before serving.

Serves 3 – 4 depending on portion size

Clean Chicken Lo Mein

Clean Eating - Chicken Lo Mein

As always, I hit another Pinterest jackpot. Sometimes it a miss but usually Pinterest is a hit for me. This recipe I found was nothing less than awesome! I am not a huge fan of Chinese foods but I really liked this one. My little one also really enjoyed it as well, which is rather surprising since he is two! Aside from the sodium in the soy sauce this recipe is pretty healthy and very filling. Hope you love it as much as we did!

Ingredients

·  ½ lb. boneless skinless chicken breast, cut into small chunks

·  1 - 13.25 to 16 oz. box of linguini or fettuccini pasta, broken in half (I used whole wheat)

·  4 medium carrots, peeled and cut in thin 3 inch long strips

·  1 medium red bell pepper, cut in thin 3 inch long strips

·  4 cloves garlic, minced

·  ¼ cup low sodium soy sauce

·  1 teaspoon garlic powder

·  1 teaspoon corn starch

·  1 tablespoon sugar

·  ½ teaspoon red pepper flakes

·  4 cups organic chicken broth

·  2 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil

Instructions

1.     Add the chicken, then the pasta, then the remaining ingredients to a large stockpot and cover. Bring to a rolling boil over high heat. Stir and reduce the heat to medium-low.

2.     Cook covered for about 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Cook until most of the liquid is gone and the chicken is cooked through.

3.     Remove the lid and let the dish rest for 5 minutes before serving.

Notes

Calories: 332 Fat(g): 4.7 Saturated Fat(g): 0.3 Protein(g): 17.6 Carbohydrate(g): 53.9 Fiber(g): 7.2

Chicken Bacon Avocado Calzones

Chicken Bacon Avocado Calzones

Ready to turn this into a calzone

Ingredients

1 lb frozen wheat pizza crust (thawed)

Creamy Avocado Mayo (see recipe)

1 lb cooked center cut bacon

3 boneless skinless chicken breasts- grilled

Shredded cheddar cheese

Olive oil to drizzle over the calzone

Directions

Preheat the oven to the cooking time required by the pizza crust. See package

Using a large cookie sheet spray it lightly with cooking spray

Lay out pizza crust

Fill with grilled chicken and cooked bacon

Spread fresh avocado mayo over the mixture and them sprinkle with cheese

Pinch the pizza crust together to form a pocket

Drizzle olive oil over crust

Bake until dough is cooked and golden brown (follow directions on the package)

Serves 5

The Finished Product!!! YUMMY!!