Thai-inspired chicken

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CHICKEN AND VEGES:

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2 chicken breasts, cut up in chunks

3/4 cup chicken broth/stock

2 tsp bangkok blend or other thai seasoning mix

(available at: http://www.penzeys.com/cgi-bin/penzeys/p-penzeysbangkok.html)

1/3 cup of diced red onion

1 large garlic clove, minced

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Combine all of the above ingredients into a sauce pan on the stove. Bring to a low simmer, cover and simmer for about 5-10 minutes until chicken is done.

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Dissolve 1 tbsp of cornstarch into 2-3 tbsp of water. Increase heat on stove and add dissolved cornstarch to pan. Immediately stir and then let simmer for about 1-2 minutes, stirring occaissionally.

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Add 3-4 tbsp thai sweet chili sauce to pan and stir.

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1 bag of bird's eye stir fry veges, steamed in microwave...add to pan and stir everything together.

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TOPPING:

1/2 cucumber, peeled and diced

1/2 cup of diced pineapple

handful of cilantro, finely chopped (omit if you don't like cilantro).

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Combine these together and put it on top of rice and/or the chicken/vege mix. We did both :)

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RICE:

Basmati rice. It's the only way to go :) I made enough so we'd each have 1/2 cup.

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NOTE: for the pinapple, I found the coolest product-Chiquita Pineapple Bites. It's pineapple soaked in coconut milk. It tasted yummy. It also saved me the trouble of buying a whole pineapple when I only planned on using a little bit.

http://www.chiquitabrands.com/Products/HealthySnacks.aspx

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RATING: Not bad for a quick throw-together kind of a meal. Plus the whole thing (rice included) was only 450 calories which made us very happy because it was ultra filling!

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Spicy Honey Chicken, Stuffed Zucchini, Baked Potato

We had left-over chicken from the previous night, so we reheated that up for tonight.

SPICY HONEY CHICKEN
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8 skinless chicken thighs
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2 tsp garlic powder
2 tsp chili powder
1 tsp salt
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp paptrika
1/2 tsp ground red pepper (less to reduce spiciness)
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Place chicken in a bowl and sprinkle spice rub over chicken. Toss and mix well.
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Coat roasting pan with cooking spray. Place chicken in pan. Roast in 400 degree oven for 40 minutes.
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Mix together: 6 TBSP honey + 2 tsp cider vinegar. After the chicken has cooked for 20 min, brush one side with honey mix. Cook for 10 minutes. Turn chicken over, brush with honey and roast for the final 10 minutes (total roasting time is 40 minutes).


STUFFED ZUCCHINI

2 large baby zucchini halved lengthwise
2 oz reduced fat shredded cheese (I used a 4 cheese mexican blend)
1/4 medium red or yellow bell pepper
1/4 medium red or sweet variety onion
1 clove garlic
1 tsp chili powder
1 tbsp sweet pepper relish (you can omit if you don't own this)
Salt and Pepper to taste

Hollow out centers of zucchini halves and reserve.

Using small food chopper, finely chop zucchini guts, bell pepper, onion and garlic .
Add the chili powder, parsley, salt and pepper and any other seasoning you might like to the chopped veggie mix.
Add one half the cheese to the mixture and combine well.
Spoon into zucchini halves and spread rest of cheese on top.

Bake at 400 degrees for approximately 30 minutes - cheese should be golden brown. Makes 2 servings - two halves per person. 100 calories for 2 halves :) For easy clean up, cook them on parchment paper.

BAKED POTATO

I took 2 small yukon gold potatoes, nuked them in the microwave and then tossed them into the oven (while the zucchini was cooking) for another 5 or 10 minutes. Yukons are so good, you can just cut them up, put salt and pepper on them and eat away. You don't even need butter!!

Rating: We really LOVED the stuffed zucchini! It was a great side dish to have with our left overs!!

Spicy Honey Chicken, sweet potato, broccoli

I made these with skinless, bone-in thighs. You can use boneless but I like the richer flavor of bone-in meat. You could also make this using wings, breasts, etc. It'd be great grilled on the BBQ pit too!

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SPICY HONEY CHICKEN

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8 skinless chicken thighs

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2 tsp garlic powder

2 tsp chili powder

1 tsp salt

1 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp paptrika

1/2 tsp ground red pepper (less to reduce spiciness)

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Place chicken in a bowl and sprinkle spice rub over chicken. Toss and mix well.

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Coat roasting pan with cooking spray. Place chicken in pan. Roast in 400 degree oven for 40 minutes.

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Mix together: 6 TBSP honey + 2 tsp cider vinegar. After the chicken has cooked for 20 min, brush one side with honey mix. Cook for 10 minutes. Turn chicken over, brush with honey and roast for the final 10 minutes (total roasting time is 40 minutes).

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SWEET POTATO

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1 large sweet potato-peeled and diced

Boil in salt water for about 4 minutes (fork should pierce through easily, but not too mushy)

Drain potatoes. Spray with spray butter and season with salt and pepper.

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BROCCOLI

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Steam broccoli in microwave. Spray with spray butter. Season with salt and pepper.

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Rating: Another success thanks to cooking light! The chicken was really flavorful and spicy. I can't wait to try this on the grill also!

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2 thights + 1/2 the sweet potato + 2 cups broccoli = 356 calories.

Creamy pesto Chicken Kebabs, tortellini, spinach salad

We served this "layered" style...I placed the spinach salad down on the plate first, surrounded it by the tortellini and then topped it with the kebabs. Yummy! I think I might call this meal "Green with Envy"

CHICKEN KEBABS:

2 large chicken breasts (about 5 oz each) cut into 1 inch cubes
1/2 yellow or red bell pepper cut up into chunks
1/3 red onion cut into chunks

Mix together:
2 cloves or garlic pressed (or tsp bottled minced)
2 tsp olive oil
salt and pepper
grated rind of a small lemon
2 tsp lemon juice

Take the garlic mixture above and toss in the chicken and vegetables, coating them well.

Place chicken and veges onto 4 skewers and grill over hot heat turning once (about 10 min in a broiler, about 8 minutes on a hot grill).

CREAMY PESTO SAUCE:

2 TBSP low-fat yogurt
2 TBSP reduced fat sour cream
1 TBSP pesto
1 tsp lemon juice

Mix the above ingredients together and brush on the kebabs after they are done cooking.


TORTELLINI

I purchased a box of dried spinach tortellini that had a parmesan filling. After cooking, I sprinkled the pasta lightly with salt and placed it around the spinach salad.

SPINACH SALAD

A handful of baby spinach leaves
Fresh tomatoes from Joel's garden (yummy!) chopped up
1/2 cup of peas
Salt and pepper
Sprinkle of Parmesean cheese
*Sweet pepper relish-I meant to add this to the salad but forgot :(

The whole meal came out be about 510 calories per plate (2 kabobs each and lightly brushing the kabobs with the sauce, we didn't use even 1/2 of it).

Rating: Tripple Yummy! Thank you cooking light for the creamy pesto recipe! This will no doubt make it into our regular rotation!

Tuscan Roasted Chicken, Broccoli, Potato

CHICKEN WITH TUSCAN VEGES
4 split chicken breasts OR 5-6 chicken thighs. Or a mix of both!
Take the skin off the chicken and trim away any fat (to save calories)

Take 2-3 zucchini squash, discard ends. Cut into large sticks (like 12 sticks per zucchini)
6 roma tomatoes--quarter lengthwise and scoop out seeds.
Red onion-take a couple of big slices and chunk it up
Fennel: The original recipe called for fresh fennel sliced up. I couldn't find any so I omitted it.
Toss these veges in about 1 tbsp of oil and then salt to taste. Lay them out in a large baking dish.
Place the chicken on top of the veges.

Mix together: 4 garlic cloves finely diced/pressed + 1 tsp lemon zest + 1 tbsp lemon juice + 1 tsp salt + 1 tbsp oil. Slather this over the chicken in the pan. Season the pan with a few dashes of pepper.

375 oven: roast for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, stir the veges. Then add to the pan 1 tbsp of chopped fresh rosemary (you can use dried but then only use about 1/2 tsp - 1 tsp). Continue to roast for 20 more minutes or until chicken is done.

BROCCOLI

We cut the stalks into long pieces, put about 1/2 inch of water in a saute pan with some Mrs Dash original table blend. We steamed the broccoli in this for about 5 minutes and finished it with about 1 tsp of butter.

POTATO

2 small yukon gold potatoes microwaved for 5 minutes. Yukons are awesome because you can just season them with salt and pepper and eat them like that! You don't need butter!

RATING: OMG, we both LOVED this dish. It was the first time we've made it. It's definitely going on the regular rotation since it was a breeze to make. Thanks Lindsey for getting us the Ellie Krieger recipe book from which we got this recipe!

We had this with a white wine called "Menage A Trois". Yummy. We felt like making it a "vacation" night, so we lit the candles, put on some relaxing music and brought out the good china. It was awesomely romantic and turned a stressful Monday completely around. We topped the evening off watching "Undertaking Betty" which was a hilarious movie.

Grilled Chicken, Broccoli Salad, Baked Sweet Potato

CHICKEN (200 calories per breast)

2 six oz chicken breasts-we got a packet of knorr pesto mix and brushed some of the prepared pesto onto the chicken. Grill on the BBQ for 4 minutes per side. It was delicious!


BROCCOLI SALAD (about 120 calories per serving):
(this makes enough for 2 servings)

3 cups of chopped broccoli (raw)
2 Tbsp diced red onion (more if you like more)
8 grape tomatoes cut in half each
1.5 TBSP dry roasted sunflower seeds
3 TBPS Kraft Miracle Whip Light dressing

Mix all the above ingredients and serve cold. This is a nice summery salad to have and really healthy for you. The original version of this had bacon which adds a nice flavor but I omitted it to save calories.


BAKED SWEET POTATO (about 80 calories per 1/2 potato)

1 sweet potato (I got the kind wrapped in plastic and ready to go in the microwave). Microwave for 7 minutes. Kristi and I split one potato between the two of us. Added a tiny bit of butter and salt and it was good to go!

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Rating: This was an awesome healthy meal that we decided we would have OFTEN! We really liked the tastiness of othe chicken, the freshness of the broccoli salad, and the sily sweetness of the potato!

Salisbury steaks, Mashed potato with winter squash, Green beans

*picture coming soon*

SALISBURY STEAKS:

In a bowl, mix together:
1 lb lean ground beef (10% fat)
1/4 cup ketchup
3 tbsp onion soup mix
1 tsp mrs. dash original table blend

Shape into 4 oval patties. Sprinkle both sides of patties with pepper. Brown patties on stove top for about 1 minute each side and then transfer to a 9X13 baking dish.

Mix together:
1 jar of beef gravy (I used heinz fat free beef gravy)
1 can cream of mushroom soup (I used healthy choice, low fat)

Pour soup/gravy combo over the beef patties. Optional: top with onion slices if you like.

Bake at 350 for 45 minutes.

Calorie count: 230 per salisbury steak patty, 65 calories per 1/2 cup gravy (the amount usually clinging to the green beans and patty)

GREEN BEANS:
1 package frozen green beans
I put the green beans directly into the pan with the patties and then pour the gravy over them. They come out yummy baking with the beef!

Calorie count: 40 calories per 1/3 bag

MASHED POTATO WITH WINTER SQUASH
*Mashing the squash in with the potato helps save calories!!
1 Large baking potato
1/2 package (5 oz) of cooked frozen winter squash
1/4 cup skim milk
1 clove garlic, pressed
Salt and Pepper to taste

Bake potato microwave 8 minutes until soft. Peel skin away and discard.
Microwave squash about 3 minutes until heated through.
In a bowl, combine potato, squash, milk, garlic, and salt and pepper and mash with fork or masher. Reheat in microwave if needed before serving. Makes 2 servings.

Calorie count: 142 calories per serving

Rating: This is ultra comfort food at reasonable calories! Totally yummy!