Category Archives: Chicken

Chicken Cacciatore

Chicken, Main, Pasta, Recipes, , ,

Chicken Cacciatore

I love just about anything braised in my dutch oven.  Especially on a cold winter night, it’s just so comforting.  I’ve always loved Chicken Cacciatore.  Braising the chicken makes it super moist, fall off the bone.  Most recipes call for peppers but I don’t use that in this one, I prefer chicken cacciatore without the peppers.  This recipe is very forgiving.  For the chicken you can use a cut up whole chicken, or just split breast, or just thighs, whatever you have on hand or whatever your favorite.  You could  make this with boneless chicken but the bones add a richness to the sauce that will be missing.

If I am serving this on pasta, I like to shred the chicken (I have spoiled my family!) but you can serve the chicken by itself with pasta on the side (or just skip the pasta if it’s January and you are trying to lose a few pounds!  boo) Continue reading Chicken Cacciatore →

Chicken with Mustard Sauce

Chicken, Healthy, Recipes, , ,

Chicken with Mustard Sauce Here is another, low cal, delicious chicken dish for your files.  A few tricks that I used here:  First, by slicing each breast in half and pounding thin, you eat half the amount of chicken but it still feels like a full portion.  Reducing the sauce adds a lot of flavor and the little bit of low-fat sour cream gives it a really creamy consistency without using heavy cream.  Second, a light dusting of flour keeps the chicken moist and gives it a little crust.  If you are avoiding flour, just skip this step or you could try an alternative like almond flour.

I served this on roasted Brussel sprouts and cauliflower.  Add the veggies to the plate, put the chicken on top and drizzle with the sauce.  Hard to believe it’s good for you! Continue reading Chicken with Mustard Sauce →

Chicken Roulades with Mushroom Sauce

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Chicken Roulade with Mushroom Pan Sauce

After the Holidays I am trying to drop a few pounds and eat lighter (sound fimiliar?).  This is a recipe I found that was pretty light already but I made a few additional tweaks to make it even lighter while keeping all the flavor.  The only way I can eat lighter is to make sure the dishes have a lot of flavor.  I don’t want to eat bland food, life is too short to eat bland food!

The original recipe had you put 2 slices of proscuitto and 2 slices of cheese on each roulade.  I put only 1 of each, kept the flavor but saved those calories.  The original used 3 Tbsp of butter to give a richness to the sauce.  I elimated the butter, added shallots and scallions for flavor and reduced the sauce longer.  These tweaks saved more fat and calories but the end result was really good.  Two thumbs up from Bill so I know it passed the taste test!  I served it with sauteed broccolini to make it a complete meal. Continue reading Chicken Roulades with Mushroom Sauce →

Chicken Stew with Tomatoes & White Beans

Chicken, Healthy, Main, Make Ahead, Recipes, Soups, , , , ,

chicken stew Yesterday I was feeling the effects of 5 days in a row of eating rich food that I don’t normally eat and really wanted to make something healthy and comforting for dinner.  We had friends coming over too and it was just going to be casual, so something make ahead was needed to.  I turned to this delicous Chicken Stew with Tomatoes and White beans.  It is comforting and served with a salad makes a light meal.  You could make it even lighter by skipping the bacon, but the bacon has only 30 calories a slice cooked, so I think it is worth it.  🙂 Continue reading Chicken Stew with Tomatoes & White Beans →

Butternut Squash Risotto with Roasted Chicken

Chicken, Pasta, Recipes

Butternut Squash Risotto I love Risotto and I love Roasted Butternut Squash, so of course I love Butternut Squash Risotto!  I have seen recipes where they just add the roasted butternut chunks to the risotto, but that doesn’t give you the great butternut flavor in every bite, so I decided to puree the butternut.  Perfect!  You need to be a little patient making risotto.  You can cheat a little and throw a couple ladles in at a time to give you a few minutes between stirring but this is a dish you need to be standing by on.  Get your family  to help stir!  Continue reading Butternut Squash Risotto with Roasted Chicken →

Buffalo Chicken Dip

Appetizers, Chicken, Recipes, , , ,

Buffalo Chicken Dip

Spicy, gooey, cheesy, yummy.  There is nothing like a good hot dip and a big bowl of chips.  I made these lighter by using the light cream cheese!  LOL, ok so this is not a recipe you make on January 2nd, when you are wanting to eat lean mean and clean.  This a football party, comfort food loving snack.  Just go for a run before and you won’t feel so bad! Continue reading Buffalo Chicken Dip →

Pasta Pesto with Chicken & Grape Tomatoes

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Pasta Pesto with Chicken & Grape Tomatoes

I love pesto!  We have an herb garden in the summer and I use the basil all summer long for caprese salads but when the summer is over, I pick all the basil and make huge batches of pesto.  It stores great in the freezer.  I like to freeze it in an ice tray and then put the pesto cubes in a zip lock bag in the freezer.  Then you can easily grab as much pesto as you need.  Continue reading Pasta Pesto with Chicken & Grape Tomatoes →

Lighter Chicken Parmesan

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Lighter Chicken Parmesan

My family LOVES chicken parmesan and I do too but the traditional recipe with flour, egg and bread crumbs sautéed in lots of oil is a special occasion dish.  I wondered if I could lighten it up so we could enjoy it more often.  I told Bill I was making a “healthy” chicken parmesan and he made a face.  He wasn’t sure that would taste so great.  Continue reading Lighter Chicken Parmesan →

Greek Chicken Hash

Chicken, Healthy, Main, Recipes, Weeknight, , , , , ,

Greek Chicken

This recipe Greek Chicken Hash  comes from one of my favorite blogs, Health Bent.  They have healthy Primal/Paleo type recipes.  The common theme is that they all taste amazing!

I changed this up a tad, added a little more peperoncini since I like it hot, also added a little peperoncini juice and about 1/2 cup chicken broth to make more sauce (Remember, I am a sauce girl!  I also added about 1/2 bag of baby spinach at the end of the cooking (it was begging to be used and it’s healthy!).  Click here for the recipe.  Greek Chicken Hash Recipe.  Enjoy!!!

 

Italian Wedding Soup

Chicken, Healthy, Make Ahead, Recipes, Soups, Weeknight, , ,

italian wedding soup 2

This soup is from one of my favorite cookbooks, Back to Basics by Ina Garten.  When you are craving a hot comforting bowl of soup, this is a satisfying, healthy option.  I always make a double batch and freeze the rest.

Cook whatever pasta you want on the side.  If you add it to the pan, the leftovers won’t freeze well and get really soggy.  I tend to grab whatever pasta is open and needs to be used up.  In this case, I cut up some spaghetti.  You can skip the pasta if you are Gluten free or Paleo.  Continue reading Italian Wedding Soup →