Roasted Chicken Breasts with Lemon and Mustard

Roasted Chicken Breasts with Lemon and Mustard

 

From Lose Weight the Smart Low-Carb Way: 200 High-Flavor Recipes and a 7-Step Plan to Stay Slim Forever, pg. 169

 

Ingredients

4 tsp. Dijon mustard

1 TBS + 1 tsp. lemon juice

1 large egg

1/2 tsp. Worcestershire sauce

2 tsp. olive oil

1/4 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. ground black pepper

8 TBS cornmeal

4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves (6 ounces each)

 

Directions

Place the oven rack in the top position and preheat the oven to 450ºF.

 

In a small bowl, mix 2 teaspoons of the mustard and the lemon juice.

 

In another small bowl, lightly beat the egg and stir in the Worcestershire sauce, oil, salt, pepper, and remaining 2 teaspoons mustard.  Dip the chicken into the egg mixture.  Press each piece into the cornmeal and turn to coat both sides.  Place on a platter. 

 

Refrigerate for 10 to 60 minutes to help cornmeal mixture stick.

 

Coat a baking sheet with cooking spray and preheat it on the upper rack of the oven for 5 minutes.  Arrange the breasts, thickest side down, on the sheet and cook until golden brown, 8 to 10 minutes.  Turn and cook until the juices run clear and a meat thermometer reads 170ºF, 4 to 5 minutes.  Drizzle with the lemon-mustard sauce.

 

Makes 4 servings.

 

Per serving: 271 calories, 42g protein, 9g carbohydrates, 7g fat, 1g saturated fat, 152 mg cholesterol, 408 mg sodium, 1g fiber.

Diet Exchanges: 0 milk, 0 vegetable, 0 fruit, 1/2 bread, 6 meat, 1 fat.

 

Flavor Tips

Use 5 tablespoons cornmeal with 3 tablespoons grated Parmesan or Romano cheese.  Add 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard to the egg mixture and serve the chicken with lemon wedges instead of the lemon-mustard sauce.

Cheesy Couscous

I stumbled across the original recipe for this wonderful side dish via my husband’s Flipboard addiction.  It’s become one of our very favorite sides ever since.

The original recipe calls for pimento and fresh chive, although I’ve left that off this recipe since I’ve discovered that this is an extremely versatile recipe that can easily be adapted to fit any dish you’re making.

Disclaimer: my main reason for re-writing this recipe is to add my variations, but mainly because the actual steps of the recipe on the original site is contained within a video and that makes it difficult for someone with kids (and a cat) to prepare.  So, don’t get angry with me… I’m not stealing it nor am I claiming ownership.  I’m just claiming it’s yummy.

Cheesy Couscous

(adapted from this Food Wishes video blog)

2 tsp. olive oil

1 cup Israeli couscous

2 cups chicken broth, low sodium preferable

1/2 cup heavy cream, or fat-free half and half works well, too

3 oz sharp cheddar cheese

Salt, pepper, and other spices, to taste

1. Heat oil in skillet.  Add couscous and stir until lightly golden brown. 

2. Add chicken broth and bring to a simmer.  Lower heat to just bubbling and stir occasionally until almost all of the broth has been absorbed. 

3. Add cream and stir until the majority of the cream has been absorbed into the couscous.  Don’t panic if it isn’t completely absorbed, it will thicken upon standing. 

4. Remove skillet from heat and add cheese.  Stir until melted.  Season to taste with salt, pepper and cayenne.

 

Variations

I’ve made this to go with many meals.  On one occasion, I used Mozzarella cheese and Italian seasoning.  On another occasion (read: earlier this week), when I made this recipe, I used cheddar cheese, coconut milk in place of the half and half, and spiced it up with cumin and chipotle pepper powder. YUMMY.  

Oven-Fried Chicken Chimichangas

Made these for dinner last night and they were extra-yummy!  I did make a couple of changes, however.  I hate 'chopped' chicken in things like this - the texture just isn't right for me, so I put a chicken in the crock pot, sprinkled it with cumin, oregano, chili powder, salt and pepper, added a little water to the bottom and cooked it all day, shredding it when I got home.  For some reason, shredded doesn't bother me as much as the chopped.  And since my husband and older child would simply *die* on the spot if there were onions OR tomatoes in their food, I opted out of the picante sauce and instead tossed the chicken with homemade taco seasoning (which I just posted) and leftover broth from the cooking.  I had originally planned on pureeing the salsa, but was entirely too lazy to do so last night.  LOL

If you'd rather not butter the tops, I have no doubt you could brush with olive oil or even spray with butter flavored Pam if you really wanted to.  I made some homemade Rice-A-Roni (posted here) to go with it.  Very simple and tasty.

Oven-Fried Chicken Chimichangas

From: Campbell's Kitchen

Prep: 20 minutes
Bake: 25 minutes

Serves: 6

Here's a delicious way to enjoy chimichangas without all the mess from deep-frying...and guess what?  They actually taste better this way.

Ingredients:

2/3 cup Pace® Picante Sauce

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1/2 teaspoon dried oregano leaves, crushed

1 1/2 cups chopped cooked chicken

1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese  (about 4 ounces)

2 green onions, chopped (about 1/4 cup)

6 (8-inch) flour tortillas

2 tablespoons butter, melted

Fresh cilantro leaves

Directions:

Stir the picante sauce, cumin, oregano, chicken, cheese and onions in a medium bowl.

Place about 1/2 cup of the chicken mixture in the center of each tortilla. Fold the opposite sides over the filling. Roll the tortillas up from the bottom and place them seam-side down on a baking sheet. Brush the tortilla rolls with butter.

Bake at 400°F. for 25 minutes or until they're golden brown. Serve with additional picante sauce. Garnish with cilantro.

Recipe Tips:

Tip: Substitute 2 cans (4.5 ounces each) Swanson® Premium White Chunk Chicken Breast in Water, drained, for the cooked chicken.

Nutrition Information

Nutritional Values per Serving

Using Pace Picante Sauce: :

Calories 341, Total Fat 17g, Saturated Fat 8g, Cholesterol 61mg, Sodium 672mg, Total Carbohydrate 28g, Dietary Fiber 3g, Protein 19g, Vitamin A 10%DV, Vitamin C 2%DV, Calcium 21%DV, Iron 14%DV

Taco Seasoning Mix

From the Make-A-Mix Cookbook published a bazillion years ago. LOL  Trust me... if you saw the photos in it, you'd understand.  Still a very valuable resource, however.

For my *special* blend, I add an additional teaspoon of ancho chili powder as well as upping the oregano and cumin to 1 teaspoon each. 

Taco Seasoning

Ingredients

2 teaspoons instant minced onion
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon cornstarch
1/2 teaspoon crushed red peppers
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon oregano
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

Instructions

Combine seasoning ingredients in a small bowl or container, package into small jar until ready for use.

To make tacos:

Brown ground beef and drain off fat. Add water and dry seasoning mixture. Bring to a boil and let simmer for 20-25 minutes. If mixture gets too thick before cooking is complete, add a small amount of water to thin. Serve on soft or hard taco shells topped with your favorite vegetables and sauce.

Creamy Herbed Chicken and Noodles

Last night’s dinner wasn’t too bad, although it seemed to be missing a bit of something. However, I’m going to post the recipe anyway. I might fiddle with it some more in the future and find that magical, missing element. We’ll see. I also doubled the recipe because one serving as it was written would not have filled Zan up by any means. So, even with it doubled, the main meal came to a little less than 600 calories. Not TOO bad for a dinner. If you don’t count the biscuits I made to go with it. LOL OH! And one change I will definitely make in the future – this would be so much better with shredded rotisserie chicken!

Creamy Herbed Chicken and Noodles

The 1500-Calorie-A-Day Cookbook, pg. 120

6 ounces dry no-yolk egg noodles

½ pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite-sized pieces

½ teaspoon salt

½ cup (4 ounces) light cream cheese with herbs and garlic, such as Alouette

2 tablespoons fat-free milk

1 medium garlic clove, minced

3 medium green onions, chopped fine (1/3 cup)

1 tablespoon grated Parmesan cheese

Cook the noodles according to package directions, omitting any salt or fat.

Meanwhile, heat a medium skillet over medium heat until hot, and coat the skillet with cooking spray. Cook the chicken 4 minutes or until no longer pink in the center, stirring frequently.

Drain the noodles, return them to the pot, and add the chicken and remaining ingredients, except the Parmesan cheese. Toss until the cream cheese has melted and the mixture is well blended. Sprinkle with the Parmesan.

Calories 290; total fat 6g (saturated fat 4g); protein 22g; carbohydrates 36g; fiber 2g; cholesterol 55mg; sodium 530 mg; vitamin A 2%; vitamin C 4%; calcium 15%; iron 10%

Time Shaver Tip: To save time, you can use about 1 ¼ cups cooked chicken in place of the raw chicken, using either leftovers from a rotisserie chicken or the frozen chopped variety.

Crazy Lady’s Note: You could easily add all sorts of vegetables to this making it more filling and a one-dish meal.

Taco Soup

This was tonight’s dinner.  Very flavorful and filling.  The only changes I made were to use Velveeta (I mixed it right in at the end, stirring until it melted) and topped it with a spoonful of sour cream and some tortilla strips.

 

Taco Soup

Prep Time: 5 min

Total Time: 25 min

Makes: 12 servings, 1 cup each

What You Need!

1 lb. Extra lean ground beef

1   onion, chopped

3 cans (15.5 oz. Each) mild chili beans, undrained

1 can  (14.5 oz.) whole tomatoes, undrained

1 can (14.25 oz.) corn, undrained

1 can  (8 oz.) tomato sauce

1 pkg. (1-1/4 oz.) TACO BELL® HOME ORIGINALS® Taco Seasoning Mix

1-1/2 cups  water

1-1/2 cups KRAFT 2% Milk Shredded Cheddar Cheese

Make It!

BROWN meat with onions in large saucepan; drain.

ADD all remaining ingredients except cheese; stir, breaking up tomatoes. Bring to boil. Reduce heat to medium-low; simmer 5 min., stirring occasionally.

SERVE topped with the cheese.

Recipe courtesy of Kraft Foods.

Butterscotch White Chocolate Cookies

Butterscotch White Chocolate Cookies

3/4 cup (1-1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
2-1/4 cups flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1-1/2 cups butterscotch chips
1-1/2 cups white chocolate chips
1/3 cup chopped pecans

Preheat oven to 375 degrees (F). Lightly grease and flour baking sheets; set aside. In the large bowl of an electric mixer, combine the butter, brown and granulated sugars. Cream until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs and vanilla until blended, scraping down the sides of the bowl.

Sift or stir together the flour, salt and baking soda. Add to the butter mixture, beating until blended. Stir in the butterscotch and chocolate chips and the pecans with a heavy wooden spoon.

Drop the dough by tablespoons onto prepared baking sheets, about 1 dozen per sheet. Bake cookies, one sheet at a time, 10 minutes. Let cool on sheets 2 minutes before transferring to cooling racks.

Makes about 4 dozen.