Philly Chicken and Pasta

I will admit right now that there was a point at which the scale and I were friends.  After I got pregnant with my third baby, our relationship became somewhat strained. And now, as I visit every day, I usually leave in a bit of a huff.  I fondly remember our happy times together--the scale and me--and I am looking forward to having a great relationship once again.  Therefore, my current challenge, as it relates to this blog, is to find amazing low-fat, calorie-counter's-dream recipes.  And, I will admit, this task does seem a little on the big deal side of things.  (I would say big FAT deal, but that's what we're trying to get away from...)  So, it's with this new goal in mind that I created tonight's recipe.  I know that I'm not the first person to combine these ingredients in this manner.  But, since I made it up tonight, sans recipe, I'm going to call it an original.

(Now, imagine a great pic here.  OK--well, mediocre.  Oh wait--that's what WOULD have been here if my camera battery hadn't died yesterday.)

Philly Chicken and Pasta
Servings: 4

2 large bell peppers
1 large onion
1 tsp. olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced (or pressed)
1/2 lb. boneless skinless chicken breast
4 oz. neufatchel cheese (lite cream cheese)
1 cp. chicken stock
salt and pepper
8 oz. whole wheat spaghetti, prepared according to package directions

Chop bell peppers into thin slices.  Cut onion in half, then into thin slices (half-moons).  Heat 1 tsp. olive oil in large skillet; add peppers and onions; saute until soft.  Add garlic; saute for about a minute.  Slice chicken into very thin bite-sized pieces and add to pepper mixture.  Cook until no pink is left on chicken.  Add cream cheese and about 1/4 cup of stock.  Stir for a minute.  Add stock, about 1/4 cup at a time and stir until cream cheese is completely melted and incorporated into stock.  Add salt and pepper to taste.  If a thinner sauce is desired, add more stock about 2 Tbls. at a time until desired consistenct is reached.  Serve over hot spaghetti.

NOTES: I used both a red and a yellow bell pepper.  I prefer their sweetness over the bitterness of the green.

In the end, I probably used a little over 1 cup of stock.  I wanted a little more sauce and figured it was a lower-calorie way to cut the cream cheese a little more.

Cassoulet for Today

I realize that just about everywhere else in the country, you are in the thick of summer.  Well, here in the Pacific Northwest, I'm starting to wonder if summer will ever appear.  The highs are still in the 60's, (if we're lucky), and pants and a light jacket are still necessary most days.  While I can't wait to heap on the summer grillin' and salads, the weather here feels more like fall at the moment.  So, when I found this recipe in my recent Taste of Home, it fit the weather and my taste.

I could not get enough of this dish!  Seriously.  It was a little more time-consuming than other recipes, but OH MY GOODNESS!  This was completely worth a little extra work.

Cassoulet for Today
(Adapted from Taste of Home, April/May 2010)

6 boneless skinless chicken thighs
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. coarsly ground pepper
1 Tbsp. olive oil, divided
1 large onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced, divided
1/2 cup chicken broth
1 can (14.5 oz) diced tomatoes
1 bay leaf
1/4 tsp. dried rosemary
1/4 tsp. dried thyme
2 cans (15 oz. each) cannellini beans, rinsed and drained
1/4 lb. turkey kielbasa, chopped
1/4 cup real bacon pieces
1/2 cup bread crumbs
1/4 cup minced fresh parsley

Sprinkle chicken with salt and pepper.  Brown chicken in 2 tsp. oil in skillet.  Remove chicken to medium casserole dish.

In same pan, saute onion in remaining oil until tender.  Add 1 clove garlic; cook 1 min. longer.  Add broth, stirring to loosen browned bits from pan.  Stir in tomatoes, bay leaf, rosemary, and thyme; bring to boil.  Pour over chicken; cover and bake at 325 degrees for 30 min.  Add beans and kielbasa; cover and bake 20-25 min. or until chicken is tender.  Discard bay leaf.  Stir in bacon.

Combine bread crumbs, parsley, and remaining garlic; sprinkle over cassoulet.  Broil 3-4 inches from heat for 2-3 min. or until golden brown.

NOTES: The original recipe calls for fresh herbs.  But, since I rarely have those, I used the dried versions instead.  It also tells you to stir in the bacon at the end--but you might find, as I did, that it's nearly impossible to stir.  So, I just sprinkled mine over the top.  And, finally, I served mine with cornbread, (recipe coming soon!).

Sweet and Spicy Chicken

Now that I've been keeping up with this blog for...what?...2 weeks now, I feel like I'm starting to say the same things over and over about recipes.  Here's the form, in case you haven't caught on:

I wanted to try this recipe.  We liked it.  Hope you like it, too.

I really need to change things up a little.  Well, I'll start off by saying that last week, a few days after I made this chicken, my husband took the leftovers to work for lunch.  (He was eating it on a salad.  Have I mentioned that my husband has lost 30 lbs. in the past few months?  He has.  Maybe I should eat more salads for lunch.) 

Anyway...when he got home that night, he said, "Have you blogged about that chicken yet?  Because you need to tell them it's not that great."  You have to understand, my husband has, (in the past year or so), gotten a little more into barbecuing. While he's certainly not a pro (yet), he now actually cares about the spices on the meat. So, in his amatuer barbecuer opinion, this spice rub was only alright--really nothing special.

Really?  Could I post about something that was only mediocre in his opinion?  To be quite honest, I thought it was fine.  Sure it wasn't anything out of the ordinary, but as an easy weeknight meal, I thought it was good.  After this kind of an introduction, I'm sure you're chomping at the bit to get it on your grill.  Well, without further ado, here is the recipe.  (Which I found at realmomkitchen.com, and she got from Simple and Delicious.)

Sweet and Spicy Chicken
5 servings

2 Tbls brown sugar
1 Tbls paprika
2 tsp onion powder
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp chili powder
5 boneless skinless chicken breast halves (6 ounces each)

Combine spices.  Rub on chicken.  Grill until chicken is no longer pink inside.

NOTES: I have no notes on this one.  Can you believe it?  I had all of the ingredients on hand...and there's not a ton to adjust on this recipe without completely changing it.

Sticky Chicky

Last week, it seemed that I was reaching the end of each day and wondering what to make for dinner.  It wasn't that I didn't have ideas.  I got busy doing something else, (or something came up), and suddenly, Ryan was coming home in 45 min.  And, most of my dinner ideas needed about an hour.  (You know, 30 min., plus time to feed the baby, break up arguments, wipe off the table from lunch, rotate a load of laundry, etc.)  So, I grabbed my Taste of Home magazines and started scanning the index page.  When I got to the May/June 2009 issue, I found a quick and yummy recipe that I actually had all most of the ingredients for.  (And, yes, the picture is one of the worst so far--there is only so much sunlight we get here in WA!)

Sticky Chicky
8 servings

16 boneless skinless chicken thighs (about 3 lbs.)
1/2 cup BBQ sauce (use your favorite kind)
1/4 cup reduced-sodium soy sauce
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
1/4 cup honey or maple syrup
1 Tbl. chili powder
1 Tbl. Dijon mustard
1 Tbl. grated gingerroot
2 tsp. minced garlic
1 tsp. ground cumin
1 Tbl. cornstarch

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Spray 9x13 in. baking pan with cooking spray.  Arrange chicken thighs in pan in single layer.

In medium bowl, whisk together remaning ingredients except cornstarch.  Pour evenly over chicken.  Turn pieces to coat both sides  Bake, uncovered, for about 40 min. or until chicken is no longer pink in the center.

Remove chicken from pan and keep warm.  Carefully pour sauce into small saucepan.  Bring to boil over med-high heat.  Combine cornstarch with 1 Tbl. water; mix until smooth.  Add to sauce.  Cook until sauce is thickened, about 1 min.  Serve hot chicken with sauce on top.

NOTES:  When I grabbed my Dijon mustard from the fridge, the bottle was pretty much empty.  So, I swapped it for some ground mustard.  And, Ryan is NOT a fan of ginger--so I used a small amount of powdered ginger instead.  Also, I used a mixture of thighs and breasts--and the thighs were much better.  Then again, thighs are my favorte part of the chicken, so I'm probably biased on that one.