Bacon-Wrapped BBQ Chicken (Another Hungry Girl Hit!)

I promise you - Lisa Lillien, aka Hungry Girl, does NOT pay me to advertise her recipes.  She might not even like me since I sometimes post things that can't be found online - BUT - hopefully you will be looking further for her delicious recipes and buying a cookbook or two yourself.  She was even on Good Morning America today featuring her breakfast options which are amazing!

Now here is an EASY and DELICIOUS filling recipe that your family will love!  You'd think bacon would be off the table - and turkey bacon can be used - but the center cut bacon is a lot less in fat as well and makes you feel like you're not giving anything up b/c it is truly bacon, just a lot leaner and crispy.

Nutritional Information

This is per serving for (1) 5 oz Chicken Breast Serving (I made 4 since I have a family of 3, and just adapted the ingredients accordingly)

One 5-ounce raw boneless skinless lean chicken breast cutlet
2 tbsp BBQ sauce with appx 45 calories per 2 tablespoon serving
2 slices center cut bacon or turkey bacon

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Spray a baking pan with nonstick spray.  Season chicken with a dash each of salt and pepper and coat with bbq sauce.  Wrap bacon around chicken and place in the pan.  **For this part, I was a little confused as to how to roll it - but I just played around with it and figured it out.  Then realized there was a picture on another web page!  Ooops**  You can see Lisa's picture here.

Bake in the oven until chicken is fully cooked, about 20 minutes.  Set oven to broil and broil chicken until bacon is crispy, about 4 minutes.

Serve and ENJOY!!!

I served it up with a risotto, but didn't really do a step by step on how I made that.  Basic steps are to sautee some chopped peppers, onions and celery in olive oil.  Once soft, add in 1 cup of arborio rice and sautee for a few minutes, then gradually add in chicken stock.  Along the way, continue to add stock to keep the risotto from drying out.  Also add in a touch of parmesan cheese, lemon juice, and a smidgen of half and half.  It's one of my husband's favorites, so although I know it's not "Hungry Girl" worthy, I will continue to indulge him and simply practice portion control for myself.

Simple side dishes - sauteed spinach with some garlic and mixed with parmesan cheese...and some No Sugar Added ruby red grapefruit - love that stuff!

Home Run - "Pasta-Less" Three-Cheese Chicken Cannelloni

I was about to ask a question again that I posed last night, and then I got smart!  I was about to re-ask:  "Can I get in trouble for posting a recipe that is not online?"  And then I realized how long the recipe was in the cookbook and saw I would have to retype it.  Which motivated me to GOOGLE it and voila - you can find just about ANYTHING on the world wide web!  But if you can't, as long as you give the creator credit, is it okay???  I know - I'm a rule follower, and don't want to break any kind of blogging code!

Anyways, I have provided links below, and this is from page 236 of "300 Under 300" by Lisa Lillien.

Let me digress a moment.  Can you even believe how far we have come since we entered the .com age?  I mean seriously - back in the day, think of how old school we were compared to now.  And not only that, most folks get their world wide web on their PHONES nowadays!  Seriously - communication has come such a long way, and I have mentioned to a few friends how interesting it would be to  write a thesis on specifically how social media has impacted our society.  Who knows where we will be in another ten years or so, but I will simply enjoy the ability to find out information with a couple of clicks.

So...as I mentioned, this is the Hungry Girl experiment.  I did my research, tried to find some recipes with ingredients that could be "re-used", made a "playbook" and have been having SO much fun in the kitchen again.  I was excited about an Italian dish that did not include pasta.  Although of course, I did include pasta as a side dish, but used portion control :)

Here is where I found the recipe - again, another delicious main dish from Hungry Girl, aka, Lisa Lillien.  Another low calorie, low fat, low carb and HIGH protein dish.  She has certainly used her smartness to pad the meal with vegetables and make you NOT hungry...hmmm...do you sense a connection with her name now?  :)

And of course...you know me by now.  I have included my "changes" from her original recipe.  Not many, but a few that I have noted below and those were captured in a bold, blue font :)  All I can say is thank goodness I won't develop supreme carpal tunnel syndrome by not having to type out the whole wonderful recipe below!

I doubled all ingredients except for the chicken.  And then, I was able to get 6 chicken pieces with the filling instead of 4, and I must say, just eating ONE was truly filling and delicious! 

Three-Cheese Chicken Cannelloni
PER SERVING (1 stuffed cutlet, 1/2 of recipe): 274 calories, 3.5g fat, 647mg sodium, 12g carbs, 2g fiber, 6g sugars, 43g protein -- PointsPlus® value 6*

Pasta is passé (and starchy!). We like our cheesy filling rolled up in CHICKEN! And we know you will too.






Ingredients:

1/4 cup frozen chopped spinach (I used a full bag of fresh spinach and sauteed it - see below)1/4 cup finely chopped mushrooms
1/3 cup fat-free ricotta cheese
2 tsp. reduced-fat Parmesan-style grated topping
1 tsp. chopped garlic, divided
Dash nutmeg
Dash each salt and black pepper, or more to taste
Two 5-oz. raw boneless skinless lean chicken breast cutlets
3/4 cup canned crushed tomatoes
1 tsp. dried minced onion
1/2 tsp. Italian seasoning
1 stick light string cheese (I used a soy mozzarella cheese slice.  For next round, I may check out the calories in low fat shredded mozzarella cheese and if comparable, go with that.  Just a lot of work to shred cheese slices or sticks)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

*Changed from her original recipe.  Instead of:  "Place spinach and mushrooms in a microwave-safe bowl. Microwave for 1 minute, until softened."  I used cooking spray and sauteed the fresh spinach and mushrooms.  I will say be SURE to do the blotting she mentions below, because after the first round of cooking, I had a layer of water in my pan!

Blot thoroughly, removing excess liquid. Add ricotta cheese, Parm-style topping, 1/2 tsp. garlic, nutmeg, salt, and pepper. Mix well and set aside.

Place one chicken cutlet in a large sealable plastic bag and, removing as much air as possible, seal bag. Carefully pound chicken through the bag with a meat mallet or heavy can, until uniformly about 1/3-inch thick. Repeat with second cutlet.  (I did use think chicken cutlets already but did pound them a bit, being careful not to tear them)

Lay cutlets flat and spread evenly with veggie-cheese mixture. Starting with a longer side, roll up one cutlet (not too tightly or the filling will ooze!),   YES - this is true!!!  and secure with toothpicks - don't use colored ones - we had little circles of color!  Place in a baking pan sprayed with nonstick spray. Repeat with second cutlet. Cover pan with foil.  Bake in the oven for 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, in a small bowl, combine tomatoes, onion, Italian seasoning, and remaining 1/2 tsp. garlic. Mix well and set aside.   I actually decided to sautee this combination so the flavors could blend!

Break string cheese into thirds and place in a food processor or blender -- blend at high speed until cheese takes on a shredded or grated consistency. (Or just tear string cheese into pieces and roughly chop.) Set aside.  I used scissors to cut the slices of mozzarella into strips and then cubed them.  As I said above, I think I may check out the difference between regular shredded low-fat mozzarella.  Maybe I'm lazy?

Remove pan from the oven, and carefully remove foil. Spoon seasoned tomatoes equally over chicken, and sprinkle shredded/grated string cheese evenly over tomatoes. 

And this one is without mushrooms and without tomatoes for Miss Picky!




Some with mushrooms and some without



Return to the oven (uncovered) and bake for 15 minutes, or until chicken is cooked through and cheese on top has melted. Remove toothpicks and enjoy!

Finished product with mushrooms and without!





The one without mushrooms OR tomatoes!





MAKES 2 SERVINGS

One of the "tweaks" that I made as well was to sautee the mushrooms separately from the spinach.  I just happen to have a non-mushroom loving family.  So I "customized" the recipe...even to the point where mine had EVERYTHING, my hubby's had everything but the 'shrooms and Lil' J had no mushrooms and even didn't want the tomatoes on top!

So...I paired it with some "bad for you" pasta (at least it was fresh and I just added in some spray butter, reduced fat parmesan cheese and parsley.

And some steamed vegetables...

It is just SO FUN to be back here again and I can't believe I am about to reach 1000 page hits!  I am quite international by now as well - so HELLO to all you countries who have popped in to say hi! 

Later, taters!

Chicken Parmesan with Julia and Her Friends

There is nothing more refreshing than hearing the giggles of teenage girls doing their homework at our kitchen table.  And even cuter when part of the reason they are here is because (in addition to the homework part), they want to try my chicken parmesan.  My recipe is one that I have created based on several different ones I have tried over the years.  It is easy and healthy and downright delicious if I do say so myself. 

Chicken Parmesan

8 thin sliced chicken cutlets

Spaghetti sauce of your choice (I prefer the tomato and basil Publix brand)

Shredded mozzarella cheese

Italian style breadcrumbs

Dipping sauce herbs
2 eggs

GOOD shredded parmesan cheese

Fresh basil

Olive Oil

Start by preheating the oven to 350 degrees.  With a large deep skillet, heat a swirl of olive oil on medium high heat.  Dip each chicken piece in beaten egg, then breadcrumbs that are mixed with dipping sauce herbs of your choice.  If you are not familiar with them, Publix sells them in the bakery section (wierd place I know - like why aren't they in the spice area?) and it is a small jar with 4 compartments like rosemary garlic, tomato basil...whatever spices you can find. 

Sautee the chicken for 2-3 minutes per side.  You can do 4 at a time, and when those are done, put into a baking dish and swirl a touch more olive oil in and do the next 4.  When all are done, top with spaghetti sauce, mozzarella cheese, parmesan cheese and basil.  Cook in the pre-heated oven for 10-20 minutes, until golden brown and bubbly.

In the meantime, I made the pasta (again using the refrigerated kind because it is just SO much lighter tastewise.)  I also made some green beans (frozen that you boil - as close as you can get to fresh but cheaper and easier), salad, and Italian bread for dipping.  Oh and some fresh tomatoes with mozzarella cheese, balsamic vinegar and basil.

I feel very lucky to feel that at least for now, Julia's friends actually LIKE to hang out with us.  They are all super sweet girls and having 6 at the table is twice as fun as having 3.  I just love that food is what brings people together for fellowship and laughter.  And even though the pasta isn't homemade, I think things are different in this day and age when a working woman is not only putting in 40+ hours a week, but also trying to do things like exercise, read etc. 

LOVING the new Fitness Pal app that my niece introduced me to!  It helps track all my food, water, and exercise on my phone with goals in place.  So not only can I keep my food blog, but I can continue to focus on making healthy meals and making the progress I can with exercise, water etc. 



Oops...Chicken Again...But Yummy and Different

So...as I've stated before, I'm a huge fan of Melissa D'Arabian.  I just love that she won Next Food Network TV Star as an "at home cook" - someone who didn't really have culinary experience besides being a mom who cooks.  Also, her recipes are budget friendly, using common ingredients.  This way when you are encountering something like a STILL BROKEN fridge, you can thaw out a protein and make a meal with what is on hand in the fridge.

Let me start out by saying, for those of you in the Johns Creek/Cumming area, Super H Mart is an awesome place to shop for chicken, steak, fish, seafood, fruits and vegetables.  The prices are ridiculously low and I have never encountered any issues.  I will say that if you are buying fish or seafood, I would recommend that you cook right away b/c the fridge shelf life is short.  I had some chicken thighs from there that I had frozen (6 thighs for $4.80!!) so I defrosted them and did some research on the internet looking for a recipe.  I knew along the lines of what I wanted - sort of a braised French type dish, and her "Roasted Garlic Clove Chicken" recipe was perfect, with some slight modifications.

Here is the link to Melissa's recipe, and then I have shown the changes below.

My Ingredients:

6 chicken thighs
salt and pepper
5 tsp of minced garlic
olive oil
butter
2 tsp herbs de provence (I did not have this; I looked up the ingredients for it, and I had 5 out of the 7 spices needed.  So I mixed together 1 tsp each of basil, oregano, marjoram, thyme and rosemary.  I was missing fennel and savory, but it didn't seem to matter tastewise)
1 tsp flour
chicken stock
lemon juice
white wine
balsamic vinegar
bread (to dip in the yummy sauce)
spinach

Rinse and pat the chicken dry.  Liberally season with salt and pepper and allow to temper on a cutting board while you prepare the garlic.  In a large ovenproof saute pan, cook the garlic in olive oil and butter (I used about 1 tsp of each).  Let it get nice and golden brown, appx 10 minutes.  

Remove the garlic from the pan.  Increase the heat to medium high and brown the thighs skin side down until the skin is golden and crispy - 5 - 10 minutes.  Turn the chicken over and sprinkle with the herbs.

Add the garlic back to the pan and place the hot pan in the oven.  Bake the chicken until cooked through, 25 minutes or so.  After that, I returned the pan to the stove, and took the chicken out.  I added in some chicken stock, lemon juice, white wine, balsamic vinegar, and flour.  I let that simmer for a bit, then added the chicken back in, making sure that the skin was above the liquid so that it did not lose its crispiness. 

When I was ready to serve, I put the chicken onto a platter, spooned some sauce over it, and put the rest of the sauce in a small bowl.  I also used the pan that still had some of the remnants of the sauce and cooked a bunch of spinach in that.

My sides were multigrain angel hair pasta and cut green beans, with the bread warmed and sliced for dipping.

This would be a great meal for company b/c everything could be done in advance and warming while you are serving appetizers to your guests.  It will definitely be on my rotation list for tried and true recipes!

Last Night's Super Yummy Dinner

So...our friendly cooking "competition" really inspired me. 

Paul knows some of the fancy terms, like mirepoix, so when he mentioned it on Saturday night, I remembered that it was what Melissa D'Arabian used when starting off her ribs recipe.  So I decided to make an attempt at a homemade spaghetti sauce recipe, starting with a "mirepoix", which is simply a mix of chopped celery, carrots and onion, sauteed in a touch of olive oil (and/or butter - I did use a bit of both). 

Once the vegetables started to soften, I added in some tomato paste (almost a whole small can), as well as some garlic and fresh basil.  Then I added in a can of diced tomatoes (the kind with basil and oregano flavoring), undrained, as well as a bit of chicken stock.  A healthy dash of red wine and I let it simmer to bring all of the flavors together.  Last but not least, I chopped some spinach into it since I knew the spinach would cook down, and to get rid of some of the leftover spinach I had.

Speaking of leftover spinach, I made a very tasty (and simple) spinach salad to go with it.  Started off by destemming the spinach and placing in a bowl.  Then I hardboiled 2 eggs and crumbled them, as well as using the last of the chopped pecan as a garnish.  Some mandarin oranges completed it, with the exception of a dressing.  I LOVE a hot bacon dressing and decided I could probably figure out how to do this.  I started with some raspberry pecan preserves, olive oil and chopped pecans and used the food processor to blend.  After some internet research, I added in bacon bits (I used artificial), dijon mustard, white wine vinegar and some sugar.  The end result - delish!!!  The perfect complement to a spinach salad.

Next was my chicken.  Lots of leftover chicken from Saturday night, so I sliced it into small, thin pieces.  Put it in an egg wash, then dipped it into a mixture of flour with some dipping sauce and sauteed it all up.  Had it warming in the oven while I finished things up.

Now for the fettucine.  I do love homemade pasta, but obviously that is a bit time consuming, so I used the Bertollini (I think that's the brand) refrigerated fettucine.  It is SO much lighter than boxed pasta - a bit more expensive and I have not come across a whole grain option yet, but it was light and tasty.

And last but not least, a bruschetta with the bread that I never used Saturday night.  I warmed it, topped it with a light spread of garlic, then on some pieces I added fresh diced tomatoes.  But since most of our family are non-tomato lovers, I left them off on most.  A sprinkling of parmesan cheese, and we have a simple but tasty bread dish.

Since it looks like our refrigerator will now not be fixed until THURSDAY, I have to keep being creative in using up leftovers and using what we have.  Thankfully that only means figuring out meals for tonight and tomorrow night since Wednesday night is trivia, but it has been SO frustrating.  Tonight is definitely a leftover night, and I think I will defrost some chicken for tomorrow and continue to use what we have on hand, hoping my creative juices will flow!

Chopped - "In Da 'Hood Edition"

Last night was one of those perfect evenings that came together without any planning or advance notice.  We had talked about the details of this night in the past, but conflicts kept getting in the way.  So when my girlfriend texted me Friday night to see if we were available on Saturday night, I said yes, and hoped it would come together.  And yep, it did - we were able to launch "our suburban version" of Chopped.

My friend Paul and I both love to cook, while his wife Lisa and my husband are not big fans of the culinary stuff.  Add in our other friends Chris and Jay who are awesome to be around, and we were ready to do what we had talked about a month ago.  Chris and Lisa gave Paul and I 4 "secret basket ingredients" at 4:45 PM.  We had 15 minutes to figure out our menu and an hour to shop, with a $50 budget.  Since the event would be at our house, I also let Paul know what we had on hand so that those ingredients would not be purchased with our small budget which had to feed 6 adults and 4 kids.

When I was given goat cheese, pecans, cilantro and spinach, my wheels started to turn - in a MILLION different directions.  I learned quickly that I am not a "off the top of my head" kind of gal.  Finally, I started to figure out some options (no internet access allowed) and off to the store, my daughter and I went.  We were only 50 cents over budget, which I was UBER proud of...until of course I found out that somehow Paul was $12 UNDER budget.  Show off :)

We all met up at our house at 6 PM and started the appetizer round at 7 or so.  I finally landed on something not as creative as I really wanted, but something that would use all 4 ingredients in a half hour time frame.  I made a spinach salad with chopped red and orange peppers, strawberry slices, goat cheese crumbles, and some candied pecans.  I had never candied pecans and had no idea of what I was doing, but I basically melted some brown sugar, butter and a tad of water.  From there, I coated the pecans and baked them.  They could have used a bit of extra sweetness, maybe cinnamon should be included next time, but at least they worked.

I also made a homemade dressing with goat cheese, olive oil, cilantro, key lime jelly, and some of the "sauce" from the candied pecans.  It was fabulous - as Jay said "I don't love many salad dressings, but I could drink this!"  Hindsight 20/20,  I wish the dressing would have been thicker as this picture would have looked much better!

Paul's appetizer was incredible.  He sliced a baguette (I also had bread but had not a chance of getting it in the oven within the time), and though I don't know exactly what he did, I know it was a topping with mushrooms, pureed cilantro, chopped pecans, garlic, goat cheese, etc.  It was so flipping YUMMY and he did an amazing job of "repurposing" the ingredients, which is what "Chopped" is all about.  I hate that we didn't get a picture of it!  but it was CHAOS!

We took some time to enjoy the appetizer round, Lisa was a huge help and did the dishes, and from there, we were ready for the entree round.  This one was MUCH easier for me as I could work from a recipe I already make.  I was going to stuff chicken breasts with a mixture of goat cheese, cilantro, spinach, and sundried tomatoes.  I would also make a topping of chopped pecans, bread crumbs and melted butter, coat the top of the chicken breasts and bake.  Let's just say that my time management skills SUCK as to bake the chicken alone took 25 minutes.  So add in my prep time and let's just say - I did NOT finish this round anywhere close to the 30 minutes we had allotted. 

In addition, I decided to do some quinoa, using my leftover chopped peppers, leftover salad dressing, some chicken broth, and some different herbs.  Added in a bit of my "crema" and it ended up super tasty and healthy to boot.  Wish I had done a prettier presentation!  I actually did add on 2 cherry tomato slices with a sprig of cilantro for the future plates.

Paul did a very creative version of reconstructing Chicken Florentine.  He took small pieces of chicken and sauteed them, while making a pot of fettucine and a delicious alfredo sauce.  It was tasty and oh so flavorful.

For dessert, Paul made an AMAZING lemon goat cheese cheesecake which he "whipped up" before our friendly competition ever began.  Let's just say that I'm happy that a few of those slices remain in OUR fridge. 

We are talking about doing this on a more regular basis, like once a month.  I honestly (and this will sound SO NERDY) felt like I grew in our culinary experience.  It actually inspired tonight's dinner (will do that post tomorrow).  I have a lot to learn and want to learn it.  These are people that we love spending time with, so I hope that we can do it more often.  For the next time, I suggested that our sophomores are our sous chefs - so that I can offload some of the prep work that weighed me down!  It was such a fun evening, complete with time hanging out on the deck as well as doing some dancing in the great room!  Here's to good friends.  And NEITHER of us was chopped!

Chicken Tortilla Soup

So...our fridge is STILL out of commission.  Having everything crammed into the outside fridge and a cooler has made cooking much more difficult.  It was raining and thundering all day, so instead of my usual craving for grilled food, I was wanting something more comforting, like a soup.  I found another new blog, and she's famous to boot I think.  Pioneer Woman?  I had heard the name but didn't know much about her.  But as I browsed through her recipes, I realized how much I liked her style of cooking.  My hope was to find a recipe for which I had most of the ingredients and that sounded good, and thankfully I found it.

Here is the link to her recipe, and below is how I adapted it, mainly based on what we had on hand and the amount of time I had!  And I bet it would hold its own without the chicken if you are vegetarian!

Chicken Tortilla Soup                             

Ingredients

2 whole  Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breasts

1 Tablespoon  Olive Oil

1-½ teaspoon  Cumin

1 teaspoon  Chili Powder

½ teaspoons  Garlic Powder

                 ½ teaspoons  Salt

1 Tablespoon  Olive Oil

2 cups of frozen tri pepper and onion mix, diced

3 cloves  Garlic, Minced

1 can  (10 Oz. Can) Rotel Tomatoes And Green Chilies

16 ounces, fluid  Low Sodium Chicken Stock

3 Tablespoons  Tomato Paste

4 cups  Hot Water 

1 can  (15 Oz. Can) Black Beans, Drained

1 can corn with peppers, drained

3 Tablespoons  Cornmeal Or Masa

5 whole  Corn Tortillas, Cut Into Uniform Strips Around 2 To 3 Inches

 FOR THE GARNISHES: Sour Cream

Diced Avocado

Diced Red Onion

Salsa Or Pico De Gallo

Grated Monterey Jack Cheese

Cilantro

        Preparation Instructions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Mix cumin, chili pepper, garlic powder, and salt. Drizzle 1 tablespoon olive oil on chicken breasts, then sprinkle a small amount of spice mix on both sides. Set aside the rest of the spice mix.

Place chicken breasts on a baking sheet. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until chicken is done. Use two forks to shred chicken. While the chicken was cooking, I heated 1 tablespoon olive oil in a pot over medium high heat. I added in the pepper and onion mix and garlic.  I am all for fresh veggies, but it is nice to have a bag of these frozen goodies on hand for times when you are in a pinch.  I bet if I didn't tell you I used frozen, you wouldn't have known!

Stir and begin cooking, then add the rest of the spice mix. Pour in Rotel, chicken stock, tomato paste, water, and black beans. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to a simmer.  Add in the chicken when it is finished, shredding it into the soup.

Mix cornmeal with a small amount of water. Pour into the soup, then simmer.  Check seasonings, adding more if needed— add more chili powder if it needs more spice, and be sure not to undersalt. Turn off heat and allow to sit for 15 to 20 minutes before serving. Five minutes before serving, gently stir in tortilla strips.  I also cooked a few tortillas in oil and crumbled on top of the soup.

Ladle into bowls, then top with sour cream, diced red onion, diced avocado, pico de gallo, and grated cheese, if you have it! (The garnishes really make the soup delicious.)

    I didn't have the 45 minutes to initially simmer with an additional 30 minutes, so I probably simmered for a total of 30 minutes or so - some while the chicken was cooking in the oven, and some with the chicken in there.  It is such a flavorful soup, I don't think it mattered, and I think it will be even better for lunch today!