Grilled Chicken with Pico De Gallo and Creamy Goat Cheese Rice

I am always looking for low calorie easy dishes that we can throw on the BBQ and this is one of my absolute favorites! It has a juicy chicken breast with a risoto style easy rice base and zesty Pico De Gallo to add freshness to the dish. Yum!

Ingredients:
3 Chicken breast
2 cups minute rice
2 cups Chicken Stock
5 tbs Creamy plain Chevre (I like Fairview Goat Farm's)
Pico De Gallo (I get mine pre-made from the produce section in the grocery store)

Seasonings:
Rosemary
Garlic powder
Salt
Pepper
Cumin

Instructions:
Season the chicken breasts on both sides and either grill on a cast iron pan or out door BBQ. Cook 2 cups of minute rice with 2 cups of chicken stock. Combine cooked rice with Chevre and lightly season with pepper and salt.
Assemble by putting rice on plate top with the chicken breast and garnish with Pico de Gallo.

It doesn't get any easier Alfredo! (gluten free and cow dairy free)

Hello, my name is Danielle and I have an addiction...to pasta ;)

I love fettuccini Alfredo so much I'm willing to eat it, drug myself with allergy medicine and be miserable for almost a week just to have a couple bites at Olive Garden. It's ridiculous and self destructive so I've put an end to the madness and come up with a simple and tasty alternative for those who want to use regular pasta or gluten free!

(Single serving)
1 serving of Rice pasta try DeBoles
1/4-1/2 cup of cooked chicken (I use left over rottiserie chicken you can bake/boil or pan sear a breast of chicken if you don't have left overs)
2 tbs of Chevre (I love Fairview Goat Farm's)
1tbs Earth Balance Margarine
1/4 cup of frozen broccoli (microwaved to heat)
Salt and pepper to taste!

You're not going to believe me how easy this is until you try it yourself =D

Boil the pasta in salted water, drain and place back on the burner low heat.
Add the margarine, chevre, chicken and broccoli. Stir until evenly incorporated and heated all the way through!
Salt and pepper to taste.
It really is that simple, and delicious! For additional zing add a tbs of bruchetta or pico de gallo.

Apple and herb turkey (yumm!)

Even though it feels like it was just Thanksgiving, Christmas is right around the corner! I have a super recipe for an easy and moist turkey.
Ingredients:
Defrosted Turkey
1 Green apple
1 sweet onion
1 bunch of poultry herbs
     Thyme, rosemary, sage and parsley.
(check out the prepacked fresh herbs in the produce section at Safeway, FredMyer, or your local grocery store)
5 tbs of melted dairy free margarine
Salt, pepper, paprika, garlic powder, onion powder

In a large foil pan or roasting pan take the giblets out of the neck cavity of the turkey (it is super important these are removed so the packaging doesn't contaminate the bird!) either throw the giblets away or start simmering them on low in a low sodium chicken stock. Stuff the herbs, apple (halved) and onion (quartered) in to the turkey's cavity.

This is a 14lb bird, takes about 4 hours on 375 degrees Fahrenheit
The internal temp should be no lower than 180 degrees Fahrenheit

 Cover the skin of the turkey with the melted margarine and sprinkle the seasons to taste. Go light on the paprika because it will burn easily.

Cover the whole thing in foil for the first 3 hours (or depending on the size of your bird for the first 3/4 of the baking time per instructions on the packaging) After 3/4 of the baking time remove foil and use part of it to create an upside down V to place over the turkey breast (this helps keep the white meat moist while the dark meat is still finishing up) Every 15 minutes or so spoon the drippings in the bottom of the pan on top of the bird to retain moisture. Once the nifty red button has popped or the internal temp is at 180 degrees Fahrenheit remove that bird from the oven. For optimum moisture let the turkey rest for an hour before carving. I like to utilize the resting period to make gravy from the drippings and prepare my sides.

During the last hour of baking I like to throw in some red potatoes for convenience. You can eat them
as baked potatoes or peal and mash them.

Voila! She's beautiful and moist!

HINT: Save your apple and onion from the chest cavity for a delicious left over wrap/sandwich the next day.

For an easy and scrumptious lunch take your left over turkey, a couple slices of the cooked apple, a couple of layers of the baked onion, spread a thin layer of Chevre or cream cheese on the inside of a gluten free tortilla or bread (I really enjoy Udi's gluten free bread products!).

That's it! Enjoy! 

BBQ and Football

My husband and I are both trying to lose our "baby weight" gain and so any opportunity I have to swap out your traditional full fat munchies or meals I will. Today the boys are watching football and the request for food was KFC and chips/ dip. Although I LOVE KFC extra crispy chicken (it's dairy free!), that's a whole lot of calories to spend on one meal. I fired up the BBQ. First I washed up some red potatoes and individually wrapped them in aluminum foil with a drizzle of olive oil, sea salt, ground pepper, and garlic powder. With the potatoes on the grill at 500 degrees I went back inside and started on my chicken. I like to substitute flavor for fat. I took fresh chicken breasts and seasoned with rosemary, garlic powder, onion powder, seasalt and pepper on both sides. The key to not having the chicken stick to the grill is to not touch them until they have formed a nice golden crust.

The rosemary smells so good as it's grilling! Yummo! To replace the bisquits I pulled some premade pizza dough out of the fridge and rolled into one long baguette and baked in the oven. Trader Joes premade pizza dough has 4 ingredients in it and is dairy free! My food philosophy is that the fewer the ingredients in something premade the better! 

If you skip the bread and just have the chicken and potatoes the meal is satisfying and gluten free/dairy free. 

I chose not to add anything else to my plate but the boys
topped off their potatoes and bread with a little Good Earth dairy free/gluten free
margarine.

For the chips and dip I pulled a trick out of my hat, I love pampered chef products! I used my mini mandolin on size 1 and sliced up some raw red potatoes. I laid them flat and single layered on my microwave chip maker also from pampered chef. I have seen these in the "as seen on TV" section at Walmart if you don't have a pampered chef you support through ordering products. I lightly salted with seasalt, some fresh ground pepper and microwaved for 4 1/2 minutes. 6 trays worth was the perfect amount for a super healthy alternative to your usual potato chips. For the dip I got out the got Chevre we have from the farmers market and the boys were super stoked! 

Items needed: Microwave chip trays, mandolin, sea salt,
pepper and red potatoes... an adorable assistant
makes for fun too!

season to taste! Hint: fresh ground
pepper when heated up can have
a good bite, use sparingly. 

This is one serving of chips about 3/4 of a red potato
which is approx. 75 calories with seasoning.