One Pan Chicken and Baby Broccoli with Spicy Peanut Sauce

I made this MONTHS ago and totally forgot to post it.

My bad, because it's seriously delicious and super easy.  Everything, and I mean EVERYTHING, is pretty much cooked on one sheet pan.

I was inspired by the recipe in the book Sheet Pan Suppers, and then made a few adjustments to make it more points friendly. 

This dish serves 4 and it's a pretty good serving.  I basically dished out 1 chicken breast per person and then split the broccolini.  I served it along some cauliflower "fried" rice and it was perfect!

(There was more broccolini left on the sheet!)

Only 6 Smartpoints per serving!

One Pan Chicken and Baby Broccoli with Spicy Peanut Sauce
Serves 4 - 6 Smartpoints per serving 

Cooking spray
1 tbsp. brown sugar
6 tbsp. Better 'n Peanut Butter Original Peanut Spread (or PB2 mixed with water)
1 tbsp. sesame oil
1/4 cup Bragg's Liquid Aminos (or soy sauce)
1 tbsp. Siracha sauce
1 tbsp. rice vinegar
1/4 cup warm water
1 tbsp. freshly squeezed lime juice
1 pound broccolini
16 oz. uncooked boneless skinless chicken breast

Preheat oven to broil, with rack 4 inches from heat.  Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil and spray with cooking spray.

For the sauce, whisk together brown sugar, peanut butter, sesame oil, liquid aminos, siracha, vinegar, water and lime juice until smooth.

Lay chicken breasts and broccolini on baking sheet.  Coat with sauce evenly.   Once done, arrange chicken and broccolini in a tight layer.    Broil, flip the chicken halfway through and the broccolini is cooked through (about 10-12 minutes, but keep an eye!)

Portion among four plates and serve!

Crockpot Sausage and Tortellini Soup

Crockpots are literally the best kitchen tool ever.

Well, next to the avocado slicer.

I mean what is easier than throwing everything in a pot and plugging it in?  Plus, your home smells amazing for hours.

This soup is super hearty and delicious and healthy.  I don't like to repeat meals so soon after each other but this one?  I'm on my second week.  It's THAT good.

I adapted this from my latest cookbook of the week - Crockpot Family Favorites.  To make it healthier and a bit more point friendly, and more to my liking, I made several changes, including upping the veggies significantly, using lean turkey sausages, and using tomato sauce instead of diced tomatoes (totally a consistency thing for me).

The great thing about this soup is that it is totally customizable - whatever veggies you like or have on hand, throw them in!  You can also try different kinds of tortellini.  When I made this a second time, I used spinach and cheese tortellini and it was fabulous!

Crockpot Sausage and Tortellini Soup
6 servings (about 2 1/4 cups per serving) at 6 Smartpoints each

3 lean hot Italian turkey sausages, casings removed
3 lean sweet Italian turkey sausages, casings removed
6 cups low sodium, fat free chicken broth
1 29oz can tomato sauce
1 cup shredded carrots
1 tsp. Italian seasoning
1/4 tsp. black pepper
1 package (9 oz) refrigerated tortellini
3 cups broccoli florets
1 1/2 cups chopped zucchini
2 1/2 cups spinach and kale mix

Cook sausages in a large skillet until cooked through.  Add cooked sausages, broth, tomato sauce, carrots, Italian seasoning, and pepper to Crockpot.  Cook on high for 3 hours.

After 3 hours, add broccoli and zucchini and cook for another hour.  Then, add in tortellini and spinach / kale mixture.  Cook for another 30-45 minutes.

Serve and enjoy!

Cheesy Baked Polenta with Mixed Herbs

I used to eat polenta all the time.  And then, I sort of forgot about it.

Seeing this recipe in my cookbook of the week, Sheet Pan Suppers, reminded me that I really need to get back into polenta.

This recipe is super easy and a delicious side dish.  The polenta gets nice and crispy on the outside, but super creamy on the inside.  The parmesan cheese adds a nice, salty kick.

I made 1 or 2 small modifications, so if you are following Weight Watchers - only 5 smartpoints per serving, which is 4 slices!

I had it for dinner with some zoodles and avocado and a fried egg.  It was absolutely filling and delicious!

Cheesy Baked Polenta with Mixed Herbs
Serves 4
5 Smartpoints per serving

Olive oil cooking spray
1 tube precooked polenta, cut into 16 slices
1 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
1/2 tsp. kosher salt
1/2 tsp. freshly ground cracked black pepper
1/4 grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 mixed fresh thyme and chives (or herbs of choice!)

Preheat oven to 400.  Spray a sheet with the olive oil spray.  Space out the polenta rounds evenly on the pan.  With a brush, brush each slice with olive oil.  Sprinkle with the salt and apper.

Bake for 20 minutes, flipping the polenta about halfway through.

Remove from oven and sprinkle with cheese and herbs.  Return to oven for about 5 minutes, or until cheese is melted.

(I stored the leftovers in the fridge, and just reheated in the oven - they were great!)

Cookbook of the Week: Sheet Pan Suppers

Happy Sunday all!

Just a quick little intro to this week's cookbook of the week!

So basically, Sheet Pan Suppers is a book of recipes that can all be made on a sheet pan.  And there really aren't that many other pans required for most of them!

I played around with 2 recipes from here:

Cheesy Baked Polenta with Fresh Herbs
Quick Chicken and Baby Broccoli with Spicy Peanut Sauce

Keep an eye out later this week for the recipes!

Artichoke and Goat Cheese Strata

So, in case it isn't already blatantly obvious?  I'm a BIG breakfast person.

I also love anything I can make ahead and bring for lunch as leftovers for the week.

This particular recipe I found while thumbing through my cookbook of the week.

So, it's eggs, bread, artichokes and goat cheese.  There is nothing wrong with any of that.

I adapted it to make it a bit more Weight Watchers friendly and so I could calculate the points, but I will link both the original recipe and the adaptation below!

This would be a fabulous brunch dish, one you could easily make ahead and cook off when your guests arrive.  It's hearty, with a bit of salt from the artichokes and tang from the goat cheese.

Artichoke and Goat Cheese Strata
Adapted from Cooking Light

Serves 6
8 Smartpoints Per Serving

1 tsp. extra virgin olive oil
1 10 oz package frozen artichoke hearts, thawed and chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 3/4 cup skim milk
4 eggs
1/3 cup grated parmesan cheese
6 slices whole wheat sprouted bread, chopped into cubes
1/2 tsp. herbs de Provence
1/2 tsp. pepper
1/4 tsp. salt
3 oz. crumbled goat cheese, divided

Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium heat, add olive oil.  Add artichokes and garlic and cook for about 8 minutes.  Stir occasionally.  Remove from heat, add herbs, and let cool.

In a bowl, combine milk, eggs, salt and pepper.  Once combined, add bread and parmesan cheese.  Add artichoke mixture and let sit for about 20 minutes.

Preheat oven to 375.  Spray a 2 quart casserole dish with cooking spray.  Add in half the artichoke mixture, then half the goat cheese.  Top with the rest of the artichoke mixture and the rest of the goat cheese. Bake for about 50 minutes.

20 Minute Chicken Enchiladas

This may have been one of the easiest things I have ever made.

I got the recipe from here: 

And it is actually about 2 dishes?  But still worth it!

I actually followed this recipe pretty strictly, except I didn't shred the chicken.  I had some cooked Trader Joe's chicken on hand that was already in cubes so I just used that.

This recipe makes 6 servings, with a serving size being 2 of the enchiladas.  I served it with some roasted veggies and it made a super filling dinner for just 8 Smartpoints, for those counting!

20 Minute Chicken Enchiladas

New Cookbook of the Week!

The next in this series anyway.

To be honest, it's not so much a cookbook as a magazine compilation but hey, it still counts in my book!

I'm all about the easiness of a one dish meal!

Out of this book, I'm experimenting with:

20 minute Chicken Enchiladas
Artichoke, Egg, and Goat Cheese Strata

Stay tuned for recipes this weekend!

Taco Baked Chicken

So, to start of the New Year with the best of intentions, I'm really trying to plan ahead and cook on the weekends, thereby having leftovers for lunches and dinners during the week.

In addition, I'm also attempting to actually use the plethora of cookbooks I have (see my recent post on the my new Cookbook of the Week series!).

First up - The Busy Woman's Cookbook!

In thumbing through my first cookbook of the week, the taco baked chicken recipe caught my eye.  4 ingredients - however one was a huge amount of butter.

So I thought about it, and came up with a simple substitution that was much healthier - Greek yogurt.  What ended up happening was that the yogurt not only really helped the "breading" stick to the chicken, but it also kept it super juicy.

The recipe also called for corn chex but the store was out so I improvised with corn flakes!

Great right out of the oven, and great for leftovers!

Taco Baked Chicken (Serves 6)

Adapted from The Busy Woman's Cookbook

1 serving - 5 Smartpoints

6 chicken breasts (I used the thin sliced ones - the total weight was about 24 oz.)

4 cups of organic corn flakes, crushed

1 packet low sodium taco seasoning

1/2 cup 2% Greek yogurt

Spray a baking sheet and preheat the oven to 350.

Crush the corn flakes (I used a mini food processor - super quick).  Pour into a pie plate and add the taco seasoning, mixing until combined.

Using a pastry brush, brush each chicken breast with the Greek yogurt on both sides.  Then dip each chicken breast into the taco / corn flake mixture until coated on both sides.

Lay back on baking sheet and cook for about 20-25 minutes, or until chicken is cooked through (if using thicker chicken breasts, they will need to cook longer).  Then, broil for another 2-3 minutes to really crisp it up.

As a note, I didn't flip them halfway through - next time I may try that so the bottom gets just as crispy.

Cookbook of the Week: The Busy Woman's Cookbook

So, during my move this summer, I discovered something.

I have a LOT of cookbooks.  A LOT.

With the new year, I decided to make a sort of resolution - use 1 cookbook a week and try (or more likely adapt) 2 recipes from it.

I figured 2 was an easy number.

So this is the first installment!

The first cookbook is The Busy Woman's Cookbook, where all the recipes feature 3 or 4 ingredients max.

So, true facts - this is not the healthiest cookbook in the world.  However, it is easily adaptable to make healthy!

The two recipes I'm adapting this week are taco baked chicken and a strawberry kiwi salad.  Look for those coming up soon!

In the meantime, if you are interested in this cookbook, it is available on Amazon!


Busy Woman's Cookbook