Pan-fried Brussels Sprouts + Bacon + Chicken

I had never cooked Brussels sprouts before this blog entry. One of my good friends told me how she loved to cook Brussels sprouts with bacon. I thought it was an odd combo but I decided to try it out. It turned out amazing! The bitterness of the Brussels sprouts was cut by the savory bacon and the hint of cinnamon I put in this dish added a surprising sweetness to the dish. Hope you enjoy this one.

Pan-fried Brussels Sprouts + Bacon + Chicken
Ingredients

• 2 cloves garlic, pressed
• 1/2 tsp onion salt
• 1/4 tsp black pepper
• 1 lb brussel sprouts, halved
• 2 chicken breast, diced (503g/1 lb 1.7 oz)
• 1/2 lb bacon (preferably maple)
• 1 1/2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
• 1/4 tsp cinnamon

Procedure

1. In a large non-stick pan, start cooking the bacon to desired crispness. Flipping each strip after 3-5 minutes. After each strip is done cooking, place the strip on a plate covered with a paper towel to soak up excess bacon grease. When the strips have cooled enough to handle, cut up the bacon into 1-inch pieces.
2. While the bacon cooks, in a large wok /pot/pan add a little bit of the bacon grease to the pan. Cook the garlic for about 2 minutes, add the Brussels sprouts, onion, pepper, balsamic vinegar and cinnamon. Stir frequently.
3. Add the chicken to the large pan containing the Brussels sprouts. Cook the chicken until the meat is no longer pink.
4. Finally, add the bacon to the large pan containing the Brussels sprouts and chicken. Mix well and let the flavors intermingle for about 5-8 minutes. Stir frequently.
5. Enjoy with your choice of starch, i.e. a baked potato or rice.

 

Pan-fried Brussels Sprouts + Bacon + Chicken Estimated Nutrition Facts per Recipe
Total calories	1952
Total fat  (g)	101
Saturated fat  (g)	32
Unsaturated fat (g)
Trans fat  (g)	0
Cholesterol  (mg)	543
Sodium (g)	8
Potassium (mg)
Total carbohydrates  (g)	58
Dietary fiber (g)	17
Sugar (g)	20
Protein (g)	207

 

 

Pan-fried Brussels Sprouts + Bacon + Chicken Estimated Nutrition Facts per serving (4 servings per recipe)
Total calories	488
Total fat  (g)	25
Saturated fat  (g)	8
Unsaturated fat (g)
Trans fat  (g)	0
Cholesterol  (mg)	136
Sodium (g)	2
Potassium (mg)
Total carbohydrates  (g)	14.5
Dietary fiber (g)	4.25
Sugar (g)	5
Protein (g)	51.75

 

Chicken Fajitas

I was having trouble thinking of a good recipe to post. I kept on listing 5 random ingredients to try and come up with a dish. Then I realized that I had all the fixings to make chicken fajitas. To keep it healthier, I served the fajitas with whole wheat tortilla and non-fat Greek yogurt instead of sour cream.

Made with love

Chicken Fajitas
Ingredients

• 1/4 onion, minced (117g/ 4.1 oz)
• 1/2 green pepper, sliced (82 g/ 2.9 oz)
• 1/2 red pepper, sliced (87 g/ 3 oz)
• 1 tsp extra virgin olive oil
• 2 cloves of garlic, pressed or minced
• 2 chicken breasts (1 lb 4.8 oz, 592 g)
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp crushed red pepper
• 1/2 tsp paprika
• 1 1/2 tsp cumin
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp balsamic vinegar
• 1/4 tsp honey
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• whole wheat tortilla

Procedure

1. In a large pan cook the onion and garlic in the olive oil until onion begins to look translucent. 
2. Add the chicken breast and all of the spices to the pan. Stir frequently. Cook the chicken until it is no longer pink.
3. Add the red and green pepper to the pan. Stir frequently. Cook until peppers become tender.
4. Serve chicken fajitas on whole wheat tortilla.

Chicken Fajitas (excluding tortilla) Estimated Nutrition Facts per Recipe
Total calories	684
Total fat  (g)	9
Saturated fat  (g)	3
Unsaturated fat (g)
Trans fat  (g)	0
Cholesterol  (mg)	341
Sodium (g)	3
Potassium (mg)	0
Total carbohydrates  (g)	23
Dietary fiber (g)	5
Sugar (g)	14
Protein (g)	129

Chicken Fajitas (excluding tortilla) Estimated Nutrition Facts per serving
Total calories	171
Total fat  (g)	2.25
Saturated fat  (g)	0.75
Unsaturated fat (g)	0
Trans fat  (g)	0
Cholesterol  (mg)	85.25
Sodium (g)	0.75
Potassium (mg)	0
Total carbohydrates  (g)	5.75
Dietary fiber (g)	1.25
Sugar (g)	3.5
Protein (g)	32.25

Baked Coconut and Oatmeal Breaded Chicken Nuggets Revisited

I originally posted a baked coconut and oatmeal breaded chicken nuggets recipe in January, which I completely forgot about. I thought I had come up with a new recipe this weekend, but it turns out it was just a rehash of the recipe I did in January. One of the major differences between this recipe and January's recipe is that in January I didn't have a food processor. This time I had fun pulverizing oatmeal into an almost powder. Unfortunately this time I had the opposite problem of January's recipe--not enough moisture. I was essentially eating raw oatmeal. It seems like I need to come up with a third recipe to perfect the baked coconut and oatmeal breaded chicken nuggets. Oh well, everything tastes better with a little honey mustard.

Pulverized oatmeal

Oatmeal and coconut mixture

Nuggets fresh from the oven

Served with sweet potato fries!

Baked Coconut and Oatmeal Breaded Chicken Nuggets Revisited

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup sweetened coconut flakes
• 10 oz of chicken breast cut into nuggets
• 1 egg
• 2/3 cup old fashioned oatmeal

Procedure

1. In a food processor, blend, pulse, pulverize (etc.) the oatmeal into a powder or as close to a breading texture as you can.
2. In a small bowl or dish mix the coconut flakes and the pulverized oatmeal together. In another small bowl, beat the egg.
3. Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Cover a baking sheet with foil and then grease the foil covered baking sheet with a little oil.
4. Bread the chicken by coating the pieces with egg and then covering each piece with the oatmeal-coconut mixture.
5. Place the pieces of breaded chicken about 1 inch apart from each other on the foil covered baking sheet.
6. Bake for 20 minutes or until chicken pieces are cooked through.

Baked Coconut and Oatmeal Breaded Chicken Nuggets Revisited (Estimated Nutritional Facts: Per serving. 2 servings per recipe)
Total Calories		450.30
Total Fat (g)		21.11
Cholesterol(mg)		183.92
Sodium (mg)		144.46
Potassium (mg)		499.59
Total Carbs (g)		26.18
Fiber (g)		7.33
Sugar (g)		5.77
Protein (g)		36.66

Baked Coconut and Oatmeal Breaded Chicken Nuggets

I had this craving for chicken nuggets but I didn't feel like buying bread crumbs or shelling out money for Chik-Fil-A. So I got coconut flakes instead and threw in some oatmeal and milk for this experimental breading/batter. I got the proportions wrong and the presentation wasn't that great, but that just means I know what I can adjust next time: more of the dry ingredients or less milk. As far as experiments go, this one was quite tasty. I ate it with some honey mustard, but it tasted pretty good without any dipping sauce.

The ingredients

Before baking

After baking. Looks are deceiving. These are actually pretty tasty.

Baked Coconut and Oatmeal Breaded Chicken Nuggets
Ingredients

• 1/2 cup oatmeal
• 1/2 cup sweetened coconut flakes
• 1/2 cup flour
• 2/3 cup skim milk
• ~ 1 lb chicken cut into nugget sized pieces

Procedure

1. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees Farenheit.
2. Mix the oatmeal, coconut flakes, flour and milk into a shallow dish.
3. Coat the pieces of chicken in the breading. Then place on cookie sheet.
4. Bake for 45 min. Serve with honey mustard or whatever dipping sauce you prefer.

Chicken and Broccoli Casserole

I had an extra box of potatoes au gratin and figured I'd make a casserole out of it. It'd make a nice, well-rounded meal. I had some frozen broccoli and some chicken in the fridge. Cheesy, potato-y chicken and broccoli sounded delicious and tasted even better. This dish definitely turned out way better than I thought it would. Next time I want to try it with already prepared chicken to save time. Maybe I'll try it with canned chicken.

Ingredients laid out

Defrosted frozen broccoli

Seasoned and pan fried chicken

Before baking

After baking

Delicious lunch

Chicken and Broccoli Casserole

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup frozen broccoli (defrosted)
• box of potatoes au gratin (4.4 oz)
• milk
• butter
• water
• chicken
• 2 tbsp chopped onion
• Italian seasoning
• pepper
• cooking oil

Procedure

1. Cook the chicken in a pan with the onion, Italian seasoning, pepper, and cooking oil until the meat is no longer pink. Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
2. Follow the instructions on the box of potato au gratin and mix in the cooked chicken and broccoli before putting in the oven.
3. Bake for the instructed amount of time.

Chicken, mushrooms, and green beans in cilantro pesto with a side of wannabe guacamole mashed potatoes

Soundtrack: 60s, 70s and 80s hits Pandora Station

I didn't intend for there to be a green theme, but it just so happened that I had left over cilantro and I had more avocado. I woke up pretty late this morning (or afternoon?) and I had this impulse to cook something. Maybe I dreamed about it or was thinking about it before I drifted off to sleep the night before, but I knew what I needed to cook: avocado mashed potatoes (wannabe guacamole mashed potatoes) and something with cilantro pesto. Mashed potatoes and guacamole are two of my favorite foods. Potatoes are my comfort food and if anything has avocado listed in the food description on a menu I will most likely order it. Why not combine the two? I shouldn't take all the credit for wannabe guacamole mashed potatoes because I recall finding a recipe online for something similar to what I made today (but mine is better, in my humble opinion.).

I don't usual plan out what I cook so it's usually an experiment. I was lucky that this time it didn't suck and that I remembered to write down  specifically all the ingredients that I used. I'm not entirely certain that what I made was actually a pesto, but I'm just going to call it that anyway. Also, I foresee in the future that I will unintentionally (perhaps now, intentionally) have several posts in the row involving the same ingredients because I need to use up the fresh fruits and vegetables before they go bad. I might as well write about it.

Some parting comments: I should have added a little more salt and pepper to the chicken entree and I should have had more than 1 clove of garlic in the pesto. Other than that, I feel like today's experiment was a success.

 Mashed avocado and finely chopped cilantro 

Mashed potatoes with one head of oven roasted garlic mashed in

Wannabe guacamole mashed potatoes

Cilantro Pesto: finely chopped cilantro, garlic clove, 3 tsp extra virgin olive oil

Main dish: chicken, mushroom, green beans with cilantro pesto
 

Lunch!

Wannabe guacamole mashed potatoes

Ingredients:

4 medium potatoes peeled and cut into 8ths

~1/3 cup cilantro finely chopped

1 head of garlic

2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

1 tsp of salt

1 avocado

1/2 tbsp lime juice

1/2 tsp ground cumin

1 tbsp sour cream

Directions:

1. Cook the potatoes in a large pot of boiling water until you can easily poke a fork through the potato. Then drain and set aside.
2. While the potatoes are cooking, preheat the oven to 350 F and remove most of the skin off the head of garlic leaving only a 1 or 2 layers of skin. Line a cookie sheet with foil. Place the head of garlic in the center and then cover it in the 2 tbsp of extra virgin olive oil. Bake garlic for 20 min or until you can easily poke a fork through a clove of garlic. Set aside.
3. In a large bowl, add in the peeled and seeded avocado, lime juice, cumin, cilantro and sour cream. Mash and blend until well mixed and relatively smooth.
4. Using the same pot you boiled the potatoes in, mash the potatoes. Carefully remove the remaining skin on the oven roasted garlic and mash the garlic in a small bowl. Add the mashed garlic into the mashed potatoes. Add salt and pepper to taste. Mix until all ingredients are well-blended.
5. Spoon the mashed potato mixture into the large bowl with the avocado/guacamole mixture. Blend all ingredients until relatively smooth.

Cilantro Pesto

Ingredients:

1/3 cup finely chopped cilantro

1 clove garlic mined

3 tsp extra virgin olive oil

Directions:

1. Finely chop the cilantro and finely mince the garlic. Then combine all ingredients.

Chicken, mushroom, and green bean entree

Ingredients:

cilantro pesto (see above)

~ 1 cup sliced mushrooms

~1/2-1 lb chicken cut into pieces

1/2 small onion diced

1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

~1/2 cup cooked green beans

salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Pour in the tables spoon of oil into a large pan and cook the diced onion on medium heat until slightly golden.
2. Add the sliced and washed mushrooms to the pan. Cook mushrooms for about 5 minutes or until slightly brown. Stir occasionally.
3. Add the chicken into the pan and cook until the chicken is no longer pink.
4. Stir in the cooked green beans and the pesto. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Portobello, pasta and parfait

This is what I had for dinner. It was so much fun to make and there's tons left over.

I love the colors! Hurray for Buittoni mixed cheese tortellini.

The smell of the chicken, wine, and butter just made my mouth water. I guess it didn't help that I was also really hungry when I was cooking this.

And to end the meal, we have a mixed berry parfait. There's layers of vanilla fro yo, mixed berries blended with whipped cream and fresh slices of strawberries. Oh, and the whipped cream was from scratch. Whipped cream from scratch is the best! Note to self: whip the whipping cream before blending with the mixed berries.