Chicken Ideas!

I have recently started a program called LA Weight Loss. Its very similar to Weight Watchers where you count points. You can have so many veggies, fruit, starches, protein, fats and so on.

Right now the proteins I can have are chicken, some seafood and then some vegetarian proteins such as eggs and all natural peanut butter. I want to eat more chicken but there are only so many ways I know how to cook it. I can't have salt and I can't fry. I have done some pan frying and baking, but i get so sick of it. I am not sure what seasonings to use.

Anyone have any good recipe ideas?!?!

Wed. Aug 1, 10:45am

Perdue makes these awesome single serving chicken breasts that come in a bag, individually wrapped. They come plain or seasoned. The italian ones are to die for. You just unwrap, put it in a pan with some pam and flip after 5 minutes. Yum.
Also you can put breasts in a baking dish and pour salsa over them, bake and enjoy. They are also delicious.

Wednesday, August 01, 2007, 11:47 AM

get yourself some garlic and herb Mrs. Dash. Fantastic on chicken. Actually, Mrs. Dash varieties are often great on chicken...

Seasoning suggestions will also be basil, oregano, savoury, paprika.

Sautee it with salsa- serve over rice. Bread it with whole grain crumbs (I personally use crushed rye crackers), spray with pam and bake- then broil w tomato sauce and mozza w a dash or parmesan for chicken parmagiana. Make homemade chicken soup, bbq kabob, put on top of a ceasar salad. Pound it under a rolling pin til it's flat enough to stuff/roll with something (spinach, artichoke and cream cheese, wild rice, broccoli and cheese) and bake. Roast with veggies. Possibilities on what to do with pan fried or baked chicken are endless...

Wednesday, August 01, 2007, 11:55 AM

stuff the with spinach and feta crumbles....mmmm....good :)

Wednesday, August 01, 2007, 12:13 PM

OP here

All that sounds great! Making me hungry. Thanks so much for the tips!

I have tried some of the Mrs. Dash, but not the garlic and herb one. I love garlic. I will have to pic some of that up.

:)

Wednesday, August 01, 2007, 12:27 PM

chicken Ideas

You can thaw out a frozen chicken breast. Add it to a pan with a little Pam, shallots, and garlic and add about a 1/2 cup of white wine and a teaspoon of lemon juice. Sprinkle some pepper and the chicken is so good. There is no salt and very light with the Pam.

Wednesday, August 01, 2007, 12:35 PM

Use this as an opportunity to explore new herbs. If you have a Penzey's in your area, go there and make it a fun outing. They have apothecary jars filled with samples of every herb and spice they sell so you can sniff before you buy. I love to explore and try out new herbs or mixed combinations on chicken and fish.

If you don't have a Penzey's store near you, shop on their web site (link below). They have full descriptions of every product to help you make your choices.

One of my favorites for chicken is their Bouquet Garni. I season chicken with it before I grill and it gives it a fun and elegant flavor. I've gotten my best friend in upstate New York hooked on it by tucking a small jar into one of my care packages I sent her last year.

Keep a good-quality pepper mill at hand and add some fresh-ground pepper as well. Mix it up a little by doing a course grind today and a fine grind tomorrow, for variation in taste, texture, and appearance, as well as dominance of the pepper over other flavors that are present.

There's nothing more boring to the eye than a naked chicken breast, so add visual interest with these powdered herbs and spices as well as fresh chopped ingredients - green onions, chives, diced tomatoes, red onions, pearl onions, roasted garlic cloves, cilantro, fresh dill. Try adding fruit - canned mandarin orange segments, fresh mango (goes great with red onions and jalapeno or a few drops of Asian chili sauce).

And a teaspoon of fat free sour cream.

Oh lordy ... now I'm hungry. Gotta run to the kitchen and do something creative.

Enjoy!

Link

Wednesday, August 01, 2007, 12:51 PM

Fun with a kitchen mallet! (looks like a hammer) Pounding a chicken breast with a mallet tenderizes it and reduces the thickenss so it cooks very quickly. I couldn't imagine eating as much chicken as I do without one. Here are several recipes that call for one.

Place chicken beast in a gallon size freezer bag, lie the bag on the counter and with the mallet, pound the chicken breast til it's pretty darn flat and ~1/2" thin (a bit thinner if you like). Remove the chicken breast from the bag and lay it on a plate - place one layer of spinach leaves, one layer of thinly sliced tomatoes and 1 Tbsp of FF feta crumbles on it. Grab one end and fold it over 1/3, fold again so you have somthing that sorta looks like a jelly roll. The original recipe called for bread crumbs, but I just spritz lightly with olive oil (to keep it from drying out). Bake covered at 400 for 20 minutes, uncover and bake for 10 more. Your family will love you, your friends will be amazed and you will be surprised that you cooked something this impressive ;-)

Another variation on the above is to spread the flattened chicken breast with cranberry sauce (I make my own sugar-free vanilla-almond cranberry sauce and keep it on hand) and sprinkle with blue cheese or gogonzola crumbles (just a little goes a long way). Then fold and bake as the above recipe. The cranberry juice oozes out and the chicken actually bakes in the juice - so moist and yummy! Using sugar-free cranberry sauce keeps that variation really light. This is amazing in the fall with squash.

I have a slightly heavier recipe (but still not bad) that calls for lightly breading the flattened chicken breast with flour, and then sautee'ing in a hot skillet for 8 minutes (4 on each side - use Pam or a moderate amount of butter). The chicken should be completely cooked (remember it's pretty thin). Remove the chicken and set to the side. Add 1 med-large chopped shallot to the hot skillet and saute til the edges are browned. Add 1/2 cup balsamic vinegar, 1/2 cup chicken broth, 1 Tbsp honey, 1 Tbsp mustard and assorted herbs (parsley, chives, organo, basil, etc) and add to the hot pan with the shallots in it. Cook the whole mixture on high til it reduces to 1/4. Use as sauce on the chicken. I've often thought this would be amazing salad dressing. I get so many compliments on this one! However, definitely prepare all ingredients in advance - this is an uber-fast recipe!

Bon Appetite!

Wednesday, August 01, 2007, 12:57 PM

OP again

12:51 and 12:47 YUMMY!

I am going to have to write all that down for my recipe book!

I never thought of pounding the chicken breast out. GREAT idea!

Wednesday, August 01, 2007, 1:03 PM

I love the pre-seasoned breasts from Perdue that were mentioned earlier. Pound them (in a plastic bag) with a kitchen mallet until flat. Not only will the cook quickly (as another poster mentioned), but they seem HUGE and it fools you into feeling like you ate an enormous piece of chicken, but it's only one breast! I eat these about 3 nights a week. My whole family loves them. You can also get them pre-seasoned at Costco with more variety than Perdue has.

Wednesday, August 01, 2007, 2:34 PM

I want that cranberry sauce recipe!!!!

will you post it?

Wednesday, August 01, 2007, 2:46 PM

Cranberry sauce:

1 bag cranberries
3/4 cup Sugar-Free Almond Syrup (the kind they use in coffee shops)
3/4 cup Sugar-Free Vanilla Syrup
1/2 cup water
(you can vary the amounts of syup to taste and also add grated orange peel and/or orange pieces)

In a saucepan bring the liquid to a boil, add the cranberries and return to boiling. Reduce heat and simmer until all the cranberries 'pop' and the sauce is at the desired consistency (remember it will thicken a bit more as it cools).

Place in freezer containers and freeze if desired - it freezes well. I also like to use this and a bit of water for cooking pork cutlets in (brown them and then simmer in the cranberry sauce and water). It rocks on turkey sandwiches with some lite laughing cow cheese, I love it in a wrap, and it's just pretty good on plain old roasted chicken breast as well.

Wednesday, August 01, 2007, 3:20 PM

Good Thread

Great ideas here!

Wednesday, August 01, 2007, 3:29 PM

OP here

I am excited I did something good! I have gotten some GREAT feedback. ThANKS GUYS! Keep it coming!

Wednesday, August 01, 2007, 3:55 PM

I posted earlier, then just re-read your original message and have another suggestion for you. Since you're allowed to have peanut butter on your plan, you can make some awesome Thai dishes.

Chicken Satay - make little chicken skewers and bake or grill them. Make a dipping sauce with peanut butter, fresh lime juice, cilantro, spicy a little coconut milk (use the Lite version and not very much), and Sriracha chili sauce.

If you haven't tried Sriracha sauce, you're missing out. I've added a link below, but I discovered a few years ago on the table of my favorite Asian restaurant in Tulsa. It's hot, but also has a lot of great flavor. I found it in a grocery store and bought a bottle, and found that I use it a lot in my cooking. I put a few drops into eggs when I make omelets or scrambled eggs. I use it in egg wash for crumb coated chicken or fish. I use it in stir fries, homemade salad dressings, and anything that seems to add just another layer of flavor complexity.

Link

Wednesday, August 01, 2007, 4:12 PM

My favorite thing to do with chicken is super easy. Put a chicken breast (or as many as you need) in a tupperware container and then cover with about 1/3 a bottle of fat free Italian dressing. Just enough for it to marinate. Let it sit in the fridge for the day. If you do it in the morning before work its really well marinated when you get home. Then pan-fry! Its also good sliced up on a salad. Simple but a great tangy flavor.

Wednesday, August 01, 2007, 4:18 PM

chicken

I have a book called "Eating For Life" by Bill Phillips. The same guy that has Body For Life (also a good book). There are some GREAT recipes in there for chicken. If you can, check it out at your library and then decide if you want to keep a copy in your kitchen!! I refer to mine all the time.

Wednesday, August 01, 2007, 4:28 PM

I just posted about the Chicken Satay, and forgot to add my suggestions about baked chicken tenders.

I cut boneless skinless chicken breasts into strips. I dip them in either skim milk, or a mixture of egg and skim milk, with some dijon mustard and a few drops of sriracha chili sauce. Next, I roll them in one of these:

- Panko crumbs. You can find boxes of panko crumbs in the Asian section of the grocery store. They are crunchy bread crumbs without a lot of flavor that make a wonderful coating or topping for many dishes. Mix 3/4 c. panko with 1/4 c. shredded parmesan cheese. You get very little fat from the parmesan, as its spread across enough chicken tenders to feed a family, but you can leave out the parmesan if you want and maybe season the panko with herbs.

- Crushed corn flakes. You could season the corn flakes, but I like them plain.

Bake at 350 for 30 minutes on a wire rack on a baking sheet (to allow the fat to drip away from the meat).

If I use the corn flake coating, I drizzle a small amount of buffalo dressing over the chicken strips as they come out of the oven, and dip them in a small amount of my homemade low fat bleu cheese dressing.

Wednesday, August 01, 2007, 5:28 PM

5:28 - hmmm doesnt sound too healthy

Thursday, August 02, 2007, 11:41 AM

OP here again

I think all the ideas are great.

But 5:28's recipe with the cornflakes isn't too bad. In my weightloss plan unsweeted cornflakes count as a starch. So its definetly doable.

:)

Thursday, August 02, 2007, 11:51 AM

This is 5:28

to 11:41...by not healthy, do you mean because it sounds tasty?

I actually counted up all the fat grams for each of these recipes several weeks ago, and for a three- to four-ounce portion of chicken, the total fat grams were well within recommended limits for my weight-loss plan, leaving room for me to enjoy a great salad with a little real salad dressing.

I measure my food, I count calories and fat grams for recipes I create, and I only pass along recipes that I've tested myself.

It must be working, because I've enjoyed a steady weight loss at a healthy rate all summer.

This thread was started by someone growing bored with the limited ways she knew to prepare chicken. One of the keys to longterm success with weight loss is being able to enjoy foods we like without killing ourselves with extra calories and fat grams. Many years ago, I learned how to convert dishes I like to healthy versions.

More than once, I've raised eyebrows with delicious foods that contain ingredients we've been taught that we shouldn't have. There's room for anything in a healthy weight loss program - I even enjoy a decadent Godiva chocolate from time to time just to remind myself that I can lose weight and enjoy good food.

Thursday, August 02, 2007, 4:17 PM

Question for 5:28

Could I use another hot sauce like Tabasco in that cornflake chicken recipe to the same effect? It sounds so good!

Thursday, August 02, 2007, 4:41 PM

I'm the one that posted the cornflake recipe ...

Yes, you could absolutely use Tobasco or any other hot sauce you enjoy. I stumbled across the other one I mentioned in my post and liked its flavor better, but either would work just well. Cholula hot sauce also has great flavor and would be a good one.

I've wanted to try it with italian herbs sprinkled over the crust before baking, but haven't gotten around to that one yet.

Thursday, August 02, 2007, 4:46 PM

You said you like garlic...
How about 40 clove garlic chicken
I had to change the recipe to fit my low fat needs so here is my version

Take 2 bulbls of garlic, about 40 cloves and separate them and place them in a foil lined pie plate spray with pam. Add an onion sliced and pepper it. Cover well with foil and bake at 425 for about 20 min or until garlic is soft.
Remove from oven.
While that is cooking take your chicken and "fry" it in pam on a non stick skillet. Fry until both sides are nice and brown. I used chicken thighs last time. I am not sure how this would work with breasts, if it would get too hard of a crust. You could try it but not brown it too much.
Next take a baking dish and put chicken in it and all of you onions and garlic (not skins removed) and almost cover with chicken broth. Bake 350 for about 20 min or until cooked through.
Now for sauce. Remove the chicken to a platter and pour the broth into a skillet, the same one you fried the chicken in and add the onions and squeeze the garlic out of their cloves into the pan. Use about 25 or so for the sauce the rest can be served on the platter and people can use them to spread on bread.
Whisk all these flavors together for a few minutes so it can thicken slightly and pour over the chicken.
I use salt and brine the chicken for a half hour in a salt brine before I cook it but I can see no reason why you would have to do that.
I know it sounds like a lot of garlic but when it has been roasted like that it taste wonderful. Makes your house smell interesting too.

I make a foil packet chicken too.
Take heavy duty foil and put 1/2 sliced onion on the bottom followed by a carrot sliced in strips, a rib of celery cut into 3 or 4 pieces, then set your chicken on that and season however you like. Around the chicken place mushrooms and butternut squash chunks and even yam chunks. Almost any veggie you like can be used.
Fold the foil over the chicken fold the edges to seal.
Cook at 375 for about a half and hour. Check for doneness.
It is a really good meal and easy clean up.

Enjoy

Friday, August 03, 2007, 5:44 PM

To the 12:57 poster: I had all the ingredients so I tried the chicken breasts stuffed with spinach, tomato and feta for dinner this evening. It was easy and delicious. My husband loved it, too. We've been eating a lot of grilled chicken, but its nice to have something different now and then. This is a keeper.

Friday, August 03, 2007, 10:09 PM

OP here

12:57 and 10:09

I tried the chicken breast with spinach too. I had never used a mallet before on chicken but I really really liked the way it turned out. I put spinach and cheese in mine because of diet limitations that I have, but it turned out REALLY yummy.

My husband liked it too. It is a definite keeper :)

Monday, August 06, 2007, 10:41 AM

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