Tag Archives: chicken

Healthy Pad Thai | Peanut Free + Gluten Free

This is one of those recipes that I repeat A LOT!! In it’s most basic form, I posted it here, but I mix it up all the time with what I add to it. The sauce is just so good!! And SO EASY!

Sadly, Maya can’t have peanuts or gluten anymore, so I made a few tweaks and made it work! I sold it as a healthy Pad Thai, and even our 18 year old son had seconds! Basically a gold medal on healthy cooking there!

Ingredients

For Sauce

- 1/2 cup Almond Butter (use Sun Butter for Nut free or any nut butter if you don’t have any dietary restrictions!)
- 3 tablespoons Rice Vinegar
- 3 tablespoons Coconut Aminos (used in place of Soy Sauce)
- 1 tablespoon Pure Maple Syrup (used in place of Brown Sugar)
- 1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger (I cheat and use this)
- 1 Cup Water

For the rest of the dish…

- 1 medium onion diced
- 2 Tablespoons of Olive Oil
- 1 Tablespoon crushed garlic
- 1 Teaspoon Ginger
- 1 of each of a yellow, orange, and purple carrot (or really any veggie)
- 8-10 Mushrooms diced
- 2 blocks of Rice Noodles (or can use any noodle, quinoa, or skip it!)
- 1 Rotisserie Chicken Shredded (or you can cook chicken separately and shred)

Directions

Pull chicken off your rotisserie chicken and shred. We always buy two chickens every week. Eat one, then pull all the meat off both to use for another meal!
Add a couple Tablespoons of olive oil, ginger, and garlic to a large pan
Add diced onions, mushrooms, carrots, and sauté til soft (5-8 minutes)
Add back in shredded chicken

Make Sauce…

In a blender, combine 1 cup water with the whatever nut butter you choose, rice vinegar, coconut aminios, maple sugar, and ginger. Blend until smooth.

Cook noodles….

These particular noodles cook in less than 5 minutes!
Add the sauce and noodles to the pan, stir, and let sit for 2 minutes to soak in all the flavor of the sauce.
You could leave out the chicken for an amazing vegetarian Pad Thai!

Another healthy variation of this recipe here

Enjoy!

Cold Slow Cooker Chicken With Mango, Avocado, Spinach, Tomatoes, Peppers, and Quinoa

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Yes, that’s a mouthful of a title, but it’s a flavor explosion in your mouth too!!

I tend to forget about my slow cooker in the summer, because…hot! BUT…the biggest reason I use my slow cooker is because of it’s convenience factor. THAT is needed all year round!

The other day, I knew I’d be running around all day and wouldn’t be getting home until right around dinner time. Slow cooker to the rescue.

What you need…

4-5 Chicken Breasts (I actually threw mine in frozen!)
1 Medium yellow onion diced
2 Tablespoons Olive Oil
1/4 Teaspoon crushed garlic
1/2 Teaspoon Crushed Ginger
1 Cup Organic Mango Nectar
1 Large Mango
1 Large Avocado
1 Cup diced peppers (I used a yellow, orange, and red)
1 Cup Cherry or grape tomatoes. I used multi colored ones.
4-5 cups baby spinach
Salt and Pepper to taste
1 Cup uncooked quinoa

What you do…

Put Olive Oil, Garlic, Ginger, and Onion down and mix.
Lay Chicken Breasts on top. Mine were frozen. I’m sure if they were thawed, they might just be more tender! BUT…if you don’t have time (as I never do) you can put them in frozen as an FYI…
Pour the cup of Mango nectar (honestly, you could use orange juice too! It all cooks away…
Here’s the odd/specific timing part. You can totally mess around with this timing depending on when you will be home! I started this in the morning. Cooked it on high for 4 hours. I added the quinoa about 30 minutes before it was done. Then took the chicken out, chopped it (probably could have shredded it had it been on low for longer!). I added the chicken back in to soak up a little more juice.
While it was still in warming mode, and right before I took it out, I added all the spinach and tossed it around.
Then I took it all out and placed it in a bowl to cool for a few hours.
Either earlier when it’s cooking or later depending on when you have time. Dice the mango, avocado, peppers, and tomatoes.
Add all the diced fruits and vegetables on top, salt and pepper to taste, and serve!

Enjoy! dit-elle-Lauren

Poached Chicken

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This is a staple recipe in my house and a great way to prepare chicken. I like to make a big batch and freeze in small containers. Hungry toddler? No problem! Heat up the chicken and some veggies or make a chicken and cheese quesadilla.. and you have a quick and healthy dinner.

I also like this as a base recipe for tacos – poach the chicken, shred it, and then add taco seasoning!

poached chicken blog (2) poached chicken blog (1)

Ingredients

Whole chicken or 4 large chicken breasts
1 onion, roughly sliced
Water

Directions

Put everything in a pot and add water till it almost covers the chicken
Bring to a boil and let simmer for 45-60 minutes
Remove chicken, put on a plate and let cool
Once cool enough to handle, de-bone the chicken and remove skin
Shred meat with a fork and put back in a new pot
Add 1/2 cup of the chicken stock back and bring to a simmer – add additional spices as desired
As for the rest of the liquid (in original pot), remove onions, but save the liquid as this is excellent chicken stock that you can freeze and use later

dit-elle-Esther

Grilled Chicken, Onion, and Pepper Shish Kabobs

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It’s summer, and what screams summer more than grilling?!! Ok, pools, popsicles, all of Esther’s yummy cocktails (!!)….ok, a lot of things scream summer. BUT…grilling. YUM!

I’ve talked many times about my love of grilling. Ok, the EASE of grilling!! It used to intimidate me, but now I LOVE it! I usually do whole chicken breasts, but decided to try and do shish kabobs. SO GOOD! Blog Whole30 Paleo Grilled Chicken Peppers Onions Shish Kabobs-1 Ingredients (varies people you want to feed)

Chicken Breasts (cut into 1-1.5 inch cubes)
Bell Peppers-I used red, yellow, and orange (cut into 1-1.5 inch cubes)
Large Onion (cut into 1-1.5 inch cubes)
Olive Oil
Balsamic Vinegar
Trader Joe’s Every Day Seasoning

What to do

It’s not absolutely necessary, but if you can marinate the chicken a few hours before you’d like to grill, that’s the best. Just put the cubed chicken in a bowl. Drizzle with olive oil, balsamic, and grind the Trader Joe’s Every Day Seasoning over it. I honestly had all these ideas of various spices I was going to add, and then (OF COURSE!) was running late and reached for what’s easy, and good!
Do the same for the veggies (not as necessary to have those marinate!)
You can use wooden sticks to spear all the meat and veggies. If you do, make sure you soak the them for a good 10 minutes prior.
Preheat your grill to medium heat.
Evenly spear chicken and veggies until everything is used up.Grill for 7-8 minutes on each side. Oh, and Maya is in this stage where she doesn’t want her picture taken, UNLESS I’m trying to take pictures of something other than her… haha.

Enjoy! dit-elle-Lauren

Thai Chicken, Broccoli, and Peppers with Healthy Noodles

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This is one of those recipes that I repeat A LOT!! In it’s most basic form, I posted it here, but I mix it up all the time with what I add to it. The sauce is just so good!! And SO EASY! Blog Healthy Thai Broccoli Pepper Chicken with Noodles-1
Ingredients

For Sauce

1/2 cup Almond Butter (use Sun Butter for Nut free or any nut butter if you don’t have any dietary restrictions!)
1/2 Cup Coconut Milk (I used Light, but full fat would be amazing too!)
3 tablespoons rice vinegar
3 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger (I cheat and use this)
1 Cup Water

For the rest of the dish…

2-3 bags of Healthy Noodles (or can use any noodle, quinoa, or skip it!)
4-6 Chicken Breasts. Depends on how many people you have and how soupy you want it. I use 6 and grill them on our grill. Less clean up and the flavor is so good!
2 Tablespoons of Olive Oil
Salt and Pepper to taste
1 head of Broccoli
1/2 of each of a yellow, red, and orange pepper
1 small onion diced

Directions

Marinate chicken breasts in olive oil, salt, and pepper and cook on BBQ 8-10 minutes each side (depending on size) or cube the chicken breasts and cook in a large pan with a little olive oil, salt, and pepper.
While Chicken is cooking outside, chop all your veggies.
Add a couple Tablespoons of olive oil (I add garlic too!) and cook onions til soft (5-8 minutes)
Add in broccoli and peppers and cover to steam cook for 2 minutes. Just THIS is delicious, so you could stop right here 🙂
In a blender, combine 1 cup water with the whatever nut butter you choose, rice vinegar, soy sauce, brown sugar, and ginger. Blend until smooth.
Rinse out the noodles with water (that’s IT!! NO COOKING THEM!!)
Add the sauce and noodles to the pan, stir, and let sit for 2 minutes to soak in all the flavor of the sauce. Again…you could stop here if you wanted to keep it vegetarian. SO yummy!
Once Chicken is cooked, dice and add on top. I added Sriracha to mine for a little kick, and it was SO good!! Enjoy!

Chicken with Sun-Dried Tomato & Basil Cream Sauce

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Sound amazing? Look amazing? It is. Chicken is baked in a sun-dried and basil cream sauce.. wow!

Ingredients

4 chicken breasts
1 Tbsp butter
2-3 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes, or more, to taste (optional)
1/2 cup chicken broth
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/3 cup julienned sun dried tomatoes in olive oil, drained
1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan
1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
1/4 teaspoon dried basil
1/4 cup basil leaves, chiffonade

Directions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
Melt butter in the skillet on medium heat. Add garlic and red pepper flakes, and cook, stirring frequently, until fragrant but not brown, about 1-2 minutes. Stir in chicken broth, heavy cream, sun dried tomatoes, Parmesan, thyme, oregano and basil.
Bring to a boil; reduce heat and simmer until slightly thickened, about 3-5 minutes.
Place chicken into baking dish. Cover with sauce and place in hot oven.
Bake for about 45 minutes, or until chicken reaches an internal temperature of 175 degrees F.
Serve chicken immediately, garnished with basil, if desired.

Thanks DamnDelicious.net for the inspiration. I modified the recipe quite a bit to make it quicker to make. But wow, that was still amazing!

Kale Salad with Chicken and Avocado

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This is a wonderful paleo salad with Creamy Lemon Garlic Dressing – add chicken and avocado – and call it dinner!

Ingredients

large bunch of kale deveined and chopped finely
1/2c dried black current, raisins or cranberries
1/2c. toasted sunflower seeds
1 avocado, peeled and sliced
2-3 cups of chopped cooked chicken or turkey
One batch Creamy Lemon Garlic Dressing

Thanks for the inspiration: http://cavemanstrong.com/2014/08/paleo-kale-salad/

Creamy Lemon Garlic Dressing

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This is a wonderful paleo dressing – great for salads, on roast chicken or as a dip! On Thursday I’ll post a recipe for Kale Chicken Avocado salad with this dressing! 🙂

Creamy Lemon Garlic Paleo Dressing

Ingredients

1/2 c olive oil
juice from one entire lemon
1 garlic clove (large)
1 tbsp maple syrup
1 tsp dijon mustard
1/4 c walnut pieces
pinch of sea salt
pinch of pepper

Directions

Add all items to a food processor (or use an inversion blender) and blend until smooth
Refrigerate till ready to use

Thanks for the inspiration: http://cavemanstrong.com/2014/08/paleo-creamy-lemon-garlic-dressing/

Chicken and Spinach Stuffed Sweet Potato with Soft Boiled Egg! // Paleo // Whole30

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What is it about soft boiled eggs? I’ll tell you. The soft ooey goey yolk!!! They make just about anything they are on look DELICIOUS and taste decadent! So…I figured I better add it to my first attempt at a Whole30 dish that I was going to make for the boys 🙂 It worked! They devoured it!!Ingredients

4 sweet potatos (or, however many people you have. If you get ridiculously large ones like I did, you can cut them in half per serving)
6 cups spinach
2 Tablespoons Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1 Teaspoon crushed garlic (I cheat and use Trader Joe’s pre crushed :))
2-3 large bone in chicken breasts or if you’re in a pinch for time a rotisserie chicken and shred the breasts from it (I’m not a big fan of dark meat, but you could use all of it!) Bone in is so much juicier and easier to shred.
4 Eggs (or as many people that you have)

Directions

Cook chicken ahead of time (to make shredding easier) by coating with 1 Tbl Olive Oil and use crushed sea salt/pepper. Bake in preheated oven 375 until chicken meat is no longer pink at the bone and the juices run clear, 45 to 60 minutes. An instant-read thermometer inserted in the thickest part of the breast meat should read 165 degrees F. Or, you could BBQ on med 10-15 minutes each side depending on size.
Place sweet potatoes on a baking sheet or a baking pan, pierce with a fork and bake for an hour, or until the inside is soft. It took my ginormous ones an hour and 15, so fair warning if you are on a time schedule for dinner!! 😦
Start boiling water for the eggs. Once water is boiled, add eggs. Boil for 6 minutes. Drain the hot water and add cold water a few times until they are completely cool. Once cool, peel and set aside to put on top of dish. Good luck getting all of them to completely come out of the shell. I’ve never been able to! :{ Feel free to make extra if you are serving to people that care haha.
Dice up the red onion
Sautee 2 Tablespoons of Extra Virgin Olive Oil with red onions and garlic for about 5 minutes
Shred the chicken and add it to the above.
Toss in the spinach until it’s wilted.
When potatoes are done, take them out, cut in half if big, or slice down the center if small or medium. Crush it up a little. Spoon on chicken and spinach mixture. Top with soft boiled egg.

Enjoy!

Grilled Chicken, Onions, and Peaches with Avocado Tomato Salsa // Paleo and Whole30

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I love when one ingredient is the basis for a meal. In this case it was some peaches that I bought that weren’t quite ripe, but I was itching to eat them. So…I BBQ’d them! I swear everything tastes better when you put it on the grill! Although, I may still be still flushed with my new found grilling ability 🙂 Ingredients (to serve 4)

2 peaches (I used ones that were almost ripe, but still a little on the firm side)
4 boneless chicken breasts
1 large sweet onion
1 avocado
10 cherry tomatos
3 large leaves of basil
Extra Virgin Olive Oil (amount not measured, but will describe in instructions :))
Sea Salt and Pepper

Directions

Light your grill and set it to a medium heat.
Cut your onion into 1/2 inch slices
Season the chicken breasts and onion with olive oil, sea salt and pepper.
Set both on the grill for 8-10 minutes (depending on the size of your chicken breasts)
Cut peaches in half and lightly coat with olive oil and a little bit of sea salt.
At the 8-10 minute mark, flip both the chicken and onion and add the peaches to the grill.
Cook everything for another 8-10 minutes until chicken cooked all the way through.
During the cooking, cut avocado and tomatoes into 1/2 inch squares. Dice up the basil and toss all together in a bowl.
Layer everything together and ENJOY!!! 🙂

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