Currently Browsing: chicken
Jul 21, 2011
Posted by Jennifer on Jul 21, 2011 in chicken, potluck | 7 comments
I don’t know about you, but when there is a heat wave the last thing I want to do is turn on the oven! So, I’ve been making dinners that can be made on the stove with minimal pots and pans. This dinner used a skillet and a pot, that’s it!
Since my twin sister and I talk about food a lot, usually at some point during our many conversations we will ask each other “what are you making for dinner?”
Yesterday she asked me what my dinner plans were and I said “something with chicken” any maybe egg noodles on the side.
Her suggestion was why not make a white sauce to go with it? It’s kind of similar to my mac and cheese sauce. Her white sauce is a little different than mine.
She said 2 + 2 + 2
2 tablespoons of butter
2 tablespoons of flour
2 cups skim milk
So, to start, I took a package of these – your basic egg noodles – you can use your favorite brand
Cook the noodles according to package directions and drain. Reserve 1 cup of the cooking liquid.
In a large skillet cook 1-2 boneless chicken breasts that have been cut into chunks. Brown on all sides but don’t cook all the way through, take the chicken out of the skillet and set it to the side.
In the same large skillet add the butter, let it melt then add the flour and using a whisk, break up the flour.
Add the skim milk, salt and pepper and a squirt of Dijon mustard and about 1/4 cup parmesan cheese and whisk until the sauce starts to thicken. Add the partially cooked chicken into the sauce and continue to cook the chicken until no longer pink in the middle. Add the noodles and stir to coat all the noodles. If it’s too thick, add a little of the reserved pasta liquid to thin it out.
You can definitely bake this, just add some bread crumbs and more cheese on top and bake at 375 for about 15 minutes. Otherwise, it’s just fine cooking on the stove top! 
Thanks for the recipe idea Biz. If I had some frozen peas, I would have added those too!
Hope everyone is surviving the heat! My exercise plan is still going strong. I’ve even been riding my bike to work. This morning at 8:15 a.m. it was already 85 degrees! That’s so crazy!
Jun 28, 2011
Posted by Jennifer on Jun 28, 2011 in a day in the life of me!, chicken, lunch, The 100 Day workout challenge | 6 comments
My lunch inspiration came from The Neely’s on the Food Network. I watched one of their programs over the weekend and even though most of the things they make are not so healthy – I made their signature rub. It’s super easy – just 3 ingredients. They use this rub on chicken, steak, potatoes, ribs, etc.
Neely’s BBQSeasoning:
1.5 cups paprika
3/4 cups sugar
3 3/4 tablespoons onion powder
Mix together in a clean jar with a lid and you can store it in an airtight container for up to six months.
Since I made the rub, I took out 2 chicken tenders and added 2 tsp. of the rub and cooked the chicken until done, set aside.
Next, I cut up some baby red, orange and yellow peppers and sauteed them in a skillet for a few minutes.
When it was time for lunch, I assembled my salad. I cut up the chicken, I had different kinds of artisan lettuces, strawberries, an apple, and peppers. The only dressing I had was lite Italian, so I dressed my salad with the dressing, then put the chicken on top. Awesome and SUPER filling!
I also added a few dried cranberries, a few sunflower seeds. When I was talking to my sister after lunch – turns out she had almost the same exact salad – twin powers activate!
***
I mentioned yesterday I got some new work out dvd’s from my local library. I will tell you that I did NOT ride my bike to work since it was raining, and I did NOT walk during lunch, so after dinner, and running a quick errand, I didn’t get home until 8:15 and I definitely did NOT want to exercise.
I looked at the choices of what to do and I picked out this one called Iron Yoga (2005). Anthony Carillo is the man who came up with this type of yoga. He developed it when he was cross training for the Iron Man Triathlon’s he’s completed.
Even though I was not looking forward to exercising I really enjoyed this work out. I’m used to doing fast workouts – Taebo, the Firm, biking, etc… This workout was the exact opposite. You use light weights (I used 5 lb. dumb bells) and it is super slow moves. There is very soothing music, it’s hard but relaxing at the same time if that makes sense. It has a lot of balance moves and it’s a total body work out. I finished the whole thing which was 58 minutes. I had the motivational support of my son Mark who was practically next to me the whole time saying things like “way to go Momma!” and to his brother he said – “you have to give props to Mom because I could barely do the first exercise!” I appreciated his shout outs through out the whole workout.
So, if you’ve never tried yoga with weights, see if it’s at your local library!
I’m looking forward to salad club at work today – I’m off to chop up some veggies!!!
Jun 15, 2011
Posted by Jennifer on Jun 15, 2011 in a day in the life of me!, chicken, Dinner Idea, kid friendly, sauces | 5 comments
It was a great day outside again, so I was lucky that I could ride my bike to work. Usually on Tuesdays is salad club at my office, but the other ladies in my group had other commitments, so it didn’t work out. So instead of salad club during lunch I decided to ride my bike some more! I biked for 35 minutes. When I came back to my desk, I wanted to figure out how far I had run, so I went to:
www.mapmyride.com
You can log on and put in your starting address and then it will show a street map, this is an example:
I just dragged the mouse to the streets I took and I was happy to find out that I did 4.6 miles. So with my 3.6 mile commute to and from work that’s 8.2 miles! Wahoo!!!
When I got home from work, I really didn’t know what I was going to make for dinner, but I did have boneless chicken breasts and I also had this:
If you haven’t tried this salsa it is REALLY good! And I’m not sure if its still on sale, but at Jewel Foods in Chicagoland it was only $1.00 a jar.
So I trimmed any fat from the chicken breasts, put them in my cast iron skillet, sprinkled cumin, paprika, salt and pepper on the chicken and then poured a jar of salsa on top. Once the chicken was almost cooked I took two forks and shredded the chicken.
You could have this on tortillas, serve it on a bed of rice. I still had green and red pepper and onions, so I sauteed those up if anyone wanted that. You could add black beans and spinach like I did, whatever you want
Have a great day!
Jun 14, 2011
Posted by Jennifer on Jun 14, 2011 in a day in the life of me!, chicken, dieting, Dinner Idea | 2 comments
It was a busy day yesterday, I worked all day then had my daughter’s softball game right after work, so I didn’t get home until 8:30 last night. BUT, I managed to make a super quick and healthy dinner in about 15 minutes!
All I did was put about 4 russet potatoes into the microwave and cook until almost done. Meanwhile, I chopped up chicken breasts so they would cook faster, put that in a skillet with a little olive oil, salt, pepper and paprika. I had Trader Joe’s green beans, so I cooked those. Once the potatoes are done, I sliced them into circles and added that to the chicken. Served that over the green beans. Filling and delish!
Since I was so busy all day, my daughter called me at work to ask about her game. When I told her I was going to meet her there from work, the first thing she said to me was “what are you going to do for exercise?” (she’s trying to keep me accountable! . I told her my plan was to walk during lunch and even though I debated just surfing the net during my lunch, I knew I had to keep to the plan.
I’m so glad I walked, it was a gorgeous day out yesterday and I walked as fast as I could for 40 minutes and of course I was happy that I did that once I got back.
I decided to find a chart where I could mark off my 100 days of exercise. This is the one I chose:
So now I have that in my food journal to mark off the days. So far so good!
I saw a t-shirt that keeps sticking in my mind, which I love:
It’s not going to be luck that will get me to my weight loss goals, it’s going to be me making it that way!
If you didn’t get a chance to read all the participants in my twin sister’s 101 days of summer, check out all of them HERE. It’s a big group all working towards a common goal – get healthy and fit!
Gotta run, it’s salad club at work today so I am off to cut up some veggies for that!
It’s a great day again out, so I’m riding my bike to work. Have a super day!!!
Jun 12, 2011
Posted by Jennifer on Jun 12, 2011 in chicken, Dinner Idea, kid friendly | 4 comments
I’m going to start with the exercise first. In my quest to exercise 100 days in a row I wasn’t sure what I was going to do. I was looking for a workout DVD when I saw 3 DVD’s my sister lent me. 2 Billy Blanks Taebo and one Jillian. So I popped in Billy and finished the 45 minute workout and I was able to do it 100% – so I was happy about that.
Later in the day, we went by the library and walked instead of driving. As we were walking we stopped by the Oak Park Conservatory which is a few blocks from our house. It has tons of flowers, plants a cactus room and a little fish pond.
Mark and Claire
Isn’t that flower so pretty?
So it was a great walk to the conservatory, the library and then walk home. I didn’t know what to make for dinner, and I wanted something healthy that the whole family would love so fajitas it is!
If you haven’t made my homemade fajita seasoning, it’s so good – much better than you buy in a packet.
My oldest son is playing in the orchestra at today’s high school graduation in our town. He goes to the same high school I did and I graduated 25 years ago! It doesn’t seem that long ago…
Now I just have to figure out what kind of exercise to do today – day 9!!
