Fattoush Matoush with Healthified Chicken Cordon Bleu ala Sweets

After I typed and re-read the title to this post I realized... I hardly know what this is, and I ate it! 

So here is a translation. Just for you.

Fattoush  is a Mediterranean salad of veggies, legumes, bread, and fresh herbs. It is stupid healthy, with deliciousness in equal measure to healthiness. It's not even close to a 3 ingredient recipe (my latest obsession), but due to the favorable health to de-lish ratio, it is totally worth the extra shopping and chopping time. 

Totally off topic... my boyfriend Sweets and I went to middle school with a dude named Korey Matoush who just so happened to marry Nicole, a girlfriend of mine in hair school (even more off topic) whose name continuously ran through my head as I was preparing this dish. By the time I was done chopping vegetables I figure I might as well just call it the Matoush salad. 

So, to go with the Fattoush Matoush , Sweets made a much more healthified version of Chicken Cordon Bleu than the traditional version. I'm not even a huge meat eater, and I loved it. 

A pic of this glorious meal. 

 The recipe for Fattoush Matoush... 

(Which I got from the Powerfoods cookbook)

12 cherry tomatoes - split 

1 red or yellow (or half of each) cut into strips 

1/2 English cucumber - cut in to 1/2 inch dice 

1/4 red onion thinly sliced lengthwise 

1 Cup Chickpeas 

1/4 Cup torn fresh mint leaves 

1/4 Cup torn fresh flat leaf parsley 

3 T red wine vinegar 

2 T extra-virgin olive oil 

coarse salt and freshly ground pepper

1 whole wheat pita, split (personally I could do without this. I thought it got too soggy) 

• Crisp pita in 375 degree oven. About 10 minutes. Let cool, then break into pieces. 
• Toss together remainder of the ingredients in a bowl and add pita pieces right before serving
• Two steps. Love it. 

For the healthified Chicken Cordon Bleu
(this is close to a 3 ingredient meal, but no cigar sir) ... 

Hopefully I am getting this right. I only kinda watched Sweets make this as I was preparing my salad.

Pound out however many chicken breasts you desire to 3/4 of an inch-ish? Then place a slice of Swiss cheese and a couple slices of ham on top. Fold in half and secure by stabbing it with a toothpick. This is not violent, I assure you. Place in a baking pan, salt and pepper to taste, then sprinkle with whole wheat bread crumbs. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 25-35 minutes. Simple and delicious. 

Peace & Love, 

Chandra Nicole

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3 Ingredient Mediterranean Feast

Chicken with Lemon & Olive ,  Pasta with Basil & Goat Cheese,  and Arugula Salad with White Beans and Pesto

Entertaining, although I love it dearly, always seems to be a labor intensive undertaking. However, due to my recent infatuation with 3 ingredient cooking I had the fam over last night and made a complete 3 dish Mediterranean inspired meal for 6, with only 9 ingredients! It was Glorious. I also made a 3 ingredient Nectarine Galette for dessert, which i will be sharing later. So, be sure not to miss that.

So... here are my 9 foodstuffs:

(and remember olive oil, butter, and S&P don't count in this 3 ingredient game)

For the Chicken with Lemons & Olives...

Season bone in- skin on chicken pieces (about 3 lbs) with S&P. Brown in a skillet drizzled with olive oil over med-high heat (5-8 minutes per side). I had to brown my chicken in 2 batches. Maybe you have a bigger skillet? :)  Transfer chicken to a baking dish and put in 400 degree oven to finish cooking (15-20min)

While the chicken is baking slice up a lemon or 2 and saute slices in the chicken skillet. Just for a few minutes until brown. Toss in your olives and heat through. Pour the lemon/olive mixture over the chicken for the last 5-10 minutes of bake time. 

Here's what it looks like post oven...  I'm not much of a meat eater, so I did not have any. But I heard it was good!

For the Pasta with Goat Cheese and Basil...

 Finely chop one bunch of Basil and stir into 1/2 Cup olive oil. Do this first and let sit for 30 minutes to an hour so the oil gets all infused with Basil flavor. Right before serving the meal, toss 1 package cooked pasta with 3-4 oz of Goat cheese and the basil/oil mixture. Season with S&P.

 For the Arugula Salad with White Beans & Pesto...

Toss together 4 Cups of Arugula, 1 can of drained and rinsed cannellini beans, and 1/3 C pesto. 

Season with S&P. 

And there you have it... It's almost too easy.

Peace & Love, 

Chandra Nicole

P.S. Be sure to go get your subscription of  Real Simple (LOVE this magazine!), which is where I found all of these recipes.

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The Longest Named Sandwich Ever... aka Kitchen Experiment #10

Open Face Walnut Crusted Chicken Parmesan Sandwich with Roasted Tomato Marinara

I really felt like cooking last night, but didn't feel like eating OR going to the store.
So, I decided to make Sweets a late 10:00 supper after his double header with only stuff that I had in my kitchen already. I hadn't been to the store for a week... so things were looking a little scarce. I did however, have 2 pints of cherry tomatoes I needed to use, some fresh basil, 2 Smart chicken breasts, and walnuts...
This is what I came up with.

I started by making a very simple ROASTED TOMATO MARINARA with the 2 pints of cherry tomatoes sitting in the fridge.

I tossed the tomatoes with extra virgin olive oil, freshly ground S&P, and Italian seasoning. Then roasted at 400 degrees for 30 minutes.

After the little guys were done roasting, I smashed em'! Then added more S&P to taste, about 1 & 1/2 more tsp of Italian seasoning, 3/4 tsp of sugar, and the juice of 1/2 a lemon. 

So fresh and yummy. 

At the same time I was roasting the tomatoes, I also roasted up a couple heads of garlic, which I would later use as a spread on the toasted sprouted grain bread I used for the sandwich. 

If you have never roasted garlic before, it is super easy. 

Simply cut the tippy top off a bulb of garlic, place on a square of foil, drizzle with olive oil, and season with S&P.... then wrap up and throw in the oven at 400 for about 30 minutes or until tender. I used a whole bulb of garlic for each slice. This may seem like a recipe for insane garlicky-ness, but roasting garlic makes it super sweet and mellow in flavor. I often times eat it plain on crackers... a super easy appetizer idea for entertaining

For the walnut crusted chicken...

(I based this part of the meal on a recipe I found in Powerfoods... who knew?)

In a food processor process into fine crumbs 2 slices of day old whole grain bread, 1/3 Cup walnuts, 2 T Parmesan, fresh basil leaves, and S&P.

Heat 1 T safflower oil over medium heat in oven proof skillet. Dip boneless skinless chicken breasts in egg whites then in walnut mixture and cook for a minute on each side. Then move skillet into 425 degree oven for another 10 minutes.

Now it is time to assemble your samich!
Toast a couple slices of sprouted grain bread, spread each slice with roasted garlic, throw on some baby spinach leaves, top with sliced walnut crusted chicken, some roasted tomato marinara, and finish with a sprinkle of reduced fat Mozzarella and a little more Parmesan.

Roasted Garlic

Broil for a few minutes to melt the cheese, get yourself a knife and fork, and enjoy your
Open Face Walnut Crusted Chicken Parmesan Sandwich with Roasted Tomato Marinara!!

Mmmmmmm..... 

Peace & Love, 
Chandra Nicole

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KT's Korner - Ridiculously Healthy Pizza

My Girl, KT.

Lunch at my bestie KT's is fast becoming a Sunday afternoon tradition. KT is ridiculously health conscious, ridiculously disciplined, and as a result... ridiculously sexy (she's probably going to kick my ass for talking about her so much on my blog, which is kinda scary because she's WAY strong)

Anyhoo... yesterday she made ridiculously healthy pizza for me, which we then followed with a bike ride... and ridiculously UN-healthy pie shakes at a little local cafe that her friend owns. 

Kt has a ginormous (i still can't believe that's actually a real word) sweet tooth, but only allows herself sugar once a week (see. disciplined.) When she splurges though... she SPLURGES. Here are the ingredients Kt blended together in her shake concoction... slice of raspberry pie, frozen yogurt, scoop of peanut butter,  and chocolate syrup. Weird. But ya gotta love her.

Check out the Pizza

KT used whole wheat crust, marinara sauce, and Fat-Free Mozzarella on both of these. 

The top one is ground turkey (which she browned with crushed red pepper and cayenne), jalapenos (which were WAY hot), and red & yellow bell peppers. 

The bottom picture is simply chicken and tomatoes... super yummy. 

Thanks KT. You kick-ass. 

Peace & Love, 

Chandra Nicole

See! Real word.

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kt's korner

The most delicious healthy lasagna I have ever eaten.

So, it turns out that my inability to adhere to a schedule or regimen of any sort still reigns supreme. If you happened to have caught my post "Sergeant kt" you are already aware of the orders I was given by one of my bestie's who happens to be the most health conscious and disciplined individual i have ever met.

If not... let me recap:

• I stuffed my face with sugary treats for all of winter, resulting in "bonus curves"
• kt decided i needed to document my eating for 1 week, which she would then compile, composite, calculate, correlate... I don't really know what she was going to do with it actually.
• Anyhoo... somehow this was all going to result in me being swimsuit ready by June.
• I made it exactly 2 1/2 days before losing all track of everything that went into my mouth... oh well.

What I do know for sure though, is that I went over to her gorgeous little apartment the other day where she made me the MOST delicious healthy lasagna I have ever eaten in my life. I will get the specifics from her sometime in the very near future for you all to have, because you must make it. It's is seriously too yummy to be healthy.

Until then, here is the lasagna with a generalized list of ingredients:

• Whole wheat lasagna noodles
  
• ground turkey breast
• eggplant
• spinach
  
• tomatoes
  
• fat free ricotta
  
• fat free cottage cheese
• fat free parmesan
  
• jalapenos
  
• crushed red pepper flakes
  

I think that's it...This shiz is seriously de-lish .

And here is how kt ACTUALLY made this lasagna:

Thanks kt !!

• Cook 1lb of 99% fat-free ground turkey with 1 medium sized diced eggplant. Mix with tomato basil marinara sauce, red pepper flakes, and fat-free cottage cheese.
• In a separate bowl mix together fat-free ricotta cheese, chopped spinach leaves, and chopped jalapenos.

Layer cooked whole wheat noodles, turkey mixture, and ricotta cheese mixture twice, then sprinkle top lightly with fat-free mozzarella.

Bake in 350 degree oven until heated through and cheese is melted.

My first instinct would be to think that anything with this much fat-free cheese would be awful... but I assure you it is not.

ENJOY

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