Lemon and Thyme Chicken Breasts

 

Lemon and Thyme Chicken Breasts

I thought I would share with you one of my new favorite recipes--Lemon and Thyme Chicken Breasts.  This recipe is so simple to make, yet tastes so yummy that I can eat it for days in a row.  I believe that this was tailored from an Ina Garten (my favorite) creation in order to be 100% paleo, but of course I found it on good old pinterest (via fortheloveofcooking.net).  Enjoy!

Lemon and Thyme Chicken Breasts

Ingredients:
1-2 tbsp olive oil
5-6 cloves of garlic, minced
1/3 cup of chicken broth
Zest from 1 lemon
Juice from 1 lemon
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp fresh thyme leaves
3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
Sea salt and freshly cracked pepper, to taste
Two sprigs of fresh thyme
1 lemon cut into 4 wedges

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Coat a baking dish with cooking spray.
Heat the olive oil in a skillet over medium heat; add the minced garlic and cook, stirring constantly, for 1 minute, making sure not to burn the garlic. Add the chicken broth, lemon zest, lemon juice, oregano, and thyme leaves to the pan. Pour the mixture into the baking dish. Season both sides of the chicken breasts with sea salt and freshly cracked pepper, to taste. Place the chicken in the baking dish along with the lemon wedges and the two sprigs of thyme.
Place into the oven and bake, basting occasionally, for 30-40 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through and the juices run clear. Remove from the oven and let the meat rest for 5 minutes before slicing. Drizzle the pan sauce on top of the slices of chicken and serve. 

Turkey Breast Stuffed Peppers

 

The holidays (and my birthday) are upon us, and though this is my most favorite time of year, thanks to my workout restrictions this year, I am having to tighten up my diet along with my wallet so I can spurge on only the special occasions.  That means bringing my lunch to work and eating at home, and one of my very favorite recipes to make is turkey stuffed peppers.  Super cheap and easy to make, and if you only eat one per meal, you can have lunch and dinner for almost half a week!  I have tweaked this a bit to make it more paleo (only add 1 cup of brown rice and no cheese), but both ways are delicious!

Turkey Stuffed Peppers

Servings: 6 servings (1/2 pepper), Time: 55 minutes, WW Points: 5, Calories: 184.7 per serving, Fat: 2.3g, Protein: 20.8g, Carb: 20.2g, Fiber 1.6g

1 lb. ground turkey breast meat
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 onion, minced
1 Tbsp chopped fresh cilantro or parsley
1 tsp garlic powder (I used more)
1 tsp cumin powder (I used more)
salt to taste
3 large sweet red bell peppers, washed
1 cup fat free chicken broth (I used regular, low sodium)
1/4 cup tomato sauce
1 1/2 cups cooked rice (I used brown)
olive oil spray
1/4 cup reduced fat shredded cheese

Heat oven to 400. Spray a little olive oil spray in a medium size saute pan and heat on a medium flame.  Add onion, garlic and cilantro/parsley to the pan.  Saute about 2 minutes and add ground turkey breast.  Season with salt, garlic powder and cumin and brown meat for several minutes until meat is completely cooked through.  Add 1/4 cup of tomato sauce and 1/2 cup of chicken broth, mix well and simmer on low for about 5 minutes.  Combine cooked rice and meat together.

Cut the bell peppers in half lengthwise, and remove all seeds.  Place in a baking dish.  Spoon the meat mixture into each pepper half and fill it with as much as you can (mine were overflowing).  Place all stuffed pepper halves in the baking dish and pour the remainder of the chicken broth in the bottom of the pan.  Cover tight with aluminum foil and bake for about 35 minutes.  Top with shredded cheddar cheese and enjoy.  I also added a few dashes of hot sauce on them after I added the cheese.  Yummy!

Early Christmas Present!

Cuisinart Classic Stainless Cookware 14-piece set

I really do not have anything on my Christmas wishlist this year.  Honestly, there isn't really too much that I want or need.  The one thing that was really hoping for was a new set of pots and pans, and Santa (eh, or mom) delivered early this year.  This set is on sale at Sam's Club, so when I was away for Thanksgiving I picked up my set to take back home with me.  Much easier thank shipping it back home from Arkansas after Christmas.  Thanks mom--it is perfect!  Now, who's hungry?