Recipes

Couscous Crusted Chicken

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Talk about a happy accident!

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Once I got home from the grocery store, I was on a mission:  to make the couscous stuffed chicken featured in this month’s Cooking Light.  I had even pre-snipped the recipe out and hung it up at the stove:

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Hard core.

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I was pretty excited to try this recipe for a few reasons.  First, I have a giant tub of Rice Select Tri-Color couscous in my cabinet that has been begging to be used.  Second, I love any excuse to use my meat mallet. 

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Let’s  be honest… I like any excuse to type “meat mallet” Smile with tongue out 

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Even though the ingredients list is fairly long the dish came together pretty easy.  First, I pounded the chicken breast out to about 1/4 inch thickness and sliced in half.  For the couscous mixture, I brought 1/4 cup of fat free low sodium chicken broth to a boil then added 1/4 cup of the couscous.  Then you cover the couscous, remove it from the heat, and let it hang out for about 4 minutes.

Then add in the flava:

  • 1/8 tsp salt
  • 1/8 tsp black pepper
  • 1/4 tsp dried oregano
  • 1/4 tsp dried parsley
  • 1 tbsp Athenos Feta Cheese
  • 1 tbsp chopped sundried tomatoes
  • 1/4 cup thinly sliced spinach
  • 1 clove minced garlic

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The Cooking Light recipe called for olives (BLEGH!) and olive oil, which I omitted and instead subbed in sundried tomatoes and spinach.  Divide the couscous mixture between your chicken breast halves:

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And them roll them up jelly roll style….  Easy right?

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Ummm not so much.  I had a couscous blow out and half of the filling fell out!  So, I went with my guts and seared the chicken on all sides, then plopped into a baking dish and kind of mashed the extra couscous mix on top of the chicken.

Then I popped it into a 400 degree oven for 20 minutes.

And VOILA!

Couscous crusted chicken!

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The couscous got a little crispy in the oven, and it reminded me a lot of breaded chicken!

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Of course I had a salad on the side.

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Overall, the couscous crusted chicken idea is AMAZING.  Now I just need to come up with some sort of sauce to go along side… Hmmmmm……

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Stats on 1/2 of the Couscous Crusted Chicken Recipe:  203 calories, 16g carbs, 4g fat, 26g protein, 1g fiber

Couscous Crusted Chicken Ingredients List (Serves 2)

  • 8 ounces chicken breast
  • 1/4 cup couscous – I use Rice Select Tri Color Couscous
  • 1/4 fat free low sodium chicken broth
  • 1/8 tsp salt
  • 1/8 tsp black pepper
  • 1/4 tsp dried oregano
  • 1/4 tsp dried parsley
  • 1 tbsp Athenos Feta Cheese
  • 1 tbsp chopped sundried tomatoes
  • 1/4 cup thinly sliced spinach
  • Black pepper to taste
  • 1 clove minced garlic

 

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Recipes

Couscous Garbanzo Bean Salad

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I found a recipe for Couscous Garbanzo Bean Salad in the July 2010 issue of Cooking Light, and while I was making last night’s Southwestern Tabbouleh, I realized many of the ingredients were the same in the two recipes.  So, I was SUPER PRODUCTIVE and mixed up two servings of tonight’s dinner ahead of time.  Boo. Ya. 🙂  I was also pretty amped to use some of the Rice Select Tri-Color couscous I picked up last week (and used in my Chicken Couscous Salad).

I put the following into a bowl, then covered with a lid to steam:

  • 1/2 cup couscous
  • 1/2 cup boiling water
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 1/4 tsp black pepper
  • 1/16 tsp cinnamon

 Meanwhile, I mixed up the dressing:

  • 3 tablespoons lemon juice
  • 1 clove minced garlic
  • Dash sugar

Then, combined the following into a bowl:

  • 1 tbsp chopped mint
  • 1/4 cup chopped green onion
  • 1/16 paprika
  • 1/2 can chickpeas/garbanzo beans/whathaveyou 😉
  • 12 cherry tomatoes
  • 1/4 cup reduced fat feta ounces feta
  • S&P & red pepper flakes
  • 1/4 cup red onion

I combined the couscous and dressing with the other ingredients, then left in the fridge to overnight.

I was really craving roasted veggies, so I decided to only have 1/2 a serving of the couscous salad (a quarter of the recipe above) with a hodge podge of veggies that I tossed with 1 tsp olive oil and S&P and roasted in a 400 degree oven for 20 minutes.

I realized tonight that I’m really not a big fan of fresh mint 🙁

 

With every bite of couscous I thought to myself, man this would be really tasty if it weren’t for the mint… I ended up throwing some Frank’s Red Hot on there for good measure 🙂

The roasted veggies were so delicious:

If you’re a fan of mint, give this recipe a shot.  Otherwise, sub in cilantro or basil or go for the Chicken Couscous Salad instead!

Stats on 1 serving of couscous garbanzo bean salad:  317 calories, 50g carbs, 4g fat, 14g protein, 5g fiber

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What I ate

Canada, Greece, Repeat.

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Around the world and back again in three short meals 🙂  Geesh, I need a vacation…  Luckily, only two weeks til my Char-Char-cation!!!  (Charlotte/Charleston/Vacation 😉 )

Breakfast #1 = Canada

Canadian Bacon Eggins! Last night, I decided to whip up some eggins and use some of the Canadian Bacon I picked up at Trader Joe’s over the weekend.

I sprayed a muffin tin down with cooking spray, and plopped one piece of the Canadian bacon in each of 6 muffin tins.

Then I mixed together 9 egg whites, splash of water, S&P, red pepper flakes, franks red hot and poured it evenly into the 6 muffin tins. (Word to the wise – if you use a container with a spout it makes life A LOT easier 🙂 )

I cooked them for about 35 minutes at 350 degrees.

I had three of these little guys for breakfast with a dollop of ketchup.

Stats for 3 Canadian Bacon Eggins & ketchup: 147 calories, 6g carbs, 1g fat, 26g protein, 0g fiber

 

Breakfast #2 = Greece

1/2 cup Trader Joe’s nonfat vanilla greek yogurt with 1/4 cup each strawberries and blueberries.

Trader Joe’s greek yogurt was so tasty.  It’s not overly sweet, which I really liked.  I think I could have ate about 3 more servings of this 🙂

Stats: 133 calories, 23g carbs, 0g fat, 9g protein, 2g fiber

 

Lunch = Repeat

Leftovers from last night’s Chicken Couscous Salad!

So tasstttyyyy…

 

Last night’s smoothie

Since lunch was a repeat, I thought I’d showcase the lovely little smoothie I made last night. Everyday, I have a mid afternoon snack and a late night snack, each of which are around 100 calories. They are usually something simple like an apple or a bowl of low-cal cereal and almond milk, and don’t typically make it into the blog.

Last night, I was feeling up for a smoothie so I put the following into the blender:

  • 1/4 cup Oikos nonfat plain yogurt
  • 1 packet Truvia (Stevia)
  • 1/4 cup unsweetened Almond Breeze Vanilla Almond Milk
  • 1/4 cup each of frozen fresh blueberries, strawberries, and black raspberries

All blended up:

This lil guy was quite tasty, and he is quite the looker too 😉 !

Stats on the berry smoothie: 92 calories, 18g carbs, 1g fat, 6g protein, 4g fiber

 

Get those comments on the PB2 Giveaway page!  Pssst… you don’t have to create a blog to get a wordpress account!

Also, check out this Chobani Greek Yogurt Giveaway courtesy of Hillary at Foodie on the Run!!!

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Recipes

Chicken Couscous Salad Salad

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Dinner tonight was Chicken Couscous Salad Salad (the food so good they name it twice, right? 😉 )

I stumbled upon this Cooking Light recipe a while back and it sounded really tasty, but I wanted to try and make it a little healthier.  Luckily, I had a great find at the grocery store!  Rice Select Tri-Color Couscous with Sundried Tomato and Spinach, which has about 70 less calories per serving than the whole wheat couscous I compared it to. 

I decided to make up 2 servings of the salad so I’d have something for lunch tomorrow, so I cooked up 1/2 cup of the couscous in 1/2 cup free range chicken broth.  Once the couscous was finished, I fluffed it work a fork and dumped in a bowl to cool down. 

Meanwhile, I got to choppin.  Here’s what I decided to throw into the salad:

That’s:

  • 4 ounces chicken breast (which I cooked up last night with McCormick’s Montreal Chicken Seasoning)
  • 1/2 cup chopped green onion
  • 1 roma tomato
  • 1/2 a chopped cucumber
  • 1/4 cup chopped parsley

 

For the dressing, I mixed up the following:

  • 1/4 cup red wine vinegar
  • 1 tsp extra virgin olive oil
  • 1/2 tsp ground cumin
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 1/8 tsp black pepper
  • 1 clove garlic minced

Tossed everything together and put in the fridge to chill out while I cleaned up my kitchen.  I’m one of those people who just makes an absurd amount of messes while cooking… Good thing I like to clean 🙂

This recipe made two big servings of yummyness:

This was really tasty!  I love vinegars, so I especially liked the dressing.  I think I’ll actually try some out on a salad later in the week.  Another great thing about this couscous recipe is you could throw pretty much any vegetable into the mix and it would taste great!  Two thumbs up!

Stats on the chicken couscous salad:  277 calories, 40g carbs, 4g fat, 17g protein, 4g fiber

 Don’t forget to check out the PB2 giveaway!!!

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