Saturday, December 7, 2013

Easy Healthy Chicken Recipes


In my opinion any food that supplies the correct amount of nutrients to the body, without any unhealthy additives is healthy. It also depends a lot on the way you cook it. You can make healthy foods unhealthy by frying them, and then you can make easy healthy recipes by sticking to roasting and boiling. Chicken by itself is pretty healthy food, but if you're going to fry it, or add sodium to it, you're going to ruin it. So here are some easy healthy recipes to get the best out of your chicken!

Moroccan Chicken Salad

Ingredients
  • 2 cups cooked rice
  • 2 cups shredded cooked chicken
  • 2 cups shredded carrots
  • 2 tablespoons of chopped fresh cilantro
  • cup sliced scallions
  • cup reduced-sodium chicken broth
  • cup chopped Kalamata olives
  • 2 tablespoons of chopped fresh mint
  • 2 teaspoons of extra virgin olive oil
  • cup orange juice
  • 2 tablespoons of lemon juice
  • teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • teaspoon cayenne pepper
  • Salt & pepper to taste
If you have left over some rice and chicken from last night, this is the best thing to do. The long list of ingredients should not put you off. Making salads in general is very simple and so is this one. Mix the chicken broth, lemon juice, orange juice, oil, cayenne, mint, cinnamon, cilantro, salt and pepper in one bowl. Take another large bowl and combine the cooked chicken, carrots, scallions and olives. Combine the two and add a rice topping and toss it in the bowl. And your Moroccan salad is ready!

Barbecued Chicken Burritos

Ingredients
  • 1, 2-pound roasted chicken - 4 cups
  • cup barbecue sauce
  • 1 cup canned black beans, rinsed
  • cup frozen corn, thawed, or canned corn, drained
  • cup reduced-fat sour cream
  • 4, 10'' whole-wheat tortillas
  • 4 leaves romaine lettuce
  • 2 limes, cut in wedges
Burritos and healthy? Why not! Like I said, along with the ingredients, it is also about the preparation procedure, to make an easy healthy chicken recipe. You don't always need to cut back on taste you know! This chicken recipe is again very simple. First, cook the chicken, BBQ sauce, corn, beans and sour cream on a heated skillet. Heat on medium-high flame for about 4-5 minutes. Place the lettuces on the tortilla along with the chicken mixture. Roll it up and your burrito is ready!

Baked Chicken and Mushrooms

Ingredients
  • 1 lb. thinly-sliced chicken breasts
  • 8 oz. sliced button mushrooms
  • cup Parmesan cheese, grated
  • 2 Tbsp. French fried onions
  • 3 Tbsp. olive oil, divided
  • Salt and pepper to taste
How can this list be complete without baked chicken? Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Add olive oil to the oven cooking pan. Place chicken breasts on top of oil and season both the sides with salt and pepper. Place the button mushrooms evenly over chicken breasts. Add the remaining oil to the chicken and mushrooms. Top with the Parmesan cheese. French fried onions are optional but you can add those. Now bake the mix for 15 minutes with the cover on. Remove cover and bake for another 5 - 10 minutes. Once the top of the chicken is browned, you know that it is ready!

Grilled Chicken with Chipotle Chillies-Orange Glaze

Ingredients
  • 2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, trimmed of fat (8 ounces)
  • 1 tablespoon orange juice concentrate, thawed
  • 1 teaspoons of finely chopped chipotle chilies in Adobo sauce
  • 1 teaspoons of balsamic vinegar
  • 1 teaspoon molasses
  • teaspoon Dijon mustard
  • Salt to taste
Here's a funky dish for those who are pretty tired of salads and barbecuing chicken. Preheat the grill. In the meantime you can lightly oil the chicken. Sprinkle salt in the chicken. Mix the orange juice concentrate, Chipotle chillies, vinegar, mustard and molasses in a bowl. Once the salt and oil have permeated the chicken, grill the chicken for 2 minutes. Then turn the chicken, and brush on the Chipotle-orange glaze, and cook, brushing again and again with more of the glaze. Turn the chicken again, and repeat the glaze-brushing procedure. When the chicken is no longer pink, it is ready.

Again, I will re-emphasize the importance of cooking procedure. Making chicken recipes or coming up with them is no big deal. These were just pointers. You can add your own creative spark and use some of the healthier cooking ingredients you know and make your own dishes!

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