Fitness Food and You

I wasn’t expecting to love this dish as much as I did! IT’S UTTERLY DELICIOUS!! It’s also very easy to make and fun to eat! This is a keeper! Give it try–you might be surprised too!

ingredients

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 pound ground chicken

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 onion, diced

¼ cup hoisin sauce

2 tablespoons soy sauce

1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar

1 tablespoon freshly grated ginger

1 tablespoon Sriracha, optional

1 (8-ounce) can whole water chestnuts, drained and diced

2 green onions, thinly sliced

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

1 head butter lettuce

directions

Heat olive oil in a saucepan over medium high heat. Add ground chicken and cook until browned, about 3-5 minutes, making sure to crumble the chicken as it cooks; drain excess fat.

Stir in garlic, onion, hoisin sauce, soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, ginger and Sriracha until onions have become translucent, about 1-2 minutes.

Stir in chestnuts and green onions until tender, about 1-2 minutes; season with salt and pepper, to taste.

To serve, spoon several tablespoons of the chicken mixture into the center of a lettuce leaf, taco-style.

(recipe found on https://damndelicious.net/)

This is one of the most popular NY Times recipes and for good reason! It is easy to make and beyond scrumptious. The ingredients work magically! This one is a keeper!! 

ingredients

3 ½ pounds bone-in, skin-on chicken parts

1 teaspoon ground turmeric

6 tablespoons olive oil

Kosher salt and black pepper

½ cup white wine vinegar

1 ½ cups green Castelvetrano olives, crushed and pitted

2 garlic cloves, finely grated

1 cup parsley, tender leaves and stems, chopped

directions

Heat oven to 450⁰ F. Place chicken on a rimmed baking sheet and toss with turmeric and 2 tablespoons olive oil, and season with salt and pepper. Make sure chicken is skin-side up, then pour vinegar over and around chicken and place in the oven.

Bake chicken, without flipping, until cooked through and deeply browned all over, 25 to 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, combine olives, garlic, parsley, the remaining 4 tablespoons olive oil and 2 tablespoons water in a small bowl; season with salt and pepper.

Once chicken is cooked, remove baking sheet from the oven and transfer chicken to a large serving platter, leaving behind any of the juices and bits stuck to the pan.

Make sure the baking sheet is on a sturdy surface (the stovetop, a counter), then pour the olive mixture onto the sheet. Using a spatula or wooden spoon, gently scrape up all the bits the chicken left behind, letting the olive mixture mingle with the rendered fat and get increasingly saucy. Pour olive mixture over the chicken, then serve.

 (recipe found on https://cooking.nytimes.com)

A client of mine made this salad during the holidays and it was a major hit!! Feel free to play around with the ingredients–I’m going to add more spinach. The ingredients work magically!

salad ingredients

5 cups (1 ½ lbs) cubed butternut squash, cut into ¾ inch pieces

1 ½ Tbsp olive oil

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

1 cup chopped pecans, toasted

10 oz baby spinach

1 ¼ cups pomegranate arils

4 oz goat cheese or feta, crumbled

dressing ingredients

½ cup olive oil

¼ cup red wine vinegar

3 Tbsp minced shallot

2 ½ Tbsp honey

1 Tbsp dijon mustard

1 tsp fresh thyme leaves

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

directions: 

For the butternut squash: Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Place squash in a mound on a baking sheet, drizzle with olive oil, season with salt and pepper to taste and toss to evenly coat in oil. Spread into an even layer.

Bake in preheated oven 15 minutes then remove from oven and toss. Return to oven and bake until tender, about 10 minutes longer. Allow to cool several minutes before adding to salad.

For the Salad: In a large salad bowl toss together spinach, squash, ½ of the pecans and ½ of the pomegranate arils.

Drizzle with desired amount of dressing and gently toss. Sprinkle with remaining pecans, pomegranate arils and goat cheese and serve immediately.

For the dressing: Combine all dressing ingredients in a blender and season with salt and pepper to taste (about ½ tsp salt ¼ tsp pepper). Process until well emulsified.

 (recipe found on https://www.cookingclassy.com/)