Balsamic Chicken with Feta

This recipe is inspired by a meal my sister made for me a while ago so i decided to give it a go on my own. It was really easy to prepare and didn't take a lot of time. I paired the chicken with whole wheat couscous and sauteed zucchini and mushrooms. For the chicken, I used fat free feta cheese because that is what was in my fridge, but next time I would use cheese with a little fat to make it a little more melty and delicious!

Balsamic Chicken w/ feta (serves 1)
Ingredients:
1 skinless, boneless chicken breast
2-3 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1/4 cup thinly sliced red onion
2 tbsp feta cheese (my sister used Gorgonzola cheese)
a pinch dried oregano
coarse sea salt and fresh ground pepper, to taste

Ingredients for sides:
1/4 cup dried whole wheat couscous (I buy it at Trader Joes)
1/4 cup vegetable broth (or chicken broth)

1/2 small zucchini, sliced
1/3 cup sliced mushrooms
1 tsp olive oil

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. To prepare the chicken, put it in a sandwich sized zip-lock bag. Tenderize with a meat mallet (a heavy metal spoon works too). Pour the vinegar and oregano into the bag, seal and mix well. The longer you marinate, the stronger the flavor will be. For me, this was a last minute meal, so I only left it in the bag for 5-10 minutes. Spray a baking dish with a little cooking spray and place the chicken breast in the dish. Top with the sliced onions and bake for approx 25 minutes (until flesh is no longer pink). Add the feta cheese and then broil on low for ~5 minutes, or until the cheese melts and starts to brown.

While the chicken is cooking, prepare your sides. Couscous can be cooked on the stove or in the microwave. I made mine in the microwave. In a high sided bowl add the uncooked couscous and the vegetable broth, cook for 1 minute. Stir after a minute and continue cooking until soft in 30 second intervals, stirring. When you remove it from the microwave, cover the bowl.

In a small skillet, heat olive oil on medium on the stove top. Add the zucchini and mushrooms. Splash in a little balsamic vinegar and oregano and cook until tender and browned.

When plated, this meal looks like it may have taken a lot of work, but it was really almost effortless. I would definitely cook this again! Thanks for the inspiration Amanda! :)

greek pasta salad, opa!!

Today is marathon Monday and my girls at University Road (on the race route) are having a cook-out :) And for my contribution to the party, I decided to make pasta salad. The possibilities with pasta salad are endless--and you can load it up with all your favorite veggies! I was inspired by the feta cheese in my fridge to go with a Greek style salad. Its a really simple recipe, just a handful of simple ingredients.

Greek Pasta Salad (makes ~16 heaping 1/2 cups)
Ingredients:
1 box Barilla Plus bow-tie pasta
1/2 cup fat free feta cheese
1 medium cucumber, chopped
1 cup grape tomatoes, quartered
1/3 medium red onion, finely chopped
2/3 cup Kraft Greek Vinaigrette Dressing (the one made with olive oil, 60 calories per 2 tbsp)
2 tbsp parmesan cheese
a generous shake dried oregano
coarse sea salt, fresh ground pepper to taste

Boil a large pot of water on the stove top. As the water boils, chop your veggies. Add the veggies to a large bowl. When the water gets to a rapid boil, add in the pasta, stirring so it doesn't stick. Cook the pasta to al dente (on the firm side). Strain the pasta and run it under cool water to stop the pasta from cooking. Add the pasta to the bowl of veggies. Pour in the dressing and mix well. Add the feta cheese, dried oregano, and salt and pepper. Lastly, sprinkle on the parmesan cheese.

I would've added sliced black olives to this, but I went to two different grocery stores with no success so I did without. And if you wanted to make a meal out of this, you could add a little grilled chicken, shrimp, or chick peas for protein. Pasta salad is best to cook the night before so the flavors really come together.

Asparagus & feta Omelet

My college budget has led me to a greater appreciation for eggs. And just like the stir-fry I made earlier this week, omelets are a great meal to add extra vegetables to your diet. I had some left-over asparagus in my fridge so I decided to add it to my omelet this morning. I like to only use egg whites when I eat eggs. This is for two reasons, 1) I don't really like the taste/consistency of the yolks, and 2) the yolk holds the fat and cholesterol, while the white contains the most protein. If you're really crazy about the yolk, I recommend cutting back to no more than one per day --for each yolk, have 2 egg whites.

Asparagus & Feta Omelet (serves 1)
Ingredients:
3 egg whites
4-5 asparagus stalks
a handful of chopped green onion
1/2 tbsp crushed garlic
2 tbsp reduced fat (or fat free) feta cheese
cooking spray

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Chop up the asparagus spears into bite-sized pieces. Spray a baking pan with a little cooking spray and lay the asparagus on the pan and top with the crushed garlic. Cook until tender, ~15 minutes. Using a non-stick pan, spray with a little cooking spray and add the egg whites to the pan on medium heat. As the egg whites transition from clear to opaque, start to pull the egg away from the sides of the pan with a spatula, and let the clear white run underneath. This will give you a thicker omelet. The liquid whites will pool in the middle of the egg. If you are feeling especially skilled in your egg flipping talent, try to flip the egg over... I haven't quite mastered this technique yet, but I try! Once the egg is opaque, add the cooked asparagus, the chopped green onion, and feta cheese and fold in half. Keep it on low heat just until the cheese gets warm.

I always have to have some sort of bread with my eggs so this morning I had a toasted English muffin. And although I'm trying to wean the ketchup out of my life, I still have to have a little on my eggs, but hey... there's lycopene in there right?