Roasted Chicken

First crack at roasting a whole chicken, and I wanted crispy crackling skin. I followed this recipe for Perfect Roast Chicken, which was FANTASTIC. I used butter instead of margarine, and my only complaint is that it needed far less butter than it called for, so I will half the quantity next time. It also cooked faster than expected, so make sure to take periodic temperature readings as you baste it.

"Greek Goddess" Burger

A knockoff of my favourite burger from The Works.

Chicken breast topped with dived tomatoes, feta cheese, garlic, and oregano.

Weight Watchers: 9 points plus values (plus 7 for the salad).

Buffalo Chicken Won Ton Bowls

Inspired by this recipe from Joyously Domestic. My won tons are filled with: shredded chicken, cottage cheese, diced tomatoes, and buffalo sauce.

After baking:
1 Weight Watchers Points Plus Values each.

After topping with cheese, ranch dressing, carrots and celery:
2 Weight Watchers Points Plus Values each.

Homemade Chicken Avocado Ranch Rolls

These are what I made with my improvised rolls! Approx. 10 points per, and worth every one!

"Improvised rolls"
+ chicken breast
+ cheddar cheese (broiled for melty goodness)
+ sliced tomato
+ sliced avocado
_____________
= YUM!

I'm sure crispy bacon and caramelized onions would punch the flavour up even more.

Pan fried chicken with mashed potatoes and garden salad

To make the chicken, I took out some all-purpose flour and added a bit of any spices I had on hand that sounded good: paprika, mustard powder, oregano, coarse sea salt, etc. Then I broke one egg into a shallow bowl, and whisked it around with a splash of milk. After rinsing the chicken breasts, I dipped each into the egg mixture, coated it in flour, back into the egg mixture and a final flouring before gently putting it into a pan of hot oil. Once removed, I drizzled with some light Renee's Caesar dressing and honey.

The mashed potatoes were two red potatoes I washed, cubed, and boiled, then mashed with my new Pampered Chef potato mashing tool along with some butter and milk.

Point Plus Value for this meal: 14

A blogging failure... no time to post!

I was feeling so ambitious on the first day I started this blog, but quickly realized life is too busy to actually post regularly right now, so I think I will switch to posting meal photos and descriptions for a while to keep me going. I'll start you off with a few recent ones:

Fried chicken with sautéed asparagus and mushroom rice risotto

French onion soup in a handmade bowl

Meatloaf with oven roasted root vegetable and parmesan cheese casserole

Tilapia with asparagus and slightly overcooked (oops!) carrots sautéed with butter and brown sugar

Chicken Avocado Ranch Grilled Cheese Sandwich with Salad

For me, this meal is currently one of my favourites, but it takes some time to get ready. Something about it makes me think I should be enjoying it in California - perhaps it's the avocado...

The sandwich is made up of:

• Two pieces of Farmer's Market cheddar cheese bread

• 2 tsp butter (1 tsp spread on each outer side, for frying)

• 30g cheddar cheese

• A few slices of tomato

• 2-3 slices of avocado (I start with 1/2 an avocado, and put a couple slices into the sandwich, and dice the remainder and add it to the salad, so about 1/4 avocado in each)

• 3 oz chicken breast pieces

• 1.5 Tbsp Kraft low fat Ranch dressing

The salad includes:

• 2-3 cups baby romaine lettuce mix

• 1/2 medium tomato, diced (mostly, whatever was left after the slices went into the sandwich)

• About 1/3 granny smith apple, diced (I just nibble on the rest later)

• Approx. 1/4 avocado (I start with 1/2 an avocado, and put a couple slices into the sandwich, and dice the remainder and add it to the salad, so about 1/4 avocado in each)

• 2 slices of bacon, cooked extra crispy using my microwave tray, then crumbled

• Dressing of your choice (for this one, I used 1.5 Tbsp Farm Boy lemon garlic vinaigrette dressing)

Nutrition information: sandwich / salad

Calories: 512 / 166
Potassium: 385 / 386
Fat: 23 / 12
Carbohydrates: 38 / 17
Fibre: 4 / 7
Protein: 27 /  9
Weight Watchers Points Plus: 12 / 5

My rating: a filling and satisfying meal, mostly healthy ingredients, with healthy fats, plus the deliciousness that can only come from bread and butter (one of my weaknesses). The salad (or variation thereof) is on my menu at least weekly, but the sandwich is a rare delicacy.

Buffalo Chicken Salad

I love chicken. It's my favourite white meat. And it's a little à propos, because for most of my life, I have been somewhat chicken to experiment with food. A part of the reason for this blog is to chronicle my food life and to start trying more - more foods, more recipes, more ways of preparing.

I am simultaneously on a quest to eat a more healthy and balanced diet, so I'm hoping that you'll be seeing a lot more veggies and salads than I've traditionally eaten, accompanied by an occasional dessert or home baked bread recipe. I tend to use a combination of from-scratch and pre-made ingredients, depending on the amount of time I have to devote to the food. I have been using myfitnesspal.com to help figure out the nutrition information for the meals I prepare for several years, and find it very useful.

Today, I tried a recipe from skinnytaste.com for crockpot buffalo chicken wraps. However, I decided to turn this into a salad concoction to suit the ingredients I had in my fridge. I also had an issue where my crockpot is not working, so I cooked it in a covered pot instead. I present to you my very own buffalo chicken salad:

Ingredients:
1/2 cup buffalo crockpot chicken made with Frank's Red Hot Buffalo Sauce
3 cups baby romaine lettuce
1 handful of chopped carrots and celery
1-1/2 Tbsp Kraft fat free Rancher's Choice salad dressing

Nutrition information:
Calories: 209
Potassium: 173
Fat: 3
Carbohydrates: 15
Fibre: 2
Protein: 28
Weight Watchers Points Plus: 5 (4 if you only used 1 Tbsp of salad dressing)

The results: flavourful and fantastic. Definitely something I will make again!