Skinny Homestyle Chicken Noodle Soup

Jan 082013

I realize that is has been forever since I’ve posted a recipe for you guys, which is totally unacceptable. I mean isn’t this blog called, Chelsea Eats Treats?? Doesn’t that mean I should be eating some healthy treats and sharing the recipes with you guys? Um, yes.

Based on what I was eating over the holidays, you’d have no idea that this is supposed to be a healthy eating blog, now would you? I mean really, cakes and pizza are fine and all but that’s not a realistic representative of what I eat on a daily basis. Thank God.

So I’m going to change all that and get back on track with posting some healthy recipes around this place! Sheesh! About time.

Today’s recipe is something so simple and yet so comforting. It’s one of my go-to recipes for when I’ve had a long day at work and just want to curl up with a warm bowl of love. Er, or something like that

This “skinny” homestyle chicken noodle soup comes together in a flash and is chock full of wholesome ingredients that are sure to pick you up after a long day. I love how easy it is to throw together and that I don’t have to keep looking back to a recipe to remember how to make it. This is one of those meals where after you’ve made it once or twice, you can memorize the steps and it comes together in under thirty minutes. Easy peasy!

Plus this soup makes a ton of leftovers which I love slurping on during the week. Sluuuuurp. Anyway.

Here’s how it comes together.

First you need to start with the soup basics. Pretty much all good soups start with a combination of these three aromatics: onions, carrots, and celery. Don’t ask me why, but these three are crucial for almost any soup you want to attempt.

To start off the soup you just need to chop about equal amounts of all three ingredients. I tend to use a bit more carrots because I love carrots in my soup, but use however much you want.

I also usually throw a couple of garlic cloves in there for good measure

Done!

Once all your veggies are ready, drizzle about 1/2 teaspoon of oil into a large soup pot. Any oil will work, but I like using olive oil because it’s good for your heart. You could also use more oil if you’d like, but I was going for skinny homestyle soup and I didn’t think it was necessary. Your call!

Once the oil is nice and hot, add the onions and cook for about 1- 2 minutes until they begin to turn translucent. Then add the garlic and stir until fragrant, about 30 seconds.

Then add the carrots and celery and let that cook for about 5 minutes until the veggies start to get a little tender.

Note: I like to have all my veggies chopped before I start adding them into the pot. That way I’m not scrambling to chop and stir at the same time, which can easily (for me) result in burnt onions!

While those veggies are getting nice and soft, you can get your noodles going. Simply bring a pot of salted water to a boil and add in your noodles. Cook until the noodles are just al dente (they will get cooked a little more at the end, so don’t overcook them now!) and then drain the noodles and set them aside. I use whole wheat noodles to save some calories, but feel free to use whatever kind of noodles you like in this soup.

While your noodles are cooking away, turn your attention back to the veggies because it’s time for the broth!

I typically use a combination of water and fat free, reduced sodium, chicken broth. This gives everything a nice flavor without all of the extra sodium that using only chicken broth would ad (plus it saves you a bit of money by using water; chicken broth can get expensive!)

Pour in the can of broth and two cups of water to your soup bowl, and give everything a swirl.

Then bring your soup up to a boil and add the seasonings! I usually add salt, pepper, poultry seasoning, and fresh herbs, when I have them (I like thyme and rosemary!).

Start out with about 1/2 teaspoon of each, taste, and then add more if you need to.

You can always add more seasonings to the pot, but you can’t take them out once they’re in!

BTW, poultry seasoning is just a blend of herbs and spices that gives everything a traditional “chicken soup” taste. Yum!

Then cover your soup and let it simmer for about 12 – 15 minutes so the veggies can get nice and tender and the flavors can really come together.

Once the veggies are done to your liking, you can add in some pre-cooked chicken (this was leftover from the night before) and your noodles to the pot.

Look out below! Haha.

Then let that simmer for a couple more minutes just so that everything is warmed through and then it’s time to eat!

There’s nothing quite like a delicious bowl of homemade chicken noodle soup that comes together in less than 30 minutes to warm you up after a long, hard day.

Definitely one of my go-to recipes!

Skinny Homestyle Chicken Noodle Soup

Recipe type: Soup

Author: Chelsea Eats Treats

Prep time: 5 mins

Cook time: 25 mins

Total time: 30 mins

Serves: 6

This skinny homestyle chicken noodle soup comes together in less than thirty minutes and is so easy to throw together!

Ingredients

1/2 teaspoon olive oil
small-medium onion, chopped
2 large carrots, diced
1 stalk of celery, diced
2 cloves of garlic, diced
1 and 1/2 cups of whole wheat soup noodles
1 can fat free reduced sodium chicken broth
2 cups of water
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt (plus more to taste)
1/2 teaspoon fresh ground pepper (plus more to taste)
1/2 teaspoon poultry seasoning (plus more to taste)
1 or 2 tablespoons fresh herbs (I like thyme or rosemary)
1 cup of pre-cooked chicken

Instructions

Chop all veggies and have everything ready to go for your soup.
Drizzle olive oil in a large soup pot over medium-high heat.
When pan is hot, add onions and cook for 1 – 2 minutes. Then add garlic, carrots, and celery, in that order. Cook for about 5 minutes until veggies are tender.
Meanwhile bring a large pot of salted water to a boil and add your noodles. Cook according to package directions until noodles are almost al dente. Drain and set aside.
When veggies are tender, add two cups of water and the can of chicken broth to the soup pot.
Bring to a boil and then add salt, pepper, poultry seasoning, and herbs, if using.
Cover pot and bring the soup down to a simmer for about 12 – 15 minutes or until veggies are soft.
Add drained noodles and cooked chicken. Stir until warmed through.

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Serving Size: 1 and 1/4 cup

WeightWatchers Points Plus: 8 points (calculated using Weight Watchers Recipe Tool, which counts vegetables)

One of the best parts about this soup was that I had plenty for leftovers throughout the week. Can’t beat that!

Question of the day: What are your “go-to” recipes? Do you have any that are both easy and comforting, like this one?

In addition to comforting soups, I love chili and macaroni and cheese after a hard day So good!

Veggie Chicken Soup

Recipes 13 Responses »

Sep 202012

Hello there! Happy Thursday! This week is crawling by like a snail for me. I talked about it with Fabio and he said the week feels slow for him too, and I also heard a lady in the elevator complaining because it’s only Thursday. Then in my last meeting everyone was saying how slow the week feels. Maybe it’s the change in the weather? We did have a cold front come through (causing me to break out a cute fall scarf! yay!) so maybe that’s it?

All I know is that this girl is ready for the weekend. Woop woop!

Workout

So I have another new workout to share with you all today! As I mentioned on Tuesday, I have a new exercise routine that I trying out that I hope will get me into better shape (because let’s be real, those couple of pounds that crept on while I was in Italy have GOT to go).

Every day I will be alternating between intense cardio (e.g., my two-mile run and Insanity DVD) with strength training (e.g., the workout I will be sharing with you today). I think that by alternating from day to day I will keep myself in good shape without getting bored with either type of workout. And I know they are both important to my health, so I am doing my best to incorporate both. I promise to keep you posted on my progress!

For now though, let me tell you about my strength training workout for this week. Can any of you guess what I did??

If you guessed Body Pump you’d be right!

I have always heard people talk about how great Body Pump is, but I have never actually had the opportunity to try it. Now that Tina’s Best Body Bootcamp is over, I have some free reign on my workouts and on Tuesday I decided to give Body Pump a try! My gym offers classes at 6 a.m. so I rolled my butt out of bed at 5:30, quickly got ready and ran to the gym in time for the 6 am class (in the dark mind you, and it was raining). Ugh.

Once I got to the gym I perked right up when I saw the energetic instructor. She had great music and a ton of spunk and did a great job explaining all of the tracks to me. It was so much fun!

For those of you who are unfamiliar with Body Pump (like I was) here is a brief description:

“BodyPump is a weight-based group-fitness program that is 60 minutes long and contains eight separate muscle-group specific songs or “tracks” along with an opening warm up track and closing cooldown track. The classes are performed to music using free weights-plates, barbells and an aerobic step. Participants choose their weights based on the exercise and their personal goals. Major muscle groups are worked via series of compound and isolation-based exercises including squats, presses, dead lifts. The focus is towards muscle endurance using several repetitions.” -Source

Basically it is just a fun full-body workout that focuses on all of your major muscle groups. It’s not much of a cardio class, although there were a few jumps during one track that had my heart rate pounding and my quads burning. It was great!

Also, I wore my heart rate monitor so I could compare Body Pump to Monday’s cardio workout.

As you can see, my heart rate wasn’t as high and I didn’t burn as many calories, but that’s pretty typical and I wasn’t surprised (especially since nothing gets my heart rate as high as Insanity anyway- oh Sean T I love you and I hate you).

Body Pump is designed to build your strength more than raise your heart rate, and I can definitely say it worked since all week I have been hobbling around with some sore muscles, especially in my back! Yowza!

So there you have it! Looks like Body Pump will be my new Tuesday strength training workout from now on :O)

Recipe

Ok so I have a super simple recipe for you guys today Like, so simple you can hardly even call it a recipe. Basically I just threw a bunch of stuff together and magicallygot food haha but it was delicious so I will share!

It all started the other night when it was dreary out and I made that delicious spicy jambalaya. It was so comforting to have something warm for dinner so I decided I wanted to make something similar for dinner the next night (especially since the forecast called for chilly rain all day. Yuck!) So I did a little Googling and found this yummy soup recipe from Shape.

I loved that it was so easy to make and I had all the ingredients on hand, so I planned on making it. The next morning before work I got all the ingredients ready, threw it all in a crock pot, and shut the lid. When I came home, I had soup! So easy!

Here’s how it came together.

First I chopped up one large potato and added it to my crock pot. I left the skins on for added nutrients (and because I am lazy haha) but you can definitely peel them if you want to.

Next it was time for the carrots. I just took a bunch of baby carrots that I had on hand and chopped them into little pieces. Then they got tossed right on top of the potatoes.

Next came two frozen, boneless, skinless chicken breasts straight from the freezer. I just plopped them down right on top of the carrots. That easy.

Next I chopped up one zucchini and added it in…

And then added 1 chopped onion.

Then I added three cups of fat-free low sodium chicken broth to the mix, or just enough to cover my veggies.

Make sure you use the low-sodium kind because those babies can be loaded with salt. Be careful!

Once you add the broth in, feel free to flavor the soup however you like. The recipe from Shape suggests adding nutmeg, so I sprinkled a little in, but I thought that was kind of weird. Mostly I stuck to salt, pepper, and a little old bay. I think I also tossed some garlic salt in there, but you can add any spices you want. Go crazy!

Once all my ingredients were in the pot I gave it a little stir, set the pot to low heat, and popped the lid on. Then I went work, get stressed out, came home cold and tired, changed into my PJs and opened the lid to inhale the smell of this tasty soup! Awesomeee.

Before serving it out all I had to two was take the chicken out, shred it with two forks, and stir it back into the soup. Then it was time to eat!

It was delicious and flavorful and soo comforting. Plus it’s not too bad for ya’ either!

I ate mine with a few saltine crackers

Yum!!

Ok so I am not going to write out the recipe since I basically followed it word for word (minus the nutmeg) from Shape. So if you want the recipe check it out over there, but I pretty much eyeballed the whole thing anyway

Alright so now I need to know, what are your favorite soup recipes? Do any of them involve the ease of the crockpot?? I have a feeling I am going to become a tad bit obsessed with comforting crock pot meals as the fall season continues. Feel free to share recipes!

Quinoa with Chicken, Mango, and Sweet Potatoes

Recipes 4 Responses »

Aug 162012

Hey there friends! When did it get to be THURSDAY? One minute I was complaining because this week was dragging on and the next…it’s almost Friday?? Whaaaat? lol.

Anywho, you probably saw that I reached out to you all the other day to provide me with some guest posts while I travel to Italy in a week and a half! However, in addition to reaching out to you all, I also asked some of my friends if they wanted to contribute a guest post for my blog. My friends are a lot like me and try to balance a healthy lifestyle with living life to the fullest, so hopefully you all will like hearing from them. In fact, one of my friends, Jess, even decided to start her own blog!

[Remember Jess' awesome dance moves in this post?]

She just started it yesterday so obviously it’s still a work in progress, but stop by and check it out! She’s calling it See Jess BLANK since her blog will cover every aspect of her life (i.e. See Jess Cook, See Jess Run, See Jess Shop, etc.) Pretty clever, huh? Anyway, stop by and check her out!

You can also look forward to a guest post from my friend Catrina, who I have talked about as an amazing inspiration to me during my weight loss journey.

[Catrina and me when she came to visit this weekend]

And I have a few posts lined up from some other bloggers around the web, so it should be a fun time! Yay!

Bootcamp

I have to be honest that Bootcamp has not been that high of a priority for me this week. I guess that’s sort of an overstatement, since I only missed one day, but I feel like my heart and my mind haven’t been that into it this week. It’s like yes, I still have completed 3 out of the 4 workouts so far this week, but I haven’t been as excited to complete them and crawling out of bed in the morning has been ~~difficult~~ torture.

I think this is mostly due to the fact that I have been so crazy at work (hence the reason I’m posting so late) and my brain just can’t really handle much more. I really enjoyed my three mile run the other day because I could just run and not have to have to use my brain too much (no thinking- what move comes next? has it been 5 minutes on the treadmill yet? do I have my weights for my next move? where is the incline bench? etc.) When I was running it was just that. Running.

My brain is just too tired this week, as crazy as that sounds. I need as much time as possible to turn it off. To relax. And if that means skipping a superset from the bootcamp and going for another run, I’m ok with that. Like I said on Tuesday, this has to work for me.

Recipe

Despite being so exhausted this week, I have been able to get some pretty good eats in! It didn’t happen intentionally (I mean I wasn’t trying to eat bad food, but I wasn’t trying to be fancy either) but it actually turned out great!

On Tuesday, I was browsing through the kitchen to see what I had available and I eyed a sweet potato that was on its last legs. I thought how delicious an Asian sweet & spicy sweet potato and chicken dish would be, and turned to the Internet for inspiration (is that a weird combination to be inspired by? sweet potato and chicken? whatever.) I came across a few recipes and got some vague ideas for what I wanted to make, and got to work.

First, I rinsed 1/4 cup of quinoa under running water, and then added it to a pot with 1/2 cup water. I then brought the quinoa to a boil, and covered it and turned down the heat to low. Then I let the quinoa do its thang.

Next I chopped my sweet potato into bite-size pieces, and added them to a pot full of boiling water.

I let them cook for about 10 minutes, then drained them and set them aside.

While the sweet potatoes were cooking, I grilled some chicken on the George Foreman. I forgot to take a picture because I’m a scatter brain, but you’ve all seen chicken plopped on a GF grill so I promise you’re not missin’ anything. Once it was done cooking, I chopped the chicken into bite-size bits.

Then I got the sauce ready. For my sauce I gathered garlic, soy sauce, honey, and siracha hot sauce.

Then I added all the ingredients to a sauce pan and added 1/4 cup of water to give the sauce more of a base. I also spontaneously decided to add a few crushed red pepper flakes for extra heat. Yum. Then I brought the sauce to a simmer and let it reduce down for about five minutes.

Once it had thickened up a bit on its own, I dissolved 1/4 tsp. of corn starch into 1/2 tsp. of water, and slowly whisked it into the sauce.

Once the sauce was nice and thick, I added in the chicken, sweet potato, and a 1/2 cup of mango I had dethawed from the freezer.

Then I let the chicken, mango, and sweet potato get nice and happy and I finished up the quinoa.

When it only had a few minutes left to cook, I dropped some spinach into the pot and covered it back up with the lid. This wilted the spinach just a little bit (just the way I like it).

When the quinoa was fluffy, the spinach was wilted, and everything was warmed through in the sauce, it was time to plate!

I started with my quinoa and spinach…

And then doled out some of the chicken mixture on top!

The spicy sweet combo of the chicken, mangoes, and sweet potatoes was amazing. I loved the heat from the red pepper flakes and siracha sauce. So good!

Plus the sauce gets nice and thick and is seriously reminiscent of take-out Chinese food, but is much better for you without any crazy sodium or mystery MSG, whatever that stuff is.

So good!

Quinoa with Chicken, Mango, and Sweet Potatoes

Recipe type: Entree

Author: Chelsea @ Chelsea Eats Treats

Prep time: 5 mins

Cook time: 20 mins

Total time: 25 mins

Serves: 1

A great weeknight meal made with delicious spicy and sweet Asian flavors

Ingredients

1/4 cup quinoa
1/2 cup water for quinoa
1 handful baby spinach
1 boneless skinless chicken breast, cooked and chopped
1/2 tsp. minced garlic
3 tbs. soy sauce
1 tsp. honey
1/2 tsp. siracha sauce
pinch of red pepper flakes, to taste
1/2 tsp. cornstarch
1 tsp. water, for dissolving
1/2 cup sweet potatoes, chopped and cooked
1/2 mangoes (fresh or dethawed) chopped

Instructions

Rinse quinoa under running water. Cook according to package directions. When quinoa is almost done cooking, add spinach and allow to steam for about 3 minutes.
Add water, soy sauce, garlic, honey, hot sauce, and red pepper flakes to a sauce pan. Whisk to combine.
Bring to a simmer and let reduce for about 5 minutes.
In a separate bowl, dissolve corn starch in water and slowly add to sauce, stirring constantly. If the sauce doesn’t become thick, repeat.
Add in chopped chicken, sweet potatoes, and mangoes. Cook for about five more minutes, until everything is warmed through.
Remove quinoa and spinach to a bowl, top with a spoonful of chicken mixture.

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So tell me, have you accidentally made any really delicious meals lately? This one was a really good one and will be seen around here a lot more often, now that I know how tasty and easy it was. Seriously, that spicy/sweet combo is just amazing! Yumm.

WIAW #16: New Snacks!

WIAW 11 Responses »

Aug 152012

Oh man Oh man Oh man. Have you guys read this book yet?

[Source]

I’m reading it as part of Peanut Butter Finger’s book club and I cannot put it down. I just got to a major turning point (Part II? Anyone? So did not see that coming) and even though I’m at work (and insanely busy, I might add) all I can think about it whether I can squeeze in a 5-minute coffee break to read a few more pages (kindle clicks?). Gah!

I love when books are this good and, even though I really like Julie’s book club, the last few books haven’t been that engaging. This one is full of action and keeps me on my toes, just the way I like it!

WIAW

Soooo it happens to be Wednesday today, and you know what that means. It’s time for another What I Ate Wednesday! Woohoo! I will warn you though that as opposed to all of my previous What I Ate Wednesday posts, this one doesn’t have a fancy numbered collage. I know, I know, I suck. The reason for that is because I only ate three things yesterday (no snacks. womp womp) and a collage just didn’t feel necessary. Next week, assuming I eat a more varied diet, I will continue with the collages because hey, I like those collages.

Anyway, thanks go to Jenn, as always, for hosting such an awesome linkup. I am so happy to be a part of something so huge in the healthy blogging community!

So, here’s what I ate yesterday!

Breakfast

To start off my day, I had one egg + one egg white on top of half a whole wheat English muffin, topped with my mom’s peach salsa. You can’t really see the English muffin under the egg, but it was there, I promise! The eggs were cooked perfectly (thanks to Fabio, my egg-master-cooking-boyfriend) and I used the English muffin to sop up all the yolk. Delicious! Oh, and I had a glass of OJ on the side.

Lunch

I finally have new snacks for my lunch! Yay! I know you guys were probably getting tired of seeing my turkey sammie, almonds, and pretzels every week, right? Well, I can’t promise that lunch won’t make a reappearance next week, but for this week I tried to switch things up by trading in my almonds and pretzels for baby carrots and hummus. I also had some peach Chobani yogurt for dessert. Yum! My sandwich stayed the same (turkey, cheese, & mustard on a sandwich thin) but I can’t help it! It’s so easy and tasty! Baby steps, people, baby steps.

Dinner

For dinner, I decided to try out a new recipe and wound up with a delicious Asian chicken dish. It included mangoes, sweet potatoes, and spicy chicken served over a bed of steamed spinach and quinoa. This dish was fantastic! It used my favorite flavor combo of spicy and sweet. I tell ya, that combination get me every time! I’m planning to share this recipe with you guys tomorrow, so stay tuned

And that’s it; that’s all I ate yesterday. Things have been super crazy at work lately, which doesn’t leave much time for snacking (even though I know that’s bad for my metabolism, I just can’t make myself take a break to eat when I’m running around like crazy).

All in all my eats were pretty good yesterday, although they could have used a few more fruits and veggies (like every week). There also weren’t too many healthy fats in my diet, since I didn’t eat any almonds, avocados, etc., but I think the sweet potato made up for that a little bit (I think?).

Anyway, what have you guys been eating lately? Any new snacks involved? I have to tell you I am loving those little travel packs of hummus. They are so convenient!

Chicken Quesadilla with Peach Salsa

Recipes, Uncategorized 11 Responses »

Aug 102012

Hey friends! Yay, it’s Friday! I had a very stressful morning already (I had an important project due at 11:00) but I sent it in and now the rest of my day should (hopefully) be stress free. I can relax and take my time finishing up some work that is not so time-sensitive. Hooray!

Anyway, yesterday I told you guys that I had a ton of updates to share, so let’s get started! First, I wanted to tell you about my vegetable share. Remember way back when I bought two half-shares of produce from a local farm off of Living Social? And they said to expect the delivery in a week? Well, they lied. It took more than a month (almost two, actually) to get them to send me my produce, and this is only after I emailed them like 5 times. Grumble grumble. But, my produce finally arrived and I’ll be getting my second share next week. Finally! Here’s what I got:

1 cantaloupe
2 yellow squash
1 green patty pan squash (Stephanie, you were right!)
1 lb. (ish) fingerling potatoes
3 small red onions
3 heirloom bell peppers (which I didn’t even know existed, but that’s what they look like)

Not bad, huh? And, I have already put most of the veggies to good use:

Roasted fingerling potatoes with rosemary

Sauteed yellow squash with red onions and peppers

Delish!

And there is another share like this one coming next week. Yippee! Although this deal was pretty expensive ($50 for the whole she-bang), it was really fun opening up my bag and seeing what local produce I received. Plus, it’s nice to be able to help out local farmers and eat produce that I know is in season and not shipped from somewhere halfway around the world and sprayed with a bunch of preservatives. No thanks.

I’m not sure if I’ll invest in a farm share regularly (though I know some people who do and they love it) but for me it doesn’t make sense because I would still need to buy some of my regular produce (spinach, lettuce, tomatoes, brussels sprouts, broccoli, etc.) and that’s too expensive to justify. It’s definitely fun for a little while though!

Bootcamp Update

Tina’s Best Body Bootcamp has still been going great! I have been loving the moves and really enjoying the soreness I feel after pushing my muscles hard.

To be honest though, I am struggling with finding the time to do the whole entire workout in one sitting. Some of the workouts don’t take as long, and I can fit them in during my normal workout schedule, but some of them take a bit longer and I’ve been having trouble scheduling them in. See, I usually work out from 6:00 – 7:00 a.m. and then head home to shower, eat breakfast, and get ready for work. However, some of the workouts take me longer than an hour so I’ve been waking my butt up even earlier to go the gym.

This is fine, and it may just be something I have to get used to, but climbing out from under the covers earlier than my normal time has been hard. I think it’s also because the weather has been crappy all week so when I go to get out of bed it’s dark and cloudy. In fact, on Monday, I didn’t even get out of bed at all and opted to do my workout in the afternoon instead. This was ok too, but I definitely like the energy I get from working out in the morning better. Plus, all the machines at my gym are full in the evenings and I found myself waiting around for a treadmill to open up. Not cool.

So I will pose this question to you now: should I just start waking up earlier? Should I switch to afternoon workouts? Or should I shorten Tina’s workouts a little so they fit into my schedule? What do you guys think?

Recipe

Ok, so now time for the recipe! Yay! I have to be honest, it’s not exactly a recipe, per se. It’s not like I have some crazy unique idea to show you that you should follow to a tee, it just happens to be something that I whipped up for dinner one night this week that was so amazing that I had to share it. Literally, after we were done licking our ~~plates~~ fingers, Fabio goes, “Can we have that again tomorrow?”

Even last night, when I was so excited to make dinner with my new veggies and was set on having chicken with a balsamic glaze (also delicious- just add balsamic vinegar, garlic, lemon juice and honey to a sauce pan and let it reduce) Fabio wouldn’t stop asking if we could have quesadillas instead. No! haha. But anyway, here’s how they came together.

First, I cooked some chicken on the George Foreman grill and seasoned it with McCormick’s Mesquite seasoning. These would have been great on a regular grill too, but alas, my small apartment has no outdoor space for a grill. Wah.

While the chicken was cooking, I got the rest of the quesadilla ingredients ready to go. I laid out two whole wheat tortillas (I try to buy the 100 calorie kind without too many crazy ingredients, I think these are Nature’s Own) and topped them with some shredded low-fat mozzarella cheese.

What’s that you say? Your mozzarella cheese doesn’t look like mine? All chunky and awkward? Well, that’s because I was out of regular cheese so I decided to take a vegetable peeler to Fabio’s string cheese. See ya’ lata’ string cheese.

Oh well, it worked fine and got all melty and gooey just like regular shredded mozzarella, so it was fine

Once the chicken was done cooking, I cut it up into bite-size pieces and placed it on top of the mozzarella.

Then it was time for some flava’! I am lucky, and my mom gave me a jar of her homemade peach salsa a little while ago. It is sweet and spicy and delicious. If you don’t have peach salsa, you can use regular salsa or you can buy some from your grocery store. I bet Trader Joe’s has some pretty awesome salsa flavors…maybe pineapple?

I spooned about 1 tbsp. of salsa onto each quesadilla. It was lookin’ delicious

Then I added even more flavor by chopping up half an avocado and topping each ‘dilla with the creamy, delicious avocado bites. Yes, I just said ‘dilla. It’s a word. K?

Yum, yum, yum.

Then I added a bit more cheese (reduced fat cheddar this time) and topped the quesadillas with the top tortilla.

Then, using a LARGE spatula, I very carefully transferred the ‘dillas onto a large nonstick pan that was set to medium-high heat.

I let the ‘dillas cook for about 2 minutes on each side, and then gave them a careful flip.

Once the ‘dillas were browned on each side and the cheese was melty (also a word), I removed them carefully from the pan and transferred them to a plate. From there I used a pizza cutter (large knife would also work) to cut them into quarters.

Oh. Em. Gee.

These babies were creamy, cheesy, sweet, and a little spicy. They were delicious!

I planned to only eat two slices and take the rest for lunch the next day, but that did NOT happen. I gobbled them all up. I also had a bowl of roasted broccoli on the side, but I hardly noticed it. These ‘dillas stole the show! And as I mentioned, Fabio couldn’t get enough either. I’m not sure why they were such a hit, since they were pretty simple and I just kind of threw them together, but something about the avocado, salsa, and cheese just blew me away. You gotta try these!

Chicken Quesadilla with Peach Salsa

Recipe type: Entree

Author: Chelsea @ Chelsea Eats Treats

Prep time: 10 mins

Cook time: 5 mins

Total time: 15 mins

Serves: 2

These quesadillas are so simple but they are packed with flavor! From the melty cheese, spicy/sweet salsa, and creamy avocado, what’s not to love?

Ingredients

4 whole wheat tortillas
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1/2 cup low-fat mozzarella cheese
2 tbsp. salsa (I used peach)
1/2 avocado
1/4 cup low-fat cheddar cheese

Instructions

Season chicken breasts with desired seasonings, and cook chicken breasts on grill (or George Foreman) until chicken is cooked all the way through. Remove from grill and chop into bite-size pieces.
Place one whole wheat tortilla onto each large plate. Top each with 1/4 mozz. cheese, 1 tbsp. salsa, 1/4 avocado, and 1/8 cheddar cheese.
Place other tortilla on top.
Carefully move quesadillas to a hot non-stick pan, heated to medium-high heat.
Cook for about two minutes, then flip.
When tops of tortillas are brown and cheese is melted, remove quesadilla to a plate.
Slice into quarters (using a kitchen knife or pizza cutter) and enjoy!

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So, what spontaneous dinners have you guys come up with lately that turned out amazing? I have made a few pasta salads before that came out amazing, but whenever I try to recreate them it’s never quite the same. Fail. Hopefully these babies will come out just as delicious next time! Let me know if you make them!

Sticky Asian Drumsticks

Recipes 12 Responses »

Jul 262012

Hello there! Can you believe it’s already Thursday?? I feel like this week is flying by. Kind of the opposite of last week, right? I currently have a few little things I’m looking forward to at the end of this week, and it’s helping me to stay positive and keep my momentum going. It’s always good to have little things in your schedule to keep you moving, right?

In fact, I remember when I was in high school there would be some mornings where I just didn’t want to crawl out from under the covers (did anyone else have to wake up at like 5:30??) so I used to identify one little thing that I was excited for that day- whether it was a new shirt that I got to wear or having lunch with a specific friend- I remember I always found something to look forward to. I am realizing that I still do that to this day, and it just helps to keep me movin’.

For this week, I have had something great to look forward to each day. Monday I was really excited to start to new bootcamp that I’m participating in. Then on Tuesday, I had dinner with my dad and last night I had dinner with my mom and stepdad.

Then today I’m going to happy hour with a bunch of friends and tomorrow I have more friends coming over to watch the Olympics and go out in D.C. Then it’s the weekend!! You can see that with all of these little happy things in my schedule, time has been flying by!

Bootcamp

Today was another successful day with Tina’s Best Body Bootcamp. I began my morning by running with Jack and then running to the gym, where I completed another intense superset of exercises. Today’s exercises worked my upper and lower body, which felt great. I love that you can customize Tina’s moves to meet your fitness ability. Today I was really happy about this because I found that my legs are pretty strong and could handle the moves easily, whereas my arms are not as strong and I needed to use lower weights. It was another great workout!

Before leaving the gym this morning I tried out one of those rope thingys that I always see on Biggest Loser. Check it out!

Haha I know, I’m a dork

Recipe

Today’s recipe is something that I actually alluded to a while ago but never got around to posting. Sorry about that! No time like the present though, right?

Anyway, I created this recipe during the awkward time when I had nothing in my freezer because I had to throw everything out after not having power for five days. When Fabio and I finally were able to restock our fridge, we wanted to wait for a Cosco trip before buying any chicken breasts. However, since we didn’t have any chicken in the house (and that’s pretty much my main protein source) we bought some drumsticks.

I searched around online for some recipe inspiration and after looking at a few different recipes (like this one, this one, and this one) I came up with a yummy sticky Asian drumstick recipe. Yum! Here’s how it came together…

First I created a marinade by adding garlic, ginger, soy sauce, balsamic vinegar, honey, and siracha hot sauce into a large Ziploc bag.

Then I added in the chicken drumsticks and mixed everything around in the bag until it was all incorporated.

After a few hours in the fridge (the longer the better!) I removed the chicken from the marinade (don’t throw it out!) and placed the chicken on a wire rack on top of a foil-lined cookie sheet.

Then I set the oven to broil and put the chicken in the oven for about 12 minutes total, rotating the chicken every couple of minutes so they didn’t burn.

Then I poured the rest of the marinade in a small saucepan over medium-high heat until it reduced down into a thicker, sticky sauce. As the marinade was reducing, I used a pastry brush to brush the cooking chicken with the sauce.

When the chicken was almost done, I toasted a few sesame seeds on a hot, dry pan until they were light brown.

Soon the chicken was done and I topped the drumsticks with more of the sauce and the toasted seeds.

Yummm, so sticky and delicious!

I served these with my favorite cauliflower fried rice for some veggies and enjoyed a great easy and flavorful meal! Yum!

Sticky Asian Drumsticks

5.0 from 1 reviews

Recipe type: Entree

Author: Chelsea @ Chelsea Eats Treats

Prep time: 2 hours

Cook time: 15 mins

Total time: 2 hours 15 mins

Serves: 2

These sticky Asian drumsticks are easy and delicious! Serve with cauliflower “fried rice” for some veggies!

Ingredients

5 chicken drumsticks
1/2 tsp. minced garlic
1/2 tsp. minced ginger
1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup low-sodium soy sauce
1 tsp. siracha sauce
1 tsp. sesame seeds

Instructions

Place first seven ingredients (through siracha sauce) into a large Ziploc bag and marinade for at least two hours.
Remove chicken from bag and place on a wire rack on top of a foil-lined cookie sheet.
Set oven to broil and place chicken in the oven. Cook for about 12 minutes, rotating every few minutes so the chicken doesn’t burn.
Meanwhile, place the rest of the marinade in a saucepan over medium-high heat. Allow the marinade to reduce to half its original size.
While the chicken is cooking, use a pastry brush to coat the chicken in the sauce.
When the chicken is almost done, place the sesame seeds into a small pan and toast on medium-high heat until lightly browned.
When the chicken is done, remove it from the oven and coat in extra sauce and toasted seeds.

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So, what are your favorite Asian foods? This was a good one for me because I don’t cook dark meat like drumsticks very often and I wasn’t really sure what I should do with it. This recipe turned out great though, and I will definitely make it again!

Greek-Marinated Chicken

Recipes 4 Responses »

Jun 052012

In case you missed it yesterday, be sure to check out my guest post on a tasty ice cream recipe over at Virginia is for Bloggers!

Hello everyone! I hope your Tuesday is going well. I remember when I was little I used to love Tuesdays because that was usually my day for dance class, gymnastics, or whatever other activity I was enrolled in at the time. Now Tuesdays are a heck of a lot less exciting and just mean Monday is over. Oh well, at least it’s one day closer to the weekend!

Workout

Yesterday I got back into the swing of things by waking up early and going for my one mile run with Jack and completing half of an Insanity DVD before work. Last week I was in a post-Memorial Day slump and just didn’t feel motivated to do Insanity in the morning. This meant my afternoons were a lot crazier because I tried to squeeze in a few extra runs to the dog park, which is fine when I want to run and have plenty of time, but I hate feeling like I have to run because I skipped out on my morning workout. No bueno.

Even after taking one week off from Insanity I started to feel the difference in my muscles and realized the moves were a lot more difficult than they were before I took my little hiatus. I am coming to realize that while breaks from routine might seem nice at the time, I sure do regret it later! I was really happy that I was able to tackle my workout yesterday and I will make sure to stick to my routines from now on. Now more lazy bones!

Recipe

Ok, now that that’s out of the way, let’s get to today’s recipe! Last night for dinner I had a delicious chicken gyro with tzatziki sauce. It was so flavorful, tasty, and filling! Last time Fabio came home from New York, he brought a huge tub of tzatziki sauce home with him from his favorite Greek place. In case you are unfamiliar with tzatziki, it is a creamy yogurt-based cucumber sauce usually flavored with oregano and lemon juice. This one is always a big hit and I was so happy Fabio brought some home! But then the question arose…what should we do with it? We didn’t have any ground lamb (obviously it’s not something I keep in my fridge) and I wasn’t about to buy a rotisserie, so I decided to marinade some chicken with Greek flavors and use it in a wrap; gyro style! It worked out extremely well and we were both licking our ~~lips~~ fingers during dinner. It was a really simple marinade and would work well with a bunch of different dishes (I’m totally going to make a Greek salad with this chicken next). Here’s how it came together.

First I defrosted two boneless, skinless chicken breasts and put them in a large Ziploc bag along with the marinade. The marinade was made up of balsamic vinegar, olive oil, lemon juice, minced garlic, dried oregano, salt, and pepper.

I added everything to the bag with the chicken and mixed it around so the chicken was evenly coated in the marinade. Then I popped the bag into the fridge for about an hour while I took Jack to the dog park and met up with my friends Britt and Jess.

When I got home, I set the oven to broil and waited for it to heat up. Then I took out the marinated chicken and placed it on a rack on top of a foil-lined cookie sheet. This chicken would have been really great cooked on the grill as well, but unfortunately with our little apartment we would have to get our grill out of storage and wait for the charcoal to get hot. I was not about to wait around and do all that on a weeknight! The broiler worked out well anyway Then I placed the chicken in the oven and let it broil for about 5 minutes. Meanwhile, I cut up some small tomatoes and red onion for the gyros!

When the chicken was done cooking, I let it rest for a few minutes before slicing it into bite-size pieces.

Then it was assembly time! First I warmed up two whole-wheat 100-calorie tortillas in the oven (pita would work better probably but I had to use what I had!) and spread them with a thin layer of tzatziki sauce all the way to the ends. Then I topped them with chicken.

Next came the tomatoes.

Then red onion.

And finally, the lettuce and spinach.

By this time, the wraps were huge and I could barely roll them up. It was worth it though for all that spinach! Yum!

Greek-Marinated Chicken

Recipe type: Entree

Author: Chelsea @ Chelsea Eats Treats

Prep time: 1 hour 5 mins

Cook time: 5 mins

Total time: 1 hour 10 mins

Serves: 2

This Greek-marinated chicken is perfect for a gyro or Greek salad!

Ingredients

2 boneless, skinless, chicken breasts
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
2 tbsp. olive oil
2 tbsp. lemon juice
1/4 tsp. minced garlic
1/4 tsp. dried oregano
1/8 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. black pepper
2 whole wheat pita or tortilla wraps
3 small tomatoes, sliced
1/4 red onion, sliced
Generous handful of lettuce/spinach mixture
2 tbsp. tzatziki sauce (store-bought or home-made)

Instructions

Add chicken to a Ziploc bag with next seven ingredients (through black pepper) and mix around to distribute evenly. Store in refrigerator for at least one hour.
Set oven to broil. Remove chicken from bag and place onto grill rack on top of foil-lined cookie sheet. Broil in the oven for about five minutes or until juices run clear.
When chicken is cooked, allow to cool for a few minutes and then slice into bite-size pieces.
Warm tortilla/pita in the oven for a few minutes and then top each with 1 tbsp. tzatziki sauce, chicken, tomatoes, red onion, and lettuce/spinach mixture.
Roll up wraps and enjoy!

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And, that’s it! Pretty simple right? Plus it was definitely delicious and made good use of that tzatziki sauce.

Anyone else have good recipes for tzatziki sauce? I was thinking of trying out a healthier falafel recipe but I’m not sure how it will work out. Let me know if you think of anything creative!

Chicken Orzo Summer Salad

Recipes 2 Responses »

May 292012

Ah, my favorite time of the day is right now. Dinner is done, the kitchen is clean, and I can relax on the couch and blog. This evening is especially welcome after the tough day I had at work. Coming back from vacation is always difficult, but today my to-do list was never-ending and I had a ton of assignments that needed to be finished by the end of the day. It was super stressful so coming home and enjoying an easy and fresh dinner was exactly what I needed! Before I share the recipe with you though, let’s talk about my workout.

Workout

Last night Fabio didn’t get home from New York until after midnight. To make things worse, he needed help bringing in all his bags and, since it was late, he had to park far away. This meant I had to stay up waiting for him and didn’t get to bed until way past my bedtime. So, when the alarm rang at 6 am for my morning workout, I opted to snooze for an extra 30 minutes and only ran a mile with Jack. I felt a little guilty for skipping the other half of my workout, but my body was so drained from Memorial Day Weekend and I knew it made more sense to sleep in. I will just have to vamp up my workout tomorrow!

Recipe

I was feeling pretty uninspired today when I was thinking about dinner (must have been that lack of sleep/busy workday bringing me down) so I turned to Cooking Light for some inspiration. I saw this beautiful Chicken Orzo Salad with Goat Cheese which looked bright, colorful, fresh, and easy. I was immediately hooked! Although I had most of the ingredients on hand, I didn’t have any orzo or arugula so I picked some up from Trader Joe’s after work. I couldn’t wait even one day to make this delicious recipe!

Luckily, it lived up to its expectations! It was so flavorful and I loved all the different elements. I actually wound up omitting completely forgetting to add the goat cheese, but it honestly wasn’t missing a thing! I loved this light summer salad and was happy I could incorporate so many veggies into one dish. Here’s how it came together.

First I cooked the orzo according to the package directions. If you’ve never had orzo before, it’s a rice-shaped pasta that makes a great base for salads. I used Trader Joe’s brand (shocking, I know).

While it was cooking, I got all the veggies together. I first chopped up some spinach and arugula. Then I plucked a few leaves (about 3 tbsp.) from my basil plant, julienned them (remember when I talked about that?), and mixed them with the other greens.

Then I moved the greens to the side and got started chopping some red onion, grape tomatoes, asparagus (not pictured- woops), and bell peppers.

The bell peppers I used were frozen (I always buy them in bulk, chop them, and freeze them) so I tossed them in a skillet with the asparagus for a few minutes until both were tender. I used my handy Misto olive oil sprayer to keep the oil to a minimum. I bought it for just a few bucks from TJ Maxx/Ross/Home Goods/one of those stores ages ago and it’s one of my favorite kitchen gadgets!

Once all the veggies were ready, I got the chicken going. I cooked two frozen chicken breasts on the George Foreman grill and seasoned with them with salt and pepper. I love my George Foreman because you just have to plop the frozen chicken down and walk away Smile What could be easier?

Then it was time to make the vinaigrette. It took me literally three seconds to bring together and included some olive oil, red wine vinegar, salt, and pepper. So, so easy.

By this time the orzo was finished cooking so I drained it and allowed it to cool for a minute or two. Then I combined everything (the arugula, spinach, basil, asparagus, bell peppers, red onion, tomatoes, chopped chicken, and vinaigrette) together in a large bowl until everything was mixed thoroughly.

Then it was time to serve!

All the flavors came together beautifully. Plus the recipe made enough for us to have leftovers for lunch! Woohoo!

Chicken Orzo Summer Salad (Adapted from Cooking Light)

Serves three

Ingredients

1 1/4 cups uncooked orzo (rice-shaped pasta)
3 cups chopped grilled chicken breast strips
1 cup trimmed arugula
1 cup trimmed spinach
3 tbsp. chopped fresh basil
1 cup grape tomatoes, halved
1/2 cup chopped bell pepper (I used a mix of red and yellow)
1/2 cup chopped asparagus
1/4 cup red onion, diced
2 tbsp. red wine vinegar
1 tbsp. olive oil
1/8 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. black pepper

Instructions

Cook pasta according to package directions; drain well.
Chop the next 6 ingredients (through red onion) and add to a large bowl; toss well.
Combine vinegar, oil, salt, and black pepper in a small bowl, stirring with a whisk.
Drizzle vinegar mixture over pasta mixture; toss well to coat.

This salad made me so excited for summer because of all the great produce that’s available. I loved the crunch of the asparagus, the soft tomatoes, and the buttery pasta. Yum!!

What are your favorite seasonal foods? As much as I love fresh tomatoes and asparagus in summer, there’s something to be said for apples in the fall and butternut squash in winter!

Asian Chicken Wraps with Mango Salsa

Recipes 2 Responses »

May 242012

So, remember yesterday when I promised a delicious recipe involving mangoes? Well the aforementioned recipe just happened to involve ground turkey, which I just happened to leave out on the counter all day to defrost. I also happened to leave Jack out of his cage because he was “being a good boy” and “looked like he didn’t want to go in the cage.” Can you see where I am going with this? Stupid, stupid, stupid, Chelsea. About half way through the day yesterday I turned to my coworker with a horrified expression on my face and I think all I said was “turkey!” and “Jack!”

So it was not really a surprise when I got home and saw the bright green Jennie-O wrapper in the middle of the living room with the turkey nowhere to be found. This would have been fine if it meant a) I knew what to make for dinner or b) I didn’t have to spend the night picking up dog vomit and poo from the carpet because Jack can’t digest an entire pound of ground turkey. Ew.

In the end, I got creative with the recipe (it actually turned out great!) and lost a few hours of sleep cleaning up after Jack, but hopefully he I have learned my lesson.

Workout

Yesterday’s workout was another great one! I woke up bright and early for my run with Jack and another Insanity DVD. Since I will be in a bikini and about 24 hours (gahh!) I kicked up the intensity of my workout and added a few of my own moves into the circuit. For example, I know the jump rope move is really good for working my calves, but I wanted to focus more on my arms so I replaced them with some tricep dips. I also switched out floor hops for planks and pushups, which I felt was a really good idea (floor hops are just awkward anyway).

Now that I have done these DVDs a million times, I know which moves work really well for me and which ones were just ok. I loved the creative liberty today!

Recipe

Despite not having any ground turkey, this recipe still turned out amazingly, deliciously, well. The original recipe came from Kristin over at Iowa Girl Eats. Obviously I changed things around a bit to fit what I had on hand, but it still turned out awesome! The wraps feature crispy chicken flavored with an Asian peanut sauce and are topped with a spicy mango salsa. Yum! Here’s how I made it.

First I got the salsa ready by dicing mangoes, red onions, cilantro, and jalapeño peppers. I added all the diced goodies into a small bowl and seasoned them with salt, pepper, and lemon juice. I let the flavors come together while I prepared everything else. Then it was time to get the peanut sauce together. For this I added rice wine vinegar, soy sauce, sesame oil, hot chili garlic sauce, honey, garlic, ginger, hot water, and peanut butter to the food processor and pulsed everything until it came together. It was a lot of ingredients to include, but these are flavors I use pretty frequently so I had them all on hand. Later I divided the sauce into two parts: half for cooking the chicken and half for spreading on the wrap. Once the sauce came together, it was time to cook the chicken. I chopped a boneless, skinless chicken breast into bite-size pieces and added them to a Ziploc bag with two tablespoons of cornstarch and some salt and pepper. Then I shook everything up so the chicken had a nice, thin coating. If you want your chicken to have a really thick, bready coating (like chicken tenders) you can add more cornstarch, but I just wanted to give my chicken a little texture so two tablespoons was plenty.

Then I heated a teeny bit of peanut oil (just enough to barely coat the pan) on a skillet and brought it to a medium-high heat. When the pan was hot I added the chicken and allowed the pieces to cook for about 3-4 minutes on each side, or until the edges started to brown and the chicken was cooked through.

Next I added in half of the peanut sauce and coated the chicken with it. It didn’t take much to get it coated, so be careful not to go overboard!

Then I spread more of the peanut sauce onto two whole wheat wraps and topped them with the chicken. Then I added on the spicy mango salsa and topped everything with fresh spinach for some crunch.

Then it was time to roll everything up! In true Chelsea form, I overstuffed the wraps and they were pretty difficult to roll up, so I used some skewers to hold it all together.

I served these delicious Asian wraps with some roasted Brussels sprouts on the side! I loved the crunch of the spinach, the sweet/spicy combo of the salsa, and of course, the peanut sauce takes the ~~cake~~ wrap. It is so good! I would have eaten it off a spoon. Yum!

Asian Chicken Wraps with Mango Salsa (Adapted from Iowa Girl Eats)

Serves two

Ingredients

For the Salsa:

1 mango, diced
¼ red onion, diced
1 small jalapeno pepper, seeded and diced (I have a jar of pickled jalapeños and chopped a few of those)
2 tbsp. cilantro
1 tbsp. lemon juice (or lime)
Pinch of salt
Pinch of pepper

For the Peanut Sauce

3 tbsp. smooth peanut butter
1 tbsp. rice vinegar
1 tbsp. soy sauce
1 tbsp. hot water
1 clove garlic
1 tsp. sesame oil
1 tsp. chili garlic sauce
1 tsp. honey
1/4 tsp. ground ginger

For the Chicken

1 large boneless, skinless, chicken breast
2 tbsp. Cornstarch
¼ tsp. salt
¼ tsp. pepper
1 tsp. peanut oil (or vegetable)
2 whole wheat wraps
Fresh, baby spinach, for topping

Instructions

Combine all ingredients for mango salsa and allow flavors to come together while you prepare everything else.
Pour all ingredients for peanut sauce into food processor and pulse until everything is combined. Set aside.
Add cornstarch, salt, and pepper to a large Ziploc bag. Chop chicken breast into bite-size pieces and add to Ziploc bag. Shake until chicken is coated in cornstarch mixture.
Thinly coat a large skillet with peanut oil (don’t use too much!) and set to medium-high heat. When pan is hot, add chicken to pan and cook for 3-4 minutes on each side until coating turns brown and chicken is no longer pink.
Drain oil from pan and add half the peanut sauce. Toss chicken in the sauce until well-coated, and allow chicken to cook for 1-2 minutes more.
Meanwhile, spread a thin layer of the remaining peanut sauce on each wrap all the way to the edges (to help it stay closed). Place chicken, mango salsa, and spinach on wrap and fold over. Use skewers to secure, if needed.

Now I have to finish some things up for work and then I’ll be heading home to pack for this weekend! Yay!!

So, what’s your favorite type of wrap? These Asian-flavored ones were phenomenal, but I also really like buffalo chicken wraps and veggie wraps with hummus. Yum Yum Yum!!!

Chicken Burrito Bowl

Recipes 2 Responses »

May 082012

Hello everyone! Happy Tuesday I hope your day is going well…mine has been very busy and productive! Even though I’m busy at work, I promised I would share my recipe from last night’s dinner and a promise is a promise! So, without further ado, I give you….Chicken Burrito Bowls!

Recipe

I don’t know about you, but Chipotle is one of my favorite “fast food” restaurants. I love that you can choose exactly which ingredients you want and switch up the flavors each time you go. While I generally try to get the healthiest options available (which is made easier by Chipotle’s recent addition of brown rice! Thank you Chipotle!), I knew I could make an even healthier version of my favorite chicken burrito bowl at home. So, whether it’s the spicy chicken or the sweet corn that tickles your taste buds, try this at-home version of Chipotle’s burrito bowl and get your Mexican fix without all the calories! Yay!

To make this dish I first combined brown rice with water and brought it to a boil over high heat. Once it was boiling, I turned the heat down to low, covered the rice, and let it cook for about 25 minutes.

While the rice cooked I started bringing together all the rest of the ingredients that would go into my burrito bowl. First I chopped a small onion, a medium-sized tomato, and some cilantro and combined it with lemon juice in a small bowl. Lime juice probably would have been better, but I didn’t have any on hand and the lemon tasted fine.

I set this mixture aside and let the flavors come together as I prepared the rest of my ingredients.

Next I opened a can of sweet corn and black beans. I made sure to get the low sodium kind because canned veggies are usually loaded with salt. Bleh. No thank you! I’ll add my own salt thankyouverymuch.

I poured these into separate bowls and gave them a quick nuke in the microwave. Once they were hot, I set them aside with my tomato mixture so they’d be all in one place when I was ready to add them to the rice.

Then I got started on the chicken. I made a quick rub from cumin, paprika, Mexican chili powder, and a little bit of cayenne pepper. I rubbed this on three small boneless, skinless, chicken tenders and cooked them up on the George Foreman.

They cooked up really quickly and once they were done I chopped them up and set them aside. Then I just had to wait for the rice to finish cooking!

As soon as it was done I dumped in the tomatoes, corn, and beans and mixed everything together.

Then I scooped the rice mixture into two bowls and topped it with the chicken! I added some extra cilantro for garnish (mostly because my cilantro plant is growing like crazy and I wanted to use more).

These were so good and really mimicked the flavor of Chipotle! The spicy chicken gave the dish a nice kick and the sweet corn balanced it out. Fabio couldn’t stop raving about how good it was and went back for seconds! He also topped his with shredded cheese but I omitted this to save calories. This really is an easy and tasty dish so you should try it out!

Chicken Burrito Bowls (inspired by Chipotle)

Serves ~~three~~ one hungry boy and his girlfriend

Ingredients

1 cup brown rice
2 cups water
1 small onion, diced
1 medium-sized tomato, diced
1 bunch of cilantro, chopped
1 tbsp. lemon/lime juice
1/2 can sweet corn
1/2 can black beans
3 boneless, skinless chicken tenders (or other type of chicken breast)
1/2 tsp. cumin
1/2 tsp. Mexican chili powder
1/2 tsp. paprika
1/8 tsp. cayenne pepper

Instructions

Combine brown rice with water in a pot. Bring the water to a boil and then cover the rice and reduce heat to low. Cook for about 25 minutes or until water is absorbed and rice is tender.
Combine chopped onion, tomato, and cilantro in a bowl. Mix well and add in lemon/lime juice. Set aside.
Pour 1/2 can sweet corn into a separate bowl and heat in microwave for 1 minute. Repeat with 1/2 can of black beans. Set bowls aside.
In another small dish, combine cumin, paprika, Mexican chili powder, and cayenne pepper. Rub spice mixture on both sides of chicken breasts and grill until chicken is no longer pink in the middle. Remove chicken from grill and slice into bite-size pieces.
When rice is done, add in tomato mixture, corn, and beans. Stir to combine.
Serve rice in small bowls and top with chicken. Garnish with extra cilantro, if desired.

That’s it! Super easy, huh?

So now let me hear from you. Do you like Chipotle? What’s your favorite fast-food option? Do you ever try recreating your favorites at home?