Good evening! Welcome to my blog! Tonight was one of those nights where I honestly did NOT feel like making dinner. It happens! Our kids are ages 5 and 7. We had a busy day here. My husband was home from work at around 5:20 and I still needed to clean up the kitchen from having made granola earlier this afternoon. Oh goody. And then I had to BEGIN dinner! Plus it was bath/shower night here and the kids were seeming overly tired and I was all for moving our usual 8 PM bedtime a bit closer to the 7:30 mark! So, back to dinner - what could I make that was a no-brainer and also a family favorite?! I make breakfast for dinner once or twice a week and that is always a big hit! But breakfast is on the plan for tomorrow night. So tonight was chicken. I am so, so glad that I had my one invaluable pantry staple which I try to keep on hand!
Since switching over to clean eating in September of 2013, I have to admit that our "pantry collection" has shrunk significantly! The majority of what we eat does come from the fresh foods category. Thankfully in the midst of all of this, I have discovered a red sauce that is DELICIOUS and happens to be low in sodium! Sodium is oftentimes the culprit when you are looking at jarred sauces and such things. PLUS this one does not have any added sugar! Tomato sauce products seem to be frequently high in sugar. Not the case with this one! And the real bonus is that all of the ingredients in this jar sound perfectly reasonable and natural. Score! I find this Pellicano's sauce in the Nature's Marketplace (organic) section at our local Peach Street Wegmans. They have quite a few varieties but this Olive Oil and Romano Cheese is my favorite. It is not acidic and has such a nice flavor.
In that past, I would have browned up some ground beef (which we do still eat on occasion!) and I probably would have added about 3x as much sauce as we use these days. We oftentimes serve this chicken and sauce over a brown rice but tonight happened to be organic shell pasta from Wegmans. The kids were CHEERING! I mean, which kids do not enjoy sauce and pasta?
Here is the approach that I take with putting this one together...
1) Trim up and slice chicken breasts and begin browning them in a skillet. Once chicken is browned, cover with sauce and place (covered) in a 325 oven. I happen to use cookware that transfers right from the stove-top to the oven.
2) Begin cooking your pasta or rice according to directions.
3) The chicken is going to begin smelling AMAZING while simmering in this sauce! As long as your chicken has been sliced into small medallions, you can brown it and then have it in the oven for as little as 15 minutes OR if you have the time, leave it in there covered at 325 for 45 minutes. It will become sooooo tender while baking in this sauce.
4) The four of us like raw veggies. They make for a simple side! What can I say?? This is as easy as it gets around here! Sometimes I have veggies already washed and prepped and other nights it takes a bit longer to have them ready. Either way, no problem to do this while the chicken and the starch are cooking.
5) Drain your pasta and add a few drops of EVOO. Return it to a warm burner until everything else is ready to go. What I really enjoy about this meal is that I can easily control how many carbs I am eating myself. We are all eating the same thing but I can manage my own ratio of carbs to protein. I can also add a few extra veggies if I am at all "behind" on veggies for the day.
So there you have it! Eating clean does not have to be complex, time consuming or crazy-expensive!
No comments:
Post a Comment