honey lemon sticky chicken

chicken pasta caprese

Chicken Pasta Caprese

Ingredients:

1 pound skinless, boneless chicken breasts, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
1/2 tsp dried basil
sea salt
black pepper
cooking spray or oil mister
9 ounces pasta
4 tsp extra-virgin olive oil
6 garlic cloves, coarsely chopped
2 1/2 cups halved grape tomatoes
1/4 cup thinly sliced fresh basil
4 ounces part-skim mozzarella cheese

Directions:

1. Heat a large nonstick skillet over high heat. Season chicken with dried basil, 1/4 tsp salt and pepper to taste. Spray the skillet with oil and add chicken. Cook until chicken is cooked through, stir often. Move chicken to a plate.
2. Meanwhile, cook the pasta to al dente according to package directions. Drain and reserve 1/2 cup of the pasta water.
3. With the skillet on high, add the olive oil and garlic and cook until golden, stirring often. Be careful not to burn the garlic. About 1 minute. Add the tomatoes, 1/8 tsp salt, pepper to taste and reduce to medium. Cook, stirring often until tomatoes become tender. About 5 minutes.
4. Add the pasta to the tomatoes. If dry, add some of the reserved pasta water. Add the chicken and mix well. Remove pan from the heat, stir in fresh basil and cheese.



Original Recipe by Gina Homolka, The Skinnytaste Cookbook

thai coconut chicken salad

This was super easy to make and required very little time. If you are new to sunflower butter, coconut vinegar or coconut aminos, you can find them in the health food section of the grocery store or online. Make sure to get a sunflower butter that has no added sugar.

Making a chicken salad can often be boring but this sweet and tangy sauce is amazing!! It's also great if you have a nut allergy since it's made with sunflower butter. I think I could sit and eat spoonfuls of this dressing...but I won't because that would be weird.

oven chicken fajitas

I've been struggling with a bulged disk in my back these last few weeks which has me searching for easy dinners to make. My husband only knows how to make tacos and turkey burgers and while I enjoy those things, I need some variety in my meals or I will go crazy. This is a very simple and easy dish to make that doesn't require a lot of time to put together. I especially like that I can cut everything into strips which makes for fast preparation before baking. You can serve it with cilantro, avocado and lime for some extra flavor.

thai chicken stuffed sweet potatoes

I love eating this meal because I think it's so pretty. All the colors on my plate make me happy while eating my food. Sauteed red bell pepper, fresh green cilantro and a coconut-garlic-almond sauce mixed with shredded chicken. It's so much good packed in a warm sweet potato.

You can save yourself time by using a rotisserie chicken for the recipe. I cooked my chicken ahead of time and shredded it before adding to the sauce. Either way will work.

The original recipe comes from  Juli Bauer's blog PaleOMG

chicken stuffed with zucchini and mozzarella

Another delicious meal by Gina Homolka's from her book The Skinnytaste Cookbook.

A friend and I get together for fun every now and then to make dinner together. It's always more fun to cook in the kitchen with someone. Together we cooked this delicious chicken stuffed with zucchini and mozzarella and found that our rolling skills needed some improvement as the zucchini and mozzarella mixture had a tendency to fall out the sides. We pushed the stuffing back in, did our best to keep them from rolling open and were pleasantly surprised to find out how yummy this dish was. 

chicken parmesan

Once again Gina Homolka does not disappoint. The original recipe comes from her book The Skinnytaste Cookbook.

This is a tasty and healthy version of Chicken Parmesan that is sure to please. This meal is a mix of breadcrumbs and Parmesan cheese, smothered with basil and tomato marinara sauce and topped with shredded Parmesan. 

The recipe for the marinara sauce was so easy, delicious and fast. I may never buy marinara sauce again. Yum!

chicken sausage, baby kale and red pepper pasta

The original recipe called Orcchiette with Sausage, Baby Kale and Bell Pepper was created by Gina Homolka's from her book The Skinnytaste Cookbook. I was not able to find orcchiette at my grocery store and went with some wheat and gluten free organic rice vegetable twists by Mrs. Leeper's. I also subbed out Romano cheese with Parmesan which goes to show you don't have to follow a recipe exactly and it can still turn out delicious. The final dish turned out great and my husband was sad when he finished his plate and had to wait till the next day to eat it again. Success!

chicken pad thai

This recipe for chicken pad thai was super easy to make and great for when you are short on time. I used chicken tenders and cut them up in cubes. It's also helpful to cut your chicken when it is still slightly frozen as it will make cutting easier and faster to slice through.

The original recipes for chicken pad thai comes from Megan & Brandon Keatley in their book Primal Cravings. Their recipe is for 1.25 lbs of shrimp but I swapped it out for 1 lb of chicken. Yum!

coconut chicken salad with warm honey-mustard vinaigrette

The original recipe for this one comes from Gina Homolka in The Skinnytaste Cookbook.
I bought this cookbook not only because Gina's dishes are delicious but it's just a beautiful book to look through and it makes me want to try and eat everything. My husband tells me having a long list of recipes to make is a good problem to have. Since I am the one cooking and he's the one eating, he's got a pretty good thing going for him.

creamy sun-dried tomato chicken pasta

I'm married to a man who thinks that eating is an inconvenience to his day. There are so many things he'd rather do or think about so when meal time comes around he's not terribly excited for the interruption. I cannot fathom this way of life. I love eating! My day is organized by breakfast, lunch and dinner. If I wasn't thinking about food, what else would I think about?