Mediterranean Chicken
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I usually enjoy faffing around in the kitchen creating my own recipes and meals, but while the Doc was away for a week recently and I was solo parenting I took the opportunity to make life easier for myself (because fuck knows the kids wouldn't make it easy!) and test out a few recipes from out a friend's very fucking clever meal planning website called Back To My Body.
The awesome set up provides a whole week's worth of nutritionally balanced meals, recipes (including nutritional breakdown) and shopping lists tailored precisely to your body, lifestyle and goals. After taking a few of the meals for a spin I have to say it's a bloody winner! The food is tasty (obviously my first priority), healthy and easy to prepare so there's no need to spend hours in the kitchen to enjoy real, nutritious meals.
The bloody tasty and colourful little number is one of my fave's so far and I'll totally be stealing that sensational roast pepper sauce for future meals. I served mine on broccoli and cauliflower rice instead of the prescribed quinoa, because I ain't about that weird dirt flavour life.
The gorgeous Mel from Back To My Body was kind enough to let me share this recipe so I've included the original version plus the tweaks I made.
If you'd like to check out more of what they have to offer you can snag a one week free trial on the Back To My Body website, and if you want to sign up you can use the code MELAPP11 for a sweet little 10% discount.
PS There's no commission or anything involved, I just get a kick out of supporting cool friend's with ace ideas x
Ingredients
75 g x Reduced - Fat Feta
1 tsp Cumin
2 tsp Ground Paprika
3 tsp garlic or 3 fresh cloves
4 tsp Olive Oil
7 tsp Slivered Almonds
375 g Jarred Roasted Red/Bell Pepper
*I didn't have a jar of peppers on hand so I just chopped a small red capsicum up and threw it in the oven with some olive oil, salt and red onion for about half an hour until tender
1 Lebanese Cucumber
1 small Red Onion
30 grams Black Olives
I also added some chopped cherry tomatoes into the quinoa mixture because I have a complete inability to just follow the fucking recipe and also they're tasty little buggers.
1 cup Dry Quinoa
Quinoa isn't my gig so I subbed in broccoli and cauliflower rice instead. Just blitz about half a head of each in a blender until it reaches a rice like size and texture. If you don't have a blender you can also use a grater although that requires a little more admin and in my case, living on the edge trying to avoid severed digits.
375 g x Breast Chicken
Directions
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Rinse dry quinoa in water. Tip into a saucepan and add double the amount of salted water. Bring to the boil then reduce to a simmer until liquid has been absorbed. Remove from heat. Set aside.
If you're going for the broccoli and cauliflower rice option add it to a fry pan with splash of water (2-4 Tbl) and some salt and lightly steam for about 4 minutes until just soft - don't make a pulp! You can also do the same job by microwaving it for about 3-4 minutes instead.
Slice chicken fillet sideways to create two thinner pieces for poaching. Place in saucepan or fry pan deep enough to cover chicken with water. Add boiling water to pan so that fillets are covered. Once it's come to a boil, reduce to a simmer and cover for 4 - 8mins depending on the amount and thickness of chicken. If you have an instant read thermometer, chicken pieces should be 165℉ or 74℃. Be careful not to over cook.
To make sauce, pour drained peppers, almonds, olive oil, crushed garlic, paprika, cumin and sea salt into a blender and mix well. Finely dice red onion, dice cucumber (and tomato if you're adding it) and cut olives into quarters. Add these to cooked quinoa and combine.
Take cooked chicken fillets and slice - lay on top of quinoa. Pour pepper sauce over the top and lastly crumble over feta.
Makes 5 Servings [4 Servings Now / 1 Serving for Leftovers Tomorrow]
Calorie Breakdown
399 Calories
Fat: 14.525625g Carbs: 30.5325g Sugars: 5.173125g Protein: 35.581875g