Pesto Chicken (dairy free)

This one is a great meal to prep ahead of time! Pour marinade into bags and throw into freezer-instant dinner on a busy night. All you'll have to do is take it out of the freezer and let thaw in the morning, toss into oven when you come home and yum! A dinner that will totally impress! We made this using up the left of the basil in the garden before the frost. Recipe is enough for 10 people.  We make a whole recipe for our family of 4 (plus left overs) and freeze half of it before cooking.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 c balsamic vinegar
• 1/2 c olive oil (could reduce this to 1/3)
• 1 1/2 c packed basil leaves
• 8 garlic cloves
• 1 small onion (about 1 cup)
• 3 pounds of chicken (or could definitely make 4 pounds)-we used boneless/skinless organic chicken thighs, but chicken breasts can be used
• freshly ground pepper and salt to taste 

Instructions:

1. Place all ingredients into a food processor and blend
   
2. Pour into a measuring cup if making to freeze in separate containers
   
3. If making to freeze-put chicken into freezer bag and pour marinade over
   
4. If making fresh: pour marinade over chicken, and allow to marinade 4-6 hours (or overnight)
5. Bake at 350 for about 30 minutes (or until internal temp reaches 145).
   

Serve with a great salad and a side of cauliflower rice (click for recipe) and your meal is essentially carb free!

Nutritional Benefits:

• High in protein for healing and repairing tissues
• Low Carb
• Low in Fat, if you don't eat a lot of the sauce
• Anti-inflammatory: garlic helps to reduce inflammation

Nutritional Information:

For serving (based on 5 oz servings/10 people) this is maximum amount of calories, assuming you eat all of the marinade, which you won't-made with boneless/skinless chicken thighs

Calories: 367 (this is assuming you eat all of the marinade, which you won't)

Fat: 23 g (this is inflated by marinade)

Carbs: 4 g

Protein: 36 g