Chicken Stew

Who doesn't love a big bowl of healthy stew? You will not be saying "Where's the Beef?!".  This satisfying one pot wonder is great to prep the night before and have ready to be put on the stove to cook the next day for dinner.  Impressive dinner in a on a Friday night-with minimal effort? Here you go!

Serves: 8 (plus left overs)  Prep Time: 20 minutes Cooking Time: 20 min (pressure cooker), 40 minutes traditional 

Ingredients:

• 2 c mushrooms-chopped
• 2 c sweet potatoes (about 2 medium)
• 2 c chopped carrots (don't peel-more nutrients this way)
• 2 c chopped eggplant (about 1 medium)
• 1 c celery
• 3 c tomatoes (about 2 large)
• 3 c cabbage* (optional-we used it)
• 2 c chopped onions
• 2-3 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 1/3# chicken thighs cut into strips
• 1 c white wine
• 2 c water/broth (we used water)
• 1/2 tsp pepper
• 1 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 tsp ground sage (or 2 tbsp fresh)
• 2 tsp dried thyme (or 2 tbsp fresh)

*if thicker sauce is desired you'll need 1/4 c of corn starch (see instructions)

Instructions:

1. Chop all ingredients and place into a large pot (we used a pressure cooker-but a traditional stove pot is fine).  You can stop at this step and put everything in the fridge for the next day if you want.
   
2. Bring to a boil, and then down to a simmer until chicken is cooked, about 40 minutes.  If using a pressure cooker, you may need to add an addtional cup of water.  Bring to a boil (until pressure pops) and then reduce heat for 20 minutes.  Turn off and allow pressure to drop.
3. If you'd like to thicken the sauce, remove 1 1/2 c of the liquid into a heatproof measuring cup.  Stir in 1/4 cup of cornstarch.
4. Pour cornstarch liquid back into the pot and bring back up to a boil for about 2-4 minutes until thickened.
   
   
   
5. Serve with fresh muffins or bread.  We served these cranberry oat muffins.
   
   

Nutritional Benefits:

• High in Fiber
• High in Protein: awesome for repairing and rebuilding damaged tissues
• Low in Fat
• High in Vitamin A (carrots and sweet potatoes): great for bone, teeth, and eye health
• Anti-inflammatory 
• Full of Anti-oxidants (entire dish contains 1465% of daily needs)
• High in Potassium (entire dish contain 3913 mg)
• Good source of Vitamin C (entire dish contains 326% of daily needs)
• No added fat or sugar

Nutritional Information in Entire Dish:

Calories: 2104 (if 8 servings 263/serving)

Fat: 61g (if 8 servings 7.6g/serving)

Carbs:170 g (if 8 servings 21g/serving)

Fiber: 41g (if 8 servings 5g/serving)

Protein:199g (if 8 servings 25g/serving)

Risotto With Lowfat Chicken Sausage

Who doesn't love a one pot dinner.  1 dish, all your veggies, protein, and side.  A nice option for making a healthier risotto.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 c chopped onion
• 1 c arborio rice (risotto rice)
• 1 c white wine
• about 3 cups of broth or water
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 banana peppers or 1 green pepper if you want it mild
• 1 c fresh greens
• 1 c carrot, chopped
• 1 c of fresh basil
• 1 pound of chicken sausage

Instructions:

1. Cook sausage on grill or stove top, set aside.  Cut into small rounds.
2. Saute onion until caramelized/softened
3. Add rice and saute with onion for 1-2 minutes
4. Add in wine, and stir until absorbed
5. Add in peppers
   
6. Continue to add broth (warm) about 1 cup at a time, stirring until absorbed
7. Add additional cups of broth (1 at a time) until rice is soft
8. Stir in carrots, greens, basil, and garlic at end to maximize nutrients,cook until greens and basil wilt.  Stir in sausage.
   
9. Serve

Nutritional Benefits:

• Low in fat
• High in calcium (greens and basil) for bone and teeth strength
• High in fiber
• Vitamim C (peppers): great for immune function and healing
• Vitamin A (carrots): great for healing and bone/teeth health

*note: if you are diabetic, you can reduce the amount of rice/sub brown rice, to make the veggie and protein a larger component of this dish.  You can also omit the wine to decrease sugar amounts.

Braised Chicken

Looking for a great meal that's impressive enough for company but can be a weeknight supper (like this one was for us tonight)? Here it is! This meal is high in protein and fiber, while being low in fat and calories. A great healing meal.

Braised Chicken

Ingredients:

3 pounds of bone-in chicken legs and thighs (or 1.3-1.5 pounds of boneless chicken thighs)

1 tbsp olive oil 

1 1/2 c of onions (1 large onion) chopped

1 cup of celery, chopped

1 c of carrots, chopped

1 cup of mushrooms

1 green pepper

1/2-1  tsp salt

3 cups of tomatoes (or can use a 28oz can of stewed tomatoes)

1 c of dry red wine

1 cup of water or broth

1 tbsp garlic

Fresh basil to top off after
Salt/pepper to taste

Instructions:

1) Add 1 tbsp pill to pan and sear chicken on both sides until browned, about 8-10 minutes.  Remove from pan. If using boneless/skinless thighs, cook for 1-2 minutes.

2) Pour off all but 1tbsp drippings, if more than that.  If skin stuck in pan then remove to cut down on fat.  If you'd like to remove more fat, de-skin chicken.

3) Sauté onions, carrots, celery, pepper, & mushrooms

4) Add tomatoes & salt sauté for 2 minutes

5) Adds stock, wine, garlic, and return chicken to pot

6) Place into oven at 350 degrees for 30-40 minutes, or until cooking liquid cooks down (chicken should reach 145 degrees).

7) Stir in fresh basil, additional salt and pepper to taste.  Serve over rice. 

**We had a large bowl of sauce left.  Great for a next day soup!

Benefits of Tomatoes: High in Lycopene, an anti-oxidant that prevents cancer
Benefits of Peppers: High in Vitamin C, promotes healing and disease prevention (199% of daily needs!-1 cup has more than 2x's the amounts of an orange)

Benefits of Garlic: Anti-inflammatory and aids in blood circulation/cardiovascular health

Benefits of Carrots: High in fiber, high in Vitamin A: beta carotene, which is an anti-oxidant that prevents cancer, healthy immune system and promotes cell growth/tissue repair (1 cup has 308% of your daily Vitamin A needs)

Benefits of Mushrooms: High in protein and low in calories

Benefits of Chicken: Low in fat, high in protein, helps to repair and rebuild tissues

Nutritional Information in Entire Dish

Tomatoes: 

Calories: 97

Carbs: 21g

Fiber: 6.5 g  

Potassium: 1280mg

Vitamin C: 114%

Vitamin A: 90%

Onions:

Calories: 101

Carbs: 24g

Fiber: 3.4g

Protein: 2.2g

Potassium: 346mg

Vitamin C: 26%

Carrots:

Calories: 52

Carbs: 12.3 g

Fiber: 3.6g

Protein: 1.2g

Fat: 0g

Vitamin A: 308% of daily value

Mushrooms:

Calories: 15

Carbs: 2.3g

Fiber: .8g

Protein: 2.2g

Fat: 0g

Peppers:

Calories: 30

Carbs: 7g

Fiber: 2.5g

Protein: 1.3g

Fat: 0g

Vitamin C: 199.7%

Chicken Thighs (1.3 #s)-boneless and skinless

Calories: 750

Fat: 40g

Carbohydrates: 0g

Protein: 100g

Fiber: 0%

Iron: 30%

Olive Oil:

Calories: 120

Fat: 14g

*nutrition values from: My fitness pal