Lemon Artichoke Chicken with Wild Rice & Asparagus

Tonight for dinner was a nice lemon artichoke chicken with some wonderful organic wild rice (found at Costco) & asparagus...it's Feingold friendly & Eat Clean approved.  I found this recipe in my new Clean Eating Cookbook (BTW if you are a clean eatter get this book).  Remember if you are following Feingold to make sure all ingredients are approved and chicken your cooking spray and make sure it has none of that yucky stuff in it...





Lemon-Artichoke Chicken
Serves 4



¼ cup whole-wheat flour
½ tbsp dried oregano
Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
¼ tsp sea salt, plus additional to taste
1 lb thin chicken cutlets
Olive oil cooking spray
½ tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
1 medium onion, cut lengthwise and thinly sliced
1 clove garlic, minced
¼ cup low-sodium chicken broth
1 14-oz can artichoke hearts, drained and cut into sixths
¼ cup fresh lemon juice (about 2 lemons)
1 tsp lemon zest
2 tbsp fresh parsley, chopped, for garnish

1) In a shallow bowl, thoroughly combine flour, oregano, pepper, and ¼ tsp salt. Dredge each chicken cutlet in flour mixture, shake off excess and place on a plate.


2) Coat a large nonstick skillet with cooking spray and heat on medium to medium-high, so skillet is hot but not smoking. Add ½ the chicken cutlets and cook 3-5 minutes per side, until lightly browned and cooked through. Transfer to clean serving plate and repeat with remaining cutlets, coating skillet once more with spray. Cover your serving plate with foil to keep warm.


3) Adjust temperature to medium-low and heat oil. Place onion in pan and cook, stirring frequently until soft and golden, 5-6 minutes. Add garlic, cooking for 1 minute stirring constantly; then chicken broth, bringing it to a simmer; followed by artichokes, lemon juice, and zest, simmering for 2-3 minutes until heated through and slightly thickened. Season to taste with salt and pepper.


4) Pour artichoke mixture over chicken cutlets, sprinkle with parsley and serve.

Nutritional Analysis
Calories 220
Sodium 420 mg Total Fat 5 g
Potassium 0 mg
Saturated 1 g
Total Carbs 20 g
Polyunsaturated 1 g
Dietary Fiber 2 g
Monounsaturated 2 g
Sugars 0 g
Trans 0 g
Protein 27 g
Cholesterol 65 mg

VERDICT: What a nice meal...the artichoke and lemon were a great combo and even my picky eater finished his plate.  It was light and did you see the calorie count on that...score.  I used some chicken breast and some chicken tenderloins.

Flank Steak Rolls, Rice-a-Roni & Steamed Green Beans

So last night's dinner was Flank Steak Rolls, steamed green beans and homemade clean rice-a-roni.  With a few tweaks this was made feingold approved and clean eating approved.  I got this from my clean eating cookbook.  Make sure you check out the rice-a-roni recipe...I cleaned it up (not on my site) by using brown rice and whole wheat pasta.

Flank Steak Rolls
Serves 4

• Olive oil cooking spray
• 1/4 cups whole-wheat panko (I didn't have whole wheat panko)
• 1 tbsp pine nuts, toasted
• 2 tsp red wine vinegar rice wine vinegar
• 2 cloves garlic minced
• 1/4 tsp fine sea salt
• 1/4 tsp dried red pepper flakes
• 1 flank steak about a pound, trimmed of visible fat
• 3 oz spinach leaves
• kitchen string
  
  1) Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Arrange a rack in a baking dish and coat with cooking spray
  
  2) In a small bowl, combine panko, nuts, vinegar, garlic, salt, and pepper flakes.  Set aside.
  
  3)  Place steak on a work surface. Holding a sharp knife, parallel to the work surface and positioned along 1 of the longer sides, cut the steak almost in half horizontally so it opens like a book. Spread steak open with “spine of book” parallel to you.
  
  4) Sprinkle panko mixture over steak leaving a one inch border along the farthest edge.  Arrange spinach on top.  Beginning with the closest edge roll steak up, gently pressing down on the spinach.  Tie up with kitchen string at 1-inch intervals.  Place steak in prepared pan and bake unto the meat thermometer reads 150 for medium and 130 for rare. Remove from oven, transfer to a cutting board and cover loosely with foil to rest 10 mins.
  
  5) Remove foil and string and carefully cut steak crosswise into 1/2 inch slices. Serve drizzled with any juices that accumulated on the cutting board.
  

VERDICT: next time I may skip the panko bread crumbs...it absorbed all the juice and made a stuffing that I wasn't thrilled about but overall it was yummy!

MMMM Turkey meatballs w/ whole wheat spaghetti, spinach & ricotta cheese

YUMMY...tonight's Eat Clean & Feingold friendly dinner was complements of my new Eating Clean cookbook.  It was good & refreshing and I added some Trader Joe's frozen grilled asparagus and there you go a good healthy dinner.

Turkey Meatballs w/ Whole Wheat Spaghetti, Spinach & Ricotta
Serves 4


INGREDIENTS:
1 tsp olive oil
1/2 yellow onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic
1 lb extra-lean ground turkey
1/4 cup finely chopped fresh basil
1/4 cup finely chopped fresh oregano
1/2 cup whole-grain bread crumbs
1 Tbsp tomato paste
1 egg
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp fresh ground black pepper
8oz whole-wheat spaghetti
4 cups baby spinach
3/4 cup low-fat ricotta cheese
juice and zest of 1 lemon

INSTRUCTIONS:
1) Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Heat oil in a nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add onion and garlic and cook until soft but not browned, three to five minutes.

2) In a large bowl, place turkey, onion-garlic mixture,basil, oregano,breadcrumbs, tomato paste, egg, salt and pepper. Using your hands or a large spoon, gently mix together until combined.

3) Using a small ice cream scoop or a tablespoon, portion out turkey mixture in golf ball sized increments. Use clean hands to roll mixture into 20 meatballs and place on a parchment lined baking sheet. Bake until lightly browned and cooked through, about 20 minutes.

4) Meanwhile, cook spaghetti according to package directions, until al dente reserving 1/2 cup pasta water
Five: In a large serving bowl, add spaghetti, spinach, cheese,lemon zest and juice, and quarter-cup reserved pasta water. Gently toss to combine, allowing heat of spaghetti to wilt spinach and cooking water to melt ricotta to a creamy sauce. Add more reserved water if necessary.to reach desired consistency. Taste and adjust seasoning if desired. Add meatballs and serve immediately..

VERDICT: this was nice, light & refreshing.  Next time I will actually saute the spinach with some EVOO and heat the ricotta so the sauce is warm (our sauce was cold) but we liked it and I loved the lemon with it as it adds a freshness to it.
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*NOTE: just remember if you are following FG then to make sure you use approved ingredients...in this recipe I made fresh bread crumbs from approved bread, used 100% natural turkey, approved tomato sauce (remember that's ST2) and approved ricotta