Category Archives: Main Courses

Chipotle Chicken Croquettes

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Okay, I am officially running around like a crazy person this week getting ready for one of my best friend’s bachelorette parties this weekend! I’m so excited to get a weekend with my girls – and I’m sure I’ll have some fun things to share with y’all when I return!

So when I find myself super stressed out, for some reason, I turn to the kitchen. I recall one time in college I gave up sweets and caffeine around Valentine’s Day. Not to cut back on calories, but to prepare my body for a 48-hour dance marathon! Well, I got super stressed out and turned to baking. Yes, that thing I have a love/hate relationship with. I made a ton of cookies, peanut butter and chocolate rice crispy treats, brownies and another type of cookie. Luckily we had male neighbors in our apartment building…so home-baked treats were easy to pawn off on them!

The other day, I went for something more practical and good for me so I wouldn’t be extra stressed trying to shed pounds from eating a bucket of baked goods! I had written down a recipe a while back that I ran across on a fabulous website (she also does WW recipes!) and so with a big ole chicken breast thawed, I decided to try a new recipe for dinner.

Chipotle Chicken Croquettes (Serves 2 – slightly modified from “Eat Yourself Skinny“)

1 Tbsp. reduced-calorie margarine

2 1/2 Tbsp. minced orange bell pepper

2 1/2 Tbsp. minced green bell pepper

2 1/2 Tbsp. minced onion

1 1/2 cups cooked chicken (I just used 1 big chicken breast I had, about 8-10oz.)

3/4 cup panko breadcrumbs

1/4 cup light mayonnaise

1 egg, lightly beaten

1 Tbsp. Chipotle mustard

1/2 Tbsp. Worcestershire sauce

1/2 tsp. chipotle powder

1/2 tsp. seasoned salt

Spicy Mustard Sauce

1/2 clove minced garlic

1/4 cup light mayonnaise

1/4 fat-free sour cream

1/2 Tbsp. Chipotle mustard

1/2 Tbsp. lime juice

1/2 tsp. chipotle powder

About 1-2 hours before you’re ready to eat, whisk together garlic, mayo, sour cream, mustard, lime juice and chipotle powder until smooth. Refrigerate for 1-2 hours.

Bring a medium pot of water to a boil and add the chicken. Reduce to medium-high and cook 15-20 minutes until chicken is cooked through. While chicken is cooking, go ahead and chop your veggies. Saute them in 1/2 Tbsp. margarine.

In a small bowl, mix together mayonnaise, egg, mustard, Worcestershire, chipotle seasoning and salt.

Once your chicken has cooked and cooled, chop and shred. Add to a medium bowl with bread crumbs and add your sautéed veggies and combine.

Take the small bowl with the mayo/mustard mixture and add to the chicken. Combine with hands until blended and form into 5 patties.

Heat remaining 1/2 Tbsp. margarine in a skillet and cook the patties over medium heat for 3-5 minutes on each side. Serve with a dollop (or more if you desire!) of the spicy mustard sauce and dig in!

Note that this is probably a great appetizer, but I tested it for dinner and 2 1/2 patties was a great portion…

Buffalo Chicken Lasagna

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My goodness, what a week it has been! First week back at work from vacation is usually rough…but things got very interesting!

So, I have 3 amazing and adorable nephews from my wonderful Biffer and bro-in-law. Well, my sister was scheduled to be induced for baby #4 on Thursday, which was frustrating because she has ALWAYS wanted the movie moment of going into labor! She has tried everything – even got a ticket on her way to get spicy food for baby #3!

Monday she came over to drop off some garage sale stuff and was then en route to get the spiciest dish at her favorite Chinese restaurant. I offered to take her to Wal-Mart if she wanted to test the “stress induces labor” theory. She declined, because she can’t stand the place.

However, I totally think it worked cause guess what happened Tuesday morning? She went into labor! And Tuesday afternoon, my precious baby nephew #4 was born!

Proud Aunt moment:

Now, I won’t take full credit – as the spicy food probably had something to do with as well. So, I thought I’d share one of my new favorite spicy recipes with y’all on this Friday – and since it’s buffalo flavored, it obviously means good weekend food! It is also great for leftover lunches or dinners – serve with some bread or a crisp salad!

Buffalo Chicken Lasagna (Makes 8 servings / 7 WW pts. each)

1 pound chicken breast, raw

3 cups spaghetti sauce (Ragu light)

1 1/2 cups Frank’s Red Hot sauce (this is spicy – so use less if you are hesitant about spice!)

1 1/4 cups water

1/2 cup chopped celery

15 oz. reduced-fat ricotta cheese

1/2 cup egg beaters

1 Tbsp. ranch seasoning

1/2 cup reduced-fat blue cheese crumbles

10-12 pieces whole wheat lasagna

Preheat oven to 350 and lightly grease a 9×13 baking dish.

Cook chicken (either boil or bake) and shred.

In a small bowl, mix together ricotta cheese, egg beaters and ranch seasoning.

In a medium bowl, mix together spaghetti sauce, hot sauce, water, celery and chicken.

Pour a small amount of the sauce in the baking dish. Layer with 3 1/2 pieces of lasagna. Spread with 1/3 ricotta cheese and another layer of sauce. Repeat noodle, cheese, sauce until left with sauce on top.

Sprinkle blue cheese crumbles on top.

Cover with foil and bake for 1 hour. Remove foil and bake another 15 minutes…

Slice into 8 pieces…

And devour!

Happy Friday everybody, hope you have a great weekend!

Jalapeno Popper Stuffed Chicken

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Happy Friday everybody! It’s been a while since I’ve thrown some sort of healthy “bar food” twist at you.

Now, we love spicy in our house – as if you couldn’t tell from the bajillion buffalo flavored recipes I’ve thrown at you. But seriously, we have quite the collection of hot sauces in the refrigerator and always seem to be out of Tabasco even though I know I just bought the big giant bottle last week!

Well, over the 4th of July I tried a new jalapeno popper recipe and it was pretty much amazing. I’d made jalapeno poppers before and had never had issues with burning hands or anything from scooping out seeds even when I dissected like, 24 jalapenos! I always read people saying “use gloves” and think , “psh, wimps.” Um, I don’t know if I got my hands on a super potent batch or what, but the next day driving to work – my hands felt like they were on fire. I poured rubbing alcohol on them later that day because I read that would help! Ugh, I vowed to take jalapenos seriously from that point on!

I still love jalapenos even if they were cruel to me, so I decided to approach them very humbly. By mixing them with cheese, stuffing them in chicken and savoring every delicious bite. We are friends again thanks to the delicious jalapeno popper stuffed chicken recipe I came across on one of my favorite cooking blogs! I promise this isn’t too spicy as long as you (very carefully, might I add) remove the seeds and membrane. Leave some of it if you feel like living on the edge – but whatever you do, make this!

Jalapeno Popper Stuffed Chicken (serves 2/10 WW pts. – adapted from SkinnyTaste)

2 chicken breasts (12 oz. total)

1 medium jalapeno, diced

1 slice turkey bacon, cooked

2 oz. Monterey Jack cheese, shredded

2 wedges, Laughing Cow Garlic and Herb cheese

1 Tbsp. scallions, chopped

1/2 Tbsp. olive oil

1 Tbsp. fresh lime juice

1/4 cup bread crumbs (I used Panko)

2 tsp. white whole-wheat flour

Salt and pepper to taste

Preheat your oven to 450.

Mix together cheeses, bacon, scallions and jalapeno in a small bowl.

In a shallow bowl, whisk together lime juice and olive oil.

On a plate, mix together bread crumbs and flour.

Now, trim chicken of any nasty bits (I’m a freak about this) and lay between two pieces of wax paper. Using a meat mallet (or wine bottle, rolling-pin, etc.) pound chicken until flattened to about 1/4 – 1/2 inch thickness. Set some toothpicks out.

Spread half of the cheese/jalapeno mixture in the center of the chicken, working your way out. Leave a small border without the cheese. Begin rolling your chicken (I start with the bigger end) and secure with toothpicks in the center. Seal the ends with toothpicks as well. It is okay if some filling comes out while baking…especially because it creates yummy burnt cheese!

Salt and pepper your chicken and dip in the olive oil and lime juice mixture.

Next, dredge in the crumb mixture. With the toothpicks, it’s a little tough – so you can press the crumbs into the chicken by hand.

Add chicken breasts to a non-stick baking dish and bake for 22-25 minutes.

Don’t forget to remove your toothpicks – but you might want to wait until after it cools a little!

Then it’s time to dig in. I may be a nerd, but my favorite part was cutting into the chicken to see this delicious pocket of cheesy, jalapeno-y (why not?) awesomeness…

That’s a thing of beauty my friends!

Hope y’all have a great weekend!

 

Buffalo Chicken Pasta Salad

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So it’s been a whole like, 5 blog posts since I did something buffalo-flavored so I just have to go ahead and rectify that issue.

When I started doing the weight watchers thing, I loved the frozen meals that already had the points included. I had a few favorites that I’d load up on during sales at the grocery stores! After a while though, I got bored. I’d walk to the freezer at work and look at my lunch for the day and think “Yuck.”

The problem is that when I cook recipes, I usually cook for two so it’s rare to have too many leftovers for lunch. So I decided to just make lunch dishes while making dinner!

I found that bringing a nice cold pasta salad for work is always refreshing (like the one I showed you last week) – and a homemade dish never makes me think “Yuck” as lunch time approaches! You should definitely give this one a try!

Buffalo Chicken Pasta Salad (Serves 4 / 7 WW pts. per serving)

5 oz. penne pasta (enriched or whole wheat)

1 c. cooked chicken breast, shredded

1/2 c. carrot, chopped

1/2 c. celery, chopped

1 Tbsp. olive oil

1/4 c. Frank’s red hot sauce + 1 Tbsp. if desired

1/2 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice

1/8 tsp. garlic powder

1/8 tsp. onion powder

1/8 tsp. celery salt

1/2 cup reduced-fat blue cheese crumbles

In a medium pot, bring water to a boil and cook pasta according to directions. Drain and set aside.

Cook chicken by boiling or baking and shred with two forks. 

Add chicken to drained pasta.

In a small bowl, whisk together olive oil, hot sauce, lemon juice, garlic powder, onion powder and celery salt.

Add chopped carrots and celery to chicken and pasta. Then add your blue cheese crumbles.

Drizzle the dressing over the top and toss until combined. Refrigerate at least 1 hour.

Serve cold…and enjoy a delicious lunch that beats anything you stick in the microwave…

On the Move!

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I seriously apologize for the lack of posting – I know, some blog I have going.

It has been a whirlwind of activity! With last week being the 4th of July and us not going anywhere, we decided to have a little get together – which meant 1 solid evening of preparing food and the other putting the finishing touches on everything!

Then we had to run home on the 4th of July, do laundry and pack because on Thursday, we flew to Pittsburgh to stay with one of my best friends from college for a day. We had so much fun seeing her and her fiance, who are getting married in October – and enjoyed exploring the city for a day! The husband experienced his first Primanti’s sandwich (which is piled with your choice of meat, then cheese, coleslaw and french fries!) – and we got to take the incline to the top of Mt. Washington to get an amazing view of downtown Pittsburgh. And, of course, we went to a Pirates game that evening!

On Saturday, we drove to Ohio for another college friend’s wedding – which was absolutely beautiful! Probably a bit hotter than she had bargained for – but it was such a great time, as it always is when I get to hang out with my girls.

So, as y’all may have noticed – it’s been brutally hot lately! A few weeks ago, the husband and I decided to brave the elements and go to a drive-in movie. I had planned on chicken tenders – but he said he wanted something cold before we went. Like a pasta salad.

I was totally okay with that, because I had just the thing to whip up – a tortellini and veggie pasta salad! It is so delicious and I’m sure it would be easy to adapt for tailgating, picnics, etc. by throwing some olives or salami/pepperoni. Consider this delicious recipe my apology for falling off the face of the earth the past few weeks…

Tortellini and Vegetable Pasta Salad (serves 4)

Dressing:

2 Tbsp. minced shallot

1/2 tsp. minced garlic

2 tsp. Dijon mustard

1/2 c. red wine vinegar

1/4 c. olive oil

Salad:

1 bunch asparagus, trimmed

9 oz. cheese tortellini

1/3 c. red onion, chopped

1 carrot, chopped

1 stalk celery, chopped

12 cherry tomatoes, halved

1/2 green bell pepper, chopped

1/2 c. fat-free feta, crumbled

Salt and pepper to taste

1/4 tsp. red pepper flakes

Add dressing ingredients together in a small food processor and pulse a few times until blended well. Refrigerate until ready to use.

Bring a medium pot of water to a boil. Add tortellini and cook according to directions. Drain and set aside in a large bowl.

Refill the pot with water and bring to boil. Add asparagus and cook 2-3 minutes. Have a bowl of cold water or ice nearby. Transfer asparagus to cold temperature – this will keep it from cooking any longer and allow it to keep the pretty green color!

Add chopped veggies to the tortellini and stir to combine.

Pour dressing over top and sprinkle with salt, pepper and red pepper flakes. Stir until combined.

Add crumbled feta and stir again until combined. Cover and refrigerate at least 1 hour.

Then, it’s time to dig in! I definitely want to double this next time to make some yummy lunches for the week…

Buffalo Shrimp

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I know, I know – “Another ‘buffalo’ recipe? This chick is cray – to the – z!”

You may be right. But you know what? I am okay with that!

Seriously, when the husband and I started losing weight – the one thing I said I couldn’t do was give up foods I love. I love buffalo anything and everything. But it usually comes deep-fried and loaded with butter. Nothing wrong with that, unless you’re trying to avoid fried food and excessive butter.

So I needed ways to curb my craving so I didn’t go on a crazy hot wing binge.

Enter a really easy and delicious buffalo-style shrimp. This is great with mashed potatoes (particularly blue cheese mashed potatoes) – buuut I didn’t have potatoes on hand so I just poured the shrimp on top of some whole wheat couscous! Not too shabby if I do say so myself.

Buffalo Shrimp (2 servings – 6 WW Points per serving)

8 oz. shrimp

1 Tbsp. white whole-wheat flour

1/4 tsp. garlic powder

1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper

1 tsp. salt

2 tsp. vegetable oil

2 Tbsp. reduced-calorie margarine

3 Tbsp. Frank’s Red Hot Sauce

Thaw your shrimp and remove tails if needed.

Mix together your flour, garlic powder, cayenne pepper and salt. Add to a small Ziploc bag and shake until combined.

Pat shrimp until slightly dry. Heat your oil in a medium to large skillet over medium heat.

Add your shrimp to Ziploc bag and seal, leaving some air. Toss until shrimp is coated with flour and seasoning mixture.

When oil is heated, add shrimp to the skillet. Cook for 3-5 minutes and then flip, cooking another 3-5 minutes. You should get a good golden brown color and a crisp coating on the shrimp.

In a small saucepan, melt your butter and whisk in hot sauce. If you don’t have a great heat tolerance, you can add some honey to tone it down a little (this would affect your points value).

Add shrimp to sauce and toss to coat.

Serve with potatoes, couscous, rice or just by itself and dig in!

Try this and you won’t question my buffalo-obsession any longer…

Promise!

Grilled Lemon Chicken

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So it’s rather funny to me looking through pictures of the delicious grilled dish I’m blogging about today – as it has been pouring on and off all day. Listening to loud claps of thunder and rain against the window is quite relaxing – but it is certainly not grilling weather!

Good thing it’s supposed to be gorgeous out this weekend though – not to mention my husband takes his exam on Saturday so we get to celebrate with friends on Saturday night  at our favorite watering hole!

Anyways, I often get wrapped up in making an elaborate meal with lots of ingredients or that requires a lot of time to marinate when it comes to grilling.

But this recipe? This is a piece of cake. Well, not really – it’s chicken people. See the title?

I served this with my Feta Mac n Cheese and some green beans – but next time, when I actually have groceries in my house, I’m definitely going to throw this together with some potatoes and a crisp green salad!

Oh and if there are any of you out there afraid of your grill – don’t be! Embrace it – there is no better time to learn than right now and I promise you, it’s kind of addictive once you’ve learned the ropes. This is a great “starter” recipe…and it’s only 6 WW points per serving!

Grilled Lemon Chicken (serves 2)

2 thin cut chicken breasts (about 4 oz. each)

3 Tbsp. reduced-calorie margarine

2 Tbsp. fresh squeezed lemon juice

1/2 Tbsp. soy sauce

1/4 tsp. honey

1/4 tsp. Dijon mustard

1/4 tsp. minced garlic

Pinch of cayenne pepper

Pinch of salt

Preheat your grill to about 375 degrees.

In a small saucepan, heat your margarine. Add your lemon juice, soy sauce, honey, mustard, garlic, salt and cayenne pepper.

Whisk ingredients together until well incorporated.

Now, arm yourself for grilling! Take your chicken, some tongs, your sauce and a basting brush.

Place chicken on the grill and brush the top with your sauce.

Close cover and cook 3-4 minutes. Flip and brush other side with sauce.

Once you have cooked another 3-4 minutes, reduce heat to about 350. Flip chicken every 2 minutes or so, basting with the sauce.

Once your chicken is cooked through and you have some nice grill marks (not char marks, mind you) you are ready to plate. I added one last brush of sauce once it was on the plate to ensure all of the flavor was there!

Just so your chicken doesn’t feel left out, make sure and add some delicious sides to your plate too…

Now this recipe made a ton of sauce which is why I lowered the heat on the grill and kept flipping, to get as much sauce on there as I could. But you could just add a chicken breast or two – I’m sure it would be great for leftovers…

Have a great weekend everybody!

Buffalo Chicken Soft Tacos

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When I am asked to come up with my favorite foods, I am incredibly consistent and not picky with whatever form it comes in – like Tuna (a delicious fresh tuna steak, raw or canned) Artichokes (seriously, anything with them probably makes me happy) and anything buffalo/hot wing flavored.

Luckily, the husband shares my love for buffalo flavored anything. We love us some hot wings. We love buffalo shrimp, buffalo chicken pizza, buffalo chicken soup, buffalo chicken meatballs – clearly it’s a problem, but one of those good ones to have, right? I also feel like Bubba from Forrest Gump right now…

So I recently threw together some buffalo chicken soft tacos – and I figured we’d just go ahead and make this another edition of “Faux Bar Food Friday” – because we all know that an ice cold beer goes great with any and all buffalo chicken type items. And beer goes great with Friday. And long weekends.

See, that worked out so well!

This is one of those easy to throw together meals – especially because you can do a lot of the prep before you sit down to eat! I promise, once you smell the chicken cooking, you’ll want to devour it immediately! (And of course, it’s WW friendly – only 10 points…for dinner!)

Buffalo Chicken Soft Tacos (serves 2)

8 oz. raw boneless, skinless chicken breast

4 medium whole wheat tortillas

1/2 cup fat-free chicken broth

1/4 cup Frank’s Red Hot Sauce

1/4 cup reduced-fat blue cheese crumbles

1/2 cup raw celery, chopped

1/2 cup raw carrot, peeled and julienne

1/2 cup lettuce, chopped

1/4 cup green onion, chopped

Extra hot sauce for topping

Add chicken broth to a medium pot and bring to a boil. Add chicken breasts and cook 20-25 minutes until cooked through.

In the meantime, cut up your celery, carrots and green onion and refrigerate until ready to use.

Once chicken is cooked through, remove from pot – reserving 1/4 cup broth. Let chicken cool a little and then begin shredding with two forks.

Once all of your chicken is shredded, place back in the pot with chicken broth and hot sauce.

Cook over low heat until liquid is mostly absorbed.

While that’s happening, dampen two paper towels – place one on a microwaveable plate and add your 4 tortillas, and top with the 2nd towel. Microwave for 20-25 seconds. This makes the tortillas a little more pliable and less likely to tear when you fold them!

Grab your veggies from the fridge along with your blue cheese and get ready to assemble!

I spread about 1 tsp. ranch in the center of the tortillas and top with chicken, celery, carrots, lettuce, green onion and blue cheese.

I threw a few more dashes of hot sauce on top (because I’m just freaky like that) – but you can just go ahead and devour…

Have a very happy and safe Memorial Day weekend everybody!

Spicy Sauteed Triggerfish with a Lemon Wine Sauce

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Happy Thursday everybody!

Normally, Thursday isn’t all that exciting – but this is the Thursday before a long weekend! While I might not have incredibly exciting plans, it’s still a long weekend. Which means next week is a short week.

Next week is also the final week of my husband’s incredibly demanding and strict study schedule. So on Saturday afternoon – I get him back. So I get to be excited that it’s Thursday!

Can I get an “amen”?

…crickets…

Okay then, moving right along!

So I know I have mentioned to you several times how much I love seafood. Well my parents discovered a great little place to get fresh seafood – a man and his wife drive up to Memphis each week from the Mississippi coast with a big trailer full of lots of good, fresh stuff. Even selections that are hard to find in grocery stores!

Well, my dad stopped by to grab some smoked tuna dip (Y-U-M) and the man was packing up to leave. So he just “donated” a few items to him. Fortunately for me, my parents were leaving town, so I inherited some fresh, delicious fish to play with.

Like Triggerfish. Crickets again? Exactly.

Now, it’s tough to find Triggerfish recipes out there. But I did read that it’s a meaty, rich fish – similar to Grouper, but with a buttery flavor, like Lobster.

So you know what that says to me? Butter. Wine. Capers.

Do we really need more in life? I honestly think I could eat capers out of the jar…oh wait, I already do. And wine…well, really people?

If you can’t find Triggerfish – I think that Grouper would be a great fish substitution for this recipe – perhaps adjusting for cooking time.

Now this is a little higher in WW points for the main dish (about 9 – guess-timating since I couldn’t locate nutritional info.), but I just paired it with a few slices of bread and some brown rice and it made for a light and luxurious weeknight meal.

Triggerfish with a Spicy Lemon-Wine Sauce (serves 2)

2 Triggerfish filets, about 6-7 oz. each (mine had skin on – so I left it and it was fine)

1/8 tsp. salt

1/8 tsp. black pepper

1/4 tsp. Tabasco sauce

4 Tbsp. reduced-calorie margarine

1/4 cup white wine

1 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice

1 tsp. minced garlic

1 Tbsp. capers

Heat 2 Tbsp. margarine in a large skillet over medium heat.

Salt and pepper your fillets. I scored the skin (just a few little superficial slices) to prevent curling.

Add fillets to melted butter and saute about 3-4 minutes, skin side up. Flip and sprinkle “meat” side with a few dashes Tabasco.

Cook another 3-4 minutes, and flip once more. Cook 2-3 more minutes until fish is cooked through and both sides have a light brown color. Set in a medium baking dish and add to oven on low heat to keep warm.

Add remaining margarine (if needed) to skillet and melt. Reduce heat to medium low.

Add white wine, garlic, caper and lemon juice.

Cook for about 2 minutes, until simmering lightly and sauce thickens a little.

Oh and if you have to open a whole bottle of white wine and don’t know what to do with some of the “excess” – I’m sure I can help you think of something…

Now, remove fish from oven. Plate your fish and pour sauce on top of each fillet.

 

Now, dig in! The rice and bread did a great job of soaking up the excess sauce…which was total yumminess…

Thanks Mom and Dad – next time you should get your new buddies to “donate” four fillets and maybe you’ll get a free dinner out of it…

Thanks for reading – and just a reminder, if you have tried any of the recipes on my blog, please leave me a comment with your raves/rants/thoughts – I’d love to hear feedback!

Spicy Peanut Chicken Salad

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I feel like I did a marathon this weekend!

I was so fortunate to be able to drive up to St. Louis this past weekend for one of my dear friend’s bachelorette parties.

St. Louis Arch

Clydesdale at Anheuser-Busch: St. Louis

Home of the World Series Champions!

Since I went to school at Penn State and live in Memphis, it’s very rare that I get to spend a weekend with my best friends from college. Like, seriously, we hail from Florida, Pennsylvania (Philadelphia and Pittsburgh both represented), Connecticut and Illinois. So getting together can be a challenge – but when we do, there is no shortage on fun – which includes choreographed dances and Beauty and the Beast sing-a-longs! More to come too – because since November, three of my girls have gotten engaged!

So before I had headed out on my solo road trip that involved a lot of jamming out to my favorite artist (Eric Church) – I made a delicious pasta salad-type dish with an Asian twist.

I could totally eat this for dinner, but it made up a lot of my lunches last week. And man, were my lunches good. Like, seriously. You don’t even have to wait in line for a microwave in your break room at work – because you eat it cold. And dear goodness, it is incredibly delicious.

And only 8 WW points. I know, I know. You love me. =)

It’s a lot of ingredients – but don’t be intimidated! You won’t regret making the full recipe – or even doubling it if you are one of those people (aka me) who let produce die in your refrigerator drawers after 1-2 uses.

(Oh, and I am certain this would make a great vegetarian dish if you just omit the chicken – so let me know, well, if you try it either way what you think!)

Spicy Peanut Chicken Salad– (6 servings)

1 cup red or orange bell pepper, Julienne

1 cup carrots, shredded

1 cup raw zucchini, shredded

1/2 cup raw broccoli, chopped

1/2 cup green onion, chopped

8 oz. raw chicken breast (boneless/skinless)

8 oz. whole wheat spaghetti

For Dressing:

6 Tbsp. soy sauce

2 Tbsp. water

2 Tbsp. reduced-fat peanut butter

2 Tbsp. sesame oil (Vegetable oil is okay)

1 Tbsp. rice vinegar (regular works too)

1/2 Tbsp. honey

1 Tbsp. pickled ginger, chopped

1/2 tsp. minced garlic

1 tsp. sugar

1 tsp. Sriracha (I promise this isn’t too spicy – I actually added more to each serving)

3 Tbsp. chopped peanuts

Boil pasta according to directions. Drain, set aside and let cool in a large bowl.

Boil chicken breast for 8-10 minutes until cooked through. Cool 3-5 minutes. Shred with two forks.

Add bell pepper, carrots, zucchini, green onions and broccoli on top of pasta.

Add chicken.

For dressing:

In a food processor, add soy sauce, water, peanut butter, sesame oil, rice vinegar, honey, ginger, garlic and Sriracha. Pulse until smooth. Add peanuts and pulse a few more times.

Pour dressing over chicken/veggie/noodle mixture and toss until combined.

Chill at least 1 hour.

Serve and devour. I did add a little more Sriracha and soy to the top of mine and mmmmmmmm was it delicious…

Clearly my goal in life is to make your co-workers jealous…