Recipes: Cheese & Vegetable Topped Chicken
Cheese & Vegetable Topped Chicken
This recipe is an altered and lighter version of the Chicken Tomato Pasta Recipe. The Cheese & Vegetable Topped Chicken recipe is a lower carb version, but is still tasty and healthy. It is basically baked boneless skinless chicken breast topped with spinach, bok choy, mushrooms, and cheese. If you are trying to cut out dairy you can eliminate the cheese and it is still a great main dish.
Cheese & Vegetable Topped Chicken
The Cheese & Vegetable Topped Chicken recipe is a low carb, but is still tasty and healthy. It brings baked boneless skinless chicken breast together with a topping of spinach, bok choy, mushrooms, and cheese.Servings: 2 peopleIngredients
- 1 lb Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breasts cooked, seasoned, and drained
- 1 cup Fresh Spinach
- 1 cup Fresh Bok Choy
- 1/2 cup Fresh Mushrooms
- 1 tbsp Olive Oil
- 1/2 tsp Minced Garlic
- Sliced or Shredded Cheese
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease a broiler pan and put the chicken breast on it (this allows the extra fat and/or juices to drain down and away from the chickens). Sprinkle lightly with seasoning – salt, pepper, and/or chicken seasoning. Bake until cooked through.
- While the chicken is cooking. Slice up the vegetables into about 1/2 inch to 1 inch pieces (spinach, bok choy, mushrooms). Heat 1/2 tablespoon of olive oil and minced garlic in a pan over medium heat. Add the mushrooms and cook them for about 2 minutes. Add the spinach and bok choy, cooking for an additional 3 minutes or until the leaves are starting to wilt.
- Place your baked chicken breasts on the plates. Top with the vegetable mixture. Optional: Garnish tomatoes and sliced or a sprinkle of shredded cheese.
Cheese & Vegetable Topped Chicken sitting on a layer for diced tomatoes (optional)
Recipes: Chicken Tomato Pasta
Chicken Tomato Pasta Dish
Another great meal made by my awesome husband. He came up with this pasta recipe one Sunday for lunch. The base is animal shaped pasta noodles (can you guess who picked out the noodles)?! Topped with chicken, tomatoes, bok choy, spinach, and mushrooms. It was a fresh and tasty combination perfect for dinner out on the deck with the family on a sunny Sunday afternoon.
Chicken Tomato Pasta Recipe:
- 1 lb Chicken Breasts (sliced, cooked, seasoned, and drained)
- 12 oz Pasta (we used Organic Vegetable Pasta in the shape of Animals)
- 1 large Tomato (or can of diced tomatoes)
- 1 cup Fresh Spinach
- 1 cup Fresh Bok Choy
- 1/2 cup Fresh Mushrooms
- 1 tablespoon Olive Oil
- 1/2 teaspoon Minced Garlic
- Optional – 1/2 small Onion
- Optional – 1/4 cup shredded Cheese
1. Slice the chicken in about 1 inch strips. Heat 1/2 tablespoon of Olive Oil in a frying pans on medium heat and add the minced garlic (and onion if using it). Cook over medium heat for 3 minutes. Add the chicken and stir gently as every couple minutes while working on the other steps.
2. Add water to a pot and turn it on medium-high until it is at a rolling boil and add the pasta. Cook the pasta per the directions on the package.
3. Slice up the vegetables into about 1/2 inch to 1 inch pieces (tomatoes, spinach, bok choy, mushrooms). Heat 1/2 tablespoon of olive oil in a pan over medium heat. Add the mushrooms and tomatoes cooking them for about 2 minutes. Add the spinach and bok choy, cooking for an additional 3 minutes or until the leaves are starting to wilt.
4. Scoop some pasta onto your plate. Top with the tomato and vegetable mixture. Add the chicken and a little more of the tomato and vegetable mixture. Optional: Garnish with sauteed bok choy centers and a sprinkle of shredded cheese.
Chicken Tomato Pasta with a Bok Choy garnish!
Recipes: Easy Shepherd’s Pie
The other day when I made Shepherd’s Pie for dinner I went ahead and made a big batch so I was able to make one casserole for dinner that night and put two in the freezer for busy nights later in the month. The “Make 1 i& Freeze 1” recipes come in handy for those days when I cannot make a homemade meal from scratch. It is great when I can plan ahead! Shepherd’s Pie is not only easy to make it freezes well too. The recipe below makes one 9×13 dish of Shepherd’s Pie, but I doubled it and split the second one into two 8×8 dishes to freeze for later.
Shepherd’s Pie Recipe:
- 1 pound Ground Beef cooked
- 1 can Green Beans (used french cut, but any will do)
- 1 can Mixed Vegetables
- 1 can Black Beans
- 1 package Brown Gravy
- Mashed Potatoes (homemade or from package, your preference)
Cook the ground beef and drain the excess oil. Add all the brown gravy ingredients to the ground beef mixture. Drain the vegetables and gently mix in the green beans, mixed vegetables, and black beans. Let the beef and vegetable mixture cook for 5 to 10 minutes, stirring periodically. Preheat the oven to 350 degree and grease a 9×13 pan (or two 8×8 pans).
While cooking the ground beef and vegetable mixture start preparing your potatoes whether from scratch or from a box or bag. Once the potatoes and beef mixture is done you can put together your Shepherd’s Pie. The bottom layer will be your beef and vegetable mixture followed by a layer of mash potatoes. You can sprinkle bacon or cheese over the mash potato layer if you prefer as well. Cover and bake the Shepherd’s Pie at 350 degrees for 30 minutes, uncover and bake for an additional 15 minutes.
We ate one Shepherd’s Pie for dinner and these two (pictured above) are going in the freezer to be eaten at a later time!
Dinner Time – Change of Scenery
Have you noticed that sometimes when you add a slight twist to a normal activity it can make it super special for the kids? Occasionally we mixed things up a bit around our house just for fun. Our girls don’t watch a lot of TV so when they do watch a movie or show it is a special treat for them. We have found that after a busy week sometimes all you need to do is have a quiet evening with your family to unwind and relax.
It has been a crazy few months around our house so Jake & I decided to make up some of the kids favorite foods, put them on their TV / travel plate and eat while watching a movie together. The girls were super excited! Typically, we stop what we are doing for a family meal but as a treat every couple of months we’ll switch it up a bit and eat in front of the TV. While this meal may not be the most well balanced ones we have made it does have variety, it was simple to put together, we used up some items we had on hand, and most importantly the family enjoyed it.
On the Menu:
- Cheesy Noodles (as the girls call them) Mac & Cheese
- Yogurt Stick
- Canned Peaches
- Fresh Clementine
- Slices of Summer Sausage
- Cashews
