Shannon’s Roasted Chicken and Vegetables

Thank you SO much to my beautiful, healthy sister for this recipe!!

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This is an adapted version of a Jamie Oliver recipe. It can be served with rice or quinoa, or with a nice green salad. The chicken thighs make the recipe extra rich while still being incredibly healthy. Lots of fresh flavours and healthy fats in this dinner. Hope you enjoy it!

Ingredients

1. 4 large tomatoes
2. 1 red onion
3. 3 cloves of garlic
4. 6 boneless skinless chicken thighs
5. Fresh basil, chopped
6. Salt and pepper
7. 2 tbsp olive oil
8. 2 tbsp balsamic vinegar

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350F.
2. Roughly chop onion and peppers and place in large roasting pan or baking dish. Cut tomatoes into quarters and add to dish.
3. Add the chicken thighs and basil, and drizzle whole mess with the olive oil and balsamic. Toss to coat, and arrange so that the chicken thighs are on the top, not covered by any veggies.
4. Take the garlic cloves and – unpeeled – crush them with the heel of your hand and the back of a knife. Add these to the dish. Sprinkle salt and pepper over the top, and pop in the oven.
5. The meal needs about 1 hour to cook, but check it at 45 minutes or so. It’s ready when the meat is cooked through and the veggies on top have started to caramelize. If it looks like it’s drying out but it isn’t ready yet, spoon some of the liquid from the pan over top to keep it moist.

Caprese Skewers

These little skewers were so much fun to make! Thank you Pinterest for the great appetizer idea and my lovely sister for helping assemble all these little guys :) Great alternative to the unhealthy appies that are normally served at dinner parties. If you’re not a cheese eater, substituting avocado for the mozzarella would work perfectly. If I had been making these for just myself, that’s exactly what I would have done.

I think assembling the skewers is pretty self explanatory, but I’ll write up instructions anyway lol.

Ingredients:

• grape tomatoes
• basil leaves
• little mozerella or bocconcini balls
• little wooden skewers
• balsamic vinegar or balsamic reduction (optional)
• olive oil

Directions:

• To assemble, place one tomato, 1/2 a basil leaf, one bocconcini ball, and another tomato onto a wooden skewer.
• If you like, drizzle with a little bit balsamic and olive oil.

Paleo Chicken Parmesan

This recipe is from fedandfit.com. It’s a little more time consuming to make, but ends up being really delicious and looks super fancy! Great dinner to make if you’re having people over or a special occasion. I’m starting to get really hungry looking at that picture of it…

Photo of Chicken Parmesan w/ Quinoa Stuffed Pepper

Prep Time: 30 min Cooking Time: 35 minutes Serves 4

Ingredients For Chicken:

• 4 chicken breasts
• 2 eggs, whisked
• 1 1/2 cups almond flour
• 2 tbsp Italian seasoning
• 2 tsp unrefined salt
• 2 tsp black pepper
• 2 large zucchinis (for the zucchini ribbons)

Ingredients for Marinara:

• 1 can whole, peeled, organic tomatoes
• 1 can tomato paste
• 1/2 yellow onion, chopped
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tbsp Italian seasoning
• 1/2 tsp unrefined salt
• 1/2 tsp black pepper
• 1/2 cup red wine
• 5 large fresh basil leaves, minced

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees and line a baking sheet with tin foil.
2. Using a sharp knife, cut the chicken breast in half the long way. Set aside.
3. In a bowl, beat the eggs. In another bowl or on a plate, mix together the almond flour, seasoning, salt and pepper.
4. To get your chicken all nicely coated in yumminess, dip a piece of chicken in the egg, the into the almond flour mixture until completely covered. Repeat for all pieces of chicken.
5. Lay out the chicken onto the baking sheet and bake for around 35 minutes.
6. While your chicken in cooking, you can make your marinara sauce. Mmmmm. In a large pan, heat the olive oil. Add in the chopped onions and garlic and give it a good stir. After a few minutes, add in the tomatoes and stir until they are slightly broken-down.
7. Next, mix in your seasoning, salt, pepper, and tomato paste. Add the wine and let simmer until your chicken in done or it’s thickened a bit.
8. Time to slice up your zucchini ribbons! Using a vegetable peeler, start peeling your ribbons lengthwise down the zucchini. You can do it on 4 sides of the zucchini, but stop when you get to the seeds.
9. Once the chicken is out of the oven, you’re all ready to plate it up. Layer the zucchini ribbons down first and spoon some sauce over top. Then place one or two pieces of chicken down and top with a generous amount of sauce on top. Sprinkle with some fresh basil. BAM! Fancy, healthy dinner!