Chicken & Rice

This meal has it all, and rolls in under 400 calories! It's a healthy and nutritious version of an old Dugas classic. Another bonus -- this meal exhibits ultimate parallelism in preparation, that is, each part can be made nearly simultaneously.



Ingredients
4 oz chicken breast tender
2/3 cup prepared brown rice
2/3 to 1 cup Normandy vegetable mix (any decent veggie or mix is great)

Ingredients (sauce)
1 cup milk
2 tbsp. Wondra (or flour)
Chef Paul's poultry magic seasoning
2-3 scallions, diced
butter buds sprinkles
s&p


Method

• Start preparing the chicken breast (I use the GTXpress, 12 minutes total)
• Start preparing the brown rice
• Start preparing the vegetables
• Prepare the roux
• Combine milk, butter sprinkles, Wondra in a non-stick skillet, mix well, crank heat up to medium
• Stirring often, the roux should thicken after a few minutes, at that point, add the scallions and 1-2 tsp Chef Paul's seasoning
• Once the roux has thickened to your desired consistency, start plating
• Plating
• Make a bed of brown rice
• Slice chicken (optional) and lay on rice
• Pour roux over chicken,
  
• Optional
• Sprinkle a bit more Chef Paul's seasoning on the roux
• Garnish with a couple spring onions (optional)
• Accompany with vegetables, sprinkling on butter and other desired seasonings (I used Spike seasoning, another decent one would be Old Bay)

That's it. For a home-cooked meal, it doesn't take too long, and I've made a double batch so I can enjoy some leftovers later.

Nutrition Info
Brown Rice 150 calories, 1.5g fat, 3g protein
Chicken 100 calories, 1g fat, 24g protein
Sauce 100 calories, 1g fat, 6g protein
Vegetables 35 calories, 0.5g fat, 2g protein

Nutrition Totals
385 calories, 4g fat, 35g protein

Breakfast Base

The green peppers were becoming too overpowering in my previously posted skillet mix, so I did some refactoring ("mixed it up," if you will), and have come up with what I believe to be a tasty, easy, 3-part breakfast base.



1/2 cup diced onions (from frozen section)
3 veggie sausage patties (Morning Star), cubed
4-5 small white potatoes, baked w/ skin, cubed

That's it. This mix lends itself to omelet filling, scrambled egg stir-in and a side (basically home-fries with sausage). It keeps in large freezer bag very well for months.

High Protein, Low Fat Breakfast

I've been loading up on protein, cutting down on fat & carbs lately and have come up with a pretty good quick breakfast that I make pretty much every weekday. This is prepared in my GTXpress101 cooking device, but can be made in a skillet. Unfortunately, I don't find the skillet version to be as good as the GTXpress version, but it's still pretty good.



Take a couple slices of some healthy bread, I use the Franz brand 40 calorie per slice whole wheat bread (yes, that's the name) that has loads of fiber, a bit of protein and only half a gram of fat per slice. Sometimes I lightly toast it, sometimes I do not. The bread doesn't make or break this breakfast, just use something low-cal if possible.

An aside about the skillet mix used... I've started mixing my own skillet mix, but it's easier to start with a nice pre-made mix. For that, I suggest Morning Star's Vegetarian Breakfast Starters. It's a hundred times healthier than the Jimmy Dean skillet mix I used to use. The nutritional part of the skillet mix isn't too important, since very little of it is added to the recipe, much less than one actual serving. Making your own mix is not difficult, just get a bunch of the same ingredients that are in these mixes ("cooked sausage/veggie sausage," diced green peppers, diced red peppers, diced onions, home-fry sized mostly cooked potatoes.

Ingredients
1/4 cup skillet mix
3-4 egg whites (how much protein do you want?)
1/4 cup Egg Beaters (0g fat, 30 cals, 6g protein)
2 slices healthy bread
1 slice fat-free american or cheddar cheese

Method

• Spray GTXpress with non-stick spray
• Split skillet mix between the two cooking chambers
• Turn it on, skillet mix will be cooked in just 2 minutes (or less)
• Mix 3-4 egg whites (6g protein each, 0g fat, 17 cal) with 1/4 cup Egg Beaters
• After the skillet mix has been in the unit for 2 minutes, split the egg mixture between both chambers
• Cook for 7 minutes exactly, works every time
• Place both bread slices apart on a plate
• Put 1 "omelette" on each bread slice
• Tear cheese slice in half, lay half on each omelette
• Pepper to taste
• Let dish sit for about a minute so the cheese melts
  

This breakfast is surprisingly tasty and healthy, and with a GTXpress it's super easy.

You can do the same thing with a traditional skillet, just prepare it as if it were scrambled eggs.

Nutrition info:
4 egg whites = 68 cals, 24g protein, 0g fat
1/4 cup Egg Beaters == 30 cal, 6g protein, 0g fat
Skillet mix = 30 cal, 3g protein, 0g fat (if vegetarian)
2 slices bread = 80 cal, 6g protein, 1g fat
1 slice fat-free cheese = 30 cal, 4g protein, 0g fat

Total nutrition:
253 calories, 39g protein, 1g fat

The Egg Beaters are a recent addition to this meal. Egg whites alone are very plain, and the consistency and color are greatly improved by adding the 1/4 cup of beaters. I've also found that Egg Beater brand egg substitute has a gram of fat, however the similar product at Costco has no fat. The costco version is also much, much cheaper than the name brand.

I purchased my GTXpress unit new at the local thrift store for 4 bucks, but for this use alone, I would've paid $40. It's that useful.

Chipotle Chicken Breast

I'm a huge fan of the smoked jalapeño flavor, chipotle, and put together this recipe to make some slightly-spicy, seriously flavorful chicken. Locating chipotle seasoning at the grocery can be difficult... We found it at World Market.




Ingredients
2 Chicken breasts, trimmed
1 tsp. chipotle seasoning
1 clove garlic, minced/pressed
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp lime juice
1 1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/8 tsp black pepper
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

Method

1. Combine all dry ingredients in a small bowl
   
2. Add olive oil and lime juice to dry ingredients to create a marinade
3. Marinate chicken in a sealed container/bag and refrigerate for at least 30 min. (or overnight)
4. Prepare chicken using your preferred method (grilled, oven baked, broiled, griddled)

Grand Biscuit Open-faced Egg Sandwich

After watching countless infomercials and ultimately picking up a new GTXpress101 cooking unit at the Salvation Army, we went to town making food in it every day. It heats up in


Ingredients
1 fridge "grand biscuit" (from the pop-open container)
2 egg whites
1 strip of microwave bacon, cut into pieces
1/2 slice American cheese

Method

1. Preheat GTXpress101
2. Flatten/stretch one biscuit to fit one Xpress well
3. Spray well and top with Pam
4. Place biscuit in well
5. Place cheese on top of biscuit
6. Place egg on top of cheese
7. Place bacon pieces on top of egg
8. Cook 8-9 minutes