"Fried" chicken

Dinner last night: sautéed baby kale with crispy garlic and a drizzle of walnut oil and chicken breast marinated with lemon, dipped in egg, then dipped in ground flaxseed with spices, sprayed with olive oil, then baked in the oven!

Also, check out this GIGANTIC bag of organic baby kale I found at Costco! 1.5 lbs... Ohhhh man. IN LOVE.

Chicken Salad-Stuffed Avocado

A friend of mine found this awesome idea somewhere online: chicken salad stuffed into half of an avocado. Low-carb, high in healthy fats, high in protein, and sounds delicious.

I decided to make my own version. Packed up the chicken salad and half an avocado to bring to work for a yummy lunch.

I dug through my fridge and pantry and made a yummy chicken salad with things I could find.

I happened to find some canned chicken breast from Costco in my pantry. The thought of canned chicken breast used to kind of disgusts me, but if you think about it, it's kind of similar to canned tuna. And I sample the Kirkland version at Costco and it wasn't bad. Definitely easy to have on hand and perfect for a simple chicken salad!

I can't stand mayo so I used a few different things to add some moisture, creaminess, flavor, and kind of bind the chunks of chicken together. One thing was Bitchin' Sauce!!

This stuff is AMAZING.  It's a San Diego company that often sells their product at farmer's markets in San Diego. I have also seen it at Whole Foods in LA! It tastes creamy, cheesy, garlicy, and has some nice spices, but is vegan, gluten-free, and made of some pretty good stuff! I use it as a veggie dip, spread, dressing, WHATEVER.

Check out their website, for nutrition info, recipes, where to buy, or order online here: Bitchin' Sauce

I mixed some Bitchin' Sauce with a little part-skim ricotta, mustard, relish, and extra virgin olive oil for my creamy, flavorful, and mayo-free base to bind the chicken together.

For spice, I added a few dashes of one of my fav hot sauces.

I discovered this hot sauce when I was visiting my brother up at Humboldt State. It's from a local company up there and it is AMAZING. Had to bring some home. I'd never heard of Te Jas-Wini peppers until I tried this hot sauce, but it has some really nice heat and a different feel on your tongue than most hot sauces. LOVE IT. Weitchpec Humboldt Green Pepper Sauces

I also mixed in some red bell pepper, celery, red onion, green onion, chopped almonds, and sliced grapes to make one of the best chicken salads I've made in a long time.

This deliciousness was amazing when stuffed into the avocado half!

Meal Planning

Meal planning - seriously one of the best ways to make sure you stay on track.

I know when I don't plan, I tend to stray.... I end up eating out or I binge eat any unhealthy things I can find in my kitchen.

Make sure your kitchen is always stocked with ingredients to make your meals. Make sure you always have quick healthy snacks on hand that you can just grab and munch on. And most importantly (for me at least), make sure you have something to satisfy your serious chocolate cravings... haha. I like to keep a bar of dark chocolate hidden away for absolute emergencies.... If I have a bad chocolate craving and don't have any chocolate, I will end up eating everything in sight and never get full until I have some chocolate..... it's really a problem.

If you're like me and tend to be very busy all the time, plan out your meals in advance! It will help you to stay on track, so you don't have to stress about it when you're hungry. And always have healthy snacks on hand too!

Examples:

I baked a big breakfast fritatta for Rommel and I to slice up and have for breakfast for the next few days.

Frittata (mostly egg whites) with broccoli, onion, jalapeno cheddar, and leftover ham from our NYE dinner

Last night while making dinner and our breakfast frittata, I marinated some chicken, grilled it, chopped it up, then saved it to throw on my salad for lunch today.

Chicken breast marinated in lemon juice, lemon zest, garlic, and dill

Salad with heirloom spinach, arugula, grilled chicken, dill, green onion, lemon juice, and pumpkin seed oil

For dinner tonight, we have  lentil soup cooking away in our slow cooker right now :) I prepped everything for the soup last night so it is quick to throw in the slow cooker this morning. All veggies chopped up in a bag with herbs and dried lentils. Tube of tomato paste sitting on top of the bag in the fridge, so I didn't have to search for it. Chicken broth and all seasonings sitting right next to the slow cooker.

All the ingredients ready to go!

Everything thrown in the slow cooker in 1 minute this morning!

Tonight, I will marinate some flank steak, grill it, and chop it up for our lunch salad tomorrow.

Tonight, I will also start to prep dinner for tomorrow night. I will bake a spaghetti squash and get ingredients ready to make make marinara sauce in our slow cooker tomorrow morning. I also saved a little bit of the grilled chicken to mix in there.

Happy New Year! Eat well, plan well, exercise, and meet your health goals!