Spiced Chicken with Wild Rice & Veggies Bowl (GF)

One of my best pieces of advice for those who are busy but want to eat healthy or for people who want to lose weight, is to prepare your meals ahead of time. I make my meals for the week on Monday nights. 

This is what I came up with for this week. This spiced, sweet, and crunchy little bowl contains turmeric and cumin spiced chicken, wild rice, broccolini, sweet potatoes, carrots, pea shoots, and pomegranate seeds. It is quite a great combination of foods. You can also make it vegan or vegetarian by substituting tofu or chickpeas for the chicken.

Spiced Chicken with Wild Rice & Veggies Bowl

Adapted from: Love and Lemons

Ingredients:

1 lb of chicken breast or tenders, cubed (preferably free-range; omit if vegan/vegetarian & use chickpeas)

1 cup wild rice

2 sweet potatoes, cubed

1 cup carrots, shredded

2 cups broccolini, roughly chopped

1 cup pomegranate arils

1 tsp cumin

1 tsp turmeric

1/2 tsp cayenne pepper

2 tbsp of gomacio or sesame seeds

2-3 tbsp olive oil

salt & pepper to taste

soy sauce or coconut aminos

pea shoots

Instructions:

1. Cook wild rice as instructed on the package.
2. While rice is cooking, dice chicken, season with salt and pepper, and cook in large skillet over medium-high heat in 2 tbsp of olive oil.
3. After about 5 minutes, add cumin, turmeric, and cayenne pepper.
4. Cook chicken all the way through and remove from skillet with slotted spoon. Add cubed sweet potatoes and cook until tender. (You may have to add 1 more tbsp of olive oil.)
5. Add broccolini and carrots to skillet, season with salt, pepper, & sesame seeds and cook until tender.
6. When all ingredients are cooked, add all cooked ingredients to a large bowl with a handful pomegranate and pea shoots. You might want to add soy sauce or coconut aminos to your rice. 
7. Enjoy!!

Roasted Cauliflower and Parsnip Soup

This soup is incredible! It's pretty easy too. I got an Immersion Blender for Christmas, and have been blending up a storm. That thing is incredible. I prefer this to a blender any day, even for smoothies.

It's nice when you are making sauces and soups because you don't have to pour hot liquid into the blender and perhaps burn your hand... or burn your whole kitchen when the top comes off when you are blending. (I've seen my mom do it... it's a crazy, hot mess.) I highly recommend buying that. It really does step up your cooking game.

Okay, so on to the soup. It's creamy. It's savory. It's light and delicate. 

We made it for our meal and soon realized that it needed something to go with it. We ended up making bacon and spinach paninis, which I highly recommend as a side. Troy added cheese to his the second day and crumbled bacon in it. This also tastes delicious and very much like potato soup. Serve it up however you would like! It's so darn tasty.

Roasted Cauliflower and Parsnip Soup
Adapted from: Spoon Fork Bacon (One of my favorite food bloggers!)

Ingredients:

1 head of cauliflower florets, roughly chopped
2 parsnips, peeled and roughly chopped
2 shallots, peeled and quartered
3 garlic cloves, peeled and smashed
2 tablespoons minced thyme
1 tbsp minced sage, plus more for garnish
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
3 cups vegetable or chicken stock
1/4 cup sour cream** (I made mine dairy free/vegan... See Below)
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375˚F.
2. Spread cauliflower, parsnips, shallots, garlic, sage, and thyme onto a baking sheet, in a single layer, and drizzle with oil. Sprinkle with cumin, paprika, salt and pepper and toss everything together until the vegetables are well coated with oil.
3. Roast vegetables for 25-30 minutes, tossing vegetables around 15 minutes into the roasting process.
4. Meanwhile pour stock into a medium pot and bring to a simmer. Lightly season with salt and pepper.
5. Once vegetables have roasted through and stock is hot, use immersion blender to puree.
6. Puree mixture for 3 to 5 minutes or until the mixture is smooth. Add more stock and continue to puree if necessary.
7. Transfer the mixture into the pot that the stock was in and bring to a light simmer. Stir in sour cream and adjust seasonings.
8. Top each bowl with a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil and fresh sage leaf and serve.

**For the dairy free/vegan sour cream:
Take 1 container of Plain Coconut Milk Greek Yogurt (6 oz) and combine it with 3/4 tsp of lemon juice. Stir together and let chill in refrigerator, covered, for at least 30 minutes.
Many thanks to Cassidy's Craveable Creations for coming up with this alternative!!

Enjoy!!

Chicken Piccata with White Wine Lemon Sauce, Garlic Zucchini, & Capers

For some reason, I was craving this dish. Chicken Piccata is lovely and probably pretty hard to mess up. It's also very easy (always a plus). I think someone came up with this recipe because they only had these ingredients left in their kitchen. I feel like every Italian home has flour, olive oil, lemon, white wine, and capers.

I borrowed the recipe from Elise Bauer who started Simply Recipes, and adapted it to make it gluten free. I also made it dairy free by excluding the Parmesan cheese, which I thought I would miss, but it honestly doesn't need it. I also added the addition of zucchini and pasta, which I feel completes the dish perfectly.

Chicken Piccata with White Wine Lemon Sauce, Garlic Zucchini, & Capers
Adapted from Elise Bauer

Ingredients:
2-4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (if you can find thin cutlets, do it! Go for 4 or more in this case.)
2 tbsp grated Parmesan cheese (optional, I did not use)
1/3 cup gluten free flour
Salt & pepper
2 tbsp olive oil
4 tbsp butter (or substitute, I used Soy-free Earth Balance)
1/2 cup of white wine (or chicken stock)
3 tbsp lemon juice
1/4 cup brined capers
1/4 cup chopped parsley
1-2 zucchini, chopped into spears
1 tbsp garlic
Gluten free corn pasta (mine was penne from Trader Joes)

Directions:

1. Cut the chicken breasts horizontally, butterflying them open. You want your pieces to be as thin as possible, about 1/4 of an inch thick. If they are not, place between plastic wrap and pound with meat mallet. 
2. Mix flour, salt, pepper, and parmesan, if using. Rinse the chicken pieces in water and dredge them in flour mixture until well coated.
3. Heat 2 tbsp of olive oil and 2 tbsp butter in a large skillet over medium high heat. 
4. Add chicken pieces to the pan and cook until brown on each side, about 5 minutes each. 
5. In the mean time, start to boil pasta water and cook by the package's directions. **With gluten free pasta, ALWAYS rinse the pasta in strainer with cold water immediately after cooking.**
6. Also heat smaller skillet over medium heat, spray with cooking spray, and cook zucchini spears and garlic until slightly browned.
7. Remove chicken from pan and cover with aluminum foil to keep warm while you prepare the sauce. You might have to repeat this step for the chicken that wouldn't fit in the pan.
8. After removing the chicken, deglaze the pan with white wine, then add lemon juice and capers.
9. Use a spatula to scrape up the browned bits. Wait until the sauce has reduced down by half and whisk in 2 tbsp butter. 
10. To serve, plate the pasta with zucchini and chicken, then top with the sauce. Garnish with Parsley. 

Cheers!