Low Cal/High Protein Curried Chicken Salad

I love all of the cold salads: potato salad, macaroni salad, and especially chicken salad. The downside to these mayonnaise based sides? The calories and fat are pretty high, and unless you're making them with a ton of chicken they could be lacking on the protein. This recipe is really simple and all I had to go buy was the celery and butter lettuce, chances are you also have the ingredients you need already in your pantry and fridge.

Curried Chicken Salad

      makes 4 servings

• 1 cup 0% fat Greek Yogurt (130 calories, 23 grams protein)
• 400 grams canned Chicken Breast, in water (420 calories, 91 grams protein)
• 148 grams, about 3-4 ribs, Celery finely diced (24 calories, 1 gram protein)
• one medium, Gala/Granny Smith Apple finely diced (71 calories)
• 1.5 tbsp. Curry Powder
• 1 tbsp. Apple Cider Vinegar
• 1/8 tsp. Cayenne Pepper
• 1 or 2 packets of a sugar free sweetener like Splenda
• Salt & Pepper to taste, I didn't need to add any

Preparation & Directions

   I like the veggies and fruit finely diced, but it's up to you if you prefer larger chunks. Prep the celery and the apple, drain the canned chicken. In a large bowl add the Greek yogurt and the seasonings, stir to combine. Add the diced celery and apple, and add the drained chicken in. The chicken will break apart as you stir, so don't worry about using a fork to shred it. Mix well until the chicken has broken up and everything is well coated, transfer to the fridge. This will develop more flavor as it sits, although you can eat it right away if you're very hungry ;)

  A fabulous addition to this would be roasted nuts like walnuts, and big plump raisins. Those aren't allowed in my diet at the moment, but feel free to adapt this to your liking!

  There are 161.25 calories per serving, and 29 grams of protein. Great served wrapped in butter lettuce, in a sandwich, or on a bed of mixed greens.

I am sure you can tell my recipe had diced red onion. After trying it out the hubby and I decided it was a bit too spicy, and would have been better with more apple to add some sweetness!

Low Carb Shrimp Scampi w/ Miracle Noodles

This is a super low carb/low fat version of one of my personal favorites. Lemon and garlic work so well with the shrimp you don't need butter or oil to make it taste great!

Shrimp Scampi

• 200 grams peeled, deveined, tail off shrimp (211 calories)
• 2 packages Miracle Noodles
• 2 tablespoons Coconut Oil (240 calories)
• 1/3 cup Chicken Broth (5 calories)
• 4 cloves Garlic, thinly sliced or minced (16 calories)
• about 1/4 cup diced white Onion (24 calories)
• 1/2 cup fresh Parsley, chopped (11 calories)
• juice of 1 Lemon (12 calories)
• 1 tsp Lemon Zest (1 calorie)
• 1/2 tsp. Red Pepper Flakes (2 calories)
• Salt & Pepper to taste

Preparation & Cooking Instructions

Prepare the Miracle Noodles by draining the packets and rinsing the noodles with hot water until the fishy smell is gone. Let drain in colander. Heat the coconut oil in a large skillet over medium-low heat. Add the onion and saute until tender, about 3 minutes. Add the garlic and cook and additional minute, stirring. Add in the shrimp (raw or cooked will work here), lemon juice and zest, chicken broth, and seasonings. When the noodles have released their excess water toss into the shrimp mixture and cook over medium-high heat until the sauce has thickened a bit and the whole mixture becomes fragrant. Turn off the heat and stir in the parsley. Serve up and enjoy!

This makes two servings, each is just 261 calories but would only be 141 calories without the coconut oil! ^_^

Garlic, Lemon, and Parsley Chicken

  A very simple dish that incorporates the same ingredients and flavors from this shrimp recipe. Most likely you have these ingredients on hand, but if you don't they're very cheap and easy to find! I love garlic and lemon paired with chicken, and fresh parsley really is a match made in heaven with canned tomatoes. The no salt added canned tomatoes tend to be a little low on flavor, but adding fresh parsley and course ground black pepper really livens up this dish! 

Garlic, Lemon, and Parsley Chicken
      serves 4

• 16 ounces extra lean Chicken Breast (400 calories)
• 2- 14.5 ounce no salt added canned Tomatoes (175 calories)
• 1 small Onion, I used a combo of red and white (74 calories)
• 8 cloves Garlic, minced (32 calories)
• 1/2 cup fresh Parsley, finely chopped (8 calories)
• juice + zest of a small lemon (13 calories)
• salt, pepper, and red chili flakes- to taste

Preparation & Cooking Instructions

  Preheat oven to 350 F. Set a large skillet over medium-high heat. Halve the chicken breasts so you have four pieces even in weight, salt and pepper each side of the breasts. If you're using a non-stick pan you won't need oil but if you're using stainless steel or copper add 1 tbsp. of coconut oil. When the oil is very hot add the chicken breasts to the pan and cook until they develop a nice crust, about 3-4 minutes, then flip and brown the other side. Transfer the chicken to your oven proof baking dish as set aside. In the same pan add the onions and reduce the heat to medium, cook until tender, about three minutes. Add the garlic and cook another minute. Add the canned tomatoes and turn the heat up the high, bring to a boil and the reduce until the juice thicken. Add in the fresh parsley, lemon zest, lemon juice, salt, pepper, and chili flakes. Spoon the mixture over the chicken breasts. I actually did half the mixture, then the breasts, then the rest over the breasts. Cover and bake at 350 F for about 25 minutes, or until chicken is no longer pink in the center.

The best part about this meal? It's just 175.5 calories per serving. Enjoy this with a nice side salad, or a hunk of bread if you aren't gluten/carb free like me! ;)

  This would be fantastic done in the crock pot. You could throw everything in raw and let it cook all day long, but I like to go the extra step to full brown the chicken and saute the veggies. If you're short on time skip the oven and go straight to the crock pot with this one. Yum!

Baked Shrimp

Oh my goodness, who knew eating "diet" food could be this enjoyable?! This is by far one of the best dishes I've had, and I'm really excited to share it with you!

Baked Shrimp

      adapted from Ellie Krieger, serves 2

• 8 extra large raw, deveined, and peeled Shrimp (157 calories)
• 14.5 ounce can no salt added Diced Tomatoes (87 calories)
• 1 small yellow Onion, chopped (53 calories)
• 1/4 Parsley, chopped (4 calories)
• 2 cloves Garlic, minced or pressed (8 calories)
• salt, pepper, and Old Bay to taste
• optional: 2 tablespoons Coconut Oil (I didn't use this, I sauteed in water)

 Preheat oven to 425 F. Heat the coconut oil over medium heat in an oven proof pot (or regular saute pan) and add the diced onion. Saute onion, stirring, until softened. Add the garlic and saute for one minute, turn the heat up to medium-high, add the canned tomato and bring up to a boil. Reduce heat and cook for several minutes until the tomatoes juices thicken then turn off the heat. Add in the shrimp, parsley, and spices. Transfer to oven (or oven proof dish, then to oven) and bake for 12 minutes or until the shrimp are pink and cooked through. Serve alongside a delicious salad. Enjoy!

Based on the amount of everything I used and considering the brands the entire recipe was 309 calories. So you're looking at about 150 calories per serving of the shrimp, plus another 13 or so for the chunk of romaine. Not bad!

Happy New Year!

I cannot believe it's already 2012, the past year really flew by!! I just want to thank you all for reading, this little blog has been pushed aside for a while with life being so busy so I'm very blessed to still have people reading! It might be a small handful, but your sweet comments put a big smile on my face! I wish you all health and happiness in this wonderful new year!