More Yummy Healthy Cooking!
With it being summer and me having more time, I've been trying new recipes I find on Pinterest. I mixed two of them today - one for roasted spaghetti squash & one for tomato basil chicken. It was GOOD! My husband ate every last bite (no leftovers)!
Instead of eating noodles, the roasted squash was a healthier version. All I did was poke small slices all around the raw spaghetti squash, put it on a cookie sheet (one with rims), and baked it in an oven preheated to 375 degrees for 80 minutes (turning it over after 40 minutes). Once I flipped it and it had another 40 minutes to go, I made the tomato basil chicken. Here's the recipe I used:
Here's exactly what I did:
1. Put a large skillet on the stove with the cooking spray and olive oil on the counter next to the stove.
2. Got out my large cutting board with the lip on it (to collect juices and keep them from running onto the counter), a knife, the spices, the garlic cloves (I have some in the freezer that I bought from Costco), the cherry tomatoes, the chicken breasts (I buy these at Costco too - they are in packs of two chicken breasts. I put the packs into Ziploc Freezer Bags and freeze them. I put the one pack in the fridge yesterday so it would thaw out for today's recipe), and two small glass bowls to hold the halved tomatoes once they were cut up and the minced garlic.
3. I first washed off the cherry tomatoes (I only had to throw out a few of them) and cut each one in half and put in a glass bowl off to the side.
4. I then took only 4 cloves of garlic, minced them, and put them in the small glass bowl to the side. My recipe called for 8 cloves of garlic yesterday and it was way too garlicy for my taste.
5. I then seasoned the chicken breasts with the salt, pepper, dried oregano, and dried basil on the cutting board. After they were seasoned, I cut them into cubes and sprinkled a little more seasoning on them.
6. I heated up the skillet sprayed with cooking spray and threw the chicken in there. I had to keep adding cooking spray because the chicken wanted to stick to the pan, and it seemed to be burning a little bit. I ended up turning the heat to medium heat instead of high and turned the chicken quite a bit in the pan to keep it from burning. It cooked pretty quickly.
7. I then took the chicken out and put it into a ceramic bowl off to the side, put some olive oil in the skillet (enough to cover the entire bottom of the skillet), and put the garlic in the skillet (stirring it a lot to keep it from burning). I turned the heat down to medium.
8. I then threw in the tomatoes and stirred them with the olive oil and garlic. I turned the heat down a little more. I put the chicken back in after only a few minutes and stirred it all up and turned the heat down to low as I waited for the squash to be done.
The squash was done within a few minutes of me completing the last step of the tomato basil chicken. I took it out of the oven, sliced it in half, took out the seeds, and then used a fork to scrape out the spaghetti squash into pasta dishes. I then put the tomato basil chicken on top and stirred it all together in the individual pasta dishes. YUMMY!!
I should have taken my own pictures, but we ate it all up. :) I didn't have any fresh basil, but it was all good (not needed). I will definitely be making this again sometime soon. I did not know that it would take so long to cook the squash though, so I'll have to make the squash ahead of time the next time I make this recipe.
I washed dishes as I was cooking so all I need to wash is the skillet and cookie sheet. :) The pasta dishes will go into the dishwasher.
I'm pretty proud of myself. See, I'm not known as being a very good chef. My husband has been the good cook in the house. He has been pretty spoiled the past couple of days though. In fact, he is sleeping right now...with a full stomach. :)
See the empty bowl? He will be so mad that I'm posting a picture of him sleeping. He's a cutie though.
Instead of eating noodles, the roasted squash was a healthier version. All I did was poke small slices all around the raw spaghetti squash, put it on a cookie sheet (one with rims), and baked it in an oven preheated to 375 degrees for 80 minutes (turning it over after 40 minutes). Once I flipped it and it had another 40 minutes to go, I made the tomato basil chicken. Here's the recipe I used:
Here's exactly what I did:
1. Put a large skillet on the stove with the cooking spray and olive oil on the counter next to the stove.
2. Got out my large cutting board with the lip on it (to collect juices and keep them from running onto the counter), a knife, the spices, the garlic cloves (I have some in the freezer that I bought from Costco), the cherry tomatoes, the chicken breasts (I buy these at Costco too - they are in packs of two chicken breasts. I put the packs into Ziploc Freezer Bags and freeze them. I put the one pack in the fridge yesterday so it would thaw out for today's recipe), and two small glass bowls to hold the halved tomatoes once they were cut up and the minced garlic.
3. I first washed off the cherry tomatoes (I only had to throw out a few of them) and cut each one in half and put in a glass bowl off to the side.
4. I then took only 4 cloves of garlic, minced them, and put them in the small glass bowl to the side. My recipe called for 8 cloves of garlic yesterday and it was way too garlicy for my taste.
5. I then seasoned the chicken breasts with the salt, pepper, dried oregano, and dried basil on the cutting board. After they were seasoned, I cut them into cubes and sprinkled a little more seasoning on them.
6. I heated up the skillet sprayed with cooking spray and threw the chicken in there. I had to keep adding cooking spray because the chicken wanted to stick to the pan, and it seemed to be burning a little bit. I ended up turning the heat to medium heat instead of high and turned the chicken quite a bit in the pan to keep it from burning. It cooked pretty quickly.
7. I then took the chicken out and put it into a ceramic bowl off to the side, put some olive oil in the skillet (enough to cover the entire bottom of the skillet), and put the garlic in the skillet (stirring it a lot to keep it from burning). I turned the heat down to medium.
8. I then threw in the tomatoes and stirred them with the olive oil and garlic. I turned the heat down a little more. I put the chicken back in after only a few minutes and stirred it all up and turned the heat down to low as I waited for the squash to be done.
The squash was done within a few minutes of me completing the last step of the tomato basil chicken. I took it out of the oven, sliced it in half, took out the seeds, and then used a fork to scrape out the spaghetti squash into pasta dishes. I then put the tomato basil chicken on top and stirred it all together in the individual pasta dishes. YUMMY!!
I should have taken my own pictures, but we ate it all up. :) I didn't have any fresh basil, but it was all good (not needed). I will definitely be making this again sometime soon. I did not know that it would take so long to cook the squash though, so I'll have to make the squash ahead of time the next time I make this recipe.
I washed dishes as I was cooking so all I need to wash is the skillet and cookie sheet. :) The pasta dishes will go into the dishwasher.
I'm pretty proud of myself. See, I'm not known as being a very good chef. My husband has been the good cook in the house. He has been pretty spoiled the past couple of days though. In fact, he is sleeping right now...with a full stomach. :)
See the empty bowl? He will be so mad that I'm posting a picture of him sleeping. He's a cutie though.
