A cooking challenge update: I'm not 100% sure
why I chose my first full week at my job as the week to begin this challenge. It failed. Miserably. So, I'm chalking it up to my own poor planing abilities, and starting from scratch this upcoming week! Despite my failure, I did manage to make one pretty delicious meal on the fly earlier this week. I had chicken, goat cheese, and wanted to use both. Did a quick Food Network recipe search (I adore Food Network) and pulled up a recipe for
goat cheese-stuffed chicken breast. It turned out delicious, was easy, and everything was already in my fridge/pantry!
A few "lessons learned" (as always):
- I have issues with cooking chicken. Mine took about double the amount of time to bake - this may be because my chicken breast was thicker? I really don't know.
- I also recommend using a bit more goat cheese, if you're like me and have a love (and hate) relationship with cheese.
Here are my thoughts for this upcoming week, in terms of recipes and foods. I'm in a dire need to create healthier meal choices, and to begin losing weight.
- I'm going to whip up a pasta salad so I can take it for lunch all next week.. but first I'm checking the calorie count!
- I'm considering investing in a crock pot this weekend, and making my own soups/stews/other meals. I kind of want to make chili. Anyone have good crock pot recipes to share?
- Some sort of taco dish? Any thoughts would be awesome!
Also, I'm in dire need of advice.
To the blogosphere: What are the best ways to cook chicken, and how to avoid undercooking it? I'm horrible!
Healthy meal recommendations, anyone? Low-calorie would be great, but still filling!
i don't generally have issues cooking chicken. if they're very thick, you could filet them in half. we've baked and grilled and typically don't have an issue.
ReplyDeleteyou can also chop the chicken up while still raw and saute that way...then you'll know you're cooking it completely and it won't take very long! or you can cut it into strips while raw. chicken is super versatile!
and making things in the crock pot is super easy. chili is the best; i saw find a few recipes online and combine them using the ingredients you like. i like chicken/white bean chili!
i'd like to try a cheese-stuffed chicken breast recipe so maybe this next week. also, look up recipes for "mexican meatloaf." obv use ground turkey instead of beef, but it's an interesting way to make meatloaf! you can also make it in a muffin tin for meatloaf "bites."
Thanks for all of this! I'm going to try baking chicken this week, and see if that makes it easier!
ReplyDeleteAny recommendations for a specific crock pot? And yum, Mexican meatloaf sounds amazing!!