Paleo?
Yes, Paleo. . . meaning healthy... meaning nothing but meat, veggies, and fruit. No flour, no noodles, no 'cream of' anything soup... just good ole stuff from the earth itself.
(for some good references and information if you're curious, visit... Guide to Paleo )
It was a real challenge for me in the kitchen for the first few meals because I felt like all of my tools and everything that I was accustom to using in the kitchen had been stripped away. I loved cooking, but didn't know how to season things without season salt or salt period...
So for the first week or so my lovely man took over the kitchen to prevent an overwhelmed Momma D kitchen crisis breakdown.
He did great, by the way... we had mostly grilled items, but hey, they were all great!
So his little plan of "let's pretend not to know how to cook so Darby will think she needs to cook for poor pitiful boy" fell apart quickly and right into my mouth! YUM!
He cooked salmon, steaks... the whole 9 yards. We even have done Kabobs! Yummy!!
So once we got the hang of it, I finally got some creative juices flowing in my cooking lobe and figured out how to still be able to cook YUMMY food without all the bad stuff in processed foods that we are all so use to cooking with.
So here's my first recipe... there will be many more to come! And lots more info about Paleo in general, but I just *had* to share this today because it was so yummy and sooo very easy!
Cranberry and Spinach Stuffed Chicken
Ingredients:
Whole thawed boneless, skinless chicken breasts
Baby spinach
Dried Cranberries
Balsamic Vinaigrette
Cooking Wine
Italian Seasoning
Carroway
Pepper
Sea Salt
Garlic Powder
Cookware and Supplies needed
*toothpicks or butcher twine
Baking Dish
Meat tenderizer
1)Heat your oven to 375 degrees and grease your pan with either Pam or a little bit of olive oil
2) With your meat tenderizer (or anything you can flatten the chicken with), flatten out the chicken breasts as much as possible. You're going to want a flat, even surface to deal with or else it's going to be very difficult to get these all wrapped up and together
3) Season the chicken--- use your seasonings to your best judgement... I used just a hint of carroway and it gave a mysterious flavor that was lovely in the chicken! So if you know that you like that flavor, carry on... if you have no clue what it is, just try it out at first with a little lit and then proceed with the other seasonings. Remember I don't give you amounts because I know you know your tastebuds better than I do, just make sure the salt is minimal, and you don't get carried away with the garlic powder.
4) STUFFING TIME!
This is where the fun is, place as much- or as little, spinach and cranberries in the middle of the chicken. I could have used two times as much cranberries in my chicken last night, but do it how you like. This is where the flavor comes from, so make sure you put as much as you'd like in there!
When your chicken looks about like the above picture, it's time to put a little bit of the balsamic and white wine in the middle... this way it can soak from the inside and keep all the goodness and juiciness trapped in the middle. I would not go overboard on the balsamic or wine, just because it's a pretty distinct flavor, but, again, you know your taste buds!
5) After everything is nice and pretty, it's time to roll up your chicken boobies and stick them. Hopefully you flattened the chicken out enough to make this part pretty painless for you... all you need to do is roll it up, then with your toothpick, secure it from the front and back. I actually used kabob skewers that were cut in half because they are thicker and easier to find then the sometimes disappearing toothpick. You can also use butcher twine for this... just make sure you tie two ties on it to secure everything, instead of one tie in the middle because when the chicken cooks, it will not stay all pretty and together.
6) Once the chicken is rolled up, simply add some seasoning on the face side, really just a repeat of the seasoning mixture you did on the inside minus the cranberries and spinach! :)
7) Place carefully in your baking dish, put the yumminess in the oven for about 40 minutes on 375 degrees.
* The chicken needs to be oozing white fluids and have a white/tan tint to know it is done and cooked thouroughly. Cooking for 40-45 minutes is ample time to cook through.
8) When its done, remove from oven and enjoy!!!
(( I don't have a finished product picture because we were all so hungry last night and it looked so good we didn't even think about pictures, we just wanted it in our mouths!))
So there ya go, Paleo or not, that's one flavorful and very healthy chicken meal that takes about an hour to have done! Enjoy!
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