After spending a holiday-style weekend full of overeating indulgent food, I wanted to eat something really healthy for dinner tonight. I went to do a quick search on FoodNetwork.com, but when I hovered over the "Healthy Eating" tab and saw a link to Ellie Krieger's show, I headed straight there. I briefly browsed the "Most Popular" recipes and selected the Tuscan Roasted Chicken and Vegetables (click for recipe) from the group.
The recipe called for lot of fresh veggies and bone-in, skinless chicken breasts. The grocery store only had boneless and bone-in, skin-on chicken breasts and it isn't exactly the kind of place where the butcher does favors for you, so I just went with the bone-in, skin-on chicken breasts and didn't worry about taking the skins off.
The dish came together very quickly. Except for the fennel bulb, I halved the other ingredients to cook up a portion for two. Just like one of the reviews said (I always read the reviews for tips, suggestions, and recipe corrections), the slowest part was just cutting the veggies up. The fresh roma tomatoes, zucchini, and fennel, paired with the lemon zest and juice, gave the dish a light & fresh flavor. Here's the before…
…and the after. This was the perfect meal for me today. I wanted to cook something that wouldn't require too many groceries since we'll be out of town for Thanksgiving and I don't want to let food go bad. Not to mention, after a long, cold, and rainy day, I wanted something hot and healthy that would be a cinch to cook up and cozy on the tummy.
Ellie's Tuscan style chicken dish did the trick and a small bowl of red cherries made for a nice dessert.
skin off is easy…. just grab the chicken in one hand … get a finger of the other hand under the skin,….. and just rip it off….voila….
I've never actually had fennel…. I probably should give it a try some day…. but, everything else with chicken looks yummy. We had baked salmon fillets tonight… slathered with onions and a few little dollops of garlic butter and sprinkled with sweet basil and freshly ground peppercorns………..