Clean Eating Recipe #5- Chicken Piccata

Hey guys! Sorry for the lack of updates, school has been so hectic for me that I hardly have any time to prepare any recipes for you all. But I've managed to squeeze in a little bit of time this weekend to try this simple and easy Chicken Piccata Recipe.  Trust me, it would be done and ready in no time (15 minutes max). Without further ado, here goes the recipe...

Ingredients (Serves 1)

• 4 chicken fillets
• 4 slices of lemon
• 1/4 cup of lemon juice
• 1/4 cup of white wine
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 2 tbsp. of olive oil
• 2 tsp. of capers

Directions
1. Spread a handful of salt and pepper on one side of each chicken fillet.

2. Heat the pan with medium to high heat with olive oil.  Once it gets hot, put the chicken fillets onto the pan, seasoned side down.

3. Spread a handful of salt and pepper on the unseasoned chicken fillets.

4. Once the chicken fillets turn golden brown, flip them over and cook until golden brown (approximately 2-3 minutes for each side).

5. Pour the lemon juice, white wine and capers into the pan.  Put a slice of lemon onto each fillet.

6. Turn the stove to low heat, cover the pan with lid and let it simmer for 2-3 more minutes.

Ta-da!  So simple and easy right?  Let us know what other chicken recipes are your favourites!

Natalie :)

Choco Mint Ice Cream For Your Sweet Tooth

Still remember the banana ice cream covered with strawberry jam we had last time? The following recipe is just another version of it--the choco mint ice cream, suitable for all choco lovers :)!!! Simple, clean, refreshing and sweet! What are you waiting for? Here are the ingredients:

Ingredients:
1. 1 frozen banana
2. some mint leaves
3. some semi-sweet chocolate
4. a bit of spinach--just one to two leaves will do (to add the green-ness)

Steps:
1. Blend the mint leaves, spinach and frozen banana until it is ice cream consistency
2. add in the semi-chocolate

Only two simple steps could you make yourself a fulfilling and refreshing ice cream!

Oh btw..I went to have all-you-can-eat last time at Mr. Steak and there was a counter where they had all sorts of haagen-daz ice cream, well then of course i went ahead with the banana flavour. After the first spoon, you should see that satisfactory smile on my face! I swear I could make better banana ice cream than that!!!!!!!! Of course!!!! I am using pure frozen bananas to make my banana ice cream, what could be better?????? ENJOY! 

See you guys and I shall come back with simpler and yummier recipes!!!!! Can't wait!!!

Love you guyz

Ada

xoxo

Simple Packed Lunch Idea - Quinoa with Chicken, Cherry Tomatoes, and Pesto

I'm still trying to maintain a balance between the busy school schedule and a healthy diet.  Since school has started a week ago, I realized that eating out may not be a good option if I want to maintain the healthy lifestyle I had during the summer (I tried to do as much home cooking as possible so I can control the ingredients of my meals and cutting out any sort of sugary food and any kind of salt as much as possible, although I still allowed myself 1-2 cheat meal(s) per week.). So whenever I have time, most likely after a workout at night or on weekends, I will try to squeeze in between the time to prepare lunch for the next day.  So here's a delicious and healthy packed lunch recipe that won't leave your stomach feeling empty for your busy daily schedule!

Ingredients (Serve 1)

• 100 ml of quinoa
• 6 cherry tomatoes (add more for your liking)
• 2 chicken fillets
• 1 glove of garlic
• A handful of sundried tomatoes
• 1- 1.5 tbsp. of pesto sauce
• A handful of basil leaves

Directions

1. Cook the quinoa according to the instructions and set aside.  (For directions on how to cook quinoa, click here.)

2. Chop the garlic and dice the cherry tomatoes and chicken fillets.

3. Turn the stove to medium heat and heat the saucepan with olive oil.  Once heated, throw in the garlic until they turn golden brown.  Put in the diced chicken, tomatoes and sundried tomatoes.  Stir-fry everything together until they are cooked.

4.  Turn the stove to low heat and put in the cooked quinoa.  Stir in the pesto sauce and stir-fry for about 1-2 minutes. Once everything is cooked, put a few basil leaves on top for décor or to taste.

5.  It can be served immediately or just put in the fridge as your packed lunch for the next day.

This definitely adds another healthy salad option to your lunch!

Enjoy :)

Natalie

Easy Chicken Bruschetta Recipe

I always intend to go for this chicken bruschetta recipe when I'm starving and not bothered to do any kind of complicated home cooking or  I just want a filling and detoxifying meal. This only takes you in less than 15 minutes to do the cooking.  Besides pairing the sauce with chicken, you can, of course, eat it with any kind of bread that includes baguette, toast, French bread etc..
Without further ado, here goes the recipe!

Ingredients (serve 1)

• 4 chicken fillets
• 8-10 cherry tomatoes
• 1/4 red onion
• A handful of basil leaves
• 1/4 cup of feta cheese
• 1 glove of garlic
• 1 tbsp. of extra virgin olive oil
• 1 tbsp. of balsamic vinegar

Directions
1. Heat the stove in medium heat with some olive oil.  Cook the chicken fillets until they are fully cooked.  Set them aside.

2. Dice the cherry tomatoes, red onion, basil leaves and garlic.  Throw everything together in a bowl and mix them together with the feta cheese, olive oil and balsamic vinegar.

3. Serve the chicken with the sauce.

What more can I say?  This is the SIMPLIEST recipe ever that is going to treat your taste buds!

Natalie :)

Easy No-Cook Rice Paper Rolls

Sometimes a salad just won't cut it for me, but a full carb-heavy meal isn't right either. Today was one of those days, and I was craving a light, fresh but satisfying dinner.
I scrummaged around and found a pack of rice paper sheets that I decided would be the perfect base to my light summery meal.

These are amazingly versatile and taste so fresh you feel like you're eating rainbows!

The magic of these rice paper rolls is that they are easy and convenient because when it comes to the filling -practically anything goes. The traditional vietnamese rice paper rolls are known to have a shrimp-based filling and some vegetables as well. However, I didn't have any shrimp so I had to make do with something else.

All the ingredients you need. Plus the rice paper, of course :P

As long as you balance out the textures within your roll, anything should be fine. I cut up a red pepper, some cucumber and a small portion of smoked tofu (in place of seafood or meat). In case I wasn't satisfied by that, I softened up a packet of vermicelli as well to give the meal a bit more carbohydrate. For the sauce, I initially wanted to use this raspberry-blackberry-basil vinaigrette, but it proved to be a bit too dessert-like. So I dug out some natural peanut butter and improvised a peanut butter sauce for the dish.

The final product! The peanut sauce went much better with the rolls :)

To make the peanut butter sauce:

Mix together:

1 spoon of peanut butter

Several drops of pure toasted sesame oil

A splash of soya sauce

Several drops of fish sauce

The verdict?

Perhaps you'll be as surprised as I was to hear that 3 rolls were actually more than sufficient to fill me up and satisfy my carb cravings. I ended up having four because there were leftover rolls, but in reality could've happily stopped at three. So the verdict is that they are a good all-rounded, low calorie meal that could be easily adaptable to different tastes/allergies/etc. What are you waiting for? Get rolling!

What are your filling recommendations?

Nikki