Almond Coriander Baked Chicken

In my journey to find a more balanced lifestyle (and I want to emphasize balance. I’m not dieting), I thought about using the large amount of chicken broth currently in my freezer. After marinating on it for awhile (pun intended), I decided on using it to bake a basting liquid to cook chicken in. I then turned that liquid into a sauce. The outcome was pretty amazing. Granted I’m a sucker for bone-in chicken.. and wine. The coriander adds really nice floral notes, and the almonds add a great nuttiness.

It’s so easy to make, and really doesn’t dirty too many dishes in the process.

What you’ll need:

• Skin on, bone in chicken. (You can use a whole chicken broken down, or what I did, which was two large breasts and a pack of thighs)
• 1 1/2 cups chicken broth
• 1/2 cup white wine
• 2 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1/8 cup sliced almonds
• olive oil
• salt
• pepper
• coriander
• paprika
• flour

(all of the spices will be dashes, or to taste. I feel like the best way to cook is just to taste as you go… which may be why I’m not a great baker haha)

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Take the pieces of chicken. Season both sides with salt, pepper, coriander and paprika. Coat a pan with olive oil, and put on medium-high heat. Place the pieces of chicken skin side down in the hot oil. Brown on both sides and remove from the pan.

When the pan cools a little, add the white wine, garlic and almonds. Simmer until the wine reduces some and thickens (it can still be fairly loose). Stirring occasionally. Then add the chicken broth. Once again allow the liquid to reduce. Stirring occasionally. There’s no thickening agent so it won’t become super thick, but when it reduces some and thickens a little take off the heat.

Put the chicken in an oven safe dish, and pour the chicken broth mixture on top of the chicken. Cover with aluminum foil and bake for 25-35 minutes (the thighs take closer to 25 but the breasts take as long as 35. Just keep an eye on it). After about 20 minutes, take off the aluminum foil and allow it to finish uncovered.

When the chicken is finished, take the liquid at the bottom of the pan and put it back into a pot on the stove, and put on medium heat. Whisk in a few pinches of flour until it thickens into a sauce consistency. (**note: you have two options here. Either put a little bit of the broth with the flour beforehand and make a paste before mixing it into the rest of the broth mixture, OR be very very careful and gently sprinkle the flour into the broth while it’s heated on the stove. If you put too much in at once, the flour will clump up and not mix in evenly.**)

Once you get the sauce the correct consistency, drizzle it over the chicken and serve. It’s a really delicious and satisfying dish. Great protein. If you pair with a vegetable then it’s a complete meal!

Two Pumpkin Muffin Recipes

I am one of those people who are a little obsessed with pumpkin during fall… (yes, I’ve already had a pumpkin spice latte this year) so expect a few pumpkin recipes. I love baked goods with pumpkin, but if you’ve ever tried to grab a pumpkin scone from Starbucks… you know it is insanely high in calories. So I made two pumpkin muffin recipes. They have the same base recipe but each have their own twist.

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For chocolate lovers I made Low-Calorie Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Muffins.

They’re only 110 calories per muffin (granted they are on the smaller side) and satisfy a great chocolate craving.

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The second is Low-Calorie Honey Almond Pumpkin Muffins.

These are only 85 calories each, and i love the drizzle of honey on the top.

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Really I recommend make your own twist too! Use the basic recipe for the pumpkin muffin, and mix in whatever you’d like!

GET READY FOR MORE PUMPKIN RECIPES!!!!!

Low-Calorie Honey Almond Pumpkin Muffins

I’m on a big almond kick right now, and loved the idea of getting a nice crunch in the middle of a muffin. And since it’s fall… let’s make it pumpkin!

They’re only 85 calories a muffin! If you remove the honey and almonds and decide to do a plain pumpkin muffin, it’s only 65 calories each!

*Also check out my recipe for Low-Calorie Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Muffins

Calories: 85 per muffin (makes about 12 muffins *note this muffins are a little small, if you want larger muffins fill up only 9 of the 12 spaces in the muffin tin)

What you’ll need:

• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 1 cup canned pumpkin
• 1 egg
• 1/4 cup unsweetened apple sauce
• 4 tbsps brown sugar
• 1 1/4 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 cup sliced almonds
• 1/2 tsp raw honey

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

In one bowl, combine the pumpkin, sugar, egg, vanilla extract, honey and apple sauce. blend together. In a separate bowl add the salt, nutmeg, cinnamon, baking soda, baking powder and whole wheat flour. Add the wet and dry ingredients together. DO NOT OVER MIX. Over mixing will make these too dense. Fold in the sliced almonds. Evenly distribute the batter in the muffin tray. (you don’t have to, but I used cupcake wrappers. If you don’t, just make sure you grease the pan.) Bake for about 18-20 minutes, or until you can poke a toothpick into the muffin, and have it come out clean. Drizzle the top of the muffins with honey.

Enjoy the guilt-free muffins!

Three Recipes For Overnight Oats

Apparently overnight oats are the newest craze. And for pretty good reason. They’re easy, you can make them the night before, they can be healthy and they’re easy to customize. My cousin turned me on to them and suggested I come up with a few recipes. So here we go. I thought it would be annoying to do three different recipe postings… so I put them all here. The flavors are:

Blueberry Crumble Overnight Oats

Vanilla & Roasted Almond Overnight Oats

Bananas Foster Overnight Oats

Scroll down to see each recipe.

My recipes use a 1:1 ratio of milk to oats. This makes a really thick oatmeal. If you prefer a thinner consistency then use 1/4 cup of milk for every 1/2 cup of oats. Some people also like to add chia or other nuts and seeds to the mix. Customize however you’d like. I used rolled oats. You can also use old fashioned or steel cut… just don’t use quick-cooking oats. They’ll get too mushy.

The oats are meant to be eaten cold, but if you love your hot oatmeal, you can easily heat them up for a great hot breakfast.

BLUEBERRY CRUMBLE OVERNIGHT OATS

What you’ll need:

1/2 cup rolled oats

1/2 cup unsweetened vanilla coconut or almond milk

1/2 cup frozen or fresh blueberries

1 cup fat free vanilla greek yogurt

A few dashes of cinnamon

1/2 cup granola

Put all the ingredients except the granola in a bowl or mason jar and mix well together. Put in the fridge for 4-6 hours.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. spread out the granola on a baking sheet and toast for a few minutes. Watch very closely. It can burn very easily. Just slightly brown the granola. (You can also skip this step and just toss the granola on top if you don’t really care.

Take the oats and top with the granola and fresh blueberries. I also suggest drizzling some honey or maple syrup on top if you want to add a bit of extra sweetness!

Vanilla & Roasted Almond Overnight Oats

What you’ll need:

1/2 cup rolled oats

1/2 cup unsweetened vanilla coconut or almond milk

1 cup fat free vanilla greek yogurt

1/2 cup sliced almonds

1 vanilla bean (optional)

a couple dashes of cinnamon

Set the oven to 350. Spread the almonds on a baking sheet and put in the oven. Watch closely, moving the almonds around every few minutes. They will cook VERY quickly. As soon as they brown slightly take them out. They burn so easily… but the taste is worth the hassle.

Put the oats, yogurt, milk cinnamon and 1/4 cup of the oats in a jar or bowl. If you have a vanilla bean, scrape out the insides and add to the oat mixture (it adds a really nice fresh vanilla flavor… you can also use a drop of extract but just keep in mind it wont taste as fresh, and its very easy to go overboard).

Mix well, cover and refrigerate for 4-6 hours. Top with more of the toasted almonds (or raw if you prefer) and a drizzle of maple syrup if you want any added sweetness. I also added some cinnamon. Without any added sugar or syrup this is the least sweet of the three recipes.

bananas foster overnight oats

What you’ll need:

1/2 cup rolled oats

1/2 cup unsweetened coconut or almond milk

1 cup plain fat free greek yogurt

1 1/2 tbsp maple syrup

1 banana

1 tbsp brown sugar

(optional granola and /or almonds for topping)

Heat 1 tbsp maple syrup in a pan with one tbsp of water. Slice the banana. Add half of the banana and brown sugar until bananas become soft and covered in the sugary mixture. This won’t take long. Remove from heat.

Add the oats, the banana mixture, the yogurt, milk and remaining 1/2 tbsp of maple syrup to a jar or bowl. Mix well and refrigerate. Top with the rest of the banana. Top with whatever else you’d like. I suggest granola and almonds with the banana for an added crunch.