Food Thursday: cooking light for the family

Everywhere I look these days I hear from friends who are doing weight watchers or are on diets of one sort or another. I am not a big believer in diets or counting calories but I do understand an overall desire to eat healthier. About six years ago I made a big shift in my cooking to focus more on lean meats, lots of veggies and whole grains. That’s not to say that I don’t occasionally bust out the recipe loaded with cream and butter – but the key there is occasionally. I believe there are no such things as bad foods – just bad amounts of some foods. Any diet that excludes a food group or forbids a certain kind of food is not a diet that I’m interested in.

I’d much rather look at smaller portions when I need to shed a few extra pounds and focus on healthy cooking all the time. This helps quite a bit when cooking for a family. Lots of people who are on a restricted diet have to cook separate meals – one for them and one for the rest of the family. But if you cook healthy food for everyone, and watch your portions, then everyone gets a benefit. And who knows, we might just raise a generation of more conscious, healthy eaters too. Today’s recipe is one that I serve my family. It comes out to less than 500 calories per serving. And my nine year old, ultra-picky daughter proclaims it to be “amazing.”

Maple-Glazed Chicken with Roasted Vegetables

props to the Weight Watchers Make It In Minutes Cookbook for the basic chicken recipe.

First we start with the veggies because they take a little longer.

Roasted Red Potatoes & Asparagus

—4 servings, 225 calories each

• 1.5 lbs of small red skinned potatoes, cut into wedges
• 1 lb of asparagus, cut into inch long pieces (don’t like asparagus? green beans work nicely)
• 1 TB olive oil
• 1 tsp minced garlic
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp black pepper
• 1/2 tsp rosemary
• 1. Preheat oven to 400. While oven is heating, chop your vegetables and put them in a big bowl. Toss them with the olive oil, garlic and seasonings. Spray a 9×13 baking dish with no stick spray and put the veggies in it.
• 2. Put them in the lower rack of the oven and bake for 45 minutes until potatoes are soft.
• As soon as you put the veggies in the oven, get started on the chicken.
• Maple-Glazed Chicken
• —4 servings, 249 calories each (5 points)
• 1 tsp paprika
• 1 tsp chili powder
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp cumin
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp black pepper
• 4 boneless chicken breasts
• 2 TB maple syrup
• 1 TB butter
• 1 TB Dijon mustard

1. Coat a baking sheet with non-stick spray.

2. Combine the paprika, chili powder, cumin, cinnamon, salt & pepper in a bowl. Rub the mixture over the chicken breasts and place them on the baking sheet. When you have 30 minutes left on the veggies, put the chicken on the top rack of the oven.

3. Combine the maple syrup, butter & mustard in a small sauce pan over low heat. Cook & stir until butter melts and mixture is well-combined.

4. After chicken has baked for 20 minutes, brush it with the maple glaze. Bake for 5 minutes and glaze again. Bake for another 5 minutes or until done.

The veggies & chicken will come out of the oven at the same time (even if your chicken needs a little extra time, the veggies can probably handle it).

Note for picky eaters: my girls don’t like anything remotely spicy. I leave the spice rub off their chicken and just use the glaze. They love it.