Meals at home are a quick and fresh tasting option from fast food. Even when there’s little time, there are lots of options for good food in your own kitchen.  Filet chicken pieces are a great choice for quick-fix meals.  Here’s a great example…

I found a recipe for a quick-cooking chicken dish that is broiled in the oven, then covered with sauteed’ vegetables.  Hubby loved this!  He and I are Jack Sprat and his wife – he eats white meat; I like dark meat, so when I do a dish like this, I make a piece for each of us.  I buy boneless thighs at Ingles when I make this recipe.  For a Sunday dinner, cook the chicken on Saturday, then saute’ the veggies when you get home from church.  That way they’ll be crisp and not mushy.  Here’s the recipe:

Broiled Chicken Breasts with Vegetable Saute’

1 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp salt, divided
1/4 tsp black pepper, divided
4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves – or thighs
Cooking spray
1 T olive oil
1 8oz. pkg  mushrooms, sliced
1 small zucchini, sliced
1 cup chopped plum tomato
1/2 cup chopped red onion
1/2 cup chopped fresh basil
4 tsp balsamic vinegar
1/4 Cup grated fresh Parmesan cheese

1.  Preheat broiler
2.  Combine Garlic powder, 1/8 tsp salt, and 1/4 tsp pepper in  a small bowl; sprinkle chicken with garlic mixture.  Place chicken on a broiler pan coated with cooking spray, and broil 6 minutes on each side or until done.  Remove chicken from pan; keep warm.  **Or at this point refrigerate it until you’re making the rest of the meal the next day.
3.  Heat olive oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium high heat.  Add remaining 1/4 tsp salt, mushrooms, zucchini, and minced garlic; saute’ 2 minutes.  Add remaining 1/8 tsp pepper, tomato, onion, basil and vinegar; saute’ 3 minutes.  Serve vegetable mixture over chicken; sprinkle with cheese. 

I made dessert for this meal – Warm Gingerbread.  This recipe brings back childhood memories for me.  My mom used to make gingerbread and serve it with a dollop of Cool Whip on top.  I can still remember the pan she used to bake it in.  This is a great fall or winter dessert, and with less than 300 calories and 6.5 grams of fat, you can’t go wrong!  Here’s my recipe for Gingerbread Cake with Lemon Glaze from Cooking Light.

1/3 cup butter, cut into small pieces
2/3 cup hot water
1 cup light or dark molasses
1 large egg
2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
 Cooking spray
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
6 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 cup frozen reduced-fat whipped topping, thawed
Ground cinnamon (optional)

Preparation

Preheat oven to 350°.

Combine butter and hot water in a large bowl, stirring with a whisk until the butter melts. Add molasses and egg, and stir with a whisk until blended. Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups, and level with a knife. Combine flour, baking soda, ginger, cinnamon, salt, and cloves. Add flour mixture to the molasses mixture, stirring just until moist.

Spoon batter into a 9 x 9-inch cake pan coated with cooking spray. Bake at 350° for 30 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool gingerbread in the pan on a wire rack for 15 minutes.

Combine sugar and lemon juice, stirring until well blended. Pierce top of gingerbread liberally with a wooden skewer. Pour glaze over gingerbread. Cool completely.

Top each serving with the whipped topping. Sprinkle gingerbread with cinnamon and garnish with lemon slices, if desired.

Take the time to cook in your kitchen this week…and why not go for dessert too?  Make some memories!  Tell me, what’s been cooking in your kitchen lately?

From my parsonage kitchen,