Some Yummy HEALTHY recipes for 2011

2011 is here! Guess what my New Year's resolution is!...

WRONG! It's not to diet and lose a bunch of weight. It's to be more AWARE.

I want to enjoy the world around me entirely. I want to be more conscious of what I am putting into my body. I want to see, touch, hear, smell and taste the world around me and experience all that it has to offer. The end result: good health, happiness and a gazillion new experiences that I can share with others.

So my journey towards enlightenment begins.

I ate more consciously yesterday and chose healthy options. For dinner we cooked a beautiful pecan crusted chicken breast, broccoli and baked brown rice. Here are the recipes for the chicken and the rice as they were BOTH delicious!

Pecan Crusted Chicken for 4

2 boneless/skinless chicken breasts

1 egg

3 tbsp milk

1 1/2 c (approx) of pecans (halves or pieces)

1/2 c (approx) bread crumbs

1 tbsp of sweetened coconut

2 tsp ground cinnamon

pinch of salt and pepper to taste

4 tbsp (approx) olive oil

Preheat oven to 375.

Take the chicken breasts and cut them in half so that you are left with 4 thinner chicken breast portions. Tenderize using a meat tenderizer (or a rolling pin as I did).

In a shallow dish, beat egg and milk together thoroughly.

Using a magic bullet or blender grind together pecans, bread crumbs, coconut, cinnamon, salt and pepper.

In a second shallow dish place pecan mixture.

Dip chicken portions in egg then pecan mixture coating evenly. Be sure to shake the dish after each portion is coated to ensure even coating for other pieces.

Place chicken on a shallow baking pan and bake for 10 - 15 mins.

Heat olive oil in a large frying pan. Take chicken portions from the over and place in frying pan until cooked thoroughly and browned on both sides.

So YUMMY!

Baked Brown Rice

2 tbsp olive oil

1 diced onion

1 cup of chicken broth

1 1/2 cups of water

2 1/2 cups of Uncle Ben's 10-minute Brown Rice

Salt & pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 350.

Heat olive oil in a large pan. Add onion and salt and pepper to pan. Toss onions until nicely browned.

Add broth and water to pan and bring to a boil.

In a large casserole dish mix onion/water mixture and rice. Cover and bake for approximately 30 mins. When all liquid appears to be absorbed and rice can be fluffed with a fork it's ready.

* We added roasted red peppers to this last night... MMmmmmm! Tonight we will likely add sun dried tomatoes and olives.