Slow Cooker Chicken Parmesan

Monday Night Adventures

Chicken parmesan used to be a favorite supper at our house once upon a time.  I was looking for something different to make in my new slow cooker, and decided to see if this recipe from Mom on Timeout could be tweaked to be on-plan for a Medifast Lean and Green meal.  The resulting dish definitely lacks the crispiness of the breaded chicken in traditional chicken parmesan, but is tasty and easy to prepare. 

The original recipe calls for spaghetti sauce from a jar, but most have added sugar and/or too many carbs to work on the 5 and 1 plan.  However, it's simple enough to create your own sauce using canned diced tomatoes.  I don't like chunky sauce, so I blended the tomatoes in the Magic Bullet to make the sauce smoother.  This recipe contains 10 green servings.  To make a complete Lean and Green, you could serve each portion with a serving of shirataki noodles, or you could add 5 total servings of on-plan vegetables of your choice (mushrooms, peppers, for example) to the sauce. 

Note:  do not use dried basil for this recipe.  You can find prechopped fresh basil in tubes in the produce department of the grocery store.

Ingredients

30 oz boneless, skinless chicken breasts (4 leans)
28 oz diced tomatoes (7 greens)
1 1/2 tsp minced garlic (1 1/2 condiments)
1 1/2 tsp onion powder (3 condiments)
1 tsp Italian seasoning (2 condiments)
3 tbsp fresh basil, chopped (3/32 condiment)
1 cup reduced fat mozzarella, shredded (1 lean)
1/2 cup shredded parmesan (8 condiments)
3 cups fresh spinach, chopped (3 greens)

Instructions

Combine tomatoes, garlic, onion powder, Italian seasoning and spinach in slow cooker.  Cut chicken breasts into strips or chunks and brown in nonstick skillet.  Add chicken to slow cooker, making sure all pieces are covered by the sauce.  Cook on low 5 hours, until chicken is done.  Stir in fresh basil.

The original recipe says to top chicken and sauce mixture with parmesan and mozzarella and cook in the slow cooker with the lid off until cheese is melted.  I was in a hurry to get dinner on the table, so I put the chicken and sauce mixture into a casserole dish, topped it with parmesan first, then mozzarella, and broiled it until cheese was melted and browned.

5 servings
Per serving, 1 lean, 2 greens,  3 condiments
306 calories, 9.1 grams fat, 402 mg sodium, 8.5 grams carbohydrates, 2.4 grams fiber, 54.0 grams protein
Nutrition values may vary a bit depending on which brands of chicken and reduced fat mozzarella cheese you use.  Since this recipe has less than 10 grams of fat with my ingredients, I could use a tsp of olive oil to brown the chicken for a healthy fat.  I used Goldn Plump All Natural chicken, which has most of the fat trimmed off.  Other brands of chicken have more fat.  Calculate the recipe's nutrition values with the brands that you are using; you may find that you do not need a healthy fat.

Red Hot Buffalo Chicken Dip

Saturday Night Adventures

I used to have a go-to recipe for a Medifast-friendly buffalo chicken dip  that I would make to take to parties, so I would be sure to have something I could eat that was on plan (or so I thought).  I made a double batch of it one day because we were scheduled to host small group at our house.  However, a blizzard hit and the meeting was cancelled.  I figured, no problem, I've got my lean and green meal prepared for the next few days then.

And then the scale stopped moving.  I'm not as consistent about logging my meals as I should be, but it's one of the first things I do when I hit a plateau.  Frequently, I find that something I've eaten has taken me out of the optimal fat burning zone of 800-850 calories and 80-85 carbs.  When I calculated the nutrition values for the original recipe, I found it had 413 calories and 19.6 grams of fat, not counting calories from any veggies added to the meal.  To be on plan, your entire lean and green meal, protein and vegetables, should be no more than 400 calories.  Eating this put me at the top end of the allowed calories and fat for the entire day on the 5 and 1 plan, and far away from the optimal fat burning zone.  No way!  Not this mama.

So it was recipe makeover time.  It was surprisingly easy, much easier than I thought it would be.  I substituted fat-free cheddar for the reduced fat cheddar, and used a tablespoon of 1% milkfat cottage cheese in place of the cream cheese.  I also cooked the chicken in the crockpot in broth, so it stayed hydrated and didn't shrink from its raw weight.  By changing two ingredients, and the way I cooked the chicken, I was able to eliminate 135 calories and over 10 grams of fat.  Same delicious taste, just like hot wings.

Ingredients

18 oz boneless skinless chicken breast (3 lean)
1 cup fat-free chicken broth (1 condiment)
1 cup fat-free cheddar cheese, shredded (1 lean)
1/2 cup buffalo wing sauce (I used Frank's Hot Buffalo) (4 condiments)
1/2 cup Hidden Valley Ranch Light or light blue cheese dressing (4 healthy fats)
1/4 cup 1% milkfat cottage cheese, blended (1/6 lean)

Instructions

Cook chicken in broth in slow cooker on high for 4 hours.  Depending on your slow cooker, you may need to turn it to low after a couple of hours.  Remove chicken from the cooking liquid and shred.  It should be falling apart, so it will shred easily with two forks or you can use the food processor.  Discard cooking liquid.  In a bowl, mix chicken, buffalo wing sauce, dressing and cottage cheese until well combined.  Place in baking dish and top with shredded cheddar.  Bake at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes, until bubbly and cheese is melted.

Makes 4 servings, 1 lean, 1.25 condiments
Nutrition information will vary depending on what brand of salad dressing you use.  I calculated nutrition values using Hidden Valley Ranch Homestyle Light
278 calories, 9.1 grams fat, 1708 mg sodium, 3.8 grams carbohydrates, 37.8 grams protein

Serve with 3 cups of on-plan vegetables for dipping

Slow Cooker Buffalo Chicken

Mother's Day Adventures

I received (at my request) a new slow cooker for Mother's Day.  My TSFL health coach, Carol Roberts, challenged me to make over a buffalo chicken recipe that was too dry.  It was the perfect way to test out my new crock pot.  Because the cooking liquid kept the chicken moist, it did not shrink in weight during cooking.  This would be great on a salad, or in lettuce wraps (photo below). I used two cups of leaf lettuce, which was four leaves by weight, and half a cup of diced celery for added crunch.

This recipe requires the addition of a healthy fat per serving.  I used light blue cheese dressing on my lettuce wraps.  Many buffalo wing recipes include butter to cut the heat of the wing sauce.  You could add 1 tsp of butter or 1 tbsp of light margarine per serving, or a serving of light ranch dressing if you don't care for blue cheese. See the condiment guide for healthy fat options.

Ingredients

18 oz (raw) boneless, skinless chicken breast (3 leans)
1 cup fat free chicken broth (1 condiment)
6 tbsp Frank's RedHot buffalo wing sauce (3 condiments)

Directions

Cook chicken in broth on high in slow cooker for 4 hours.  Depending on your slow cooker, you may need to turn it to low after a couple of hours.  The chicken should be falling apart.  Remove chicken from slow cooker.  Reserve 1/2 cup of the cooking liquid and discard the remainder.  Shred the chicken with two forks, or with the slicing blade of a food processor.  Return chicken to crock pot and add reserved cooking liquid and wing sauce.  Mix well.  If serving right away, cook on low for 1 hour.  Otherwise, wait to heat chicken in sauce until ready to serve.

Serves 3
Per serving, 1 lean, 1 condiment
221 calories, 4.0 grams fat, 1279 mg sodium, 0.3 grams carbohydrate, 37.6 grams protein

Complete lean and green meal:  6 oz chicken (1 lean), 1/2 cup sliced celery (1 green), 2 cups leaf lettuce (2 greens), 2 tbsp light bleu cheese dressing (1 healthy fat)

Assembled lettuce wrap