Add Chicken to Spinach-Artichoke Dip for a Snacktastic Meal

There are certain meals during the week where I seem to be drawn to junk food or at least a meal that tastes more like a snack.  I feel pretty happy about eating when I can dip something-- like pita bread in hot spinach and artichoke dip.  So, I look for ways to include vegetables and fiber into my snacking by regularly planning meals that are fun and snack-like---I like to call them Snacktastic Meals!

I would personally be satisfied with this Spinach and Artichoke dip without the chicken, but my husband would think it was a snack---not a meal.  So I throw in a little chicken to appease the carnivores and everyone's happy!

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Recipe for Spinach, Artichoke, and Chicken Dip:

Ingredients
1/2 cup Lowfat Plain Yogurt
1/2 cup Light Mayonnaise
2/3 cup Parmesan Cheese
1/3 cup Low-moisture Part-skim Mozzarella
9 oz Spinach, Frozen, Chopped
3/4 cup Artichoke Hearts Quartered
6 oz Chicken Breast
2 Garlic Cloves
4 Green Onions

Directions
Boil chicken in lightly salted water until no longer pink. Remove from water and shred (I let it cool a little while first).
Cook spinach according to package directions and squeeze in a kitchen towel to drain (again, this is easier if you let it cool a little bit).
Shred Parmesan and Mozzarella cheeses and mix with Yogurt and Light Mayonnaise. Finely chop green onions and garlic (I generally use a press) and add to cheese mixture.
Drain Artichoke hearts and roughly chop. You can use the entire can if you wish. I usually reserve a few for another meal.
Stir all ingredients together and transfer to an ungreased baking dish. Bake at 350 degrees for around 20 minutes or until bubbly and starting to brown on top.

We make this a meal by serving it with homemade pita chips or toasted bread, and fresh vegetables.

Making homemade pita chips from pita bread is a no-brainer!  I don't even salt them.  I just cut a pita round into eight pieces and then split them in half.  I bake them at 400 degrees for about 10 minutes.  Watch pretty close so they don't burn.  

1 serving of Spinach, Artichoke, and Chicken dip = 1/4 of entire recipe with 1 pita round (16 chips); 455 calories.

Enjoy this recipe for Spinach, Artichoke, and Chicken Dip as part of a 1600 Calorie Meal Plan by making the following choices:

Breakfast-414 Calories

2 Cranberry-Raisin Breakfast Cookies

Banana

Skim Milk

Snack- 142 Calories

Wasa Multigrain Crisp

Cream Cheese

1/2 cup grapes

Lunch- 341 Calories

Shepherd's Pie

Snack- 160 Calories

10 Raw Almonds

1 Tbsp Dark Chocolate Chips

Dinner- 467 Calories

Spinach, Artichoke, and Chicken Dip

Pita Chips

Tomato Slices (I broiled mine)

Total Calories = 1524

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Ever Since McDonald's Started Serving Oatmeal Loaded with Goodies...

You may have seen McDonald's new breakfast option--jazzed up oatmeal, loaded with apples, raisins, and golden raisins.  I have to laugh at myself when I think of the influence this oatmeal marketing has had on my breakfast routine.  We have TOTALLY ripped off McDonald's Oatmeal idea and we make it at home a lot--we rarely ate oatmeal before McDonald's put it on their menu.  In fact, I have yet to try their version since we rarely eat breakfast away from home, but Kitchy Mama's version, which I like to call Loaded Oatmeal, is here to stay!

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Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups Water
1 1/2 cups Old-fashioned Oats
1 cup Skim Milk
1/8 tsp Salt
1 cup Apples, chopped
1/4 cup Raisins
1/4 cup Craisins
1/4 cup Chopped Pecans
2 tbsp Brown Sugar

Bring water and milk to a boil. Add oats and salt. cook uncovered for about five minutes or until liquid is absorbed and oats have softened.  If you prefer, you can make this with all water instead of part milk, but my son resists drinking milk so I sneak it in wherever I can.

Stir in the brown sugar.  If you like it even sweeter, consider trying Truvia or another Stevia sweetener.  I like to combine this calorie free sweetener with the brown sugar.

We lay out the toppings so everyone can top their own.  Choose from chopped apple, pecans, raisins, Craisins and my son's favorite mini chocolate chips.  

Makes 3 servings

Enjoy Loaded Oatmeal as part of the following Kitchy Mama 1600 Calorie Meal Plan:

• Cheap Meals: Have You Tried Mjeddrah Yet?

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Thai Chicken Pizza, an inspired choice!

A pizza crust is a blank canvas with plenty of possibilities and I like to sneak veggies onto my blank pizza canvas.  Thai Chicken Pizza is one of my husband's top meal requests---even with shredded carrots in plain sight!

The use of a commercial peanut sauce makes this a very easy and non-intimidating meal.  Someday, I'd like to create my own peanut sauce from scratch as the sodium level in most prepared sauces is higher than necessary, but the concoctions I've created haven't tasted nearly as good as House of Tsang's.  I did find this recipe for spicy peanut sauce over at anoregoncottage.com if you would like to try making it yourself.  

This recipe for whole grain pizza dough makes enough for two pizzas.  We only eat one pizza in our house, leaving enough dough for a quick follow up meal.  I either pre-bake the plain crust and freeze it, or if I am feeling extra ambitious, I make calzones or mini pizzas for lunch later in the week or just to keep in the freezer.

Recipe for Whole Grain Pizza Dough:

1 1/2 tsp Raw Honey

1 1/4 cups Warm Water

1 tbsp Active Dry Yeast

1/4 cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil

1 tsp Salt

1 1/2 cups All-purpose Flour

2 1/2 cups Whole Grain Flour (Mixture of Whole Wheat flour, Oat flour, and Brown Rice Flour)

Directions:

Dissolve yeast in water.  Add salt, oil, and honey and let sit for about 5 minutes for yeast to dissolve.  Add flours and knead until smooth, adding a little flour if too sticky.  

Spray large bowl with non-stick cooking spray.  Put dough into bowl and roll in oil.  Cover and let rise until dough doubles in size (about 2 hours).  I put mine in the oven (turned off) to keep it out of drafts.

I like to pre-bake the crust at 400 degrees for 10-12 minutes before piling on the toppings.

I have worked on the ratios of whole grain flour to all purpose flour and find that if I add any more whole grain flour than what I have posted, the pizza gets pretty dry.  You may choose to simply substitute whole wheat flour for the whole grain flour in the same ratio.

Now to paint that blank pizza canvas!  For Thai Chicken Pizza, I start with about 1/2 cup House of Tsang Bangkok Peanut Sauce.  It is a bit spicy, but my kids tolerate it in this amount and the dough absorbs some of the heat.

My favorite toppings for this pizza are

Green onions

Shredded Carrots

Red Bell Pepper

Cilantro

You may also try fresh mushrooms.  I tried bean sprouts once, but it was too weird for my taste.

Pizza is a great dish to cut down on meat consumption as well, I easily satisfy a family of four's desire for meat with just 4-6 oz of cooked chicken.  I season the chicken with garlic powder and onion powder as I cook it.  

I top off this pizza masterpiece with part skim mozzarella which doesn't melt as well as the full fat stuff, but allows me to eat three pieces instead of two.  I have found that both the crust and the cheese are much tastier if the pizza isn't overcooked, so watch closely the last few minutes of baking so you can take the pizza out of the oven at the prime moment just when the cheese starts to brown, usually about 12 minutes at 400 degrees in my oven.

I cut the pizza into 12 slices.  I used to do eight, but I find that my brain is more satisfied after three small pieces than after two large pieces.  

Traditionally Americans drink soda with their pizza.  I think there is something about pizza's savory taste that goes well with contrasting sweetness.  Pizza and pop was a hard habit for me to break, but now I drink water and enjoy fresh fruit as my sweet side.  Grapes or oranges are my favorite with pizza.  No empty calories for this pizza lover!

Even with my healthy substitutions, this dinner comes in higher than most of Kitchy Mama's Meals, but with the following meal plan, you can enjoy Thai Chicken Pizza on a 1600 Calorie Diet.

Breakfast- 369 Calories

Cinnamon Apples

1 cup Yogurt

2 Tbsp Pecans

Snack- 130 Calories

1/3 cup Banana Chips

Lunch- 414 Calories

Veggie Gyros (1 1/2 sandwiches!)

1 cup Red Grapes

Snack- 117 Calories

13 Almonds

Dinner- 587 Calories

3 slices Thai Chicken Pizza

Clementine Orange

Total Calories = 1614

Behind the scenes at Kitchy Mama Meals, I am working to improve navigation by including a meal plan index and recipe index of all the meal plans and recipes posted on Kitchy Mama Meals.  I am also working on full week meal plans with printable grocery lists and more.  I'd love to hear your meal planning tips, so I can include your strategies in my meal plans!  

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Restaurant Quality Stuffed Chicken Dinner just 500 Calories

Having a meal plan saved our dinner tonight!  I've been working on improving my photography skills for this blog and became engrossed in reading a photography book and playing with my camera and before I knew it, it was not only time to start dinner, but time for dinner to be on the table!  With church activities in a little over an hour I was SO happy to have a plan!

Feta, sun-dried tomatoes, and fresh spinach stuffed inside Chicken breasts may seem like a complicated meal, but this dinner was on the table in a little over 30 minutes.  The prep time was minimal and the result was "restaurant quality" according to my husband.  Served with a side of sauteed spinach and orzo, this meal was filling, but less than 500 calories per serving.

Recipe for Spinach, Feta, and Sun-Dried Tomato Stuffed Chicken Breasts:

Ingredients:
1 lb Chicken Breast
1/3 cup Reduced Fat Feta
1 cup Spinach
6 pieces Sun-dried Tomatoes
1/3 tsp Coarse Kosher Salt
1/2 tsp Ground Black Pepper
1 tsp Garlic Powder
1/2 tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Directions:

• Split chicken breasts lengthwise with knife about 3/4 of the way through. Use scissors to chop sun-dried tomatoes and spinach into bits. mix with feta cheese. Stuff chicken breasts with mixture and place in baking dish sprayed with non-stick cooking spray.
• Mix salt and pepper with garlic powder and sprinkle over chicken. Drizzle with olive oil. Bake at 375 for 25-30 minutes or until chicken is cooked through.
• My chicken breasts were large so I only used two for four servings. I cut the chicken in half after baking it so the filling wouldn't fall out as easily.

Recipe for Sauteed Spinach and Orzo:

Ingredients:
1 cup Orzo, Dry
1 tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1/2 cup Onions
3 cloves Garlic Clove
1 tbsp Mrs.Dash Garlic & Herb Seasoning
1/2 tsp Black Pepper
1/4 tsp Kosher Salt
4 cups Spinach

Directions:

• Cook orzo according to package directions and drain.
• Meanwhile, heat olive oil over medium heat in non-stick skillet. saute finely chopped onions and minced garlic in oil until tender. add Mrs. Dash, salt, and pepper
• Wash spinach and drain, leaving leaves slightly wet. add to oil and cook 2-3 minutes until wilted. 
• Stir in orzo and serve.

I have a 1600 calorie meal plan to go with this great dinner that includes one of my guilty pleasures....chocolate cake donuts with icing.  I know they aren't healthy, but I love them and I keep finding them in the reduced bake items at the store.  So I thought I better figure out a way to fit them into an otherwise fairly healthy diet or give them up.  Here's what I came up with.

Breakfast- 482 Calories

1 Chocolate Cake Donut

1/2 banana, sliced

1 cup peanut butter and yogurt

Snack- 192 Calories

Pear

4 Cracked Black Pepper and Olive Oil Triscuits

Lunch- 348 Calories

Strawberry Pecan Spinach Salad

Lemon Poppyseed Salad

Pita Bread

Snack- 120 Calories

Fat Free Refried Beans and a Corn Tortilla

Dinner- 395 Calories

Spinach, Feta, and Sun-Dried Tomato Stuffed Chicken Breasts

Sauteed Spinach and Orzo

Total Calories = 1537

So, I made my confession about chocolate cake donuts.  How do you fit splurges into your diet?

Love to hear your comments!

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