Curry Chicken with Hummus and Caramelized Onions and Peppers

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New Year's day! A day of new beginnings, resolutions, and hope for real change.  If you are like many of us, part of your goals for this year include losing weight.  But if we are honest, we still want to have our cake and eat it too--meaning we want to eat healthy without feeling like we are depriving ourselves of the joy that comes from eating GOOD FOOD!  Here's a New Year's Day menu that will keep you on track and still give you something to snack on during the big game!

Featured Meal:
Curry Chicken w/ Hummus and Caramelized Onions and Peppers

We operate on a pretty tight budget, so eating out has become a luxury---especially since having kids.  This meal is an adaptation from one of our favorite restaurants and it makes me feel like we're eating something special even when we don't leave the house.  As a bonus--it is pretty inexpensive to make, quick to cook, and makes for great snacking that doubles as a meal.

For the Hummus:
I like this recipe for hummus because it is made with commonplace ingredients.  Tahini is still hard to come by in Kansas!  Ready in under 5 minutes--you will never buy hummus from the store again.

Recipe:

• 1 can Garbanzo Beans, drained and rinsed
• 1/4 cup Olive Oil  Save $1.00
• 3 tbsp Lite Sour Cream
• 3 tbsp Lemon Juice
• 1 tsp Ground Cumin
• 1 Garlic Clove
• 1/2 tsp Salt

Directions:

Drain and rinse garbanzo beans.  Simply dump all ingredients into a food processor.  Blend until smooth and creamy--2-3 minutes.  Blending is key...I just keep blending until I like the texture.  

For the chicken and vegetables:

Ingredients

• 2 tbsp Olive Oil, divided
• 12 oz Chicken Breast
• 1/2 tsp Salt, divided
• • 1/2 tbsp Curry Powder
  • 1 tsp Ground Cumin
  • 1/2 tsp Ground Coriander
• 1 cup Red Bell Peppers
• 1 cup Orange or Yellow Bell Pepper
• 1 medium Onion, Sweet

Directions

1.Cut chicken into small pieces and cover with spices, reserving 1/4 teaspoon salt.

2. Chop onions and peppers into thin slices. 

3. Heat 1 tablespoon oil in non-stick skillet. Cook onions and peppers with remaining salt until brown and carmelized (20 minutes over medium heat).  Remove from pan. 

4.Heat remaining oil and cook chicken until heated through and no longer pink. 

While the onions and peppers are cooking, I throw pita rounds into the oven at 400 degrees.  I literally just put them on the rack.  I cook them until they are slightly toasty, but still soft.  when they come out of the oven I cut them into triangle wedges and split them apart.  If you have more time, you can cut the pitas into wedges before cooking them and place them on a baking sheet.   This will result in a crisper pita more like a cracker.  

As I mentioned before, we eat this meal when we want to feel like we have been to our favorite restaurant so I plate it up like we are at a party.  I also add some carrots to try to trick my family into eating some raw veggies with the meal.  We plan to eat this in front of the television during the game--we rarely eat in front of the television so this makes it seem like an even bigger treat!

As promised, here is a 1600 calorie meal plan for the entire day, including the meal above:

Breakfast- 362 Calories

2 Banana Nut Muffins
1/2 cup Plain Yogurt sweetened with Stevia and Cinnamon

Snack- 121 Calories
banana

Lunch- 490 Calories
Hummus and Toasted Pita
with Curry Chicken and Caramelized Onions and Peppers
Raw Carrots

Snack- 160 Calories
2 Clementine Oranges

Dinner- 429 Calories
1 bowl Tortilla Soup* with Avocado Slices (1/2 of medium avocado)
2 cups Side Salad with Chili-Lime Dressing

*I always make extra soup and freeze it or eat if for a meal the next day.

Total- 1564 Calories