Chicken, Dairy-free, Lean & Green Meal Recipes

Chicken with Mung Bean Sprouts

Presenting … The overlooked Mung Bean Sprout!
One full lean and green

mung

Mung bean sprouts have a nice crunchy texture, and are widely available in Asian markets. It’s also super low in carbs!

Featured here is one cup cooked sprouts, with 1/2 c cooked shiitake mushrooms and 6 oz chicken breast (trimmed and thinned simply baked in the oven). I used 2 tbsp Walden Farms Asian dressing, and just a dash of hot pepper sesame oil for fire, and a little less than a tsp of sesame oil for flavor.

They are really tasty! I found my mung bean sprouts in an Asian farmer’s market.

Full lean & green, one healthy fat, one condiment.

**I created these recipes as a compliment to my comprehensive healthy weight loss & maintenance plan. Please contact me at gininthekitchen@gmail.com if you’re interested in health coaching! I’m happy to give you a free Health Assessment and explore whether my program might be right for you.

Dairy-free, Fish, Lean & Green Meal Recipes

Salmon with Asian Eggplant, Mushrooms & Scallions

Asian Eggplant with Mushrooms and Scallions.
Topped with a seared piece of 5 oz salmon cooked perfectly rare.
Full lean & green with 1.5 cups of vegetables. One condiment with Walden Farms.

salmon

I’ve learned that you don’t have to use anything more than Pam to cook the diced eggplant in a non-stick skillet for about 15 minutes to get it nice and soft. The same is true for the salmon.

I read somewhere that Asian eggplant is MUCH sweeter than regular eggplant, and that you don’t have to salt it or anything to make it delicious. Sounded good to me! And delicious it was. I chopped the whole eggplant and made a batch for my family. I also sauteed mushrooms and scallions and added it all together. Since they are ALL 1/2 cup per green, you can mix them all together and measure them out cooked as 1.5 cups for your green serving. I just put the rest of the vegetables out on the table for my family. You can opt to store some for later (hint – add some salsa or stewed tomatoes and it can return the next time as as a delicious Mediterranean salad!)

I recommend adding for flavor Walden Farms Asian dressing – 2 Tbsp per serving – zero calories or carbs. Add it to the end of your cooking time so that it doesn’t evaporate. You can also use 1 tbsp soy sauce for a condiment, or 1 tsp Teriyaki sauce (admittedly that one does not go very far! – I’d reserve to drizzle directly over the salmon).

For additional condiments, I recommend adding minced garlic (1 tsp per condiment) and fresh ginger root (2 tsp per condiment) or dried Chinese ginger (1/2 tsp ground per condiment)

**I created these recipes as a compliment to my comprehensive healthy weight loss & maintenance plan. Please contact me at gininthekitchen@gmail.com if you’re interested in health coaching! I’m happy to give you a free Health Assessment and explore whether my program might be right for you.

Fish, Lean & Green Meal Recipes, Side Dishes

Salmon Over “Fettuccine” Alfredo

Wow. Just wow. Salmon over delicious, creamy fettuccine Alfredo! Just can’t believe that this is low calorie!
Full lean and green.
1.5 condiments
For extra decadence, double the sauce and go crazy for 3 condiments. You know I do:)

alfredo

2 tbsp Walden Farms Alfredo Sauce
1 tbsp low fat cream cheese
6 oz uncooked salmon
One package Shirataki fettuccine noodles (I like the House Foods brand)

Prepare Shirataki noodles by straining, rinsing well, and dry skillet frying in a skillet. This means you don’t spray any Pam in the pan, just sautee them DRY. At this point, you can lower the flame and put in the cream cheese to melt and stir it in. Then add the alfredo sauce (if you cook it too much it will evaporate as it is mostly comprised of water).

OR you can place the sauce and cream cheese in the microwave for 30 seconds, then whisk to blend in cream cheese.
Mix the sauce into the fettuccine and plate.

Salt and pepper to taste.

Sear 5 oz salmon in nonstick skillet. Just use pam. You need nothing else. Salt and pepper to taste.

Add 1/2 cup any vegetable of your choice. I have broccoli here, but mushrooms are also an excellent choice.

Sprinkle with a little Parmesan cheese (optional).

Don’t have the WF Alfredo sauce? Use a little almond milk or plain water to thin the sauce out a bit instead.

**I created these recipes as a compliment to my comprehensive healthy weight loss & maintenance plan. Please contact me at gininthekitchen@gmail.com if you’re interested in health coaching! I’m happy to give you a free Health Assessment and explore whether my program might be right for you.

Chicken, Lean & Green Meal Recipes, Vegetarian

“Chicken” Parmigiana

“Chicken” Parmigiana
One lean & green

parm

1/2 cup paesana tomato sauce (1 green)
package Shirataki noodles (2 green)
2 Gardein chicken scallopini
one slice low fat cheese melted on top (70 calories)

This was my own Little Italy. You can certainly substitute real chicken for the Gardein, which is vegan. 6 ounces cooked white meat chicken would permit you to have one healthy fat, which can be 5g of fat from cheese. Mangia!

**I created these recipes as a compliment to my comprehensive healthy weight loss & maintenance plan. Please contact me at gininthekitchen@gmail.com if you’re interested in health coaching! I’m happy to give you a free Health Assessment and explore whether my program might be right for you.

Beef, Dairy-free, Turkey

Coach Gin’s Sweet n’ Sour Meatballs

In the mood for something different?  Sweet n’ Sour Meatballs!

Per serving: One Lean, One Green, One condiment
This is a recipe to make with any 2 remaining “greens” that you’d like, including cauliflower rice or shirataki noodles! Sweet sauteed peppers are also a great idea to add some color to your dish. Any of those vegetable sides are 1/2 cup per green serving.

meatballs

Want to make a whole batch?

Sweet n’ Sour Meatballs, serves 4

One lean, one green, one condiment per serving

Ingredients:

  • Either Ground turkey, 28 ounces (a little more than 1 1/2 lbs of ground meat) OR
  • 24 ounces 90-94% lean ground beef (1 1/2 lbs. ground beef)
  • One cup of thick canned tomato sauce (with less than 5 g carbs per 1/4 cup serving) OR 2 cups of a thinner sauce like Paesana (with less than 5 g carbs per 1/2 cup serving)
  • 4 tbsp. any walden farms jelly (Apricot, grape OR Cranberry all work well)
  • Pam

Directions:

Take the raw ground meat and roll into balls that are slightly more than one ounce each meatball. I didn’t use any egg here because there was no need. I feel that it just makes it a sticky, gooey mess to bake. I baked them on parchment paper sprayed with Pam at 350 degrees until done in the center, about 10-15 minutes. You get to eat approximately six meatballs with the turkey (and would be entitled to an added healthy fat too!) and five of the beef, as each meatball shrinks down to one ounce. Of course, the size of your meatballs makes all the difference. Make sure to divide your total yield into four servings.

In a separate saucepan, take the Walden Farms Grape Jelly, Cranberry Jelly, OR apricot jelly and stir into your choice of on plan tomato sauce (less than 5g carbs per serving), heating and stirring until the jelly is completely dissolved.

Mix all and plate on top of 2 green servings for a full lean & green, which can be 1 cup cauliflower rice, one package shirataki noodles, sauteed colored peppers, or anything else your heart desires.

This really satisfied my need for a tangy, sweet meatball!

**I created these recipes as a compliment to my comprehensive healthy weight loss & maintenance plan. Please contact me at gininthekitchen@gmail.com if you’re interested in health coaching! I’m happy to give you a free Health Assessment and explore whether my program might be right for you.

Chicken, Dairy-free, Lean & Green Meal Recipes

Shawarma Chicken on Cauliflower Couscous

Shawarma Chicken on Cauliflower “Couscous”

NS Approved

I made a whole tray of dark meat boneless chicken for my family, just by sprinkling on a bit of “shawarma spice” which comes in a bottle. I have realized that I do not need to add any added fat to the chicken to make it succulent and juicy. You can simply weigh out a 5 oz portion for yourself.

chik

Serves 2.  Each serving full lean (5 oz chicken per serving) & green and two condiments.

  • 20 ounces dark meat chicken
  • 2 tsp Shawarma spice
  • 3  cups raw grated cauliflower
  • 1 tsp turmeric

Lay out the raw meat on tin foil sprayed with Pam. Sprinkle generously on top with the 2 tsp. shawarma spice.  Bake at 350 degrees until done in the center, about 35 minutes for a thicker cut of meat (shown here). Chicken is generally ready when it’s sizzling and browned on the outside.

Prepare the cauliflower rice by shredding it raw in your food processor until it’s fine like couscous, and placing it in a pot and letting it steam covered for 5 mins, with a few added tablespoons of water. Or, get a microwave steam in a bag cauliflower rice and make your job super easy by following the directions on the package.

Add the turmeric to make the cauliflower rice yellow and sir.  The whole mixture together can be measured out into two, yielding three 1/2 cup green servings.

(***Variant: You can even add in 1/2 cup chopped colored peppers to the cauliflower rice for more color in place of 1/2 cup of the cauliflower)

I love to prepare this in advance and then microwave it for a last minute dinner.

Don’t know what shawarma spice is? Check it out on Amazon.

**I created these recipes as a compliment to my comprehensive healthy weight loss & maintenance plan. Please contact me at gininthekitchen@gmail.com if you’re interested in health coaching! I’m happy to give you a free Health Assessment and explore whether my program might be right for you.

 

 

 

Chicken, Dairy-free, Lean & Green Meal Recipes

Coach Gin’s General Tso’s Chicken

Coach Gin’s General Tso’s Chicken
Makes one serving
Full lean & green, 2 condiments, 1 healthy fat.

tsos

7 ounces trimmed and thinned chicken breast
3 tbsp french fried onions (such as French’s or a gluten free version if you prefer)
1/2 cup cooked broccoli
1 cup cooked plain cauliflower rice
3 tbsp Walden Farms Honey Barbecue Sauce
1 tbsp Walden Farms Asian Dressing & Marinade

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Cut chicken into bite sized pieces.

Crush the fried onions in a sandwich bag until they are super fine. Take the chicken pieces and toss them in the bag to coat. It won’t completely coat each piece but that’s ok. Just get some to stick on each piece (and don’t waste any on the bag!)

Spray a silver foil surface with nonstick spray. Lie the chicken pieces flat and bake at 350 for 8-10 minutes until juicy and done. Toss in the Walden Farms sauce and broccoli.

Take raw cauliflower rice and prepare in separate pot. Just add a few tablespoons water, put a cover on, and let it steam for 5 minutes until done. Or use one of the steam in the bag microwaveable rice products. Add salt to taste.

Plate as shown 🙂
Entire family approved!

For a saucier version, you could add more Walden Farms, but that would count towards your condiments (each 2 tbsp serving = one condiment because it’s 1 g of carbs or less).

Add sesame seeds to chicken (1 tbsp. = one healthy fat) instead of the French Fried Onions to make it Sesame Chicken.

**I created these recipes as a compliment to my comprehensive healthy weight loss & maintenance plan. Please contact me at gininthekitchen@gmail.com if you’re interested in health coaching! I’m happy to give you a free Health Assessment and explore whether my program might be right for you.

Chicken, Dairy-free, Lean & Green Meal Recipes

Honey Mustard & Crunchy Onion Chicken Salad

Full lean & green with one healthy fat and one condiment.

6 oz. warm chicken breast over salad (one cup lettuce, 1 cup other low carb plan-approved greens), sprinkled with 3 tbsp french fried onions, over 1 tbsp Walden Farms honey mustard mayonnaise.
The fried onions do a great job of permanently replacing salad croutons for me.

I am gluten free, so I have found a kosher gluten free version of french fried onions at Whole Foods during Thanksgiving Time. Aldi’s also has a version (without kosher certification).

chicken lean

**I created these recipes as a compliment to my comprehensive healthy weight loss & maintenance plan. Please contact me at gininthekitchen@gmail.com if you’re interested in health coaching! I’m happy to give you a free Health Assessment and explore whether my program might be right for you.

Dairy-free, Kabocha, Side Dishes, Vegetarian

Coach Gin’s Kabocha “French Fries”

Coach Gin’s Kabocha Squash “French Fries”
1/2 cup per serving is a green

kobacha

Did you know that the Kabocha squash has less than half the carbs of a butternut squash? I created this original recipe to replace the sweet potato fries that I love so much. This hits the spot!

Take a kabocha squash and microwave it 5 mins while so that it’s nice and soft. Cut wedges and cut skin off (the skin is edible and delicious but won’t taste like french fries). Place wedges in a bag and spray with Pam.

Take French’s Fried Onions – or a gluten free equivalent – and crush them thoroughly in a second bag. Throw the fried onions in the big bag and shake well to coat. Use 1 tbsp fried onion per 4 thin wedges. Bake until soft and golden (approx 30-40 mins). I used 6 tbsp French’s fried onions per one small Kabocha.

Mmmmmmm

The Fried Onions count as a healthy fat. 3 tbsp = one healthy fat or 3 condiments. As per Nutrition Support, they are reluctant to call something with “fried” in the name “healthy,” BUT it does satisfy the criteria on plan as a healthy fat because it’s 5g fat and less than 5g carbs.

You can easily make a whole tray:

tray kobacha

And what is a kabocha squash? It’s this beauty – which is Japanese in origin:

kobacha pic

**I created these recipes as a compliment to my comprehensive healthy weight loss & maintenance plan. Please contact me at gininthekitchen@gmail.com if you’re interested in health coaching! I’m happy to give you a free Health Assessment and explore whether my program might be right for you.

Chicken, Dairy-free, Lean & Green Meal Recipes

Coach Gin’s Peanut Chicken

Coach Gin’s Chicken Peanut Noodles
Serves 2
Each serving: 1 lean, 3 green, 2 condiments and one healthy fat.

peanut noodles

14 oz raw thinned and trimmed chicken breasts
2 tsp sesame oil (or sesame oil with infused chili peppers for heat) (1 healthy fat per serving)
1 tbsp Walden Farms Asian calorie free dressing (.25 condiment per serving) or substitute 1.5 tsp low sodium soy sauce
3 tbsp Walden Farms peanut spread (.75 condiment per serving)
1/2 tsp minced garlic (.5 condiment per serving)
1/2 tsp Chinese ginger powder (.5 condiment per serving)
3 cups variation of any “green.” I used a combination of scallions, mushrooms & zucchini for the stir fry. (When I made this with just the stir fry – I thought the ratio of peanut to soy sauce was better 2 tbsp WF peanut to 2 tbsp WF Asian – but it’s always up to your taste buds!)

1. Put oil in pan and heat it up. Add the garlic and ginger powder, wait 15 seconds.
2. Put in zucchini to cook up 4-5 mins.
3. Add chicken to cook, stirring frequently to ensure cooked all the way through. Add mushrooms when chicken is nearly done.
4. Add in the Walden Farms dressings. They are mostly water so you don’t want them to cook for more than a few minutes – just until they are a nice thick consistency.
5. If using the Shirataki noodles, make them in a separate pan and make sure that they are thoroughly dried before adding to your dish — or else everything will get too watery and lose flavor.

These are the ingredients if you’re unfamiliar with them:

asian

shirataki cellophane

And guess what? You can omit the noodles and the sauce goes a long long way:

asian no noodles

**I created these recipes as a compliment to my comprehensive healthy weight loss & maintenance plan. Please contact me at gininthekitchen@gmail.com if you’re interested in health coaching! I’m happy to give you a free Health Assessment and explore whether my program might be right for you.