making ingredients multitask

I am a firm believer in making prep work and ingredients go as far as possible. I often pick up six chicken breasts, marinate them for a few days in a Ziploc bag with olive oil, chopped garlic, fresh ground pepper, and kosher salt. I grill up the chicken, cut it all up into bite-sized pieces, and store it in the reefer for use in multiple recipes. Not starting from scratch for each meal also helps me resist eating out or eating junk. It's one of my ways to set myself up for success instead of setting myself up for failure. 

One of my go-to chicken dishes is this Greek-inspired concoction. Heat 5 ounces (about 170 calories) of grilled chicken breast in a sauté pan; I use a non-stick pan (I know, they are not good for us) with a little olive oil cooking spray (calories are negligible). I add a sliced zucchini (about 60 calories for two cups, which is a decent-sized zucchini), sautéing it quickly to get it tender, but still looking bright. (I cut the zucchini rounds in half to make them more bite-sized.) Add fresh ground pepper and kosher salt to taste, and sprinkle with a healthy dose of oregano. Top with 2 ounces of light feta cheese (80 calories). In under ten minutes you've got a flavorful plate full of food for just over 300 calories.

I rarely grill up a bunch of chicken and don't make some iteration of my "Chicken and Italian Sausage" recipe. This time I sautéed half a chopped sweet onion in one tablespoon of olive oil until translucent. I then added two teaspoons of fresh chopped garlic. I added 3 ounces of sliced Baby Bella mushrooms and a tablespoon of butter. I gave the mushrooms a few minutes to sauté and then added the chicken and Italian sausage, which were already grilled and cut. I gave all those ingredients a few minutes to mingle and then added 3 ounces of White Bordeaux (it was a savingnon blanc and semillion blend). Then I poured in one cup of vegetable broth, reduced heat very low, covered the pan, and let everything simmer very gently for 20 minutes or so. I steamed up about two cups of broccoli and added it close to serving time so it would hold onto its vitamins and bright color. The base in this case was angel hair pasta, which cooks in just 4 minutes, saving me propane and time and creating less steam and heat in the boat.

Here's the ingredient and calorie breakdown:

1 tbsp olive oil (120 calories)

Half a sweet onion, chopped (50 calories)

2 tsp garlic, chopped (10 calories)

3 ounces Baby Bella mushrooms, sliced (7 calories)

1 tbsp butter (100 calories)

12 ounces boneless, skinless chicken breasts, grilled and cut (400 calories)

1 sweet Italian sausage, grilled and sliced (260 calories)

3 ounces white wine (I prefer sauvingon blanc or riesling for this) (75 calories)

1 cup vegetable broth (15 calories)

2 cups broccoli, steamed (60 calories)

8 ounces angel hair pasta, cooked and drained (800 calories)

Serves four; 475 calories per serving.

This one has nothing to do with my multitasking but the avocados I buy all ripen at the same time so needing to use one up, I made this delicious omelet. Two eggs beaten with fresh ground pepper and kosher salt. Once the omelet was ready to fill I added a quarter cup of reduced fat shredded mexi-cheese, a very small avocado (about three quarters of the size of a normal small one), and then topped it with a generous drizzle of Sriracha sauce. Yum! About 325 calories of healthy fat and protein to keep me full for breakfast.

red pepper and feta-stuffed chicken breasts

I recently had a friend over for dinner aboard the boat. He does not eat red meat, so my much-loved chicken and italian sausage was not a menu option. Therefore, I opted for red pepper and feta-stuffed chicken breasts accompanied by a white wine and parmesan risotto and fresh spinach sauteéd in olive oil and fresh garlic, with a touch of Kosher salt.

The chicken came from The Fresh Market; large, antibiotic-free, vegetarian fed. Here is my mise en place of crumbled feta, chopped red pepper, and chopped garlic, and then the breasts before they went in the oven.


The chicken breasts were large and much thicker at one end. I took the four breasts and created six servings by cutting the breasts in half and stacking the thinner ends, then taking the thick halves and slicing them horizontally for stuffing. I put a few tablespoons of olive oil in the baking dish, added a heaping tablespoon of garlic, fresh ground black pepper, and Kosher salt to taste. I dredged each piece of chicken in the oil and garlic marinade, then placed a spoonful each of red pepper and feta on the bottom six pieces of chicken, stacked the top pieces of chicken in place, and garnished each with a little more feta and red pepper. In my propane oven aboard, they were baked uncovered at 350 degrees for 90 minutes.

Here is the finished product. You can easily tell which side of the pan was adjacent to the gas flame.

Everything was so delicious I forgot to take a photograph before plating up our meal and forgot to take a photo of the plated dish. Sorry!

Here is a snap of the risotto in the works. It begins by sauteíng half a medium onion (chopped) in two tablespoons of olive oil and two tablespoons of butter. When the onions are translucent, add one cup of arborio rice and sauté for one or two minutes. Three cups of water are called for. The only rice I ever cook in water is white basmati. All other rice should be cooked with flavor. For risotto I use one cup of vegetarian vegetable broth and two cups of wine. I often use a dry Washington Riesling, but I am currently on a kick drinking a lovely Vinho Verde from Portugal, pictured below with the parmesan that is added at the end.


Once the liquid is added, stir the risotto constantly until it is thick and creamy and stir in the parmesan at the very end. I save some time by using my pressure cooker and putting it under pressure for 10 to 15 minutes.