Taste Life Blog

Oven Fried Chicken from the 5 Ingredient for Healthy Living Cookbook

All year you were thinking “I should be healthy” and it didn’t happen. No worries.

It is never too late. Focus on who you want to become this coming next year not on what you need to overcome.  Start now before the holidays really reeve up so you are already in action when the New Year pops in.

This recipe is fried chicken without the guilt and easy on your budget too. You can double the recipe and cook it once and eat it twice. Great cold in your lunch. We grew up in Milwaukee eating leftover cold chicken and stuffing.  If you are gluten intolerant you could substitute crushed rice or corn chex cereal for the bread crumbs.

• ½ cup buttermilk
• 1 cup Italian seasoned breadcrumbs or cracker crumbs
• 4 Tbsp. grated Parmesan Cheese
• ½ tsp. black pepper
• ¼ tsp. salt
• 4 skinless boneless chicken breasts, cut in half
• 2 Tbsp. olive oil

Preheat oven to 400°F. Oil a wire rack and place on a foil lined baking sheet. Pour buttermilk into a shallow dish. Combine breadcrumbs, cheese, salt and pepper in a gallon-size zipper plastic bag. Dip chicken in buttermilk then place in plastic bag and shake until all pieces are coated.  Place on prepared baking sheet and drizzle with olive oil.  Bake 15 to 20 minutes. Turn over and bake additional 15 minutes or until golden brown. Makes four 3 ounce servings.

 

If you are concerned about your sodium intake you can omit the sodium. I don’t use much salt in our cooking, so I feel A ok using ¼ tsp o  salt to zest up this  entrée.

 

Nutritional analysis per serving: 315 Calories; 29 gm Protein; 12.6 gm Fat; 21.3 gm Carbohydrate; 444 mg Sodium

If you have decided  this year you will  live more simply and healthy, order the 5 Ingredient for Healthy Living Cookbook full of 5 ingredient real food recipes and coaching tips to  give you  more time and energy.

 

Chicken

I only purchase chicken breasts when they are sale.  Through December 31, 2011 Rainbow Foods has their Roundy brand chicken breasts on sale for $1.98 a pound. Right next to these breasts they are selling other well- known brands  for $6.99 pound.  Stock up now!  I pre-package the breasts in quart freezer bags. I cut some into stir fry size, some a little larger for Chicken Marsala and some I leave whole.

The day before I want to cook a chicken dish I take a bag of precut chicken out of the freezer.

Buttermilk

I use Saco Cultured Buttermilk whenever a recipe calls for liquid buttermilk.  I keep this dry buttermilk in my spare fridge all the time.

Which would you rather eat homemade or store bought?

Homemade Oven Fried Chicken                                                     Banquet Chicken Nuggets

Calories:            315                                                                               Calories:            250

Carbohydrate:   21. 3 gm                                                                   Carbohydrate:    18 gm

Protein:              29 gm                                                                         Protein:               10 gm

Fat:                      12.6 gm                                                                      Fat:                      15 gm

If you are a calorie counter you would probably choose the Banquet chicken Nuggets.

As a Registered Dietitian I would look at the entire ingredient list.

Real Versus Processed

Real Chicken Indredients: buttermilk, seasoned breadcrumbs, black pepper, salt, skinless boneless chicken breasts, olive oil.

 

Banquet Chicken Nuggets $3.49 for chemicals

Ingredients: Chicken, water, breading (wheat flour, salt, dextrose, soybean oil, yeast, paprika),  batter (water, yellow corn flour, cornstarch, dextrose, salt, spices, sugar, yeast extract, modified food starch, garlic powder, guar gum), leavenings,  sodium acid pyrophosphate, sodium bicarbonate, moncalcium phosphate, textured soy flour), salt, flavoring, tri polyphosphate, autolyzed yeast extract, dextrose, fried in vegetables with BHT.

Cost

One pound of chicken costs about $5.00 per pound. Olive oil, breadcrumbs, salt and pepper and Parmesan Cheese are kitchen staples and can be used for many other real food recipes. The Banquet Chicken Nuggets cost $3.49 for about 2 or 3 servings.

If you need a chemistry text book to decipher your foods maybe you shouldn’t be eating it. Whole foods are THE Key to losing weight and improving your health. Once you switch from processed foods to a diet rich in real foods like fruits, veggies, grains, and lean meat you will discover your energy is increased and which can motivate you to exercise.

Michael, Michele, & Stevie Ray enjoyed the Oven Fried Chicken with Spaghetti Squash from our cookbook, Green Beans (love Trader Joe’s frozen ones), Butternut Squash flavored with Garam Masala  and baked potatoes. Notice the number of veggies!

Food can be a rushed, an “I don’t have time squeezed in thing” almost an afterthought like, “Oh my gosh I have to eat again” or it can be a ritual that you savor that nourishes your stomach and your spirit and could save your life.

 

Post  your favorite healthy 5 ingredient recipe on this blog  and we will test it out and nutritionally analyze and you could win a 5 Ingredient for Healthy Living Cookbook.