Healthy Cooking Series: Balsamic Chicken with Roasted Tomatoes

This will be the beginning of a series I’ll be doing on healthy cooking. I started Weight Watchers back in October of last year and successfully lost fifty pounds! Through the Spring I wasn’t nearly as careful as I should have been and managed to gain some of it back. Such a bummer! So about a month ago I recommitted and am back on track. I’m actually doing the Couch 2 5K running program as well and am 6 weeks into the 9 week program. It feels great to be accomplishing something so good for me! I NEVER thought I could run and now I love it.
So here’s to your health and mine and enjoy this delicious recipe from my favorite source of healthy cooking recipes, Cooking Light.

* Please note that each recipe in this series will include nutritional information as well as Weight Watchers Points values found at the end of each recipe*

Balsamic Chicken with Roasted Tomatoes and Mushroom and Zucchini Orzo

Ingredients

1 pint grape tomatoes
1 tablespoon honey
1 1/2 teaspoons olive oil
1/2 teaspoon salt, divided
4 (6-ounce) skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Cooking spray
Balsamic vinaigrette salad spritzer (such as Wish-Bone)

Preparation

Preheat oven to 450°.
Combine first 3 ingredients in a small bowl; place tomato mixture on a foil-lined jelly-roll pan. Bake at 450° for 12 minutes or until tomato skins burst and begin to wrinkle, stirring once. Transfer tomatoes to a bowl, scraping juices into bowl. Stir 1/4 teaspoon salt into tomato mixture.
Place each chicken breast half between 2 sheets of heavy-duty plastic wrap; pound to 1/4-inch thickness using a meat mallet or small heavy skillet. Sprinkle chicken evenly with 1/4 teaspoon salt and pepper.
Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Coat pan with cooking spray. Add chicken; cook 3 to 4 minutes on each side. Place chicken on individual plates; coat each breast half with 2 to 3 sprays of balsamic spritzer. Spoon tomatoes evenly over chicken.

Nutritional Information

Calories: 238 (16% from fat)
Fat: 4g (sat 0.8g,mono 1.8g,poly 0.8g)
Protein: 40g
Carbohydrate: 7.7g
Fiber: 1g
Cholesterol: 99mg
Iron: 1.5mg
Sodium: 431mg
Calcium: 28mg
Weight Watchers Points: 5

Mushroom and Zucchini Orzo

Ingredients

1 cup uncooked orzo (rice-shaped pasta)
Cooking spray
1 cup sliced mushrooms
1 cup diced zucchini
1 tablespoon butter
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Preparation

Cook orzo according to package directions, omitting salt and fat. Drain and keep warm.
While orzo cooks, heat a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Coat pan with cooking spray. Add mushrooms and zucchini; sauté 6 minutes or until tender and browned.
Combine orzo, mushroom mixture, and remaining ingredients in a large bowl, tossing gently.

Nutritional Information

Calories: 197 (17% from fat)
Fat: 4g (sat 1.8g,mono 0.7g,poly 0.1g)
Protein: 6.3g
Carbohydrate: 34.2g
Fiber: 2.1g
Cholesterol: 8mg
Iron: 0.3mg
Sodium: 171mg
Calcium: 11mg
Weight Watchers Points: 4