Healthied-Up Marry Me Chicken

 I've seen "Marry Me" recipes all over the internet lately, either vegetarian ones for beans or meat ones with chicken.  They are the best blend of creamy, hearty & spicy - soooo good, and even better the second day as leftovers.  But, they usually include a whole lotta heavy cream in them, which adds a lot of fat and calories to what would otherwise be a very healthy dish.  So, I found this recipe that replaces a lot of the cream with cottage cheese, which not only gives it a nice creamy flavor with a lot fewer calories & fat, but adds a protein punch as well.  I mixed that with almond milk creamer for a really nice nutty taste and the result was a hearty dish that doesn't make me feel like I ate a stick of butter afterwards.  

I've been slow to come to the recent cottage cheese-in-everything fad because I have less-than-fond memories of being forced to eat it as a kid (ewwww).  But, once you throw a hand blender in it to improve the texture and mix it with enough other stuff, you don't taste the sourness of the cottage cheese.  This surprised me with how well it came out and I'll be experimenting with more cottage cheese in things.  (I can see a protein pasta / cottage cheese ziti a la vodka in my future!). 

The original recipe called for only 4 pieces of chicken but I found myself with a pretty high sauce to chicken ratio, so I added in some maple flavored chicken breakfast sausage as a game time decision and that added an interesting bit of sweetness to go with the spicy.

INGREDIENTS

• 4 medium chicken thighs boneless, skinless (you can do this with breast tenders too)
• 8 patties or links chicken breakfast sausage, browned & sliced into chunks
• ½ cup cottage cheese
• ¼ cup unsweetened almondmilk creamer - if that is hard to find, fat free half & half also works
• ⅔ cup chicken bone broth
• 1.5 tablespoons all-purpose/plain flour
• 7 sundried tomatoes drained, chopped, approx. ½ cup
• 2 garlic cloves finely chopped
• 1 teaspoon Italian herbs
• 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes (This is a heckuva lot of red pepper.  It was pretty spicy - I might go a little lighter on this next time I make it)
• 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil or sundried tomato oil
• Small bunch basil
• Salt & pepper to taste

▢Sea ▢

INSTRUCTIONS

• Prepare chicken: Season the chicken lightly with salt and pepper on both sides and set aside.  If you're using full chicken breasts pound them thinner.  
• Prepare thickening mixture: Puree the cottage cheese with creamer until smooth. Whisk in the flour and set aside.
• Sear chicken: In a large skillet/frying pan heat 1½ tablespoons of oil, add the chicken thighs and cook over a medium heat for about 4 minutes on each side until lightly browned. Transfer to a bowl (leaving the juices and oil in the pan).  Brown the breakfast sausage links or patties, cut into bite sized chunks.
• Add sun-dried tomatoes: To the same pan add the sun-dried tomatoes, garlic, dried herbs and pepper flakes and cook over a medium/low heat for about 1½-2 minutes stirring all the time (add ½ tablespoon of oil if needed).
• Make sauce: Add the chicken stock and immediately whisk in the cottage cheese mixture.
• Assemble: Add the chicken (along with the juices), stir, cover, bring to a simmer and cook for 7-8 minutes or until the chicken is fully cooked (be careful not to overcook it).

  TIP: Cooking times will vary depending on the thickness of the chicken.
• Serve: Remove from the heat and scatter finely chopped basil leaves over the top. Serve.

Nutritional Information:

Serves 6

280 Calories

14g fat

6g carbs

1g fiber

31g protein

Sausage Spinach & Gnocchi Soup

 I made this recipe for the first time last night after finding it online.  I slimmed it down a bit by replacing half of the heavy cream recommended with unsweetened almondmilk creamer, which I find gives soups and whatnot a really nice nutty taste.  I also changed up the recipe a bit to put in the spinach sooner and then use a hand blender to chop up the spinach and onions, because I don’t like the texture of cooked spinach but I do like the taste very much.  I’ll note in the instructions when I did this and how that differs from the original.  Anyway, the end result was delicious and filling and full of protein, for not a ridiculous amount of calories.  I also added a bit more tomato paste and red pepper than the recipe called for because…Spice.  Nuff said.

Ingredients:

• 1 pound ground Italian sausage
• ▢ 1 medium yellow onion, finely diced
• ▢ 4 cloves garlic, minced
• ▢ 2 teaspoons Italian seasoning
• ▢ ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• ▢ ½ teaspoon red pepper flakes, more or less to taste (definitely MORE!)
• ▢ 3 tablespoons tomato paste (I added a bit more after tasting it)
• 3/4 cup oil packed sun-dried tomatoes, drained and chopped
• 3 TB flour
• 2/3 cup dry white wine such as Pinot Grigio or Sauv Blanc
• 5 c chicken stock, low sodium
• 3/4 cup heavy cream
• 3/4 cup unsweetened almond milk creamer (can use NutPods blend or other if this is hard to find)
• 1 lb potato gnocchi
• 3c baby spinach
• 1/2 cup grated Parmesan
• Salt, to taste
• ▢ 

Instructions: 

• Add the Italian sausage to a Dutch oven or large stockpot over medium-low heat. Cook, breaking the sausage into crumbles as it browns, until completely cooked through. Transfer to a paper towel-lined plate. Remove the excess grease from the pot, leaving about 1 tablespoon behind.
• Add the diced onion to the reserved sausage drippings and cook for about

  

  
  5 minutes, until softened and translucent. Add the garlic and cook for about 1 minute, just until fragrant
• Stir in the Italian seasoning, black pepper and red pepper flakes. Add the tomato paste and stir until evenly incorporated, then add the drained, chopped sun-dried tomatoes. Cook for another 1–2 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the tomato paste deepens slightly in color.
  
• Sprinkle the flour evenly over the onion and tomato mixture. Stir continuously for about 1 minute, until the flour is completely incorporated and no dry streaks remain.
• 
  Slowly pour in the white wine while whisking or stirring continuously, scraping up any flavorful browned bits from the bottom of the pot. Cook for 2–3 minutes, allowing the wine to reduce slightly and its sharp alcohol aroma to mellow.
  
• Gradually pour in the chicken stock while stirring.  This is the point at which I added the spinach, wilted it in the liquid for a few minutes, and then used an immersion blender to chop the vegetables finely.  You can choose to add the spinach at the end, as the original recipe suggests.
  Add the heavy cream & almondmilk creamer. Return the cooked sausage to the pot and stir to combine.
  
• Bring the soup to a boil, then add the gnocchi. Cook for about 4–5 minutes, stirring occasionally to prevent the gnocchi from sticking to the bottom overcooking, which can make the gnocchi gummy.
  
• Reduce the heat to a gentle simmer. (If you haven’t already done this earlier, add the baby spinach and stir just until wilted.) 
  Add the freshly grated Parmesan and serve.
  Nutritional Information (serves 6):601 calories, 39.2 g carbs, 30 g protein, 34.7 g fat