Mango & Chicken Napa Salad

Light dinner-making just got easier than ever, with this toss-and-go Mango and Chicken Napa Salad recipe! Your family will enjoy this one-bowl meal that is packed with fiber, lean protein, and delicious healthy fats! The flavor is unique and light, creating a tasty dish your loves will ask for again!

Bring it to your next gathering as a healthy, lean addition to the table!

Ingredients:

• 1/3 cup low sugar orange juice

• 3 tablespoons rice vinegar

• 3 tablespoons low sodium soy sauce

• 1 tbsp sesame oil

• One head napa cabbage, sliced thinly

• 2 cups sugar snap peas, sliced thinly and diagonally

• 2 cups shredded chicken or diced grilled chicken

• 1 medium mango, sliced

• One handful coarsely chopped fresh mint

• One small bunch of green onions, sliced diagonally

• 2 tablespoons toasted sesame seeds

Instructions:

To make the dressing: whisk together the juice, vinegar, soy sauce, sesame oil and half of the sesame seeds in a small bowl. Set aside.

To make the salad: thinly slice up the napa cabbage and peas, toss together with the chicken, mango, mint and green onions. About 30 minutes to an hour before serving, toss everything together and then refrigerate so that the marinade can flavor the salad ingredients. Sprinkle the rest of the sesame seeds over the recipe right before serving.

Tips:

For the chicken in this recipe, you can either use grilled chicken leftover from a previous meal, or shredded cooked chicken made easily in a slow cooker.

If you like a little heat, you can always add crushed red pepper into this recipe, or even a little bit of curry paste into the dressing.

To save even more time and effort, you can always replace the Napa cabbage and sugar peas with a pre-chopped cabbage salad mixture in a store-bought kit! Toss in shredded bits of a store-bought roasted chicken and voila! You're eating dinner - EASILY!

This recipe was found originally in the Eating Well magazine, and tweaked to be FRESH Start friendly...we'd love to hear what YOU think of it! 

Orange Chutney Chicken Cutlets Recipe & How-To

With a fancy name like “Orange Chutney Chicken” one might mistakenly guess that this simple chicken cutlets recipe is too complicated or stressful to prepare.  

Be assured, it’s as easy as 1-2-3! 

For even quicker prep, prepare the cutlets ahead of time, or use a commercially baked chicken. This delicious dinner is a wonderful dish that the whole family will enjoy, and ask for again!

Here's how to make it:

Ingredients

• 2 Tbsp olive oil
• 2 Cloves garlic, thinly sliced
• 1 Tbsp curry powder
• 1/4 cup chutney (or same amount orange marmalade)
• 1/4 cup orange juice
• 1 orange, segmented
• 8-12 boneless, skinless chicken cutlets, pre-baked plain or with panko coating in the oven at 375-400 degrees for 8-10 minutes

Instructions

1. Heat 2 Tbsp olive oil over medium heat in a medium skillet. Add the sliced garlic cloves and cook until golden brown, stirring occasionally.

2. Add the curry powder and cook, stirring for 30 seconds more.

3. Add in the chutney and orange juice, cooking until melted.

4. Gently stir in the segmented orange and remove from heat.

5. Serve the sauce drizzled over the chicken cutlets, over a bed of brown rice or pasta, or a FRESH Salad.

This dish is another piece of  proof that comfort-food dinners CAN BE made healthy! They are good-for-you and can be made over, just switching out a couple ingredients as items from the old favorites aren't always the best.

Follow along with us as we introduce many new dishes on this blog - to help you keep comfort food on your family’s dinner table! It’ll just be the nutritiously delicious kind!

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Easy Oven-Baked Chicken Thighs and Rice

In our seemingly-endless search for gluten-free options for one very picky eater in my home, I have resorted to super basic dinners these days. 

So I was excited to create this easy recipe to add into the family recipe round-up:

easy oven-baked chicken thighs with my homemade rub, and served beside brown rice steamed up in low-sodium chicken broth...

quick, affordable and the whole family enjoyed them!

Several of us also had a luscious green salad taking up the other half of the plate (not pictured) ... but I can only get my super picky eater to eat a salad about once or twice a week. (True confessions of a health coach!) This is why we add smoothies into her breakfast routine as often as possible - to get those fresh fruits and veggies into her body that way.

Back to dinner - so here's how to make this simple fare...

Ingredients:

• 8 chicken thighs, skin on (you can pull it off after cooking and the meat will still have the flavor from the rub and juices)

• TO MAKE THE RUB - stir together 2 Tbsp garlic powder, 2 Tbsp onion powder, 2 Tbsp paprika, 1 tsp chili powder, sprinkle of cumin, sprinkle of crushed red pepper, 1/2 tsp salt, fresh grated black pepper

• 1 cup brown rice

• 2 cups low-sodium chicken broth

Instructions:

Preheat your oven to 425 degrees.

MEANWHILE FOR RICE: Place rice and broth in a rice cooker and cook until fluffy and done. OR if you don't have a rice-cooker - place broth in a medium saucepan over medium to high heat, and allow to begin boiling. Add rice, then turn the heat to low-medium, simmering the rice, covered, for about 30-40 minutes. Fluff with a fork, remove from heat, and keep covered.

MEANWHILE FOR THE CHICKEN: Place aluminum foil over a cookie pan, and pat the chicken thighs dry, then place on pan. 

Sprinkle the dry rub generously on the thighs.

Place in oven, uncovered, and bake for 25-30 minutes or until internal temperature of chicken is 180 degrees with a meat thermometer.

Remove the chicken from the pan with tongs and place on a paper towel to drain. Serve with the rice and a vegetable or green salad on the side.

Honey Garlic Chicken & Veggies in a Crock Pot

There's definitely a trend happening around my kitchen these days - I am looking for easy, delicious, FRESH meals that can be made in ONE POT or all together in the Crock Pot! This way, it's less mess and fills up the hungry tummies around here AND does it with plenty of nutritious foods!

Here is another one-dish dinner to make eating FRESH easier!

Seriously you guys, when you know you're feeding your family "right" and yet you do it in ONE POT, with only a few minutes of prep and a few dollars of ingredients - it's a busy-mom win! Who's with me? 

Here's how to make this simple dish the whole family will love.

Ingredients:

• 8 bone-in chicken thighs (can remove skin or cook with it on for flavor and then remove before eating)
• 1 lb baby red potatoes, halved or quartered
• 1 lb organic carrots, peeled and quartered
• 1 lb organic green beans, trimmed
  
  For the sauce:
• 1/2 cup low sodium soy sauce or Bragg's Aminos 
• 1/3 cup honey
• 1/4 cup ketchup (I buy the low-sugar variety)
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 tsp dried oregano
• sprinkle crushed red pepper (if you like a little heat)
• fresh ground black pepper

Instructions:

1. Whip together all the sauce ingredients, and set aside.
2. Place the chicken thighs into the crock pot, set it to high heat (to be done in 3-4 hours) or low heat (to be done 7-8 hours)
3. Lay the potatoes and carrots on top and around the chicken. Drizzle the sauce over all of it.
4. Cover and leave it be for desired time. Remove lid and spoon the juice inside the crock pot over the top of chicken and veggies a couple of times during cooking.
5. In last 30 minutes of cooking, add the green beans in. Baste the whole dish.
6. Serve immediately with chopped fresh parsley over the top, if you like.

If you prefer the chicken skin on, try this delicious trick - put the oven on broil, place the thighs and some of the veggies on a cookie tray, and broil for about 3 minutes, until the skin is crisp and the sauce is caramelized!

Tell us what you think in the comments below - is this a good recipe to try to round out your easy FRESH meal plan at home?

This recipe was originally found on one of our FAVE blogs for FRESH eating - http://damndelicious.net/. It has been "remodeled" a bit, as we like to cut down on sugar and sodium as much as possible in cooking for our family and testing recipes out for YOU! 

Napa Cabbage Chicken Salad Recipe

The tasty greens and protein in this Napa Cabbage Chicken Salad are always a hit at our house!

This easy dinner recipe is a family (and guest!) favorite – we never get tired of throwing this easy, fresh dish together for a light dinner. 

Even though it's a salad, you might be surprised at just how filling it is just served by itself for a meal. The chicken and cabbage combination delivers lots of tasty nutrients, which help keep you full longer than most salads, yet it doesn't feel heavy on your stomach. 

Even the kids like it, and ask for this crunchy entrée often!

Here's how to make the Napa Cabbage Chicken Salad for your own family:

Napa Cabbage Chicken Salad Recipe

Ingredients

Salad:

• 3 grilled chicken breasts, sliced
• 1 Head Napa Cabbage, sliced thin
• 1 bunch green onions, diced
• Handful chopped cilantro
• Crunchies for topping:
• 2 Tbsp butter
• 1 package ramen noodles, crushed
• 2 Tbsp sesame seeds
• 1/2 cup sliced or slivered almonds
  
  Dressing:
   
• 1/4 cup cider vinegar
• 3/4 cup canola oil
• 1/4 cup maple syrup
• 2 Tbsp low-sodium soy sauce

Instructions

1. Combine the shredded cabbage, green onions, and cilantro in a large bowl, cover and refrigerate until ready to serve.
2. Heat a medium nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Melt the butter, adding the ramen, sesame seeds, and almonds to the pan. Toast the mixture for about 3-4 minutes, or until browned nicely. Make sure not to burn them.
3. To make the dressing, set a small saucepan on high heat, and add in all the ingredients together. Stir frequently, until the mixture comes to a quick boil, then immediately remove the pan from the heat. Let the dressing cool to room temp.
4. Toss the salad mixture, crunchies, chicken, and dressing together just before serving for this quick and delicious dinner!

Cabbage really is an under-rated superfood - rich in many nutrients, but most notably Vitamin C.  Did you know that cabbage is actually higher in vitamin C than oranges?  This salad is also a delicious source of potassium, sulphur, fiber, magnesium and vitamin E!

I would love to hear how you liked the Napa Cabbage Chicken Salad after you make it! Share your food pics and happy faces in our (FREE)  FRESH Start Online Community on Facebook or you can post a comment right here on this blog!