Kickin' Chicken and Walkin' Beets

A late, late night HYC checkin. I had a good week: good food variety, some new recipes and more exercise than of late, but my weigh-in only showed me down .2 pounds. eeps! Must be my weighty new-found muscles. :P Anyway, I'm still feeling good. The scale had shown me further down earlier in the week, so next week's wi will probably be better- unless Valentine's does me in or something. mmmmm...chocolate.

Actually, more like movie popcorn will do me in, if the dh and I (or friends and I) go to the show. For some reason, when I'm eating healthier, salty items are more apt to get me eating larger portions than fit into my points. (...and then I don't fit into my pants: circle, it's a vicious one.)

Anyway, I'm super tired (from all the exercising?) and today was kind of stressful and busy, so on to a couple of recipe shares. These ones are for my blogging bud, Blendergirl, lover of the Looney Spoons recipe books. You inspired me to dig in the my cupboard for my copy of Eat Shrink & Be Merry (still haven't found Looney Spoons) and I made a couple of recipes tonight: Kickin' Chicken and These Beets are made for Walkin'. (The last one, inspired also by the beets that I got in my organic veg box.) :)

First of all, we all enjoyed them both, though my children are new to beets and just kind of nibbled on those. Beets really are a messy veggie to prepare, eh? I read in my CL Complete Cookbook tonight that it's a good idea to wear gloves when handling them. That would have been a good tip if I'd read it BEFORE I did the recipe. Anywhooo...beets were a total childhood flashback and this recipe was super tasty and only 1 point a serving.

The Chicken was super easy and I loved the peanutty taste to it. I used some of the basil from my organic veggie box, too. Look at me using basil NOT to make pesto. In this recipe, no one noticed or complained about the flavour of the basil either. Yeah! The chicken worked out to 5 points as I used the boneless breast instead of the thighs.
Kickin' Chicken

12 boneless, skinless chicken thighs or 6 boneless, skinless breasts (about 2 1/4 lbs)

3/4 cup bottled light peanut sauce

1/2 cup medium or hot salsa

1/4 cup chopped, fresh basil leaves

Preheat oven to 400 F. Spray a 9x12 inch baking pan with cooking spray. Arrange chicken thighs in the pan in a single layer. If you're using breasts, cut them in half to make them fit the pan if necessary.

Combine peanut sauce, salsa and basil in a bowl. Pour over the chicken evenly and make sure all pieces are well coated with sauce.

Bake, uncovered for 40-45 mins for thighs, and 35-40 mins for breasts, or until chicken is no longer pink in the centre and sauce is bubbly.To serve, arrange chicken on a platter and pour the sauce from the pan over top.

The beet recipe I can type out tomorrow, if anyone is interested and owns some beets. Right now, these beets- er, slippers are kickin' and walkin to bed! (Yes, I sunk that low. Tiredness makes me silly- er.)

Sweet dreams, sweet blogger friends! :)