Today's Recipe - Broiled Rosemary Chicken over Puréed Lentils and Swiss Chard

Today's Recipe
If you don't know what to serve for dinner tonight ...
This is a complete meal that is highly nutritious and delicious. It is a great meal to prepare when you have company and want to make something special.
Broiled Rosemary Chicken over Puréed Lentils and Swiss Chard
Prep and Cook Time: 35 minutes
Ingredients:

• 3 boneless chicken breasts (6 oz each)
• 2 cups of 1 15 oz can (BPA free) lentils, drained
• 1 bunch Swiss chard
• 1 medium -sized onion, chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1-1/2 cups crimini mushrooms, sliced
• 3 TBS vegetable or chicken broth
• 1/2 tsp dried thyme
• 1/2 tsp dried sage
• 1/2 cup walnuts
• 1 TBS + 3 TBS fresh lemon juice
• 1-1/2 TBS chopped fresh rosemary (or 2 tsp dried)
• 2 cloves pressed garlic
• 2 TBS + 1 TBS olive oil
• salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Preheat the broiler on high and place an all stainless steel skillet (be sure the handle is also stainless steel) or cast iron pan about 6 inches from the heat for about 10 minutes to get it very hot.
2. While the pan is heating, rinse and pat the chicken dry and season with lemon juice, salt, and pepper.
3. Leaving the skin on, place the breast skin side up on the hot pan and return it to the oven. It is not necessary to turn the breast because it is cooking on both sides at once. Depending on the size, it should be cooked in about 7 minutes. Remove the skin before serving; it is left on to keep it moist while broiling. The breast is done when it is moist, yet its liquid runs clear when pierced. The inside temperature needs to reach 165 degrees Fahrenheit (74° Celcius).
4. While chicken is broiling, bring pot of water large enough to cook the chard to a boil.
5. Chop chard.
6. Chop onion, garlic, mushrooms, thyme, and sage and then Healthy Sauté them in medium sauté pan over medium-low heat for just about 5 minutes, stirring frequently. Add lentils, walnuts and 3 TBS broth and heat through.
7. Purée mixture in blender or food processor with salt and pepper to taste. You will have to scrape sides of blender with a rubber spatula a few times.
8. When water has come to a boil, add chard and boil for 3 minutes.
9. Drain chard and toss with 2 TBS olive oil and 1 TBS lemon juice and salt and pepper to taste.
10. Place 3 TBS lemon juice, pressed garlic, chopped rosemary, salt, and pepper in small sauté pan and heat on stove for a minute. Turn off heat and whisk in 1 TBS olive oil.
11. Remove skin from chicken, slice into thirds, and serve with puréed lentils and chard. Drizzle rosemary lemon broth over chicken and lentils. Serve.

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In-Depth Nutritional Profile for Broiled Rosemary Chicken over Puréed Lentils and Swiss Chard
Healthy Food Tip
Can you help me better understand your nutrient rating system so that I can make the best food choices? For example, I have heard that almonds are rich in calcium, yet this fact is not highlighted in the almonds or calcium write-ups.

Almonds do have a lot of calcium. According to the nutritional profile featured in the book, one-quarter cup of almonds contains 92 milligrams of calcium. Yet, the rating system for nutrient richness that we created for the World's Healthiest Foods website (www.whfoods.org) as well as my book is based not only on the amount of a nutrient that it contains but also the calories that it contains; this allows readers to know whether it would "cost" them a little or a lot of calories to attain the nutrients that are offered by the food.
To qualify to be noted as an excellent source of a specific nutrient, the food needed to feature 7.6 times the amount of nutrients for the calories it contained, to be a very good source it needed to provide 3.4 times the nutrients per calorie, and to be a good source it needed to provide 1.5 times the nutrients per calorie. Therefore, for example, foods with 7.6 mg or more of calcium per calorie are considered excellent sources; those with 3.4-7.6 mg of calcium per calorie are considered very good sources; and those with 1.5-3.4 mg of calcium per calorie are considered good sources.
As one-quarter cup of almonds contains 92 mg of calcium for 206 calories, they only provide 0.45 mg per calorie. Therefore according to our system, they don't qualify as even a good source of calcium, which is why they are not included in the nutrient richness chart or the best sources of calcium chart.
Now, that's not to say that calcium is not a wonderful feature provided by almonds; it's just that compared to other calcium-rich sources such as spinach that provides 10.6 mg of calcium per calorie, mustard greens that provides 8.9 mg/calorie, and yogurt that provides 5.2 mg/calorie, almonds do not provide nearly as much calcium for your caloric investment.
I hope that this helps to explain why almonds aren't singled out as a concentrated source of calcium. Using this almond-calcium example can also help you better understand the presentation of nutrient richness in the book so that you can make food choices based upon this important criterion.