15-Minute Broiled Chicken Salad - Healthy Food Tip and Recipe

healthy food tip and recipe

Today's Recipe If you don't know what to serve for dinner tonight ...
This quick and easy chicken salad is a perfect lunch or light dinner, making it easy for you to enjoy a great tasting way to receive the health benefits of chicken and salad greens. Our Quick Broil method of cooking helps seal in the chicken's juices making it more tender and flavorful. Feel free to add your favorite vegetables to for extra nutrition.

15-Minute Broiled Chicken Salad
Prep and Cook Time: 15 minutes
Ingredients:

• 4 boneless chicken breasts
• 1/2 lb mixed salad greens
• 1/4 cup sliced fresh basil leaves*
• 2 TBS fresh oregano leaves*
• 2 oz gorgonzola cheese
• 2 TBS fresh lemon juice
• salt and cracked black pepper to taste
• Dressing
• 2 TBS fresh lemon juice
• 1 TBS extra virgin olive oil
• salt and cracked black pepper to taste
• *Since the herbs are being used in a salad, there is no conversion for dry herbs. If you don't have these fresh herbs on hand, you can just enjoy the salad without them.

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 7 inches from the heat for about 10 minutes to get it very hot.
2. While pan is getting hot, rinse and spin dry salad greens along with basil and oregano leaves. For oregano, simply run your fingers down the stem to remove leaves and place whole in salad.
3. When pan is hot, season chicken breasts with a little salt and pepper and place on hot pan skin side up. Return to broiler and cook for about 15 minutes, or until done, depending on the thickness of the breasts. The breasts cook fast because they are cooking on both sides at the same time. This is our Quick Broil cooking method. When chicken is just about done, remove skin and top breasts with a little gorgonzola cheese and return to broiler to melt. (If you're not sure if chicken is done, make a little slice with a small sharp knife to check. It should be only slightly pink.)
4. Toss greens with lemon juice, olive oil, salt, and pepper. Distribute greens onto 4 plates. Place chicken breasts on top of greens. Serve.

Serves 4 Printer Friendly Version of 15-Minute Broiled Chicken Salad
In-Depth Nutritional Profile for 15-Minute Broiled Chicken Salad
Healthy Food Tip

If you eat lower on the food chain, might you be able to handle oxalate-rich foods more safely?

The answer here is both no and yes. No, plant-based eating is not likely to lower your oxalate consumption, since there are many more high-oxalate foods in the world of plants than in the world of animals. As a general rule, if a person swapped an animal food for a plant food, the odds of getting more oxalates would be increased. On the other hand, yes, plant-based eating might help decrease the risk involved with oxalate consumption-even though it raised the absolute amount of oxalates being consumed-because plant-based eating typically increases the variety of nutrients being consumed. Plant-based eating is also protective against many basic chronic diseases. So with respect to your question, we do not believe it would automatically be helpful to become a vegetarian if you were trying to protect yourself against potential risks from oxalates. A better approach would be to get very specific about each food that you were evaluating, rather than pick foods on a plant-versus -animal basis. The list of high-oxalate foods found at the following website-http://www.litholink.com/gateway.aspx?page=OxalateDiet-is one we like for determining the oxalate content of various foods.