I’m not a health freak. Let’s clear that up upfront.
I haven’t studied anything related to food or health. Unless you count reading food blogs and food-related articles. It’s only passion that drives me to cook/bake and blog.
Therefore I’m not going to tell you to eat this and don’t eat that. We can eat whatever we feel like. The trick is moderation & enjoyment. Like, I’ve had cholesterol sticks the other day, fried cheese rolls. They were delicious. I enjoyed them. I didn’t starve myself afterwards, and I didn’t think how shall I burn those calories. I indulged in that stick and allowed it to crunch under my teeth and let its hot filling ooze in my mouth. In addition, whenever I feel like it, and I know I haven’t had lots of fatty food during the day (you see what I did there? Moderation) I treat myself with a chocolate cupcake and let its creamy frosting stick to the bottom of my mustache.
It’s all about wise decisions. CHOICES. You have to know what you eat and know how to balance your intake. Isn’t this the principle of diets? Let me hear your “YES”, dietitians!
I have bought one skinny pants for work. Skinny pants and jeans are not my thing but there’s no harm in trying. These pants shall be my measuring tool. I will know when I’m getting fat and when I’ve lost some weight (or I’m feeling less bloated). I should NOT exceed this weight. This pair of pants should fit. Always.
And I have to lose a bit of my belly. And get active. And exercise.
But ain’t nobody got time for that.
As part of a balanced diet, this is a low-fat recipe. Barely any fat, excluding the Olive oil that you might add. I will not label it as low-fat because it’s misleading. Low-fat is usually mentioned when low or reduced fat products are used. But here, no fatty ingredients are added. Except olive oil, which is good fat.
I was surprised by how delicious and creamy roasted garlic is. Raw garlic is one thing, roasted is another.
I’ve never liked onions and garlic as a child.
Now I don’t care if I’m gonna smell like onions and garlic. I wanna enjoy the full flavor.
The way the garlic paste squirts out of the garlic head makes you wanna dip your fingers and lick. I did in fact lick a bit of the unusually sweet cream but decided to reserve it for the vegetables roasting in the oven and the marinated chicken I served on the side.
This is one of those easy dishes that go with my sister’s theory of cooking: “Dump everything together, give it a stir, apply heat and you’re done” EASY.
Marinated chicken in marinara sauce with coriander and garlic roasted vegetables
Ingredients
- 2 boneless chicken breast. (use with skin on if you prefer)
- Salt & pepper
- Dried oregano
- Oil
Marinara sauce
- Oil
- 1 medium onion
- 3 garlic cloves
- Salt and pepper
- 1 tsp (up to 1 tbsp) dried oregano
- 1 tsp (up to 1 tbsp) dried basil
- 2 fresh tomatoes, diced. (or 1/2 a can canned tomatoes)
- 1 cup chicken stock (or vegetable stock or water)
Coriander & garlic roasted vegetables
Seasonal vegetables. I used:
- Carrots
- Potatoes
- Broccoli
- Cauliflower
- Zucchini
- Onion
- 1 head of garlic
- Salt and pepper
- Handful of Coriander
- 5 tbsp Olive oil
- 4 tbsp lemon juice
Procedure
- Toss the chicken in oil, salt, pepper and oregano.
- Heat a skillet.
- When very hot, lay the chicken breast and enjoy the sizzle.
- Leave it to brown then you’ll be able to easily flip it browning the other side.
- Set aside.
- Finely chop the onion and mince the garlic
- Heat a deep pan adding oil and tossing onions and garlic on medium heat until soft and translucent
- Add salt, pepper, oregano and basil and stir
- Pour the tomatoes and cook for 2 minutes or till the tomatoes wilt
- Pour in the stock and bring to a boil
- Simmer for 15 min
- Lay chicken in a small oven pan
- Scoop sauce over the chicken and bake for 30 minutes until the sauce reduces
- In the meantime, roughly chop the vegetables; quarter the onions, cube the potatoes, zucchini and carrots, and separate the cauliflower and broccoli into little trees.
- Cut off the top of the garlic head and wrap in foil and roast for 30 minutes
- Arrange the vegetables in a baking tray, Drizzle with oil and season with salt and pepper.
- Cover with foil and roast in a hot oven for 30 minutes or until they’re at your desired texture. I like mine while still a little crunchy.
- Open the wrapped garlic and leave to cool
- Squeeze the garlic from the bottom into a bowl
- Add oil, lemon, salt, pepper and chopped coriander.
- Pour over the roasted vegetables and toss to coat
- Uncover and roast for 5 more minutes
Serve chicken and sauce with vegetables on the side.
Cook in Five Square Meters 
I have to agree with one part: food is about enjoyment. it’s about culture and heritage, it’s about passing along traditions and socializing. I am the first to cringe when I hear someone telling another; “how can you eat that, you’re overweight?”, or someone counting calories and eating low-fat tasteless cardboard cheese when you’re enjoying a cheese and wine evening. I’ve been the subject of much of this criticism as well, :”you eat baklava?? after all you talk about healthy eating, how can you eat baklava?” Yes, I eat baklava and I enjoy it and I’m not feeling guilty afterwards. However, I’m not eating the whole platter either.
Yet, when it comes to moderation, I have a different opinion. We weren’t friends back then and I guess you weren’t acquainted with my blog yet when I wrote this post about moderation. You can check it out to know more about my point of view. ( http://healthnhorizons.com/2012/04/11/thinking-moderation-think-twice/ )
Briefly, you can’t “moderate” apples with cupcakes. You can’t compare carrots to McDonald’s. Some foods are just purely bad for you and you can’t have them in moderation. So there are the ” OK whenever foods” , there are the “sometimes foods” or “occasional foods” and there are the “Big No kind of foods”.
The big No’s for me include the hyper-processed junk that mainly include “high fructose corn syrup” or “trans fats” or artificial additives and sweeteners and possibly come from genetically modified organisms….
I love burgers and fries as much as the next person, however, I don’t want it to have a minimum of 70 ingredients in it ( like in McDo’s ), and I love croissants, but I’d rather have one occasionally from the bakery next door than from Dunkin’ Donuts….
And the chicken looks so tender and perfect :)) beautiful photography!
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I totally agree with you.
thank you for sharing these great thoughts.
I’ve heard this yesterday, there’s nothing bad about eating butter, but when you do, make sure it’s the good kind.
Wise decisions in food make all the difference.
I just read an article in a magazine about reproduction in all organisms and how the human genes have modified and adapted to changes. And how certain fruits are nothing but hybrid between a a mediocre fruit and a good one to produce edible produce. It also mentions as cooks come up with new recipes, some might come up with new ingredients.
I’m still not sure how much GMO products have infiltrated our markets but it seems to be here to stay.
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Exactly about the butter, there are these nutritional myths and misconceptions that no longer make sense, and I would love to read that article, can you save it for me please?
Regarding GMOs, I guess you are right, I hope it weren’t the case but there is too much politics and favoring money over health to even care to do the proper research. I am not against technology, far from it, but unless extensive proper research had been done on the safety of GMOs for human and animal consumption, I’m trying my best to avoid them.
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The article is in the magazine Lucky Peach summer issue. I don’t know if it can be found online.
They added that GMO has been introduced long time ago, it was forced back then, to alter the DNA to get better performance from the produce, like better standing against diseases.
Anyways. We’ll try to avoid as much as possible.
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Thanks I’ll try to check it out.
There has always been cross-breeding to get plants that withstand harsh temperatures, produce more yield or taste better, but it’s always one plant with another… and that’s why farmers save the best seeds from one year to year. The technique used with GMOs is different and genes from animals or bacteria can be inserted into that of the plant. Anyway, let’s focus on our heirloom seeds and forget all about the shiny American GMO ones 😉
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