Asian Chicken and Cabbage Salad
Plan Z Phase: This is a Z2 (ZReduction) recipe.
In the Zola to GO! version of this recipe you can eat the chicken cold or transport it separately and heat the chicken before putting it on the salad. Nice and light either way.
Servings:
Serves 2 – can be doubled easily.
Ingredients:
- 12 oz of chicken tenderloins or chicken breast strips
- grated sea salt
- 1 tsp of minced garlic (jar garlic will work fine)
- 2 tsp of minced ginger (fresh is always best but jar will work for this dish)
- 3 Tbl of rice vinegar
- 1 tsp ofTruvia
- cracked red pepper to taste
- ½ head of napa cabbage (or regular cabbage will work too), shredded
- 5 scallions sliced on the diagonal. White and light green parts only.
- ½ red bell pepper chopped
- ½ yellow bell pepper chopped
- Bragg’s aminos (1 Tbl plus more for drizzle)
- olive oil cooking spray
Instructions:
Lightly spray your grill pan and add the chicken strips. Grate sea salt over them. Begin to grill them. In a small bowl add the garlic, ginger, rice vinegar and tsp of Truvia with a shake or two of cracked red pepper. Stir and let sit.
Grill the strips until they are browned on one side. Then flip them over. When you do, baste the other side with the mixture in your small bowl. Brush it on with a pastry brush or spread it with a spoon.
Continue grilling the chicken.
In a large sauté pan add in your cabbage. Lightly spray it with olive oil and toss with one tablespoon of Braggs. All you want to do is heat and loosen up the cabbage.
To plate the dish: Put on a mound of cabbage. Remember that you are not limited in cabbage quantity so if you want extra you can have it. Then scatter on the veggies. Top the veggies with the chicken strips.
If you want your dish spicy you can add extra cracked pepper flakes or sprinkle on some cayenne. This dish is not currently hot. Just a bit zippy. You can also drizzle on a bit more Bragg's for a bit more Asian flavor. Just be careful. Too much Bragg's can cause you extra water retention and slow down your weight loss so take it easy.
Enjoy!
Cheers,
Chicken Nuggets
Plan Z Phase: This is a Z2 (ZReduction) recipe. This recipe was submitted by Plan Z dieter Amy. Amy says, "This was great. The kids gobbled them up!"
Servings: Serves 2
Ingredients:
- 2 chicken breasts (6-8 oz each)
- 10 grissinetti (these are the short breadsticks, if you are using the large breadsticks, use two)
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp onion powder
- ½ tsp salt
- ½ tsp pepper
- 2 tbls milk (if you haven’t already used your milk, otherwise you can omit it)
Instructions:
Pre-heat your oven to 350 degrees.
Cut the chicken breasts into nugget size pieces.
Crush the grissinetti into crumbs or use a micro grater/planer to grate them onto a plate or into a bowl.
Add the garlic powder, onion powder, salt and pepper to the crushed grissinetti.
Dip each nugget in milk and then roll in crumbs.
Place breaded nuggets on baking sheet lightly sprayed with olive oil spray. Bake at 350 for 15-20 minutes. You can change the seasonings to suit your tastes adding cayenne or more pepper, etc.
Enjoy!
Cheers,
Jerk Chicken
Plan Z Phase: This is a Z2 (ZReduction) recipe. This is a fairly mild recipe for what is usually a HOT dish. SUPER easy!
This jerk chicken will wake up your taste buds without assaulting your sense of taste. Be careful how much sauce you consume. Too much Braggs can cause you to retain water but it will only be for one day.
Servings: Serves 4
Ingredients:
- 4 skinless, boneless chicken breasts, sliced into 1” wide strips
- ¼ cup of chopped onion
- 2 tsp of Truvia
- 4 Tbl of Bragg’s Aminos
- 4 Tbl of red wine vinegar or balsamic
- 2 tsp of fresh thyme
- 4 cloves of garlic (jar garlic will work fine)
- ½ tsp of ground allspice
- 1 habanero chili. Cut off the stem and chop into chunks. Be careful. If this stuff gets in your eye it will HURT.
Instructions:
Put all of the ingredients (except the chicken) in a small blender. Whiz until fully blended. Put the chicken in a large ziplock bag and add ¾ of the marinade. Let sit in your refrigerator at least an hour. The longer it sits the hotter the flavor will be. You can even let it sit overnight if you want full-on flavor.
Preheat broiler. Place chicken on a cookie sheet sprayed with olive oil spray. Broil chicken 7 minutes on one side (about 4” from the source of the heat). Turn over and broil 7 minutes on the other side or until no pink remains in the chicken pieces,
Optional: You can also grill the chicken on a charcoal or gas grill.
Heat the remaining sauce in a small sauce pan so you can serve it with the chicken.
I served this with cold veggies. This is a great dish on a hot night. Most folks think of this as a summer dish but it can be served anytime.
Enjoy!
Cheers,
Dijon Chicken
Plan Z Phase: This is a Z2 (ZReduction) recipe. For those dieters on the run, who want simple meals they can make pretty fast when they get home I design recipes like this one. This isn’t fancy food but it surely falls into the category of satisfying food. When you eat something like this it feels like you have been cooking all day when in fact, in 30 minutes or less you can have dinner on the table.
Servings: Serves 4 (can be doubled easily)
Ingredients:
- 16 chicken tenders (4 – 6 oz per person)
- olive oil spray
- 3 cloves of minced garlic (jar garlic will work for this dish)
- 1/3 cup of chicken broth
- 2 Tbl of Bragg’s Aminos (soy sauce substitute)
- ½ cup of Dijon mustard (buy a brand with no sugar)
Instructions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Lightly spray your grill pan with olive oil spray. Put in the chicken tenders and grill them until one side has good grill marks. Then turn over and grill just one minute more.
While the tenders are grilling you can take out a bowl and add the sauce ingredients. Stir.
When the chicken comes off the grill pan (they are not completely cooked yet) put them in an oven proof 9” x 13” pan. Pour the sauce over.
Bake for 15 – 20 minutes until the chicken is no longer pink in the middle.
Serve with a salad and steamed or roasted green beans* and you’ll be all set for a healthy meal.
*Roasted Green Beans are easy to make and can be done with the chicken. Just put trimmed green beans in an oven proof pan. Lightly spritz with olive oil spray and grate on sea salt. Roast along with the chicken for 15 – 20 minutes and they will be crisp-cooked. They are delightful.
Enjoy!
Cheers,
Lime Chicken Piccatta
Plan Z Phase: This is a Z2 (ZReduction) recipe. This is a wonderfully, light and different taste. Anyone who likes chicken piccatta (lemon) will likely like this but it’s not as tart either so for those of you who want to venture out a bit…try this. It’s so easy to make and so good.
You can make this with our without the breading. Up to you. If you do bread it, you will not have an extra breadstick on the side.
Servings: Serves 4
Ingredients:
- 4 skinless, boneless chicken breast pieces
- 1 egg white
- 4 breadsticks ground to crumbs
- 1 lime, juiced
- 1 tbs of capers
- ½ cup of chicken broth
- 1 tsp of minced chives
- a scant bit of Truvia
- sea salt and pepper
Instructions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Pull out two large plates. Put the egg white on one. The crumbs on the other.
Take each chicken breast piece out of the package and use a meat mallet to pound it down flatter. I go for 1/3” thick. To keep the mess down I do this inside of a plastic bag. Put the chicken in and pound on the top surface of the plastic. Works great. Toss the bag when all 4 breasts are flattened
Dip the breast piece in the egg white. You’re just getting it wet on the one side and then dipping it in the bread crumbs ON ONE SIDE. You won’t use much of the egg so don’t worry about the calories. It’s works as a great binder though. You are only dipping one side to keep the carbs down but you really won’t notice.
Heat your sauté pan on medium-high. Lightly spray with olive oil and put the chicken breasts in crumb side down. Saute until light brown. Turn over. Transfer to an oven proof dish and then put in the oven. Bake at 375 for 20 minutes or until chicken no longer shows any pink in the middle.
While the chicken is in the oven you can make your sauce. Juice your lime (Hint: If you want to get the most juice from your lime soak it in hot water for 15 minutes first. I learned this from a fancy bartender. Really works!). Add the chicken broth to a small sauté pan. Add the lime. Gently boil the sauce so it reduces by half. Add the Truvia. Just a bit. Taste. You can always add more if you want sweet sauce. You can also always add more lime if you want it zippier or serve wedges of lime with the chicken too.
Season the sauce with salt and pepper if you want.
When the chicken is plated I drizzle the sauce on one part of the chicken but not the whole thing because I still want a crunchy section of my chicken. Sprinkle on the chive bits and capers. You decide what’s best for your tastes.
Enjoy!
Cheers,
Chicken Breast Saute with a Scallion-Mustard Sauce
Plan Z Phase: This is a Z2 (ZReduction) recipe.
Even the family will love this. Very French Country. It’s also fancy enough to serve to company.
Servings: Serves 2 – Can be doubled easily
Ingredients:
- olive oil spray
- 1 Tbl of minced, fresh tarragon
- 5 scallions, minced. White and light green part only.
- 1 tsp of minced garlic (jar garlic will work in this dish)
- 1-1/2 to 2 cups of organic chicken broth
- 1 Tbl of fine French mustard
- 2 boneless chicken breast halves (6-8 oz each)
Instructions:
Spray the sauté pan. Add the chicken breasts and cook on medium until one side of the breast is golden brown (or to your liking). Turn over. Add the tarragon, scallions and garlic with just a light skim of the broth to moisten the pan. Saute the mixture til it loosens. Don’t let the pan go dry. When those items have been cooked add the rest the chicken broth. I am not specific about the amount of chicken broth here because I don’t want you to put in so much that you cover the chicken. I’d like the top of the chicken breasts to still stick up above the liquid. Add the mustard and begin to slowly reduce the sauce on medium. You are cooking the chicken and reducing the sauce at the same time.
The chicken should be done at about the 12 – 14 minute point. Make sure there is not pink left but it should still be moist. When you plate the chicken you’ll use the remaining sauce in the pan as your dinner sauce. Just pour on or around the chicken. You can see in the picture what I did.
Choose your own veggies. I served it with grilled asparagus and a few blistered tomatoes. All you have to do to make these is grill the asparagus and tomatoes in your grill pan together with a teeny spray of olive oil. Dinner is ready to serve.
Enjoy!
Cheers,
Grilled Chicken and Fruit Salad with Bloody Mary Dressing
Plan Z Phase: This is a Z2 (ZReduction) recipe.
Servings: Serves 3 – 4 with one package of tenders
Ingredients:
For EACH SERVING
- 6-8 oz of chicken tenders (this is usually 3)
- unlimited lettuce
- 1 cup of veggies. My combo consisted of:
- cooked green beans
- cucumber chunks
- celery chunks
- 1/3 of an apple, sliced (leave peel on)
- 8 mandarin orange segments (or 3 regular orange segments)
- 2 strawberries
Instructions:
Grill the chicken tenders until no pink remains in the chicken. I do this with my grill pan so I can make this salad no matter what the weather. If you sear the outside of the tenders and then turn them to a lower temperature to finish cooking they will remain juicier.
While the chicken is cooking arrange your salad so it looks pretty on the plate.
Put on your chicken tenders. I poured 3 Tbl of Bloody Mary dressing on mine and loved it.
You will still have a small allotment of fruit left over so you can have a few berries for your dessert. Just don’t go over your total allotment.
Bloody Mary Dressing:
This dressing is really good. If you like Russian dressing you might consider this Russian dressing’s cousin. Just whiz it up and pour it on.
Ingredients:
- 3 Tbl is one serving (or less if you don’t need that much)
- 4 Tbl of Worcestershire sauce
- 1 cup of chopped canned tomatoes
- 1 tsp of celery salt
- 1/3 cup of vinegar. I used balsamic but you can use your favorite. Apple cider would make the dressing a bit sweeter or red vinegar will work too.
- ¼ tsp of nutmeg, ground
- 1/3 cup of chopped onion
- 1 tsp of Truvia
- 1/3 cup of water
Instructions:
Put this all in a blender and whiz until smooth.
Enjoy!
Cheers,
Adobo Chicken
Plan Z Phase: This is a Z2 (ZReduction) recipe. If you are familiar with adobo chicken, you will recognize it as a full-flavored Mexican dish. Not all Mexican food is spicy. This is pretty mild but packs flavor punch. I suggest you make it this way the first time and if you decide you want it spicier the next time you can add cayenne to your marinade. The longer the cayenne is in there, I promise you the hotter (spicier) your chicken will get.
Servings: Serves 4
Ingredients:
- 4, 6-8oz boneless, skinless chicken breasts
- 1 tsp of Truvia
- 2 Tbl of juice from a fresh orange
- 1 Tbl of cider vinegar
- 2 tsp of chili powder
- 1 tsp of ground cumin
- 1 tsp of dried oregano
- ¼ tsp of cinnamon
- 3 cloves of garlic minced
This chicken goes great with:
- 2 cups peppers, cut into chunks (optional)
- 1 onion, chopped (optional)
Instructions:
Put the boneless chicken breasts in a large, plastic zipper bag. Add the rest of the ingredients and close bag tightly. Toss the chicken in the marinade gently to distribute it. Marinate for at least 30 minutes or up to 24 hours in your refrigerator.
Simply grill the chicken on an outdoor grill or on your grill pan until it’s done to your liking. Another option is to bake the chicken. You can do this at 375 for 15-20 minutes or until the chicken is no longer pink in the middle.
Saute a pile of red, yellow and orange pepper strips with sliced onion in a bit of olive oil spray until wilted. Season with salt and pepper.
This chicken would be great cold or re-heated. The peppers and onions will also taste great cold.
Enjoy!
Cheers,
Garlic Fried Chicken
Plan Z Phase: This is a Z2 (ZReduction) recipe. Want old-time, Southern fried chicken? Well, you’re not going to get it on Z2 but this is as close as I can get. It will remind you of the batter-fried flavor without the carbohydrates and oil.
Servings: Serves 4
Instructions:
- 4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves
- 1 egg white
- 4 large garlic bread sticks crushed to a fine crumb. You’ll end up with about a ½ cup.
- 2 tsp of garlic powder
- 1 tsp of grated black pepper
- 1 tsp of grated sea salt
- 1 tsp of paprika
Instructions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Mix the garlic powder, pepper, salt and paprika in a small bowl.
Beat the egg white and place it on a dinner plate. You are going to use it for dipping. Place the crushed breadcrumbs on another plate. Now you have an assembly line.
Sprinkle the spice mixture over the tops of the chicken breast pieces. Rub it in.
Take a piece of chicken in your hand. Dip the spiced side lightly in the egg white --then into the breadcrumbs. Place in a lightly greased (olive oil spray) 9" x 13” ovenproof pan.
Do the same with the other chicken pieces. Dip all 4. If you have any crumbs left over you can press those into the tops of the pieces of chicken, too. You’re only coating one side to save the carbs and stay within the parameters of ZReduction.
Bake the chicken at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or until no pink remains in the chicken.
Lightly spray again with olive oil about 15 minutes before the chicken is done. This will allow the coating to crisp up better. Finish at the 30-minute mark.
Serve this with the really healthy onion strings and round out a fun meal.
Enjoy!
Cheers,
Chicken and “Sausage” Etouffee (Cajun Stew)
Plan Z Phase: This is a Z2 (ZReduction) recipe.
Two of my favorite Cajun dishes are etouffee and Marengo. Like lots of Cajun food they are basically stews. Simple, flavorful meals.
Because in the ZReduction phase we are not allowed to eat the customary andouille sausage that would be in etouffee I decided to improvise and make a sausage of sorts to go into the dish. It worked just fine. So I hope you enjoy this dish. I have made this version fairly mild. You can always kick it up to downright spicy.
Servings: Serves 6. Makes 9 cups of etouffee. Each serving is 1-1/2 cups
Ingredients:
- 1 lb of ground sirloin
- 2 Tbl of Cajun spice mix
- 3 chicken breast halves cut into one inch pieces
- 1 large onion diced (2 cups)
- 1 red bell pepper diced (1 cup)
- 2 Tbl minced garlic
- ½ tsp of dried sage
- ½ tsp of dried thyme
- 3 cups of organic chicken broth
- 1 6 oz can of tomato paste
- 1 Tbl Worcestershire sauce
- ½ tsp of hot sauce
- 6 green onions, diced. White and light green parts only.
- 3 Tbl of chopped parsley
Instructions:
Let’s make "simple sausage" first. Lightly spray a sauté pan with olive oil. In a bowl combine the sirloin with the Cajun spice mixture. Just mix with your hand. Put the ground sirloin in the sauté pan. Break into large hunks at first. Brown one side and gently flip the blobs over. When they brown on the other side break them up into hunks about 1” in size. Think of the sausage that’s on a pizza. Little blobs like that. When the sausage is cooked just set it aside and make the rest of the etouffee.
In a soup pan add a bit more oil and then sauté the chicken pieces. When they are about half cooked you can add the peppers and onions. Cook on medium high until the chicken is no longer pink in the middle. Add the garlic, sage, thyme, broth, tomato paste, Worcestershire and hot sauce. Bring to a low boil and cook this until all of the ingredients are hot. Then add back in the sausage. Heat.
In traditional Cajun cooking you would have started with a roux (and oil and flour mixture) that makes a gravy. In this dish you won’t have the roux (because of the oil and flour) but you will still have a fairly thick sauce.
When you serve etouffee, you traditionally have diced green onions and a bit of minced parsley on top for a garnish. You won’t even miss the fact that etouffee is usually served over rice. Rice is so yesterday!
This dish reheats marvelously and is easily transportable to the work site.
Enjoy!
Cheers,
Mayan Chicken Stew
Plan Z Phase: This is a Z2 (ZReduction) recipe.
Don’t let this list of ingredients deter you! This is an amazingly easy dish to make. On a diet like this Mexican or South American food would not normally be possible but this tastes authentic and has no rice or potatoes. No tortillas or cheese either. You CAN have exotic meals on Plan Z!
Servings: This makes 6 servings.
Each serving is 1-1/2 cups
Ingredients:
- ¼ cup of water
- 1 Tbl of apple cider vinegar
- 2 tsp of ground turmeric
- 1 tsp of ground cumin
- 1 poblano pepper chopped (use the flesh only. Toss out the seed pod)
- ¼ - ½ of a jalapeno, chopped
- 10 whole cloves of garlic minced
- sea salt to taste
- 6 chicken breast halves
- 1 medium red onion diced (or one half of a large onion)
- ¼ cup of minced fresh cilantro
- 4 plum tomatoes, chopped
- 3 cups of organic chicken broth
- cayenne or hot sauce to taste
Ingredients:
First make your sauce/marinade: In a blender add the first 8 ingredients. You’ll be making a green watery paste.
In a 9" x 13" ovenproof pan place your chicken breasts. Cover the breasts with the green marinade. Toss them around so they are well coated. Place in the refrigerator covered with plastic wrap to marinate. They can be in as short as an hour or as long as all day.
When you are ready to cook them use a spoon or spatula to scrape off the marinade and set it aside. KEEP it.
In a large sauté pan lightly spray olive oil and sauté your chicken on one side for a few minutes until it gets a nice, light brown color. About 5 minutes. Then flip over. Add the onions and stir just until they loosen. Then add the tomatoes, cilantro and chicken broth along with the reserve marinade. Stir around til it’s all mixed up. Then put a top on the pan. Reduce the heat to medium low and continue to cook covered until the chicken is cooked through. This will take about 12 minutes. Take a bit of the sauce and taste it on your finger. You will notice it has a smoky South American flavor but it is not very spicy. This is your time to zip it up if you want more intense heat. A light dusting of cayenne added to the sauce will really kick it up or just pass around a bottle of hot sauce after it’s served so each person can decide their own heat level. Make sure the chicken has no pink in the middle and you’re ready to serve.
Portion: One chicken breast with up to ½ cup of the sauce. You can also have a small serving of another veggie and/or salad.
Enjoy!
Cheers,
Italian Crock Pot Chicken
Plan Z Phase: This is a Z2 (ZReduction) recipe.
Servings: Serves 6
Each serving is 1-1/2 cups
Ingredients:
- 6 boneless and skinless chicken breast halves
- salt and pepper to taste
- ¼ tsp of cracked red pepper flakes
- 1 large onion, chopped
- 4 cloves of garlic, minced (jar garlic is fine in this)
- 3 Tbl of tomato paste (sugar free)
- 1 cup of organic chicken broth
- 1 Tbl of Italian seasoning mix
- 3 Tbl of fresh squeezed lemon juice
- 12 ounce can of artichoke hearts, drained, rinsed and chopped
Instructions:
Cut the chicken into large chunks and season with salt and pepper. Put half of the onion on the bottom. Then add half of the chicken. Add the pepper flakes, garlic, paste, broth, seasoning mix, rest of the onion and lemon juice. Stir this around to break it up and make the sauce. Add the rest of the chicken and stir again.
Cover the crock pot and cook on low for 6 – 8 hours or high for 4 – 5. The chicken will be tender. Make sure the chicken is cooked through and no pink remains. The kitchen will smell like an Italian eatery. 15 minutes before you want to serve it, add the artichoke hearts and turn the pot to low. This will heat the artichokes.
A serving is 1-1/2 cups. Just eyeball it to make sure you have six servings. You can also have a salad on the side with a few bits of celery and cucumber.
Enjoy!
Cheers,
Warm Asian Chicken and Citrus Salad
Plan Z Phase: This is a Z2 (ZReduction) recipe submitted by Plan Z dieter Amy. This will be your vegetables, your protein and half of your fruit.
Servings: Serves 2
Ingredients:
- 2 cups shredded cabbage (if you don’t like cabbage you could use other greens I just felt the cabbage seemed to fit)
- 1-½ cups cucumber, diced
- ½ cup green onions, chopped
- 1 can organic mandarin oranges, packed in their own juice or water
- 1/4 tsp ginger
- 1-½ tbls fruit pectin (can be omitted if you don’t mind runny dressing)
- 12-16 ozs of chicken
- ½ cup Braggs Amino
Instructions:
For the Dressing:
Drain the mandarin orange juice into a small saucepan and add the fruit pectin and ginger. Bring to a boil and then turn off to let it cool and thicken a bit.
For the Chicken:
Put chicken in a sauté pan with a bit of olive oil spray and the Bragg’s Amino and cook over med high heat until cooked through. Remove the chicken and dice up (if you didn’t do this ahead of time)
Put half of the ingredients on each person’s plate or in a bowl and drizzle with the mandarin orange dressing.
Enjoy!
Cheers,
Cucumber Melon Relish
Plan Z Phase: This is a Z2 (ZReduction) recipe. When it’s hot there’s nothing nicer than a refreshing meal like this one. It’s very easy and comes together in a flash. If you have guests or older kids, let them help you chop the ingredients.
Servings: Serves 4
Ingredients:
- 4 cups of cubed cantaloupe. The cut them into a dice.
- 1-1/2 cups of diced English cucumber. I peel my cucumber first for this dish.
- ¾ of a cup of diced red onion
- 1/3 cup of celery, diced
- 1 Tbl of jalapeno, minced
- 1 Tbl of minced, fresh cilantro
- ¼ cup of apple cider vinegar
- ½ tsp of grated sea salt (or to taste0
Instructions:
Put all of the ingredients for the relish in a bowl and stir.
Goes well with any type of fish.
Enjoy!
Cheers,
PS. This will be approximately 2/3 of your dessert portion so factor that in.
Italian Bell Pepper Chicken
Plan Z Phase: This is a Z2 (ZReduction) recipe that is a mild Italian dish. Tastes fresh and healthy.
Servings: Serves 6
Ingredients:
- 6 boneless chicken breast halves. 4 – 6 oz each
- garlic powder and sea salt
- 1 red, 1 yellow and 1 orange bell pepper cut into chunks
- 3 plum tomatoes, diced
- 3 garlic cloves, minced. This will be best with fresh garlic.
- 1 Tbl of capers, drained and rinsed
- 3 Tbl of chopped shallots
- 1 tsp of Italian seasoning blend
- 3 Tbl of chopped Italian parsley
- 1-1/2 cups of organic chicken broth
- spinach greens (optional)
Instructions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Lay chicken in a large sauté pan sprayed lightly with olive oil. Sprinkle with garlic powder and sea salt. Turn heat to medium high and sauté chicken on both sides for about 2 minutes each side; just to give it a bit of browning. Transfer to your oven in an ovenproof pan. Bake for 20 – 30 minutes or until chicken is cooked through and no pink remains.
While the chicken is cooking you can use the same sauté pan to make the veggies. Spray again with light olive oil. Add the peppers and cook on medium high just until they begin to soften. Add the tomatoes, garlic, capers, shallots, Italian seasoning, parsley and then the chicken broth. Saute on a medium low simmer until the peppers are completely cooked. This won’t take more than a few minutes. This should be finished before the chicken is done.
I laid a bed of spinach on the plate for extra salad greens and vitamins. Pour the veggies and broth on top and then add your chicken on top of the whole pile. This dish is your entire meal.
If you want to zip this up you can add a few pepper flakes to the broth mixture. Otherwise it’s a pretty conservative meal as far as taste goes.
Cheers,
Grilled Mexican Chicken “Boats”
Plan Z Phase: This is a Z2 (ZReduction) recipe. You can make this recipe in a saute pan or take a different twist on it and grill everything in a grill basket.
Use your favorite meat rub on the chicken. I used a spicy steak rub on my version. Don’t be afraid to use a rub indicated for beef on chicken or fish or vise versa!
Servings: Serves 4
Ingredients:
- 24 oz of skinless chicken breast meat cut into ½” cubes. If you are not planning on grilling, you can use ground chicken.
- your favorite meat rub
- olive oil spray
- 2 tsp of ground cumin
- 3 Tbl of minced fresh cilantro
- 3 limes, juiced
- sea salt and pepper to taste
- 2 large jalapenos peppers, sliced
- 1 large sweet onion cut into wedges
- 1 red bell pepper cut into 1” squares
- 1 cup of red cherry tomatoes
- 1 cup of yellow cherry tomatoes
- butter lettuce leaves
Instructions:
In a bowl or large zip lock baggie put in your chicken. Dust with the meat rub to your taste and mix it around so it covers all of the chicken. Add the cumin, cilantro, lime juice, salt and pepper. Toss to combine. Let marinate in the refrigerator for an hour or more. You can do this before work and come home to it fully marinated or do it when you get home and cook in one hour. I did the latter and it had plenty of time to marinate.
Saute the chicken on medium high until no pink remains in the chicken. If you want to be fancy, you can grill your meat (just be sure to use a grill basket. This works better if you are using chicken breasts cut into pieces. Ground chicken on the grill would get messy!). Stir the chicken periodically so no side gets charred.
Remove the chicken and keep it in a clean bowl. Cover to keep warm.
Lightly spray your veggies with olive oil. Grate on a bit of sea salt. Either saute your veggies or cook them on the grill until they are softened and cooked to your liking.
Put one or two clean butter lettuce leaves on your plate. Put 6-8 ounces of chicken chunks on top and cover with a full cup of veggies.
Serve.
Enjoy!
Cheers,
Mini-Meatloaves
Plan Z Phase: This is a Z2 (ZReduction) recipe. These little meatloaves transport very easily. They can be taken to work for lunch, or a picnic in the park. I hope you enjoy them!
Servings: Makes 4 small loaves, can be doubled. One serving of mini-meatloaves is your protein serving and half of your breadstick portion. You can still have a full vegetable portion with this meal.
Ingredients:
- 1 lb of lean ground beef. I use ground sirloin.
- 4 large breadsticks (grissini is the Italian name)
- 1 tsp of Worcestershire sauce (organic)
- 4 Tbl of chopped Vidalia onion
- 2 cloves of minced garlic (in this case jar garlic is fine)
- cayenne to taste. A good sprinkle will do it. This is optional.
- 4 tsp of tomato paste (get Hunt’s where available or any other sugar-free tomato paste. Look closely at the labels and note that although Hunt’s DOES NOT MAKE A “SUGAR-FREE” tomato paste they do not ADD sugar to their tomato paste. You will still see a very tiny amount of sugar listed in the Nutritional Facts label. This is called “naturally occurring” sugar.)
Instructions:
Crush your breadsticks to a fine crumb texture. You can do this in a food processor or even in a plastic bag and crush it with your rolling pin.
Add the crumbs to a large bowl. Now, add the meat, onion and spices. Keep the tomato paste aside. Mix the ingredients so they are all distributed evenly.
Take out your regular-sized muffin tin. Spray 4 segments (apart from each other). Make 4 “balls” of meatloaf out of your mixture. Put them in your muffin tin. Squish them down a bit so they have a flat-ish top on them. Spread one tsp of tomato paste on the top of each. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes.
Let cool slightly before trying to remove them from the pan. I use a fork to “grab” them from the side. Gently remove them and plate them along with your side dish. Makes a great dinner or even a lunch. You can put these, when cool, in baggies and store in the refrigerator. They travel well to work and you can eat them cold (my sister loves cold meatloaf) or you can heat them in the microwave.
Enjoy!
Cheers,
Tomato Basil Soup
Plan Z Phase: This is a Z2 (ZReduction) recipe. Today’s recipe is simple but has a twist. Tomato basil soup is very easy to make. It comes together in a flash. The addition of cooked chicken elevates it to a one bowl meal. This soup can be made and served several ways. See below for more serving options. I hope you enjoy it.
Servings: Serves 4. Serving size 1-1/2 cups.
Ingredients:
- 1 medium onion, diced
- olive oil spray
- 28 oz of crushed tomatoes with basil added (if you can’t find one with basil just use the regular) (no sugar)
- 15 oz of diced tomatoes in a can
- 28 oz of organic chicken stock
- 2 tsp of balsamic vinegar
- 3 Tbl of fresh basil leaves, minced
- 8 Tbl of whole milk
- sea salt and pepper to taste
Instructions:
In your soup pan lightly spray with olive oil and then add the onions. Saute on medium until the onions loosen. This won’t take more than 5 minutes.
Add the tomatoes, broth, balsamic vinegar and basil bits along with the milk. Bring to a boil and turn down to lightly boil 10 minutes or until completely heated. Stir often.
You can add protein. I added cooked chicken chunks. 6-8 oz of protein total per serving.
You could also add fish or shellfish instead of chicken
You can eat the soup separately from your protein.
As a plain soup (without the protein added) this makes a great cold soup.
You can also puree the soup in your blender before adding any protein and you’ll have a perfectly smooth soup.
Enjoy!
Cheers,
Hunky Chunky Tomato Salad
Plan Z Phase: This is a Z2 (ZReduction) recipe.
Servings: Serves 3 – 4
Ingredients:
- 2 large tomatoes cut into hunks. 1” in size or so.
- 1 shallot, minced. You can use regular onion or green onion, too. Or a mix of all three (that's my favorite).
- 1 large English cucumber, peeled and cut into chunks
- salt and pepper to taste
- 2 Tbl fresh parsley
Instructions:
Toss with your favorite Plan Z dressing.
Serving Suggestions:
For Italian I use an Italian-style dressing like the pesto one or balsamic and if Asian I use an Asian-style dressing. Just put “dressing” in the search bar and all of the dressing recipes will pop up.
Cheers,
Berries with Sweet Cream
Plan Z Phase: This is a Z2 (ZReduction) recipe.
The British had it right. When I traveled in Britain on business I saw people in nice restaurants pouring cream out of a pitcher onto their dessert. I thought to myself, “Why make your pie soggy?” That made no sense to me. It’s not even sweetened cream. It’s just cream.
Well, now I know better.
When you are on ZReduction even the least little bit of cream tastes like heaven. This is a super simple dessert that combines cream with your favorite berries; in this case blackberries are pictured.
Serving Size: Serves 1. Can be multiplied easily.
Ingredients:
- Berries. You choose. You can have your portion of berries. Just remember that with blueberries your portion is much smaller than with other berries. If you are using strawberries, I suggest you slice them or quarter them.
- 2 Tbl of whipping cream
- ¼ – ½ tsp of Truvia
Instructions:
In a small bowl mix your cream and Truvia. Stir with a spoon until the Truvia appears to have dissolved. Pour over your berries. Stir and eat.
This tastes sort of like melted ice cream with the berries. It’s actually quite satisfying while you lose weight and wait until you can have regular Zola ice cream!
Enjoy!
Cheers,