Chicken Packets

Here's a great idea I read about a long time ago on a wls forum and forgot about until last week. I made some up Saturday and cooked one today. Oh yummy! I did some packets with fish too!

Chicken Packets

Chicken tenderloins or breast pieces (no need to defrost if frozen)
Vegetables (onions, peppers, squash, carrots, etc.)
Salt and pepper to taste
Other seasonings to taste
Heavy duty aluminum foil

Lay a sheet of aluminum foil on the counter. Place a chicken tenderloin and your vegetables in the middle. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and/or whatever other seasoning you want to use. I used Montreal Chicken on some, dry Italian dressing mix on some, and Southwest Sweet and Smoky Chicken on others. Fold aluminum foil over on all four sides and label. Put your packets in the freezer. To cook, just throw on the grill until done. I put mine on indirect heat until almost done then moved it over to direct heat for a couple of minutes. I also used one of those baskets that you put hamburger patties in, close the basket and then flip the basket instead of the burgers. That worked really well. I was able to remove it from the grill to check for doneness. Hey! You could also make a packet of just vegetables (hmmm...marinated veggies!) ready to throw on the grill! This is not necessarily fast, but it sure is easy...like when you get home from the gym and don't feel like cooking!

15 minutes from frozen packet to cooked and ready to eat! I cooked the fish on direct heat and high.

Chicken & "Rice" Soup

I remember on cold days (well, as cold as it gets in Louisiana anyway) my Mom would sometimes heat up a can of Campbell's Chicken & Rice soup. As a kid, I loved it! And as an adult that didn't think about how much sodium was in there, I loved it. I tried eating some a couple of years ago and...YUCK! Way too salty! And what's with the grease in there anyway? So what to do? Panic? Who me? Noooooo...I played around with it until I hit on the perfect chicken and rice soup!

Chicken & "Rice" Soup

Chicken:
1 bag frozen boneless, skinless chicken breast pieces, defrosted
1 teaspoon olive oil
2 teaspoons lemon juice
1 teaspoon marjoram
1 teaspoon thyme
salt and pepper to taste

Preheat the oven to 350F. Spray a baking sheet with cooking spray. Combine the olive oil, lemon juice, and the herbs and spices into a paste. Rub well onto the chicken then place chicken on baking sheet. Bake for about 15-20 minutes until chicken temperature reaches 165F. (FYI: If you're not making soup, this is terrific baked chicken; just make sure you don't over-bake so that your pouch won't tolerate it). Remove from oven and let cool.

Soup:
1 bag carrots, peeled and sliced
6-8 stalks celery, sliced
2 quarts chicken stock
1 envelope beef bouillon
1/2 teaspoon marjoram
1/2 teaspoon thyme
salt and pepper to taste
garlic powder to taste

Place all the vegetables in a Dutch oven. Cut the cooled chicken into cubes and add to the vegetables. Add the herbs and spices and finally the chicken stock. Bring to a boil, cover and lower heat to simmer. Cook until the vegetables are tender and the chicken starts to shred a little when you stir.

"Rice"
3/4 cup medium barley
4 cups water
dash salt

Cook barley according to package directions. Drain if there's water left in the barley. Add barley to soup and stir. The longer the barley sits in the soup, the less you can tell it's barley. It begins to feel like rice.

Note: Don't try to save time by throwing the barley into the soup to cook it. It will just absorb up all that lovely chicken stock!

Strawberry Delight

I saw this on The Biggest Loser on Netflix streaming and decided that it looked good enough to make right away. I've been making it for a while and realized I hadn't shared it yet! Oh no! This has got to be the easiest and best tasting dessert I've ever made. Absolutely love it! Fresh fruit is best, but you can also defrost some frozen fruit and use that.

Strawberry Delight

1 container fresh strawberries
sweetener, to taste (for the fruit-optional)
1 large box sugar free strawberry jello
8 ounces Lite Cool Whip

Wash and slice the strawberries and place in a medium-sized bowl. Make the jello (using ice to replace the cold water). Whisk in the Cool Whip. Pour over the strawberries, cover, and place in the refrigerator to chill and set. Serve with a dollop of Cool Whip.

There are lots of other combinations you can use too! Try pineapple with lime jello, cherries with cherry jello, etc. Blueberries would be good too. Hmmm...what jello would you use with blueberries? I think I'm gonna try lemon!

Note: Having a fancy luncheon or dinner party? Make individual servings in wine glasses!