Food blogger I am not.

But sometimes I surprise myself.  And I'm sure I surprise Ben as well.

We had chicken for dinner last night that I had marinated overnight in some Mrs. Dash Garlic & Herb marinade.  I'm not going to say don't buy it, but I didn't like it at all.  We also had some broccoli with cheese, black eyed peas, and squash.  All those cliche New Year's foods you're supposed to eat.  Ben liked it, but I just was so disappointed with the chicken.  So what did I do?

LAID OUT MORE CHICKEN.

I don't give up that easy, Mrs. Dash.

When I was younger, my mom used to always make dinner using Shake 'n Bake.  To be honest, I didn't even know they still made the stuff until I was in the store two nights ago.  So I thought, why not?  I laid out the chicken last night and stopped by the store tonight for a few more things.  I really wanted to focus on getting my protein.  And Gene The Personal Trainer told me that anything green is good.  Thus, asparagus. Publix is amazing because they do everything for you.  Next time I will know to get two bags when feeding two people, but they cut it, wash it and put it in a steamer bag for you so all you have to do is pop that baby in the microwave.  Here is everything you'll need:

1 box Shake 'n Bake Ranch & Herb flavor
1 lb chicken breasts or tenders
2 steam bags of Publix asparagus tips
2 tbsp I Can't Believe It's Not Butter
Garlic Powder (NOT garlic salt)
1-2 triangles Laughing Cow Light Creamy Swiss
Dipping bowl of water 

 DIRECTIONS: 

1.  Cut chicken down the middle.  I only had tenders, so it was a big more difficult.  Breasts would be much easier to cut, open and stuff with the cheese.
2.  Take the Laughing Cow cheese and spread down the middle cut of the chicken.  You can be as generous as you want!  It will come out super creamy.
3.  Take your clear "shake" bag and pour in the Shake 'n Bake mix.
4.  One piece at a time, dip your chicken into the water.  You only want it to be moist, not soaking wet.
5.  Drop each piece into the "shake" bag containing your the mix and shake, shake, shake!
6.  Continue until each piece is coated. 

Place chicken onto an un-greased baking sheet.  Bake at 400 degrees for 17 minutes.  When your timer goes off, place your steam bag of asparagus into the microwave for 2 1/2 minutes, also continuing to let your chicken cook more during this time. 

While the asparagus is steaming, put your butter into a bowl and give a few shakes of garlic powder on top.  No need to heat it up.  When the asparagus is done, take it out of the bag and put it in with the butter mix.  Stir it around, creating a garlic butter sauce.  Again, you can be as generous as you want!  Take the chicken out of the oven and you're done!  Voila!  A healthy and simple plate for dinner. And in hardly any time at all.

Prep time:     10 minutes
Cook time:    20 minutes
Serves 1-2

Healthy (Vegetarian) Southwest Bowl

HEALTHY SOUTHWEST BOWL

• 1 bag Morningstar Griller's Crumbles
• 1 can  Black Beans
• 1 container pre-chopped yellow onion
• 1 container pre-prepared pico de gallo
• 1 package Chobani original greek yogurt
• 1 bag reduced fat shredded cheese
• 1 bottle Bolthouse Farms Salsa Ranch Yogurt Dressing

The Morninstar crumbles are pre-cooked, so you just heat them up in a pan.  I heated them in a skillet with the onions exactly as I would if I were browning ground beef.  I rinsed the black beans and heated them in a separate pot, keeping them on low.  Once the crumbles and onions are thoroughly heated, make your bowl!  I stacked mine with black beans first, crumbles, pico, cheese, greek yogurt and then just a splash of the salsa ranch yogurt dressing.  This bowl was so incredibly satisfying!  Thanks to Sami for the suggestion of greek yogurt instead of sour cream!  I couldn't even tell a difference. (and of course you can tweak this with lettuce, rice, chicken, etc... those are just things I can't eat yet!)

The yogurt dressing can be found in your produce section.  It was something I just happened to stumble upon and was pleasantly surprised that it was very healthy!  And guys-  it.is.delicious.  I love that I'm finding new and satisfying things to eat so that I don't feel deprived or on my own with food.  Ben ate this bowl with me and loved it!