Baked Lemon Chicken Breasts (Healthy Recipe)

After reading through Joy Bauer's new book, "Food cures: Eat Right to Get Healthier, Look Younger, and Add Years to Your Life", it inspired me to  make a healthy chicken dish. To make the dish I used chicken breasts because the meat is leaner. Chicken breasts can taste a little bland, so I added acidic ingredients which both tenderize the meat and enhance the flavor. I used what is currently in season: pomegranate and lemon. I also mixed in capers and kalamata olives for their briny taste. I love how the flavors complement each other; all have acidic notes which make them work well together while keeping the calorie count low.

As usual, olive oil is a great choice for a healthy meal, though as Joy said a little goes a long way!

Olive Tapenade Chicken Rolls

Olive tapenade is extremely versatile and can be used as a spread or filling in many different dishes. You can also use it in place of more traditional party dips such as hummus, guacamole, salsa or roasted bell pepper spread. In this recipe, I added goat cheese to the tapenade and used the mixture as a filling for chicken rolls. I served the dish with a mildly sweet carrot purée that makes an excellent foil to the savory flavor of the tapenade.

If it's not part of your culinary repertoire yet, you should definitely learn to prepare tapenade. It will open up a whole new world of easy to prepare, delectable dishes.

Mushroom and Cheese Stuffed Chicken Breast

Mushroom and cheese stuffed chicken breast is a quick and easy chicken recipe for dinner. I used goat ricotta cheese, shiitake mushrooms, sun dried tomatoes and lemon to flavor the meat. Chicken breast can be dry, so I marinated the meat and cooked the chicken for only 15 minutes. It's perhaps more of a roll than a stuffing, but either way, it's delicious.

My mother-in-law is an absolute creature of habit, and when we plan on cooking chicken, her preference is always poulet roti. Contrary to the stereotype, I love my mother-in-law dearly, so don't think I'm complaining, but it takes a miracle to get her to try new things. A couple of nights ago, we had some dinner guests and we had to come up with a main course. We had chicken breasts in the house, but no whole chicken. My mother-in-law was ready to go to the market to get a whole chicken, but I was able to convince her to give this recipe a try.

Given the time crunch, she grudgingly gave in and let me prepare the dish. When she tasted it, she asked me why I haven't made it before! I see a lot of stuffed chicken breasts in my future, and if you try this recipe, I bet you will too!