Fat Chick Fed Up

Hey everyone! In this week’s Menu Plan Monday post I promised to provide you with a recipe for my uber-healthy Chipotle knock-off Cilantro Lime “Rice”. For tonight’s dinner, I paired it with Cilantro Lime Chicken so I thought I would share that recipe with you as well. These go so well together and I love the combination of cilantro and lime together. The chicken would be fabulous shredded in tacos as well. Enjoy!

 

 

 Cilantro Lime Chicken

 

Original recipe can be found here-I made several changes though. What can I say? It’s what I do.

 

Ingredients:

2 T olive oil

4 T low-sodium soy sauce

juice of 1-2 limes (or 2T-4T bottled lime juice-also, if you microwave the lime for 30 seconds and then roll it a few times on your counter-top, it is much easier to juice and you will gt more out of it. Then I like to throw mine in the garbage disposal to give the sink a nice, fresh smell!)

4-6 cloves of garlic (or more if you LOVE garlic like we do!)

1 C fresh cilantro

4-6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

 

Directions:

 

 

1. Combine everything but chicken in a blender and thoroughly blend.

 

2. Put chicken in a large Ziploc baggie or freezer bag and pour the marinade over. Allow to marinate in the refrigerator for at least 15-30 minutes (if grilling) or  4-24 hours (if baking).

 

The original recipe calls for grilling this chicken and I think it would be divine that way. Unfortunately, I don’t have a grill and I wouldn’t use it if I did. They scare the living daylights out of me (isn’t that a funny expression?). I plan on having The Chick Magnet try this out when we get to Florida though.

 

I have made this twice. Once, I pan-fried it with a bit of olive oil and it was SO good that way, though not as healthy as it would be if baked. Tonight, I baked it at 400 for about 30 minutes. It was very good, though not quite as flavorful as the first time around, which is why I recommend a longer marinade time if you will be baking it. It was still delish and all 3 of my boys gave their seal of approval by asking for second-helpings!

 

 

“Just Like Chipotle” Cilantro Lime “Rice”

 

Original recipe found here (love this website, by the way, I have LOVED every single recipe from here that I have made. You have got to follow Gina on Pinterest! She’s fabulous!). But of course, you know I couldn’t leave well enough alone.

 

We’re huge Chipotle fans in this house and my daughter especially loves their Cilantro Lime Rice. So when I saw this recipe from Gina on Pinterest, I knew I had to try it.

 

However, rice is one of those foods that I try pretty hard to avoid. I love it and can eat way too much of it and it is really high on the glycemic index so I just really try to avoid it if at all possible. There are a few dishes that I make that there are just no substitutes for rice but if a dish calls for rice I try to use quinoa or another substitute.

 

For this particular dish, since rice was the main event, I did not know how my experiment would turn out. I am so happy to say though, that it was nothing short of FABULOUS! And it really does taste just like Chipotle! All of my kids wanted multiple helpings of this and it really could not be healthier!

 

Ingredients:

1/2 – 1 head of cauliflower (depending on your family size and if you want leftovers. One head of cauliflower makes A LOT. Normally I would do a whole head but since my hubby and daughter aren’t here I just did a half tonight and roasted the rest for a healthy snack later. Even with 4 of us and only using 1/2 I still had leftovers)

juice of one lime (or 1-2T of bottled lime juice)

1/4 C chopped, fresh cilantro

sea salt to taste

 

Directions:

 

 

1. Tear leaves from cauliflower and then wash and cut into chunks.

 

2. Place cauliflower into food processor and pulse until it resembles rice.

 

 

(Seriously, did you know that cauliflower could do this? I just learned this a few months ago. It’s awesome!)

 

 

3. Place “riced” cauliflower in a microwave safe container and microwave for five minutes. (I used my steamer which is perfect for this. If you don’t have one, just cover with a paper towel). No need to add water. Seriously, is that not so cool? It steams itself.

 

 

4. Add the rest of the ingredients to the steamed “rice” and mix thoroughly. Serve warm.

 

 

We seriously LOVE this meal. It uses ingredients we usually have on hand, it comes together in a snap, it is frugal and extremely healthy and low-calorie, without sacrificing on taste. The fact that it tastes fabulous is just bonus! I also served this with a salad, but baked sweet potatoes or another roasted veggie like broccoli, asparagus or brussels sprouts would be great with it as well.

 

Enjoy!

 

Have you ever “riced” cauliflower or was this a totally new idea to you?