Chicken Breast

Although these highly seasoned chicken breasts are delicious on their own, they also make a fine foundation for a variety of other dishes, such as Sour Cream Chicken Enchilada Casserole (page 160).

For comfort food sure to please, try this cracker-coated chicken. You may want to make extra gravy to top mashed potatoes.

You’ll think you’re at a taverna on the Mediterranean Sea when you bite into this chicken. It’s packed with flavor from lemon, feta cheese, oregano, and kalamata olives.

Dijon mustard, honey, and cumin might seem to be an unlikely combination, but this dish will win raves every time.

Whether your family craves Italian, Tex-Mex, or Asian food tonight, this simple standby with its triple combination of meat and seafood and its choice of marinades will come to your rescue.

A small amount of intensely flavored dressing goes a long way in this brilliantly colored salad.

Here’s a new twist on chicken salad. Serve this one with baked tortilla chips on lettuce-lined plates, garnished with jalapeño rings.

A mildly spicy vinaigrette tops mixed salad greens, soy-brushed chicken, and tangy grapefruit.

This versatile Asian-flavored slaw can be as mild or as spicy as you like. Use it as a salad, or add chicken and serve over rice for a main dish (recipe on page 65).

Simple to prepare, this chowder has a rich flavor and an interesting texture that make it enormously satisfying. For a delectable light dinner, serve it with a crisp salad and follow with fruit for dessert.

This light, garden-fresh soup is double-quick to fix. Just bring it to a boil, remove it from the heat, and let it stand for a few minutes!

Your guests will be amazed at the flavor packed into these phyllo shells. You’ll love how easy they are to make.

I almost always have Basic Grilled Chicken on hand in my refrigerator. Not only is it great for adding to salads, it makes it a cinch to make nachos, pizzas, and so much more. Plus, it’s great cubed when I just get the munchies and want something healthy to snack on.

This chicken is excellent to have on hand if you’re as huge a fan of Mexican cuisine as I am. Add it to salad, soups, Southwest wraps, and more. If you use just a touch of salt along with a salt-free Mexican or Southwest seasoning, it will have a ridiculously small fraction of the sodium of any taco, burrito, or fajita seasoning I’ve seen in grocery stores, not to mention far fewer preservatives.

Depending on the flavor and thickness of the brand of dressing you buy, you may want to consider adding a little lemon juice to it before tossing it with the salad. Lemon can really brighten the flavor and/or thin thicker dressings (thus requiring less dressing). Be careful, though—some brands are already pretty acidic, so adding lemon juice may make the dressing sour. Buy prewashed lettuces to save time.

I think this might be the most guilt-free pizza I eat. Not only are you getting the health benefits of whole wheat from the tortilla, in addition, nutritious salad greens are included, along with plenty of lean protein. If you can’t find the garlic blend, you can use a garlic spread. Just be sure you find one without too much fat. That said, since you’re using only a teaspoon, even one with a bit of fat won’t hurt. Just be sure not to use the leftovers of a more fattening one in bulk in another recipe.

It’s best to buy goat cheese that is precrumbled. This will save you time and make it easier to spread the cheese across the entire pizza, requiring less to get some in every bite. If you do buy it in a tube (it may make sense if it’s significantly less expensive that way), freeze it slightly before attempting to crumble it. It will crumble much easier.

You can buy pregrilled chicken in grocery stores these days for convenience, or you can make it yourself in bulk a couple of days a week (see Basic Grilled Chicken, page 219). If you make it yourself, you’re apt to save a lot of sodium—and likely a lot of money too. I love adding chicken to pizza. The addition of plenty of lean protein can transform pizza into a very well-balanced meal. Because chicken is so low in fat, it’s best to put it under the cheese (instead of on top, like you traditionally would with meat toppings) when making pizza—you’ll keep the chicken from drying out.

If you’re a big fan of balsamic vinegar, you’ll love this chicken. And if you’re able to treat yourself, you might consider hunting down a really great aged balsamic. It will turn this no-brainer recipe into something pretty extraordinary. But whether you do that or just grab the one on sale at the grocery store, the result is sure to be delicious.

I love pesto, but unfortunately, it’s typically made with a shocking amount of oil and is thus very fattening. Luckily, I’ve discovered other ways to enjoy the flavor of pesto without the fat and calories. Using herbs from a tube or frozen herbs works really well on this chicken to give it that classic pesto flavor without the fat . . . and without a lot of work. Please note that if you buy frozen herbs, you should measure them out yourself before using them in recipes. I’ve found that a 1-teaspoon block of herbs is rarely an actual teaspoon.