Healthy Chicken Margherita Pasta

Oh my goodness! You guys have to try this new recipe. It is amazing! I am always on the lookout for quick, easy, and healthy recipes. Freezer friendly that can be portioned out and ready for the microwave straight from the freezer are also a huge plus for me. Well this recipe has all of those qualities! I found this Healthy Chicken Margherita Pasta recipe on Once a Month meals and tried it out the other day.

Here is the picture that they have of it. Mine looked pretty darn close to this. I only made a few modifications!

The first modification was to use whole wheat pasta instead of white. I used Barilla Whole Grain Penne pasta.

Second I changed the amount of chicken and tomatoes and increased the number of servings!

Save Print

Healthy Chicken Margherita Pasta

Author: Abby Siler Fitness - adapted from Once a Month Meals

Cuisine: Itallian

Serves: 8

A great freezer friendly ready to eat meal that is done in about 30 minutes!

Ingredients

1 box Barilla Whole Grain Penne
24 oz cook and dice Chicken, Boneless Breasts
1.5 tablespoon Olive Oil
1 tablespoons Balsamic Vinegar
3 tablespoons chop Basil, Fresh
2 cup halve Grape Tomatoes
1 cups Mozzarella Cheese, 2%, Shredded

Instructions

Cook pasta according to package directions until just al dente. Drain.
In a large bowl, combine pasta, chicken, olive oil, balsamic vinegar, and basil.
Gently fold in grape tomatoes and half of mozzarella cheese.
Transfer to a glass baking dish, top with remaining mozzarella cheese.
Bake, covered, 350F for 15 minutes until heated through.
Divide between 8 microwavable and freezer friendly containers. Freeze
To re-heat, place in microwave for 1-2 minutes until warmed through.

Nutrition Information

Calories: 372 Fat: 10 Carbohydrates: 39 Protein: 36

Weekend Meal Prep

Over the last couple of days I did a HUGE weekend meal prep. I had started slacking off on having pre-portioned healthy meals ready to go. Usually I will do a huge cooking weekend to get stocked up and then every weekend I will prep one recipe to add to the ones that I have in the freezer so we don’t run out. This also helps with decreased amount of time in the kitchen each weekend prepping meals! Here is the breakdown of what I made this weekend with recipes linked! As a side note I decided to use ground chicken instead of beef or turkey to simplify and reduce cost of the meals! I grind my own chicken at home with my Kitchenaid stand mixer which is amazing! Okay here goes!

Chicken Pad Thai – forgot to take a picture of this!

BLT turkey/chicken meatballs from The Perfect Pantry meatball Cookbook

Taco Meatballs (made with ground chicken)

Chile Garlic shrimp with Brown Rice

Healthy Chicken and Rice Enchilada Casserole

Don’t forget about the new Beachbody on Demand! Try it out with a challenge pack and Join my next fitness accountability group! Apply below if you are interested!

Name:*

First

Last

E-mail:*

Do you currently own any Beachbody Fitness programs?*

Have you ever tried Shakeology?*

I have never tried Shakeology

I have tried Shakeology but am not currently drinking it

I have it but I'm not drinking it regularly

I drink it everyday!

My coach is Abby Siler on Teambeachbody.com*

Yes

Not Sure

Word Verification:

Clean Meal Planning

Hello all of the beautiful people out there! Today is Friday which means it is meal planning day in my house! I only work a half day on Fridays so this is the day that works best for me to get organized and ready for the next week. With planning the next week on a Friday I am able to use the weekend to prep anything that I might need done ahead of time for the week as well as get my shopping in. It is also the day that I get my Bountiful Basket every other week and therefore I can plan my week around the produce I get from there! Remember that the key to success is to plan ahead! Failure to plan is Planning to fail!! Okay off my soap-box. I base all of my (most since I follow the 80/20 rule) food off of this awesome little powerhouse of a book.

If you are unfamiliar with the principles behind clean eating do some research. The basic jist is this…eat less processed food and more fresh food. Sounds like a good plan right? I try to eat 3 meals with 2 snacks each day. I am for 6 servings of fruits/veggies, 6 servings of protein, and 3-4 servings of complex carbs. I count some fruits and veggies as my complex carb like sweet potatoes and bananas. If you want more details I highly recommend Tosca’s book! I also love her “just the rules” book as well!

Here is what next week’s meals look like for me. I workout at 5:30 every morning so my pre-workout snack is the first meal and then I have my “big” breakfast after my workout. Keep in mind that it is ideal to eat every 2-3 hours to keep you metabolism up!

2-17-15 meal plan

Name:*

First

Last

E-mail:*

Do you currently own any Beachbody Fitness programs?*

Have you ever tried Shakeology?*

I have never tried Shakeology

I have tried Shakeology but am not currently drinking it

I have it but I'm not drinking it regularly

I drink it everyday!

My coach is Abby Siler on Teambeachbody.com*

Yes

Not Sure

Word Verification:

Recipes to feed a group

I don’t know about you but this time of year always gets me looking into good recipes to feed a group with. I also would like to be able to feed a group a good and tasty meal without sacrificing my goals and priorities for my family when it comes to nutrition. So the challenge now is having a good, tasty, and clean meal that is not difficult to prepare for a group. Now there is a task….unfortunately our society and culture lives off of sugar and processed food. I found a great blog article from a site that I visit regularly and wanted to share it with you! Clean Recipes for a Large Group. No fancy pictures this time just a good ol’ link to another blog with great information!

Enjoy!

~Abby