Tuesday, January 27, 2009

A Healthy and Delicious Chicken Dinner

By Jana Banks

It's the time of year when many of us decide it's time to eat healthier. Eating a better, more balanced diet sounds simple but can be quite hard to stick to for a long period of time, especially if the recommended food seems tasteless or boring. One of the primary meats that are often part of a healthy diet regiment is poultry for it's high protein, low fat content.

The wonderful thing about poultry and especially chicken is the variety of ways you can prepare it, producing very different tasting dishes. Chicken mixes well with all kinds of sauces and side dishes, making it a very simple and tasty dish to cook. Whether you prefer grilled, baked, stir-fried, spicy, or sweet, you'll find a wealthy of great recipes that will make it easy to add poultry to your healthy diet.

Another plus about chicken is that is cooks quite quickly, especially if you choose to make chicken cutlets. It's pretty easy to make a nice family dinner even after a busy day with a few simple foods. Cover the amount of cutlets you need in a tasty marinade or some herbs and lemon and bake for about 20 minutes. Serve them with a side of rice and some mixed vegetables and you've got a great tasting, satisfying, healthy meal in no time.

Now if you're like many people and you own an electric indoor grill, they you can easily cook up your favorite barbecued chicken anytime. For fun, make some easy, zesty chicken kebobs. You just cut up your chicken into smaller pieces and place them on a skewer with some of your favorite veggie and fruit pieces. Add a few of your family's favorite side dishes like wild rice and fresh lemon asparagus and you've got a quick, no-fuss, delightful dish sure to please your family or your guests.

Stir-fry is a great cooking method for chicken and a fast and easy meal to create for any night. While stir-fry is easiest in a deep-dish wok, any decent skillet or fry pan will serve just fine for cooking up a delicious stir-fry dish. What's great about stir-fry is it's a healthy, low fat cooking method that produces very tasty results. You can make it sweet or spicy, it's up to you.

So if you're ready to enjoy some great chicken dishes or you're looking for new ways to liven up your same old chicken, be sure to browse the Internet for some excellent free recipes. You'll even find great feedback and ideas from people who've tried the recipes and found ways to enhance them, along with great suggestions for side dishes too. And let's not forget about all of the excellent cookbooks available - it might be time for a trip to your favorite bookstore for a beautiful new cookbook or two for your kitchen. - 15359

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