Bean and Shrimp Salad with Curried Yogurt

Here's a tasty dish on the lighter side for a fresh start to the new year.  I still have holiday leftovers so I'm not quite ready to start eating clean, but soon you should see plenty of lighter dishes here.  

This recipe uses crisp beans, which I love.  I used a mix of purple and yellow beans.  They look great raw, but the purple ones turn dark green when cooked.

I really should get back to cooking with shrimp more often.  They are satisfying but very healthy, and it's easy to always have some waiting in the freezer to quickly defrost.  

This recipe comes from Cooking Light.  Here's what you need:

Chicken Paprikash

How about some Clean Eating for the New Year?  I plan to make some healthier recipes this month after the excesses of the holidays, and this is a great one!  

Here's what you need:

2 tablespoons flour (whole wheat or white)
4 teaspoons paprika, divided 
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 onion
1 red bell pepper or hot red pepper
2 cloves garlic
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper (optional)
3/4 cup chicken broth
1/2 cup Greek yogurt
1 tablespoon chopped dill

Place flour, 1 teaspoon paprika and a pinch of salt and pepper on a plate.

And mix it together.

Dredge each chicken breast in the flour mixture.

Turn to coat and shake off any excess.  

Heat a tablespoon of oil in a large pan.

And add the chicken breasts and cook 3-4 minutes until lightly browned.

Oops, one got a little more brown than the other. No matter. Flip the chicken and cook 2-3 minutes more.

Remove the chicken to a clean plate and set aside.

Thinly slice the onion and red pepper (if using) and add to the pan.  Cook for about 5 minutes until onion is translucent.

Meanwhile, chop the garlic cloves.

And add them to the onions in the pan along with the remaining 3 teaspoons paprika and cayenne pepper, if using.  Cook, stirring for about a minute.  

Then add the chicken stock and stir.  

Return the chicken to the pan and cook, covered for about 10 minutes until chicken is cooked through.

Remove the chicken from the pan again, this time to a clean cutting board.

Take your Greek yogurt...

And add a couple of tablespoons of the pan juices to temper it.

Stir them together.

Then add the yogurt mixture to the pan and mix together.  Bring back to a simmer.

Slice the chicken.

And return it to the pan to mix with the sauce.

You can serve this over rice or any grain but I like it with noodles.  These ones are whole wheat.

Top the noodles with the chicken and sauce.

Chop some fresh dill.  You can also use dried if you have to.

And sprinkle the dill over the chicken.  I served this with some steamed broccoli and it was extremely tasty.  It's very quick and easy and pretty healthy.  Give it a try!

Panko Mustard Chicken Fingers

Making your own chicken fingers has got to be healthier than the ones that come out of the box, right?  These are doubly mustardy with dry mustard in the coating and a mustard-yogurt dipping sauce. 

Here's what you need:

Boneless chicken breasts, panko breadcrumbs, an egg, dry mustard, garlic powder, salt and pepper.  Plus spicy and/or Dijon mustard and yogurt for the dipping sauce.

Crack the egg and add a little mustard powder, garlic powder, salt and pepper.

Whisk the egg and spices with a fork.

Now you're going to make a breading station.  In a separate bowl, measure about 1/2 a cup of flour and season with salt and pepper.  I also added some paprika and mustard powder.

Mix the spices into the flour with a fork.

And now spice up your panko.  I did salt, pepper and mustard again.

Now cut the chicken breast into strips.

Now dip a chicken strip in the egg to coat.

Remove the chicken from the egg and let the excess drip off.

Now dip the chicken in flour to coat.

And shake off the excess.

Now dip the floured chicken back into the egg.

Let the excess drip off again.

Put the chicken into the panko and coat it well.

Place the coated chicken on a parchment or foil lined baking sheet.

These two big chicken breasts made a lot of chicken fingers!

Bake in a preheated 475 degree oven for around 10 minutes then flip them and bake 5-10 minutes more until cooked through.

For the dipping sauce...

... mix about 1/2 a cup of yogurt with about a tablespoon of mustard in a small bowl.  Add salt and pepper to taste.  

You can also add Dijon mustard.

Once the chicken fingers are browned and crispy, remove them from the oven.

You can serve these with potato wedges or a salad.

These potato wedges were just tossed with oil, salt and pepper and baked along with the chicken for 30 minutes, flipping half way through.

And serve with the mustard yogurt sauce.