Grilled Chicken Salad and Birthday Cupcakes!

For the entire week prior to Noah's birthday, it has been a non-stop food marathon. We flew to NY for Thanksgiving which encompassed a slew of restaurant eating- Chinese, Mexican, Deli, Dunkin Donuts (they don't have them in LA!) and of course, our 4-hour long Thanksgiving feast. We pretty much had it with that heavy, I-just-need-to-pass-out feeling after every dinner, so for Noah's actual birthday, I decided to cook nice and light.

On the Menu 

Grilled Chicken Salad 

Grilled Chicken Salad

Serves: 2    Serving Size: 1 salad     Prep Time: 6 minutes    Cook Time: 12 minutes 

Chicken Ingredients:

10 ounces of skinless, boneless chicken breast, pounded until thin 

3 Tblsp. Lemon Juice 

1 1/2 Tblsp. Dried Rosemary

1/2 tsp. Garlic Salt 

Salad Ingredients:

3-4 cups of Fresh Spinach Leaves

1/2 cup of Chopped Onions

1/2 an Avocado 

1/2 Red Tomato and/or 1/4 cup of Raisins (optional)

Dressing Ingredients:

1/4 cup Balsamic Vinegar

1 Tblsp. Extra Virgin Olive Oil

1 tsp. Dijon Mustard

1 packet of Splenda (you can also use Equal/Stevia/Sugar/etc.)

Directions:

Simply throw chicken breasts on a non-stick grill pan over medium-high heat (no non-stick spray needed). Sprinkle Garlic Salt on both sides of the chicken as the chicken gets from pink/clear to white. When the chicken is 3/4th done,  after about 4 minutes on each side have cooked, sprinkle the lemon juice and rosemary leaves on both sides. Cook until the chicken is fully white (another 2 minutes or so on each side). Set chicken aside.

Next, set out your two plates and first lay 1 1/2- 2 cups of spinach leaves on each plate. Then, divide the remaining salad ingredients between each plate just as you did with the spinach. 

Mix all dressing ingredients in a small bowl and use a tablespoon to pour the dressing on each plate. Then top with the chicken and enjoy!

Nutrition Breakdown: per 1 salad with 5 oz. of chicken breast

383 calories (and so big and filling!), 16.4 g fat, 5 g fiber, 31.5 g protein 


Now for the Birthday Cupcakes! 
This recipe couldn't be easier. Just take 1 box of Duncan Hines Chewy Fudge Brownies and mix with 2 Tbls. of water, 1/3 cup of unsweetened apple sauce and 1/4 cup of egg whites. Mix batter well and lay out a lot of adorable, rubber mini-cupcake molds on a large cookie sheet- I made 27 but it will vary with the size of your molds. Lightly spray rubber molds with a non-stick spray then, use a tablespoon and rubber spatula to spoon the batter into the molds (doesn't "rubber molds" sound kind of gross? I'm not sure why).

Bake in the oven at 350 for 10-15 minutes, then take out and add a thin slice of banana to each one. I only used 1 banana so I had about 7 cupcakes that didn't get one. Then, put back in the oven for a remaining 20 or so minutes (until you can place a tooth pick to the side of a banana slice and take it out clean). Now, arrange into a birthday number and Ta Da...Birthday Cupcakes!- no yucky frosting needed! 

Nutrition Breakdown: per 1 cupcake when the recipe makes 27 cupcakes
95 calories, 1.8 g fat, less than 1 g fiber,  1.5 g protein