Chicken, Wontons, and more

For starters, tomorrow morning is my regular WI day. I absolutely DO NOT deserve a loss, so I'm not really looking forward to this WI. I haven't been eating well, and I can tell- I've been craving more sweets (once I start eating them I crave them more) and I've had less energy. I'm needing to write out a new menu and go grocery shopping, that coupled with the illnesses that are still plauging my family are causing me to slack off a bit in the food area.

Dinner last night, however, was AWESOME and Core... and I was very proud of serving it to my family. I used this recipe:

Maple-glazed chicken with sweet potatoes
This works equally well substituting a whole, lean boneless pork tenderloin for the chicken.

1.5 lbs bone-in, skinless chicken thighs (original recipe calls for a whole, cut up chicken)
1 yellow onion, cut into 1-inch wedges
2 small sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1-inch chunks
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
3 tablespoons maple syrup (150 calories, 0 g fat, 0 g fiber)
6 sprigs fresh thyme

Heat oven to 400° F. Rinse the chicken and pat it dry. Arrange the chicken, onion, and sweet potatoes in a 9-by-13-inch baking dish. Drizzle the oil over the chicken and vegetables and season with the salt and pepper. Toss to coat. Drizzle with the maple syrup and top with the sprigs of thyme.

Roast, stirring the vegetables once, until the chicken is cooked through, about 45 minutes (increase time to 1 hr, 15 mins if you use a whole, cut-up frying chicken). Let rest for 10 minutes before serving. Remove skin prior to eating.

Yield: Makes 4 servings

--Adapted from Real Simple magazine, December 2005

from Heather's site and tweaked it a bit. I went looking for chicken recipes, and this looked good. I used one butternut squash, about half of a large purple onion, and 4 chicken breasts. (I skipped the thyme)





I also served this with brown rice.



The kids and I loved this meal, but hubby was looking for snacks a couple hours later- he thought it was a "skimpy" meal. Sorry, hubs- this meal will definitely be back!!


A couple of weeks ago I mentioned that I wanted to try artichoke/spinach dip in the wonton wrappers. I finally did this a few days ago and they weren't bad... not fantastic, but not bad either (or maybe my tastebuds are a bit off still from my cold). I used a recipe from this book and subbed Core ingredients for the non-Core ones (used FF mayo, etc). I used a whole package of frozen spinach instead of a smaller amount of fresh... I used the defrost mode on my microwave and squeezed out the excess liquids before adding it to the mix.






ready to cook!


ready to eat!