Healthy Week 31 Meal with Healthy Leftovers Idea

Healthy meal of the week: Slow Cooked Chicken, Brown Rice and Corn on the Cob
Healthy Leftover Idea: Chicken Sandwiches

Here’s an easy meal to make using your wonderful slow cooker that’s probably sitting sadly in the corner of your kitchen patiently waiting to be called. When planned accordingly, this meal can be ready to eat when you return home, especially if the variety of rice and corn you buy is the microwave-type variety. Don’t worry if you don’t have them or want to spend the extra money on them, as the rice and corn will only take about 20 minutes to prepare.

For lunch leftovers, you’ll have a great handheld treat that weighs only about 250 calories each if prepared as described below.

Necessary equipment
– slow cooker (Crock Pot)
– saucepan with lid for rice (or rice cooker)
– large pot for corn

preparation time
– 5 minutes

Time to cook
– 4-8 hours depending on the temperature setting

Ingredients
(4-6 servings)
– 1 packaged whole chicken
– 1/2 cup of brown sugar
– 16 ounces of chicken broth
– 2 tablespoons of seasoned salt
– 3-4 whole ears of corn
– 1 cup of brown rice
– 1/4 cup of honey
– 2 tablespoons of olive oil
– optional: butter/margarine for corn and rice
– optional: 3 bay leaves for the rice

For Chicken Sandwiches
– 100 calorie thin multigrain sandwich
– Grated cheese
– chili paste/sauce

Addresses

*Decide if you want to cook the chicken on the low setting for 6-8 hours or on the high setting for 4-5 hours.

1. Open the chicken package and rinse well under cold water in your kitchen sink. Place the whole chicken inside your clean slow cooker.

2. Add 1/2 cup of brown sugar and 2 tablespoons of seasoned salt to a 16 oz. chicken broth and stir/mix well. Add the solution to the slow cooker and turn it on to the desired setting. Remember to set a timer or alarm on your phone for 6-8 hours on low or 4-5 hours if the slow cooker is on high.

3. When there is about 1 hour left on the timer, add 1/4 cup of honey on top of the chicken. Recover and let finish cooking.

4. Now you can start cooking the rice and corn. For the corn, fill a large pot halfway with hot water and bring to a boil on the stove. While that’s going on, peel the corn husks off each piece you plan to cook. Rinse the corn chips under the sink to get rid of any straggling husks. For this meal example, the corn pieces have been split in half so that any leftover portions from the trip fit easily into the plastic containers, but this choice is entirely up to you. When the water is boiling, place the pieces in the water and set a timer for 20 minutes.

5. If you want to prepare the brown rice the same way as this meal, add 3 tablespoons of olive oil to your rice cooker and turn it on low/medium. Add 1 cup of brown rice and stir frequently for 3 minutes. Add a cup of chicken broth along with 3 bay leaves. Stir and let cook/soak for a couple of minutes. Add 1 cup hot water, increase heat until rice mixture comes to a boil, stirring occasionally. Once it boils, reduce the heat to a simmer, cover the pot with a lid, and set the timer for 18 minutes. That’s all!

6. Once the chicken has finished cooking, turn off the slow cooker, and with two forks, you should be able to easily tear chunks out of the entire chicken, at least enough for the servings you’ll need for now. You can get the rest later when you containerize leftovers or make leftover sandwiches as directed below. You can also try carefully scooping out all of the chicken, but it may be easier to wait until the liquid is a bit cooler to do this. The choice is completely up to you.

7. Serve an appropriately sized portion with some optional butter over the corn and a tablespoon of the slow cooker liquid over the rice/chicken and enjoy!

Healthy Leftover Idea: Chicken Sandwiches

The great thing about these leftover sandwiches is that if you use the right type of bread/wrap, there’s no reason why these sandwiches couldn’t easily be under 300 calories each. Combine that with a piece of fruit and a nice big glass of water and you have a nutritious lunch that’s around 400 calories total. Isn’t that much better than the 1300+ calorie meal you’ll find at any fast food place?

Hopefully your local grocery store has a good selection of bread/wraps and look for these 100 calorie multigrain skinny sandwiches or something similar on the calorie count. Open the pre-cut bun and top the bottom slice with 2 tablespoons of the cooked brown rice. To spice this sandwich up a bit, some fresh ground chili paste was added, but you can literally use any of your favorites. Carefully cut some of the chicken into thin pieces and add a couple tablespoons on top of the rice/chili paste side. Finally, add some grated cheese and then the top of the bun and you’ve quickly but effectively created a delicious travel sandwich that you’ll find quite nice for lunch the next day. Just be sure to wrap it securely in a piece of aluminum foil so all the fixings don’t fall out.