Roasted veggies and chicken tossed in a balsamic dressing for a delicious meal. Just a bit of chopping and tossing on a baking sheet and you're done! The veggies are soft; the chicken juicy; the balsamic dressing a perfect way to tie it all together.
WW My Way Smart Points: 3 Green, 2 Blue, 2 Purple
One of the best things about learning to cook is the fact that I am becoming more adventurous with my food choices. I have been more willing to try new foods and spice up the food I'm eating. I have always been a somewhat picky eater, and eggplant was something I turned my nose up to the second it was mentioned.
Working through WW Points
Now with the smart point system, I have learned that I like to typically have one bigger meal, or a meal that is not so healthy, and one meal of veggies and a meat to balance out the other meal. One of the things that has given me so much success, is that program does not require you to give anything up.
There are days from time to time where all I want to eat is some Qdoba or Culvers, and that is allowed. It is okay. You still gotta live your life. I just follow up a lunch like that with a dinner like this
To the Good Stuff
At this point in my adventures, I was still very inexperienced. This was again another easy recipe that only requires chopping, mixing, and lone behold, I used the oven! In the past I basically used the stove to make tea, and the oven to heat up frozen pizzas.
I gathered up these eggplants and crinkled my nose about making a meal mostly based on something I didn't think I liked. I cut the eggplants and Zucchini into sizeable chunks, about 1.5 inches, and set them aside. I typically add more veggies to every dish I make as they are free points and a great way to bulk up a meal without bulking you up! This time I did not cut the cherry tomatoes in half, I left them whole. Following times I halved them to get their yummy goodness insides to spread throughout the dish. I then took my handy dandy scissors and snipped the basil and oregano up into medium sized pieces.
This dish can be made without the chicken chunks added. The roasted veggies would make a great side dish to accompany any meal.
So if you just want the roasted veggies, go for it and skip this little excerpt.
Raw chicken was also one of those things I didn't enjoy having to touch. I have since gotten used to it, and had to learn how to properly clean up after chicken since my little sister is not a fan of germs. I cut the chicken into bite size chunks and threw them onto a greased skillet for about 5 mins to get a little sear on the chicken and set them aside.
Note: Be careful not to cook the chicken too long on the stove top, as the chicken will become dried out when roasted with the veggies.
Now that we have everything prepped and ready to go, I pulled out a small bowl and made the dressing. I put the remaining ingredients, along with the oregano , and whipped them together with a fork. I do my very best to eliminate oil and butter from recipes I make because I found it adds extra unnecessary calories, without a whole ton of flavor. In the case of dressings, however, the oil in needed as long as you don't go too overboard.
Like Seen above, I then placed the chopped veggies and chicken onto a baking sheet covered in foil. The foil was to keep clean up easy, because....dishes. This time I tossed the veggies and chicken into the dressing. Following times, I found it was more tasty and flavorful to drizzle the dressing over the mixture once they are on the baking sheet, but either way still delicious.
After all of this, I sprinkled the basil over top, tossed the sheet in the oven to roast, and BAM dinner served.
Recipe
Adapted from WW Balsamic Vegetables