How can THIS be diet food????

I just finished watching Julie and Julia for like the 5th time (cried a little bit still, embarrassing right?) and since I am now a food blogger I had a soft spot for Julie that I hadn't felt as strongly before, that she did all that she did and was ultimately rejected by Julia whose opinion she valued over all the fans she accrued.  She stated in her blog in the beginning that she felt like no one was really listening, like she was just writing and sending her words out into the cyber-abyss not really sure if anyone was even out there or cared.  I feel your pain Julie!  I am perhaps a little jealous that she had a muse, she did her homage to Julia Child in blog form and perhaps the gimmick of it all made it special or relevant in this world of 10 million blogs.  Instead I am out here feeling small and timid, hunting and gathering my recipes from all over and trying to share them because lets face it I LOVE GOOD FOOD but I want it to be HEALTHY good food so I am trying to change my life with this little ole' blog and share my journey in the process.  I have no gimmick, it's just me! And I will keep on blogging and sharing my Amanda-isms for as long as you are out there, whoever you are.

So tonight's menu was special, so so SO special.  My hubby bit into our dinner and said "How can THIS be diet food?" Then he looked at my kids and said "You have no idea how lucky you girls are!" Man I love that guy, I think I may have to go kiss him before I blog any more, excuse me.............

Oh Yea!

OK sorry, I think I am under control now.  It was just good chicken and he's such a good guy!  OK this one comes from a bonafide WW cookbook, Simply Delicious, here you go....

Goat Cheese and Herb-Stuffed Chicken Breasts

Ingredients

4 ounces goat cheese

6 oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes, rinsed under water, patted dry, and finely chopped

2 scallion, chopped

2 tablespoon chopped basil

4 teaspoons chopped thyme (I didn't have fresh so I used dry, if you do this remember that dried herbs are more concentrated than fresh so don't use as much)

1/2 cup plain dry bread crumbs (I used panko)

8 skinless boneless chicken breasts

8 teaspoons reduced-calorie mayonnaise

1 1/2 pounds baby spinach, rinsed

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Spray a nonstick baking pan with nonstick spray. Combine the cheese, sun-dried tomatoes, scallion, basil, and thyme in a bowl, mashing with a fork, until blended. Place the bread crumbs in another small bowl.

Cut a pocket into the side of each chicken breast about 2 1/2 inches long. Place one eighth of the goat cheese mixture inside each slit. Lightly press the pocket closed with a fork. Brush each breast with the mayonnaise. Dip the chicken, one piece at a time, into the bread crumbs. Transfer chicken to the baking pan.

Spray the tops of the chicken lightly with nonstick spray. Bake until the chicken is cooked through and the crust is golden, about 25 minutes.

Meanwhile, place the spinach in a large steamer basket set in a saucepan over 1 inch of boiling water. Cover tightly and steam until the spinach just wilts, about 3 minutes. (OK to be honest I didn't like their spinach wilting method and I sauteed mine.  I tossed it in a frying pan with a little minced garlic and tiny sprinkle of sea salt and pepper and stirred while on high heat until it was wilted down.  Then I mounded on my husband and I's chicken -- I didn't bother serving the girls, they are very suspicious of spinach and that's when it is sneakily hidden in their food instead of mounded on top!)  Transfer the spinach to a platter, then top with chicken.

OK here is the kicker, it tastes like gourmet fancy restaurant chicken for only 6 pts per breast! So happy! I had a feeling it would be good, hence I made 8 (love me some leftovers!) and also the goat cheese I buy comes in 4 oz packages so I figured, I better double the recipe but you could do four and just cut every ingredient in half (trust me though, you won't mind eating this one more than once!)   What did I serve with my perfection chicken you ask? Well only my absolutely fabulous Parmesan rosemary crusted sweet potato fries! I seriously make these like once a week now! In fact I am making them for Mother's Day so my family will soon be sold on these nuggets of bliss! Remember my earlier blog about my sweet potato epiphany?  Well I have to learn all sorts of yummy ways to make them since I love them so much and I sort of tossed a bunch of stuff on them the other day and calculated it and came out with this recipe.  So yummy. Here goes..

Amanda's Parmesan Rosemary Crusted Sweet Potato FriesWow that's a mouthful!!!

OK the recipe varies based on how many potatoes you use (I can tell you from experience, 2 looks like a lot but trust me it's not enough!) So here goes for 2 potatoes:

Take 2 large sweet potatoes and peel and chop into fries or wedges, the smaller the better.  WARNING: DON'T put your peels down the sink, they will clog your disposal, ask my husband he has taken apart my sink 2 x in the last year after I peeled sweet potatoes and by the third time I learned, peels in the trash (or better still the compost heap!) Anyways don't be an idiot like me, and if you are don't say I didn't warn you. 

Put cut fries in a large Ziploc, add 1 Tbsp Olive Oil, 1 tsp minced garlic, 1 tsp Italian seasoning, 1 additional teaspoon of rosemary, dash salt, dash black pepper, 1 oz Parmesan cheese.  Close the Ziploc and shake the snot out of it until crazy good and coated.  Spread onto jelly roll baking pan and bake at 450 until done (I haven't been timing it, just watching for when they are ready!) Perfection. 1/2 potato or 1/4 of this recipe for 4 pts!  Same cute husband and I were fighting over them, especially when my girls didn't finish their potatoes.  Yup, we are pathetic.  Although my oldest said "All potatoes should taste this yummy!" I couldn't think of a better complement. 

So I definitely know when my family likes my food.  Unfortunately with little critics I also know when they do not! Like my daughter who already hates tomatoes and thinks I am unfit as a Mother when I hide sun dried tomatoes inside her chicken.  The nerve!  But I am not hearing much of what you think? You have been telling me what looks good and I love every single comment but please people, if you make one of my recipes, let me know how it turned out.  I want to know if you are as divinely happy as I am and if you disagree and think something is hideous I want to know that too and we can debate about why you are wrong (or maybe I will just secretly think that to myself - hehe).  All jokes aside, I would love to know if my recipes have given you any idea for dinner or turned out wonderfully, and please share if you made a modification you liked.  Consider me a voice crying in the Internet wilderness who just wants to know if she is being heard.  Happy Cooking everyone or as Julia would say (C'mon say it out loud so you can do the voice...) Bon Appetit!