Tonight’s post comes from something of an experiment. As a huge fan of Trader Joe’s and especially the Trader Joe’s frozen section, my fridge is pretty much always stocked with some form of food that can be prepared in less than 8 minutes, usually via microwave. So after coming home from work starving, I basically threw together a random assortment of food from my freezer and it actually ended up being super tasty, due mostly in part to the quality choices available at Trader Joe’s. Thus, I decided to start this new blog series, and just like the other blog series I started (which I haven’t forgotten about, I promise!). I’ll be documenting various meals I create (mostly from Trader Joe’s food) that are low in calories/fat/things that are bad for you and are also super easy to prepare.
Tonight’s meal is focused on Trader Joe’s Reduced Guilt Chicken Breasts in Poblano Sauce. At 210 calories, only 2.5 grams of fat, and a price of a mere $2.99, this entree is pretty much a win-win-win. While it’s on the high side in sodium, the nice flavor of the poblano sauce and convenience of a 7 minute total cooking time makes it worth it.
Now personally, TJ’s “reduced guilt” entrees are almost never enough to keep me full. I mean really now, 210 calories does NOT equal a meal. So to add some filling fiber and to make things easy for myself, after defrosting the poblano chicken breasts for 2 minutes as per the cooking directions, I threw in a cup of TJ’s frozen roasted corn (pictured above) with 2 tbsp of water right into the container for the poblano chicken breasts. All of it cooked together in 5 minutes, and after mixing in 4 tbsp. of TJ’s salsa authentica and red pepper flakes to add more sauce and a bit of heat, the whole meal added up to only 395 calories and 4.5 grams of fat. And the most importantly, 3 hours later, I’m STILL not hungry (and I’m pretty much hungry every 3 hours, seriously). For those who need a bit more, you can always mix in some multigrain rice or quinoa as an option as well, or throw in some other veggies like TJ’s frozen pepper medley. If you try it out or have other ideas, let me know! Happy healthy eating you busy people, you~
[…] pizza [preview: in most cases, you shouldn't ]. I’ll also continue writing about the ways I try to eat healthy, workouts and races/mud runs I enter to stay fit, and any other general food-related […]