Happy Thursday, everyone!
Today I want to tell you about a recipe I found, drooled over internally for about a week, and then finally tried on my own while adding a Nutracelle spin to it.
Before I get into the good stuff, let me just begin by explaining I am not a chef. I know, you’re probably surprised. Ha-ha, no, but really. I generally don’t adventure outside of the usual things I know/like to make. Prior to starting Nutracelle my go-to meal was Kraft Dinner (mac & cheese for those non-Canadians reading this), bagels, or microwavable dinners.
Don’t get me wrong, I can cook. I just don’t enjoy it (usually). My mom has been heard saying a few times, “It’s crazy that since you’ve started replacing meals, you seem to cook more. How does that work?!” and it makes me chuckle every time. She’s right, though! Now that I’m focused on eating healthy and following my low carbohydrate lifestyle, I spend more time in the kitchen trying new recipes.
Most of the recipes I make come from www.nutracelle.com, but last weekend I decided to give a Facebook recipe a whirl! It wasn’t complicated – just bacon and chicken wrapped asparagus, but I wanted to put a Nutracelle spin on it.
Nutralean-dusted chicken & bacon wrapped asparagus
Ingredients:
- A bundle of asparagus
- One strip of bacon per asparagus stalk (or half a slice if you’re not as bacon-crazy as I am)
- Two boneless, skinless chicken breasts fully thawed
- Natural Nutralean – about 2 scoops (or 1/2 a cup)
- Spices of choice (I used Garlic Plus from Costco, paprika, cayenne, salt, pepper, and some Italian herbs)
- Parchment paper
- Oven-safe pan for baking
Directions:
- In a medium sized bowl, combine Natural & desired spices.
- Have your parchment-lined pan close by.
- Snap the ends off your asparagus. This is the easiest way to ensure you keep only the freshest parts! (Save the extras for later, I’ll explain what I did!)
- Slice your chicken breasts into long strips. The longer the better!
- If you’re only using half of a slice of bacon per stalk, pre-cut your bacon to make assembly easier.
- Drop one strip of chicken at a time into your Natural mixture, be sure to coat it well.
- Wrap the strip around your asparagus stalk. Press the end into the stalk to ensure it sticks.
- Take your bacon and wrap the opposite way around the stalk to secure the chicken in place.
- Place on pan in a line. I kept mine fairly close to fit them all on the pan.
- Continue until you’ve used up your ingredients!
If your chicken strips aren’t long enough to wrap around the stalk top-to-bottom, connect two strips and continue wrapping. The bacon will hold everything in place!
Here’s how mine looked before going into the oven:
I baked mine in the oven at 400 degrees for 20 minutes in total and turned them every 5-7 minutes. This allowed for even cooking all the way through. I finished by turning my oven to ‘broil’ and broiled each side for 5 additional minutes. Be careful at this step – I may have forgotten mine and almost ruined the entire batch! (heh heh heh)
Here’s the finished product:
I paired this with a homemade dip consisting of about 1/4 cup of full-fat mayonnaise, a scoop of Natural Nutralean, and about 1 tbsp of Sriracha hot sauce, and some salt and pepper. The result was delicious! 10/10 will make this recipe again.
When I had placed my pan in the oven, I noticed I had a few chunks of chicken left, a couple of strips of bacon, and the ends I had snapped off from my asparagus. I didn’t want to let it go to waste, so I simply threw it in a frying pan with some olive oil and made a leftover stir-fry of sorts.
So, there you have it! A detailed adventure of my latest recipe attempt.
This is one of my favourite things about our Natural Nutralean. You can incorporate it into EVERY recipe. It never hurts to add healthy protein and fiber to your meal, and it’s 100% unflavored so you won’t even know it’s there (neither will the family!). People are always surprised when I tell them that our unflavored product is my second favourite. But it’s SO versatile, how could it not be? I always keep a bag visible on my counter so that when I’m making any sort of food – it’s right there to throw in.
Stay tuned for more adventures in the kitchen!
Thanks for reading, guys!
Tracy
