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Old 05-01-2014, 02:43 PM
 
Location: Inman Park (Atlanta, GA)
21,870 posts, read 15,028,802 times
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Brine your chicken breasts. Good Dinner Mom | How To Brine Chicken Breasts - Good Dinner Mom

I don't follow the recipe exactly, just throw in whatever spices you want into the salt water mixture.
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Old 05-01-2014, 02:45 PM
 
Location: Indiana
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Leg quarters are full of fat, that's why they taste better. And if you're lubing up breast portions with oil or frying it in a pan, then you're also defeating the purpose. Not effective for weight loss. Grilling is a lot better but if you want it juicy you have to know to sear it first and watch over it carefully. My husband insists chicken can't be cooked on the grill/it's too dry, but that's because he didn't keep trying. Grilled breasts are great cut up cold on a salad, with a low-calorie dressing you can stand. Plain old olive oil and balsamic vinegar is good.

Another healthier way to cook chicken white meat and make it tasty is to make a soup with plenty of vegetables (carrots for sweetness, sweet onion, (too much celery is salty and often bitter) cubed turnips add a different sort of taste and are a good substitute for potato; I often add fresh roasted chopped Anaheim or pablano chiles and make it into a southwestern soup. Served over Eggless noodles or basmati rice, a little chopped cilantro on top. Because the breast meat is lean you'll want to add a good spoonful of chicken bullion for flavor - the bullion that comes in a jar and goes in the fridge is nice, but watch out, some brands contain a lot of salt. Wait til the soup is nearly done before salting. White pepper is good.

Bone-in breasts make a more robust broth but the rib bones are a pain. I take them out half-way through, pull all the meat off and throw it back in the soup. From my experience the bottom line is giving your tastebuds something else to think about if you're going to significantly lower the fat and salt content of your food. You can't just take away everything that's good, you have to replace it with something else that's good - like hotsauce. If you don't care for the flavors of peppers and chilis, than just trust that after a week or two your body will adjust and you'll start noticing and looking forward to the fresher and more real tastes that aren't covered up by greasy fat. Hope this helps.
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Old 05-01-2014, 02:49 PM
 
1,094 posts, read 1,136,993 times
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Why not just get the parts that taste good like thighs and legs and eat less of them?

Aside from that, more and more studies seem to be discrediting the government created notion that fat causes weight gain. It was when the low-fat craze started that Americans really started to expand in size.
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Old 05-01-2014, 02:53 PM
 
Location: San Antonio, TX
11,495 posts, read 26,728,423 times
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I'm losing weight and eating chicken for dinner almost every night.

There are some good seasonings and rubs that McCormick makes called Grill Mates. They've got different flavors, start with the backyard brick oven flavor. I usually split the chicken breast in half so I have two thinner portions, brush them lightly with olive oil, sprinkle with the seasoning, then grill with a contact grill (that old Foreman grill you probably have in your cupboard already, or that's waiting for you at the Goodwill store if you don't have one). While the grill is out, you can grill some veggies...eggplant, squash, asparagus (the thicker ones), peppers. If you don't want to use olive oil in the chicken, then pam spray is an acceptable substitute. Spray the grill with it too, it makes cleanup easier.

I tried this recipe the other day http://simplyreem.com/honey-sriracha-chicken/ and it was good. We don't eat dark meat chicken so I used chicken breasts and then thickened the sauce after the chicken was cooked, and brushed it on top of the chicken.

I don't eat at Chipotle but looking at their menu, it says they use adobo-marinated grilled chicken. You can buy adobo seasoning at the grocery store. The adobo seasoning I have in my pantry is a blend of salt, cumin, garlic, black pepper, oregano and turmeric. Some adobo seasonings do not have cumin. I've also read that Chipotle uses chicken thighs.

One thing I've noticed about chicken breast is that it's better with some oil of some sort, just the olive oil brushed on, or marinated in a blend of spices and oil. I've been using olive or sesame oil on my chicken and I'm still losing weight as quickly as I want to. Chicken breasts are pretty lean and the oil helps them not to dry out as much during cooking.

Fish is another lower-calorie food. I cook swai because it doesn't taste a lot like fish...either I cook it in butter, garlic and white wine, or I make a very thin crust for it from almond meal, coconut flour and parmesan cheese. Then I cook some squash on the side, with grape tomatoes and basil...yummiest meal combination ever.
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Old 05-01-2014, 02:57 PM
 
12,047 posts, read 10,178,435 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by kgordeeva View Post
I'm trying to lose some weight before the summer and know I should incorporate a lot of chicken in my diet. I buy regular chicken breasts from Jewel and usually just cook them on a pan, but I just can't get them to taste good. It's not like they taste horrible, but they're just so bland. Last night, I even tried marinating them with some stir fry sauce, but it didn't help much.

I plan on buying a smoky joe grill this week. Will that help chicken taste better? Is that why chicken breasts at restaurants taste so much better? I would love for my chicken to taste like the chicken they use for burrito bowls at Chipotle.

Also, does it matter what brand of chicken breasts I get? The Jewel brand I get are really plump, so they are probably packed with hormones. Would that affect the taste? If I bought chicken breasts from Trader Joe's, would that make a difference?
Take that chicken breast and put it between two pieces of wax paper. Beat the heck out of it until it is almost flat. Season with salt and pepper or garlic pepper.

Heat up a bit of olive oil, throw the chicken in the hot oil and sauté until it is nice and brown, flip over and cook that side. Flattening it out makes it cook faster and not be so dry and bland.
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Old 05-01-2014, 02:58 PM
 
Location: San Antonio, TX
11,495 posts, read 26,728,423 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Gnomepark View Post
Leg quarters are full of fat, that's why they taste better. And if you're lubing up breast portions with oil or frying it in a pan, then you're also defeating the purpose. Not effective for weight loss.
As long as you account for the oil in your calories for the day, you can still lose weight. I've lost 75 lbs since the beginning of this year and I cook my chicken with oil and put a little butter on my veggies. Filling up the rest of the plate with vegetables and skipping things like pasta, rice and potato helps a lot more than avoiding the little bit of fat that adds flavor to the meal.
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Old 05-01-2014, 03:00 PM
 
12,047 posts, read 10,178,435 times
Reputation: 24772
Quote:
Originally Posted by Hedgehog_Mom View Post
As long as you account for the oil in your calories for the day, you can still lose weight. I've lost 75 lbs since the beginning of this year and I cook my chicken with oil and put a little butter on my veggies. Filling up the rest of the plate with vegetables and skipping things like pasta, rice and potato helps a lot more than avoiding the little bit of fat that adds flavor to the meal.
I've lost weight by eating either a steak or piece of chicken with white rice for dinner every night.

I love the taste, so not hard for me to do. Did give up my pepsi - about one a day.
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Old 05-01-2014, 03:15 PM
 
Location: Heart of Dixie
12,441 posts, read 14,757,727 times
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If you're going to marinate chicken breasts you should buy a Jaccard so that the flavor penetrates the entire chicken breast. One of our favorite chicken breast dishes we cook is Chicken Piccata. We also like to cook Chicken Schnitzel, but it has a bit more fat and few more calories.
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Old 05-01-2014, 03:35 PM
 
Location: SW Florida
14,804 posts, read 11,951,796 times
Reputation: 24540
Quote:
Originally Posted by kgordeeva View Post
I'm trying to lose some weight before the summer and know I should incorporate a lot of chicken in my diet. I buy regular chicken breasts from Jewel and usually just cook them on a pan, but I just can't get them to taste good. It's not like they taste horrible, but they're just so bland. Last night, I even tried marinating them with some stir fry sauce, but it didn't help much.

I plan on buying a smoky joe grill this week. Will that help chicken taste better? Is that why chicken breasts at restaurants taste so much better? I would love for my chicken to taste like the chicken they use for burrito bowls at Chipotle.

Also, does it matter what brand of chicken breasts I get? The Jewel brand I get are really plump, so they are probably packed with hormones. Would that affect the taste? If I bought chicken breasts from Trader Joe's, would that make a difference?
I've used Asian salad dressing as marinades, or sometimes whatever vinagrette salad dressings I happen to have on hand. I add that to the pan if I'm pan frying the chicken breasts, or paint the marinade on the chicken- several times while I'm cooking it to keep the chicken moist. Sometimes I sprinkle on a little garlic powder if I feel like it.

IMO the secret to delicious chicken breasts is not to overcook them, and it's so easy to do just that. They don't take long at all to cook, so I watch them carefully as they cook, and turn them over several times while they're cooking. My aim is to take them off the heat when they're *just* done, just after the pinkness disappears from the middle, when the juice is still flowing out of the breasts. That way they're tender and juicy, and the marinade only adds to their flavor. My DH does the barbecuing of most of the time, but he tends to get the chicken overdone, and over the years, I've developed the knack of knowing exactly when to call it done- sooner than you'd think. So I barbecue the chicken.
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Old 05-01-2014, 03:35 PM
 
14,376 posts, read 18,268,760 times
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I marinate mine in a variety of combinations.

Mix together a few of the following ingredients - I use a different combo every time:

lemon
vinegar (sherry, balsamic, champagne, etc.)
white wine
garlic
honey
italian herbs
dijon mustard
garlic
crushed red pepper flakes

If you want it to cook quickly and not dry out, pound the breasts out a little bit until they're thin and can cook quickly.

And get a George Foreman grill.
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