Winner Winner Chicken Dinner

Winner Winner Chicken Dinner.... I actually hate that phrase but I couldn't get it out of my head, hence it had to be used.

In yoga we were told that Fall was the transient season, where we were likely to feel flighty, flakey and in the process of change. I have to say that for me winter and especially the start of 2014 has aligned much closer to that description than Fall 2013. It feels as if everything is in flux and as if I can hardly control a single thing, least of which my dinner. Despite that I have,I suppose, been cooking - and in fact even trying a few new things. But I have been so swamped with non-blog life (so sad) that nothing has made it's way onto Dahlicious in far too long.

My experimenting last week was with chicken, done in the slow cooker and shredded to perfection. I've mentioned time and time again how I loath grilled chicken so finding ways to make chicken tolerable for me is a constant battle. But this solution seemed to work quite well and I'm even going for it again this week.

I'll do a separate and brief post about the chicken process, but here is what I made with my big batch of shredded chicken throughout the week:

• Whole wheat pasta tossed in vodka sauce with chicken and roasted asparagus
• Last week was one of those weeks that was totally and utterly draining in every sense of the word. All this girl wanted was a big bowl of carbs - but the lean chicken and the fresh asparagus added a good healthful touch

• Chicken salad for lunch
• Simply mixed with a little mayo, salt, pepper, and the obligatory celery for crunch - I served it atop an arugula salad and it was perfection
• Shredded BBQ Chicken with wild rice and roasted asparagus
• This one was odd but I hadn't planned on the wild rice until I realized something weird happened to my sweet potato and had to toss it. It looks funny but it was quite Dahlicious, well rounded and yummy

• Beyond that I whipped up a quick tofu stir fry on Monday and a pretty Dahlicious Chicken Picatta with charred broccoli and onions atop a bed of quinoa.
• First I sliced the chicken breasts in half to make them nice and thin, then I dredged them lightly in flour with salt and pepper. I gave them a quick fry on high heat in a bit of olive oil until both sides were golden. Popped them in the oven at 325 to finish cooking for about 15 minutes while I worked on the sauce. Using the drippings I added lemon juice, sliced lemon, white wine, chicken stock, garlic, butter and capers (plus a few more pinches of flour to thicken the sauce up). I just kept whisking and adding more of each ingredient over a light simmer until the chicken was ready.

Hope this Chicken post inspires some of you to get creative with foods that you know are healthful staples but might not be your favorite. There will be more chicken posts to come - happy Tuesday yall!