Big Fat Greek Chicken Bake
Last summer, I was diagnosed with Diabetes. Within the month, I had a nasty MS flare. It landed me in the hospital for the first time in five and a half years. If you’re unfamiliar, the treatment for MS is high dose steroids. Unfortunately, steroids whether high dose or low dose tend to increase glucose levels in diabetics. Yes, it’s an ugly, vicious cycle!
Once I got home from the hospital, I did my homework and found diabetic friendly foods. I cooked up some great new recipes that were full of flavor, but low in carbs.
Chicken Breasts Stuffed with Feta and Spinach looked like a real winner to me. However, I also found that a Mediterranean Diet was supposed to be very diabetic friendly, so I also added in a few other ingredients. As I had just suffered an MS attack and my glucose levels were in the high 300s, I didn’t have the patience or dexterity to to pound the chicken breast thin enough, stuff it, and then pin it in hopes of it staying that way while baking.
Big Fat Greek Chicken Bake
Instead, I decided to layer all of these fabulous ingredients and in the end, I created something I called my Big Fat Greek Chicken Bake. It could be served alone or over a bed of rice, but is fabulous with a Greek Salad on the side.
Have you even wondered why recipes call for pounding the meat? It allows the meat to become more tender, thinner, and helps the meat cook more evenly. You can also use this method to help “stretch” your meat to make your thicker cuts of meat look like “bigger” cuts when you pound it out thinner.
For my Big Fat Greek Chicken Bake you don’t have to pound the chicken out, if you don’t want to. If you do need or want to pound chicken or other meats, you don’t need fancy tools to do it. Bag individual portions of meat in plastic storage bags. Then I place the bag in between layers of a thick bathroom towel. When I pounded these chicken breasts out, I didn’t have a flat meat tenderizer, so I used a heavyweight ice cream scoop. The towel isn’t really necessary, but it absorbs a LOT of the sound and keeps me from getting a headache. 😉
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Serves: 4
- 3 to 4 Lg Chicken Breast
- Baby Spinach
- Lg Tomato
- Feta
- Pitted Calamata Olives
- Olive Oil
- Lemon Juice
- Garlic Powder or Salt (if desired)
- Mrs. Dash
- Preheat oven to 400*.
- Pound chicken breasts to an even thickness, if desired.
- Pierce (STAB) the chicken breast, top and bottom, with a fork or piercing meet tenderizer.
- Spread 2-3 teaspoons olive oil across the bottom of an oven safe baking dish.
- Sprinkle about 1 teaspoon of garlic salt and 2 teaspoons of Mrs. Dash across the olive oil.
- Place chicken breast in one even layer in the baking dish.
- SLOWLY pour 1-2 teaspoons of lemon juice over each chicken breast, so that it has time to sink into the pierced holes.
- Lightly drizzle the top of the chicken with another 2-3 teaspoons of olive oil.
- Sprinkle about 2 teaspoons Mrs. Dash across the olive oil.
- Chop a handful of pitted Calamata Olives and sprinkle on top of the chicken.
- Sprinkle with a thin layer of Feta Cheese.
- Spread a (thin or thick) layer of Baby Spinach on top of the Feta Cheese.
- Top the Feta Cheese with evenly sliced tomatoes.
- Bake at 400* until water cooks out of chicken, tomatoes and spinach, about 25 minutes.
- Water can be removed from the baking dish, if desired, to speed cooking time.
- Once water has been removed or cooked out of the dish, top with another thin layer of Feta Cheese. Bake until soft and melting or golden.
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