Receta Clean Eating Pesto Chicken “Deli Meat”
Yes, it’s easy to pick up deli meat for sandwiches at the store to make school or work lunches with. And yes, many people believe it to be perfectly healthy. But after reading the ingredient list and checking out just how much regular deli meat gets processed, I set out to find a way of making my own.
With the kids back in school and most adults in need of not only lunch ideas for their kids but for work lunches for themselves, I figured this recipe (which is from my slow cooker cookbook) would be a nice addition to the “back to school” theme this month. And it is certainly helping me pack Mini Chef’s lunch every day!
Now typically, I try to buy organic meats whenever possible (whenever my budget allows). But sometimes my budget gets in the way of that, so I opt for chicken that has no ingredient list. Chicken that only has chicken in the package. No fillers, no added flavorings, nothing that actually requires an ingredient list. And if there is an ingredient list, it should only say “chicken”.
I found just such a package of chicken at the store a couple days ago when I wanted to make this for the lunch-packing-back-to-school-haze I was about to enter into. Normally, I avoid packaged foods that come from big name food companies as a general principle. But my budget kept encouraging me to give it another try. That’s when I found a package of Tyson® Fresh Chicken. It was a package of boneless, skinless chicken breasts. The package said “All Natural”* and “no added hormones or steroids”** It seemed like a good compromise and the price fit my pocketbook, so in the cart it went.
I was pleasantly surprised by how good it was. Plump, juicy and it definitely took on the flavors of the pesto really well. And I have to add that the convenience of simply picking up a package of chicken at the store (instead of making a trip to the market I usually shop for meats at, which is a ways away) made me a happy camper that night. In fact, we enjoyed a good portion of it for dinner that night and had just enough left over for lunch the next day.
You can slice this thin by hand with a good, sharp knife, but if you are fortunate enough to have a meat slicer in your kitchen, then that is really the way to go. Unfortunately, I don’t have one (yet), but I did just fine slicing by hand. Please note that if you are looking for a deli meat flavor, you will want to add a lot of salt to this. It’s best to add this to the sliced meat when you make your sandwich however. Adding it during cooking will only create the need to add more salt.
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Clean Eating Pesto Chicken “Deli Meat”
Ingredients:
- 2 large Tyson Fresh Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breasts (about 8 oz. each)
- 2 tsp. basil pesto, no sugar added (homemade is best)
- Salt to taste
Directions:
Tenderize chicken breasts with a meat tenderizer
Spread pesto between the 2 chicken breasts, spreading it evenly over the entire surface of the chicken.
Roll chicken up and lay in slow cooker open edge down so they don’t unroll.
Cover and cook on low for 3-4 hours or until chicken is fully cooked.
Slice and sprinkle with salt to taste.
Number of servings (yield): 4
Nutritional Content:
(Data is for 1/2 a chicken roll)
Calories: 161
Total Fat: 5 gm
Saturated Fats: 1 gm
Trans Fats: 0 gm
Cholesterol: 53 mg
Sodium: 84 mg
Carbohydrates: 0 gm
Dietary fiber: 0 gm
Sugars: 0 gm
Protein: 26 gm
Please Note:
Nutritional information estimated at MyFitnessPal.com. Data may not be accurate and is subject to the availability of specific foods in their database. Where one ingredient is not listed, substitutions must be used. Therefore, you should not refer to this data as being exact. It’s more of a ballpark figure. The Gracious Pantry does not take responsibility for the inadequacies of the nutrition calculator used. This data is provided as a courtesy and general reference only. It is not exact.
Note: Chicken must be cooked to an internal temperature of 170 degrees for boneless products and 180 degrees for bone in chicken products.
For more delicious recipes visit PickTysonFresh.com.
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Disclosure: I was compensated by Tyson Foods to promote their product. However, all opinions are my own, and I really did use the product.
* Minimally processed. No artificial ingredients.
** Federal regulations prohibit the use of added hormones or steroids in chicken.