Easy Baked Chicken

Easy Baked Chicken

I debated even writing up and posting this dinner because it's so basic that it seems completely unnecessary to post. It's a seasoned piece of chicken breast, and that's it. However, I realized that in the 2.5 months that we have been doing this, I have been so caught up in making these incredibly yummy and fun dinners that are all weight watchers pointed out that I have not once just cooked some regular chicken. So I figured if I needed the reminder, maybe someone else did too. I actually put the baked chicken on the menu at the request of the hubs. It's been frustrating for him, and me as well, these last few weeks because his weight has been coming off much slower than it has in the past. He has been doing everything right (except maybe not exercising as much as he should, he just has a busy schedule this time of year) but the weight has just been slow to come off. The only thing he could think of that was different from the last time he did Weight Watchers and dropped so much, so fast, was that we ate a lot more plain meats and less fancied up recipes. While I explained to him that I would loose my mind and my motivation if I had to go back to eating nothing but chicken breast all the time again, however, I would be happy to implement more non-fancied up proteins for meals once or twice a week, so that's what I did! I was also having a major craving for mashed potatoes, so I fixed a small pan of instant mashed potatoes, which was 3 points for 1/2 c. and 5 points for a whole cup. We still had our big salad and also served it with broccoli. As for making the actual chicken, I get these really big chicken breasts that I then butterfly so they are thinner and cook faster and much more evenly. You can use whatever seasonings you want, I used what I had on hand and what sounded good to me. The chicken broth in the pan really does help keep the chicken from drying out. And point value-wise, for the most part, unless you get up to 9-10 cooked ounces in one chicken breast, we just weighed them after they were cooked and they are one point per ounce. This meal was nothing fancy, and certainly anything that anyone could do and has done a million times before, but sometimes going back to the basics is a refreshing change of pace.

Ingredients:

4 (4-6oz) thinly sliced chicken breasts

½ c. chicken broth
Onion powder
Garlic salt
Basil
Freshly ground pepper
(or any seasoning of your choice)

Directions:

      1.   Heat oven to 350.

2.   Place chicken breasts in a 9x13 baking dish.

3.   Top with seasonings of your choice, I used onion powder, garlic salt, black pepper and dried basil.

4.   Very carefully add about ½ c. of chicken broth to the bottom of baking dish (try not to pour it right on seasoned chicken so to wash off the seasonings).

5.   Bake about 20 minutes or until chicken is done. 

Yields 4 pieces – WWP+ 4-6 per piece (1 point per ounce of cooked chicken)

Shown here with a 1 point salad: lettuce, tomatoes, mushrooms, cucumbers and 2 T. fat free Caesar Italian dressing and 3 points of instant mashed potatoes (1/2 c. serving)