Chicken and Pasta Salad with Pesto Yogurt Dressing

2nd post for today.This is what I was having for lunches last week.

Chicken and Pasta Salad with Pesto Yogurt Dressing

A very easy, and surprisingly delicious, lunch or dinner item. The key is to have at least as much chicken, if not more, than you have pasta. For a bandster with good restriction, about 1 cup or less of this should be a good sized meal. But for the family, dress it up with a nice big salad on the side, and everyone is sure to enjoy.

When I’m making this for myself, I portion it off into a bunch of little 1-cup tupperware-type Glad cups and I’ve got individual lunches prepared for myself for a week. Just divine.



Makes about 4 cups prepared.

Shopping List:
2 cups cubed or shredded chicken
1 cup uncooked penne pasta
1½ cup lowfat plain yogurt
¼ cup store-bought or homemade pesto

What to do:
1. Put a medium pot of salted water on the stove and bring to a boil. Add your pasta and cooked to desired tenderness. (about 12-15 minutes, depending on your brand)
2. Drain and rinse the pasta under cold water.
3. Mix together pasta, chicken, yogurt, and pesto. Add salt and pepper to taste
4. Let sit for a half hour, or even overnight before serving.

Plain yogurt may not be too great on its own, but I promise you, add it to some pasta and chicken, and it’s darn near gourmet. Trust me on this! Try a bite of the pasta, chicken, and yogurt mixture before you add the pesto. You’ll be amazed at how the creamy yogurt makes the chicken and pasta taste delicious.


Serving size is 1/4 recipe, about 1 cup prepared.

This is how mine turned out:

Chicken Salad Tacos

So I haven't posted for a bit... starting to realise I am just too busy to do a blog...

So instead I am going to just post in here links to recipes that I have tried...
I'll do two posts to get up to date....



This was my fav recipe blog... but she has stop posting....

But what I am eating for lunches this week is this:

Chicken Salad Tacos

Chicken Salad Tacos

1/3 cup mayonnaise or yogurt

2 tsp taco seasoning

1/3 cup fat free sour cream

2 cups cooked chicken

2 Tbsp chopped cilantro

1 Tbsp lime juice

Combined everything together and mix well. Chill. Serve on warn tortillas or hard taco shells with lettuce, tomato, onions, olives or shredded cheese.

Chicken Salad (without tortilla) serves 4 at 116 calories and 16 grams protein

THIS RECIPE HAS BEEN DIRECTLY CUT AND PASTED FROM:

http://www.bandfriendlyrecipes.com/2010/05/chicken-salad-tacos.html

I am just having it in little bowls... spooning it onto a wrap that has been cut up into 4 pieces, and eating it from there.

Really nice, and tasty... Mon, Tue I was eating it cold, but I heated it up for 30 seconds today (stirring after 15) and that was a nice change.

I allow myself about 300 calories for lunch so with a wrap this is perfect.

Slow Cooker Chicken Quesadillas

 

 

Okay guys, this is my first recipe post!

This recipe surprised me on how good it is and how much it made! It is not pretty, and in the picture there it doesnt look very band friendly but it was very nice. A hit with me and OH. I am going to give you the original recipe portions. But please note, the picture I am giving you is after myself and the OH had dinner on this, I am full and so is he, so be careful The container is a litre container and its full of chicken. Therefore my suggestion is:

 

Single Bandsters (cooking for one):

Cook half to a quarter of this if you want plenty of leftovers! And there is so much you can do with the leftovers (suggestions under the basic recipe).  But if you cook the entire thing you WILL be eating the leftovers of this for days… and probably hate it afterwards.

 

Family Bandsters:

This is a recipe that will probably easily feed a family of 4 with maybe a lunch size leftover for you.

First off I will give you the initial recipe for the chicken mixture. Then the things you can do with this. Please note at writing I have only had the Quesadillas, but having eaten those, I know the other suggestions will work really nice.

 

Dont be discouraged by the intial smells from the kitchen, they are good, but after a while you start to think it might not turn out too great. Around hour 6 everything mixes in nicely and it turns good.

SLOWCOOKER CHICKEN QUESADILLA MIX – Adapted from The SistersCafé

• 4 Chicken Breasts
• 400gram can of diced tomatos
• 1 Jalapeno Diced (This is still kid friendly when cooked through – but I did remove half of the seeds)
• 250 grams of Light Cream Cheese. (one container of Coles, Light Cream Cheese)

 

Combine all the ingredients in a slow cooker and heat on low for 6-8 hours.  When the chicken is cooked, use two forks to shred the chicken and return it to the slow-cooker. Keep it on low until you are ready to make your meal. For Bandsters I wouldn’t suggest leaving it on low for too long. The sooner you take the cooked chicken out, the less risk you run of it becoming over cooked and harder to re-heat.

OPTIONAL:  You can add 1 small can of Green chillies initially, this was in the original recipe, and I am assuming that it means capsicum, but I am not a fan of cooked capsicum so I left this out.

 

QUESADILLAS:

• Olive oil
• Sea Salt
• Tortillas (2 per normal serve, 1 for a Bandsters Serve)
• Cheese
• Sour Cream
• Refried beans or black beans. (I used refried beans, but the original recipe calls for black bean)

Heat a frying pan with a small amount of olive oil and a tiny bit of salt. Heat up the tortilla in the oil and salt. While this is heating up, put a portion of your beans in the microwave to cook. I heated up half a can for myself and OH.

 

Bandsters:

Put some cheese, chicken mix and beans on half the tortilla, leaving about half an inch from the edge, flip the other side of the tortilla over so it kind of looks like a Taco. Cook on each side until it is a golden brown, to brown. Cut into 3 pieces and serve with a small salad and a dollop of sour cream.

 

Everyone else in the Family:

 Sprinkle a bit of cheese on the tortilla, add the chicken and beans. Add them with about an inch from the edge of the tortilla, as the mix will slowly creep to the edge. Top this all with another tortilla and cook for about 2 mins on each side.  Serve with the same salad as you and some sour cream.

FOR LEFTOVERS:

 

QUESADILLA BEAN SALAD

 

• 3 Bean Mix or Refried Beans
• Cheese
• Sour Cream
• Salad leaf mix

 

Layering the salad leaves, Chicken mix, 3 bean mix or refried beans. Sprinkle on some cheese and have a side of sour cream.  Yummy.

 

QUESADILLAS ON TOAST

• Cheese
• Sour Cream
• Toast

 

I figure you guys are intelligent enough to figure this one out, but here we go:

Make your toast, spread a layer of sour cream on, chicken mix on top, and if you want put some refried beans on and then cheese. If you like, toast it, if not, just serve it as is.

 

 

There would be plenty more variations that you can do to use up this mixture which is really quite nice and if your using low fat/light cream cheese, pretty good for you. I will take pictures of any variations I do with this recipe…. I just forgot to take a picture of the Quesadillas that I made tonight….

 

 

Enjoy and Happy Banding

Love Lynette

 

 

Introduction

Hi,

My name is Lynette; I was banded on the 19th of December 2009. It has changed my life.

Now, nearly 3 years post-op, I am considered a "lap-band success" because I have lost more than 60% of my excess body weight.

I want to lose more and I want to be happy with my Lap-band. It is a beautiful tool that I know myself and many others have not been using correctly.

I have recently gone through a process of having my very tight band loosened. I did this because I was not able to eat anything that I should have been and instead I was "cheating" the band or eating stuff that I knew I shouldn't be.

Through this blog, I aim to discover how to use my band properly, the recipes that will provide the best nutrition and convenience for my lap band, and the exercise that will enable me to lose the last 20 kilos that my doctor has suggested will put be in my most healthy weight.

At current I have lost 2.5 of those Kilos.

I have also very recently has a small un-fill, which I am sure I will write a separate blog post about shortly.

So, now that I have written what I aim to gain from writing this blog, what will you find here?

RECIPES:
A growing catalogue of recipes which I will be posting at least <b>weekly</b>. Including photos and ways to vary them for the Non-Bandsters in your life (like my OH). I will be initially doing recipes for people like myself, a few years out of surgery, trying to get back onto the band wagon (pun intended) after weight loss has decreased (or have gained some weight), or just trying to maintain the hard earned weight loss. In around October, my beautiful friend will be going through the lap band journey, and I will be there supporting her. So I will be able to provide recipes that are suitable for people initially going through the initial stages.

The aim is to build a catalogue of recipes for any stage of the lap band that are simple, tasty, and nutritious.

TIPS:

Tips and tricks that I have learnt up to date, as well as ones that I will learn coming through this experience with my blog and my recently loosened band. General stuff that can help you through your journey or that have helped me through mine.

EXERCISE:

This is my main problem, and I am sure it is every Bandsters speed bump. My main problem is getting into it without getting sick. So I will be discovering tips and tricks on how to get into exercise, healthily, safely and to ensure that it never gets boring.

MOTIVATION:

My aim in motivating myself and others, it for a HEALTHY Weight. Not Size 0. I aim to be an average size 12 (Australian size). I will be posting pictures of things that motivate me, quotes and stories that I may come across.

A little bit about me:
I am 23 years old, working as a Junior Accountant in a construction firm.
I am currently studying my Bachelor of Commerce, majoring in Accounting at University while I work Full time.
I started at 140.6 Kilos; I now weigh in at 97.5 Kilos. My goal is to weigh 80kilos by the time I go to Ireland with my OH (who is from Ireland).
I am not your average 23 year old.... I have been through some stuff that has made me mature and grow. I am a little bit crazy, but that’s what makes life fun.
I own my own home and love to bake. So there will be some naughty recipes on this site.

Ok, well now that you know what you will find here. I hope you will all enjoy this experience as much as I hopefully will.

Give me comments, recipes, feedback. Please.

Happy Banding,
Love Lynette