Spice Rubbed Chicken Fingers with Cilantro Dipping Sauce

This is the first of many South Beach Diet recipes I will be posting.  The spices on the chicken has a mellow heat to it.  As for the "dipping sauce," it dances around on your tongue with the heat from the serrano pepper and the bite from the cilantro.  The parsley gives it a mellow cool fresh flaver.  Does that make sense???  As you can see from the photo I had mine with just steamed broccoli.  When I make dinner for my guys I do serve a starch/carb, ie potato, rice or pasta.

Spice Rubbed Chicken Fingers with Cilantro Dipping Sauce

•1/2 teaspoon chili powder

•1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

•1/8 teaspoon salt

•1/2 pound chicken breast tenders

•1/4 cup cilantro sprigs

•2 tablespoons parsley sprigs

•2 tablespoons blanched slivered almonds

•1/2 clove garlic

•1/2 serrano chile pepper, seeded (wear plastic gloves when handling)

•1/16 teaspoon salt
•1 tablespoon lime juice
•1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
•1 tablespoon water
•Sprig cilantro, for garnish

Instructions

Coat a grill rack or broiler-pan rack with cooking spray. Preheat the grill or broiler.

In a cup, combine the chili powder, cumin, and salt. Cut two 1/2"-deep slashes in each side of the chicken tenders. Rub the spice mixture over the chicken, pressing it into the slits. Place the chicken in a baking pan and coat completely with cooking spray. Let stand for 10 minutes.

In a food processor, combine the cilantro, parsley, almonds, garlic, chile pepper, and salt. Process until chopped. While the processor is running, add the lime juice and oil through the feed tube, stopping the machine once or twice to scrape down the sides of the container, until the sauce is smooth. Pour the sauce into a bowl. Stir in the water, cover, and chill until ready to serve.

Place the chicken on the prepared rack and grill or broil 6" from the heat, turning several times, for 15 minutes or until a thermometer inserted in the thickest portion registers 170°F and the juices run clear. Serve with the sauce and garnish with the cilantro.

New Year, New Me (well hopefully)

Happy New Year everyone!  Sorry it is a little late.  The holidays around here was a little busy.  We had my mother-in-law, sister-in-law and her kids here for Thanksgiving.  Then the following week my best friend from Michigan, Melissa, came out for a quick visit.  We met up with our good friend Donna from Myrtle Beach.  We had a great time at a wonderful restaurant in Dedham MA, called One Bistro.  Oh yummo is all I can say.  Two weeks after visiting with Melissa and Donna, my parents came to NH for Christmas.  We enjoyed having them, even though it was a bitterly cold week of weather.  They probably won't be coming back during the winter ever again. lol.  After my parents left preperations for our annual New Year's Eve get together got started.  So any way, I'm sure everyone has a busy holiday season.  I just can not believe I have not posted anything since last September. 

Now on to the new me... I have been going to my local gym five days a week since November.  It wasn't until about 1.5 weeks ago I realized I needed to step up my game plan.  I found myself at home practically binging on the snacks I buy the kids for school.  Well geez, no wonder I haven't lost any weight.  So I decided to go back to the South Beach Diet in addition to stepping up my exercise regimen.  So my new friend at the gym is this Arc Trainer.  Man I love this machine.  It gets your Heart Rate up to where it should be.  You can feel it working your thigh and butt muscles.  I remember the first time I worked out on it I could only do about 7 minutes and that is on the manual setting.  Now I am doing 50 minutes on it at the weight loss level.  Since starting the South Beach Diet and upping my time on the Arc Trainer I have lost 3 pounds.  So it does show that exercising and eating healthy goes hand in hand. 

From now on any of the recipes I post will more than likely be a South Beach Diet recipe or a low-fat recipe. 

I hope everyone has a Healthy and Safe New Year!