Dinner for the Whole Family!

 I've found over the years that one of the things that bothers me the most about losing weight is eating food that looks like or feels like diet food. Maybe it's silly, but unfortunately it's a real factor and something I have to deal with. It's one reason why I work so hard to come up with healthy substitutes for all my favourite high calorie foods- so I can feel like I'm indulging and still lose weight. Of course, there's nothing wrong with a small portion of the real thing once in a while either!

That being said, it's really nice when you can make a dinner that is delicious enough that your whole family will eat it and never realize that it's actually low calorie too! Just smile and accept the compliments :)

Blueberry-BBQ Chicken:

520g raw chicken thighs, boneless, skinless

720g yellow potatoes, cubed

113g baby spinach

56g goat cheese crumbles

1 tbsp dried cranberries

1 tbsp pumpkin seeds

4 tbsp reduced sugar blueberry jam

4 tbsp light bbq sauce

1 tbsp olive oil

2 tbsp BBQ seasoning

Preheat your oven to 450 degrees. Put the potatoes in a container with a lid, and add the olive oil and 1 tbsp of the BBQ seasoning. Shake until it's evenly distributed on the potatoes. Put them on an air bake tray or french fry crisper tray and roast in the oven until golden brown, approximately 22-25 minutes.

Heat a small pot over medium heat. When hot, add the blueberry jam, and stir until the jam starts to melt, 1-2 minutes. Add the BBQ sauce and stir often until the sauce is smooth and well blended. Keep warm over low heat but do not let the heat get high enough to scald the sauce or burn the bottom.

Heat a large oven safe frying pan over medium heat (if you don't have one, you can transfer to a baking dish afterwards). Spray with a little bit of cooking spray. Season the chicken with the remaining BBQ seasoning, then add to the hot pan. Sear until golden brown, 2-3 minutes per side (chicken won't be cooked through yet).

Brush blueberry-BBQ sauce onto the chicken thighs, and then put the pan in the oven with the potatoes when there is about 10-12 minutes left on the oven timer.

Portion out the spinach salad onto four plates, dividing the goat cheese, cranberries, and pumpkin seeds evenly. Drizzle a little of your salad dressing of choice on top. When the oven timer goes off, plate the chicken and potatoes as well, with more blueberry-BBQ sauce for dipping.

Serves four, or else makes a great lunch the next day! Each portion has 425 calories, 12g fat, 52g carbs, and 29g protein! You could choose to make it low carb by swapping out the potatoes for a veggie, but they really are delicious with a little extra blueberry BBQ sauce drizzled on top.