Basil pesto chicken rainbow!

When I made the pesto the other day, I made enough for a few meals. Good move Meg!! 

This meal was actually lunch, twice, and dinner once. 

Ingredients

Chicken breasts, diced into cubes

Pesto

Vegetables of your choosing - onion, tomato, red/yellow peppers and courgette were my choice (partly mostly because I love the colour combination)

Method

There really isn't much to this recipe, and my husbands favourite part, its a one pan meal!! (I cooked all 21 meals over the cleanse, but he had to do all the washing up in the evenings, and I'll tell you, there were a lot of dishes to be cleaned!!). 

In a pan, cook the chicken in a dash of oil or butter. When the chicken has cooked through but not yet browned, throw in all of the chopped vegetables. 

Increase the heat a little and turn the vegetables and chicken regularly. As they start to char a little, add in a generous tablespoon of pesto and stir. As the pesto coats all the vegetables and chicken, continue turning for another minute or two. 

Serve and enjoy piping hot! 

OR... Spoon this mixture onto a flat bread/pita bread, sprinkle with cheese and bake for ten minutes! But, not if you are avoiding wheat or dairy!!! But, mini flat bread pizzas are tasty too!!

Shredded chicken tex-mex

If you have been following my blog for a little while now, you will know that I have discovered the joy of shredding beef! Whilst on the crazy cleanse week though, red meat was off the menu, but I thought, "Well then, that just means I'm going to have to shred some chicken then". I went about cooking the chicken before realising that I couldn't add any of the usual herbs and spices that I would normally add such as cumin, paprika and garlic salt. But, with 6 chicken breasts sealing in the pan, it was too late for regrets, it was a make it work moment. 

When the chicken was sealed I added half a bunch of chopped up fresh coriander and squeezed in half a lime. I then covered the chicken with boiling water, placed the lid on the pot and let it bubble away for a few hours. 

The chicken cooked far more quickly than does red meat, so it was tender and falling apart after only about 3 hours. 

Before serving I added the remaining fresh coriander, lime and seasoned with a little salt and pepper. The lime and coriander gave plenty of flavour whilst keeping the chicken tasting so fresh and zesty. 

I made guacamole, grilled some peppers and onion and served on a bed of fresh greens, creating my cleansing version of Tex-Mex, sans tortillas, cumin and shredded cheese sadly!. 

It was actually kind of delicious! 

For the next two lunches I had shredded chicken salads, and found that sun-dried tomatoes accompany these flavours beautifully.