Healthy Chicken Casserole

Food on Pinterest, by and large, is divided into two categories, super, rediculously healthy food that may or may not fall into a "diet" category like vegan or gluten free or... the reason why America is fat, gooey, sweet, deep-fried monstrosities. It's like Pinterest people have those little angels and devils on their shoulders like you see in cartoons. These Pins represent what we aspire to be and what most of us really are (and eat). I, myself try and live mostly on the angel side (hence this Pin) but that's not to say I don't sometimes enjoy some good devil food.  Closer to Christmas you'll see that a lot more.

Here is the original Pin:

Balsamic Chicken

Original                                                                      Mine 

The first problem I have with this pin is it's name.  There is but a mere teaspoon of balsamic vinegar and it is not noticeable at all. First tip for this recipe... add more balsamic... it's delicious and flavorful.

The only things that I altered about this recipe was that I used a yellow onion instead of a red one (because that's what I already had at the house) and I used garlic from a jug instead of peeling and chopping the little bulbs.  I swear none of my cooking would have any flavor if it wasn't for those jugs of prepared garlic.  To start, you brown off the chicken.  I used smaller pieces instead of whole breasts because that's what I could find, and I used a little olive oil instead of cooking spray. When the chicken is cooked through, you place it at the bottom of a casserole dish.

Then you make your pesto topping with the basil, garlic, oil, etc.  Blend until smooth. 

Add the pesto to the casserole dish, then the onions, tomatoes and mushrooms.  Any number of other veggies would be fine in this recipe.  I think spinach would be especially nice.

Cover and put in the oven for about 40 minutes. While it was cooking I put some brown rice in my rice cooker and it timed out pretty well.

Overall, this recipe is definitely healthy, as for tasty... it's pretty good, but not great.  It tastes like you're eating a healthy meal, which isn't a bad thing, it's just not particularly inspirational.  If I were to make this again, I would try and up the flavor a little bit... more garlic, some salt, and definitely more balsamic vinegar.

Cost: About what you'd expect to pay for a home cooked meal.  I had to buy the chicken, tomatoes, mushrooms and basil, but I already had everything else. It's about 4 portions, so we were able to put some leftovers away for lunch for Nugget another day.

Time: Maybe 10-15 minutes prep, then 40 minutes cooking.

Difficulty: I think it would be difficult to ruin this, but there's any number of things you can do to make it better.

Aesthetic Appeal: The red tomatoes and green pesto make it a fairly attractive meal.

Life Enhancement: I think this recipe is a good base for future ideas rather than an excellent meal as is.  It is very healthy, no doubt... gluten free, low fat, but the seasoning needs to be bumped up to make it memorable.