Meatless Anyday

Lately I've been doing a lot of alternating between two new favourite recipes. They're both super easy and super tasty (at least IMHO).

The first one is called California Chicken, a recipe I've tweaked from Allrecipes. The second is just a concoction I recently made up with ingredients we often have on hand. It doesn't have a real name, so let's just call it "Mellowdee's Mishmash".

California Chicken
Serves 2

Ingredients

1 tsp olive oil
2 President's Choice World's Best Meatless Chicken Breasts
2 tbsp of hot sauce or pesto or whatever your little heart desires
1 tomato
4 - 6 slices of mozzarella cheese
1/2 an avocado, sliced

Directions


1. Preheat oven to 350. You can either brown your faux chicken in a pan before baking, or just brush the oil on your baking dish and cook it that way. Whatever.

2. Once you've browned your chicken, (or not), spoon on a layer of whatever sauce you like. I've twisted this recipe several different ways. The first time I just marinated it in oil, lemon n' garlic powder beforehand. Another time I spread on a layer of hot sauce. Tonight I'm making it with pesto. It's all good.

3. Put a couple slices of tomatoes on top of the breast, followed by a couple slices of cheese. Then toss 'er in the oven for 15 - 20 minutes.

4. Once it's all cooked and the cheese has melted (and inevitably slid down the side of the breast and onto the pan), top it with a couple slices of avocado and serve.

Mellowdee's Mishmash
Serves 4


Ingredients

3 tbsp olive oil
4 tbsp balsamic vinegar
(FYI: the oil n' balsamic are total ballpark measurements, as I just splash it in there. Use your judgement.)
1 garlic clove, minced
1/2 red onion, sliced
1 1/2 peppers, cut into strips - I like to be fancy n' mix it up by using 1/2 red, 1/2 yellow and 1/2 orange, if I have a variety on hand.
3 President's Choice World's Best Meatless Chicken Breasts, thawed and sliced
Dash of basil, oregano and pepper
3 cups of baby spinach
1 mango, chopped OR a few tbsps of parmesan cheese

Directions

1. Preheat over to 400. In a large baking dish toss together the olive oil, balsamic, garlic, onion, peppers, chicken and spices. Cook for about 25 minutes, mixing once or twice.

2. Dress each plate with a bed of baby spinach, then put the chicken-pepper mixture on top. Drizzle leftover oil n' balsamic over everything.

3. Top with mango. Alternately, omit the mango and sprinkle with parmesan cheese.

I don't know what you'd call it? Maybe Warm Chicken, Pepper, Spinach and Mango Salad? Nah. I think I prefer "Mellowdee's Mishmash". Either way, it's pretty good.