Chicken Kebabs and Skinny 'Slaw | Health and Fitness.

Hello everyone,

Lately I've been feeling so sluggish and awful where I've been eating an embarrassing amount of junk food, but now I'm slowly getting back into the habit of going to the gym I just need to get back into my healthier eating habits. Last year I lost almost 3 stone and felt so much better for it, so I need to get back to that place not just for physical appearance but also my mental state was in such an amazing place, with regards of my body confidence which has always been an issue..but I'll get to that in another post. A couple of nights a go I tried a recipe that I saw on Lorraine, one of the UK's favourite morning tv programme, and I loved it so much! This post is mainly for me just so I can remember what to do, but also I thought I'd share for anyone trying to become a bit more healthy. This recipe is for 4 people so chop and change where you have to.

What you will need:

For the kebabs -

•  4 chicken breasts (skinless)
• Juice of a lemon
• 1 garlic clove, minced (I used a tiny bit more because I don't want vampires getting to me)
• 2 tbsp of oregano or mixed herbs
• 1 tsp of dried mint
• 1 tbsp of olive oil
• Salt and pepper (I only used pepper as I hate salt with a passion)

 For the nutty, if you wish, rice -

•  200g of brown basmati rice
• 500ml of boiling chicken stock
• a handful of cashews, pine nuts or almonds (optional) 

For skinny 'slaw (all finely sliced) -

•  1/4 of a red cabbage
• 1/4 of a white cabbage
• 1 red pepper
• 1/2 of a red onion 
• 2 tbsp of chopped flat leaf parsley

For the dressing -

•  1 tbsp of white wine vinegar
•  1 tbsp of olive oil
• 1 tbsp of Greek yoghurt
• 1 tsp of Dijon or English mustard

 Now lets get cooking!

First of all grab the chicken breasts, make sure you keep this chopping board separate as you don't want food poisoning, then slice them how you want. If you would rather keep the breasts whole you can but if you want to skewer the meat then dicing would be the easiest option, I just kept mine to strips but in hindsight they looked messy when skewering up! So if you're striving for perfection then make sure the meat is diced.
You then need to wash your hands and get started on the marinade, to make this you just simply need to mix all the ingredients that you'll find under the 'for the kebabs' section, mix this up in a big bowl as you can then simply just chuck your chicken in the bowl and get your hands stuck in to make sure all the meat is covered. If, unlike me, you're one of these people who are organised and plans their dinners ahead of time you can marinade and skewer up your chicken the night before then cover them up and stick them in your fridge.

Once the chicken is all put on the skewers you just need to prepare them for cooking, you can grill them in a pan, but to make life a bit easier I just put mine on a grilling tray and stuck them in the oven, they took 25-30 minutes to cook but this all depends on the thickness that you have cut the breasts, so just keep an eye on them and check the middles of the meat!
When you put your chicken in you will want to start your rice as this takes about 20 minutes. Fill a saucepan about half way and bring the water to the boil on the hob, once the water is at boiling point then pour in your rice and throw in, well maybe not throw um..gently place, the chicken stock in (I didn't make my stock before hand because that's more washing up, works just as fine letting the cube melt in with the rice). Turn your hob down to simmer and place a lid on the top. 

Time for the coleslaw! This is probably the simplest part but probably most time consuming of the the whole thing as you literally just have to finely slice all the vegetables, listed under the 'for the skinny slaw' section, mix the dressing up and then mix both of those elements together. Now don't be worried if the dressing doesn't look enough for the amount of raw veg you've slaved away slicing up..it's plenty as you don't want a super creamy slaw as that will just take away the flavour of all the goodness.
By the time that's all made then your rice should be ready, give the rice a stir and drain if needs be, then grab a handful of your desired nuts, preferably not a living kind..if you get my drift riddled with innuendo. I used cashews as myself and everyone else I was cooking this for loves them a lot, sprinkle in the nuts and once again give it a stir to make sure it's all nice and mixed in.

 Now everything is prepared and cooked it's time to plate up. To make mine look slightly prettier, and so I also didn't over indulge, I placed the rice in a cup squishing it down slightly and then gently flipped the cup upside down on my plate to make a cute, little mound of rice. I'm the type of person who eats with their eyes first so my plate needs to be neat and colourful! You can dish up as much 'slaw as you like but as it's the vegetable portion of this meal make sure it's a good amount, then simply place you kebab on your plate. It's up to you whether you keep it on or de-skewer it before sitting down with your meal.

Bon Appetit!

Hope you enjoyed this little recipe, as I mentioned this is mainly for me to document things I enjoy so I can remember how to cook certain meals again as I have a goldfish brain.