Here’s a quick, easy, and well-loved recipe in this household. It’s actually the dish that finally convinced my mom that yes – baby girl can cook. 😉

It’s great for when you’re having guests or family over. Or when you’re trying to cut some of the carbs in your diet without sacrificing the taste that comes with an actual, filling (and yummy!) meal.

It’s healthy, low-carb, and a great way to get some greens into your system if you’re not much of a veggie eater (like hubby and I).

Related Post: Food: Career Girl Cooking Series – Ham, Bacon, and Mushroom Alfredo

Quick recipe, Pesto, Chicken, Baked, Parmesan, Low-Carb, Healthy

I always use a mortar and pestle to crush my garlic. I like them in really small pieces. When my OCD is really acting up, I even use a food processor. Hee. 😀

Ingredients:

3 slices of Chicken breast

125 grams of pesto (Using store-bought pesto for this one though I do know how to make my own. And it only takes 5 minutes! Will share the recipe for that one next time.)

Parmesan  cheese

Quinoa crumbs

Pepper

3 cloves of garlic, crushed

A pinch of salt

Olive oil

Tomatoes for garnishing

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 375F or 190C.

Put your pesto into a bowl and add some grated parmesan, garlic, pepper, and a tiny pinch of salt. Note that a lot of pesto recipes already include garlic and cheese so this is just for an additional taste. I really like flavourful pesto so you can adjust this part to suit your standards. 😉

Quick recipe, Pesto, Chicken, Baked, Parmesan, Low-Carb, Healthy

Mix, mix, mix!

Mix it thoroughly and set aside.

Quick recipe, Pesto, Chicken, Baked, Parmesan, Low-Carb, Healthy

Get your chicken breasts and slice them in half. Then, slice a ‘pocket’ through the meat by filleting through the thickest part of the breast and stopping halfway through.

They’re supposed to look like this:

Quick recipe, Pesto, Chicken, Baked, Parmesan, Low-Carb, Healthy

Each piece kinda looks like an old, wrinkly… OK, I won’t say it.

Slather each pocket with pesto then fold them up.

Don’t put too much so that they’ll stay closed when you fold them up. Don’t worry about the excess pesto – we’ll have use for that later.

Drizzle some olive oil into a baking dish and brush it over evenly. Sprinkle quinoa crumbs all over the chicken breasts and set them down into the baking dish. Quinoa, in my honest (and non-expert) opinion, adds texture to the meat. It’s healthy too!

Cut a tomato as thinly as you can and use the slices as garnish. Use a big tomato instead of the small, cherry tomatoes you can easily get in bulk in grocery stores. I made this dish before using the smaller ones and a good friend of mine who’s so good in whipping up yummy and healthy food (Hi Armi!) suggested that I try using bigger ones. And yes, they do look better and go so well with this dish. Better than the cherry tomatoes!

Quick recipe, Pesto, Chicken, Baked, Parmesan, Low-Carb, Healthy

You’re almost there!

Dump the rest of your pesto on top of the chicken breasts.

Drizzle the chicken and the tomatoes with olive oil. Mmmm. Olive oil makes this dish so, so gooooood.

And lastly, sprinkle some grated parmesan cheese on top.

Bake for 30 minutes.

And voila! Dinner is ready! And it only took you – like what – 40 minutes just to make it!

Quick recipe, Pesto, Chicken, Baked, Parmesan, Low-Carb, Healthy

Ta-daaaa!

This goes so well with brown, unpolished rice and some natural (sugar-free) orange juice. Let me know what else you think will go with this recipe! I’d love to know. 😀

Happy (healthy) eating, you guys!

More later.

Love,

Carol