Heart Healthy Birthday

While my lovely husband and I consider ourselves pretty healthy, there is always room for improvement.  We like sauce, salt and meat more then your average couple which is OK some of the time...but not most of the time, even if we do go to a very fancy gym to burn it off.

This weekend, for my Father-in-law's birthday, we decided to show our in-laws that we could make a meal SO delicious, SO yummy minus the salt and butter and fat.  I took the empty plates as a sign of success!! (My brother-in-law wouldn't eat the salad, stubborn dude, he's missing out). 

Heart Healthy Chicken Kabobs - served 5
adapted from The Heart Healthy Cookbook
Kabobs:
2.7 lbs chicken breast, cut into chunks
1 Yellow Pepper
1 Green Pepper
Handful grape tomatoes
1 small container whole button mushrooms
I fresh pineapple cut into chunks
skewers (metal or wood soaked in water)
Marinade:
Juice of 3 lemons
3 Tbs olive oil
2 Tbs honey
2 cloves garlic sliced
Season with dried tarragon/sage/thyme/pepper (dont be shy)

Coat all ingredients in the marinade, make a little extra if needed.  I used separate bowls for chicken and vegetables....for no other reason then it sounded like a good idea. Skewer all ingredients together, the juice from the Pineapple will flavor the chicken if you skewer them next to one another. Grill over medium high heat, basting with extra marinade and turning occasionally, until cooked through, about 6 minutes each side.

Green Salad:
1 package arugula, rinsed
1 package spinach, rinsed
Cucumber chopped
San Pasquel Dressing (cat butt not included)
Parmesan cheese, shaved on top of salad

Roasted Root Vegetables:
2 large russet potatoes peeled and sliced
3 large sweet potatoes peeled and sliced
3 parsnips peeled and sliced
Maple Syrup
Dried sage/thyme to season
Toss all ingredients in a baking dish.  Roast in the oven for 1 hour on 375 degrees.  Stir every 20 minutes. 

Dessert:

1 pre-made, store bought Angel Food cake (there was alot going on in the kitchen already, so I decided to keep it simple).

1 package strawberries, washed and sliced

Fat Free Redi-whip or Fat Free Cool Whip (your preference)

Walla! I don't know the exact calorie count of this meal, but I am thinking with no butter, no salt, mostly vegetables and fat free Angel Food Cake, its gotta be healthy or healthier.   I think if Thomas the Cat could talk, he would have told us how impressed he was with the meal and applaud us for thinking and eating Heart Healthy or maybe he would have preferred Tuna Steak.