Of Fads and Fat

Several years ago - I think right after I had my first child - the South Beach Diet was all the rage. You remember the premise - basically eliminate carbs from your diet - and eat healthy fats. Kind of like the Atkins Diet, but I don't think South Beach wants you shoveling your face full of bacon.

So, I bought the diet book and accompanying cookbook, with the good intention of doing the diet. I think I made one thing and forgot about it. Since then, I have educated myself and now take a balanced, healthy approach that includes moderation, clean eating and lots of working out. Shockingly, that works. (At least for me - I am not reviewing the South Beach Diet nor bashing it.)

Anyhoo, I decided to flip through the South Beach Diet cookbook and found quite a few recipes that work well with my style of eating. In fact, it's almost like I have a whole new cookbook at my disposal!

Sesame Baked Chicken
Source: The South Beach Diet Cookbook, by Arthur Agatston, M.D. (2004)

Ingredients:

• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• 2 tbsp canola oil
• 1 tsp toasted sesame oil
• 1 tbsp water
• 1 tbsp light soy sauce
• 1/2 tsp salt (skip)
• 1/4 tsp pepper (skip)
• 2 tbsp uncooked oat bran
• 1/4 c. sesame seeds
• 1.5 pounds boneless, skinless chicken, cut into 2-inch pieces (didn't cut up)

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• In a shallow bowl, combine the egg, canola oil, sesame oil, water, soy sauce, salt and pepper.
• In a small bowl, combine the oat bran and sesame seeds.
• Dip the chicken in the egg mixture, then dredge in bran mixture. Place in a 11x7 nonstick baking pan.
• Bake for 30 mins or until done.

Yield: 4 servings
Per serving: 339 calories; 16g fat (2g sat); 43g protein; 5g carbs; 2g fiber; 152mg chol; 568mg sodium

Reviews:
On the plus side, I like this recipe because I had everything on hand (except for the chicken), and it was probably one of the easiest meals I've made in a long time. No chopping. No prep. No frying. Just mix, dip and bake. On the so-so side, the chicken was so-so. It was kind of bland - I might add in some cayenne pepper or something to spice it up a bit without impacting its nutritional stats, just to give it some more flavor. Plus, the 2 tbsp of oat bran is kind of skimpy and didn't leave me enough to coat all of the chicken. But I will def return to this cookbook for future meals.

Ranking:
Two Forks

Oat bran this!