Day 3 of “The Twelve Days of Christmas Recipes” is in the books! This amazingly healthy Chicken Parmesan Quinoa is full of protein, fiber and very low in fat. Every year on Christmas Eve my mom makes some sort of traditional Italian pasta dish. Usually either Lasagna, Stuffed Shells or Chicken Parmesan. I have a total LOVE/HATE relationship with Italian food, it is by far my favorite kind of food, but being very into fitness and nutrition I rarely indulge with an Italian dish. So today I was racking my brain thinking of a savory dish I could do for you. A healthy lasagna was my first thought but that’s been done a zillion times. I haven’t seen a very healthy Chicken Parmesan Quinoa recipe, so here we are!
I just threw this together today! I enjoyed it for lunch and will have plenty of leftovers. And the best part is that you don’t need a lot of ingredients. One ingredient that you may need to run to the store to grab is my super special ingredient, cutting a lot of calories in this dish and making it lactose-free. It’s mozzarella style 
Almond Cheese! It sounds strange but is so yummy and melts really well. It’s a super healthy cheese alternative you can find at Whole Foods or Fresh Market. Of course if you’re totally unwilling to try Almond Cheese, you can substitute a fat-free mozzarella cheese.
This would be a wonderful dish to bring over to a Holiday dinner or to make on New Years’ Day for a nice, healthy dinner to start your new year off right!
Ingredients:
1-2 Chicken Breasts, cooked and shredded
2 cups organic quinoa, cooked
1/2 cup mozzarella Almond cheese
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 1/2 cups organic tomato sauce
4 fresh basil leaves, chopped
Sea salt & black pepper to taste
Directions:
1.) Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2.) In a large mixing bowl, add 2 cups already cooked quinoa and one large chicken breast that has been precooked and shredded. * You can brown a few large chicken breasts on both sides and add them to the top of the quinoa/sauce mixture if you’d rather have individual chicken breasts.
3.)Add minced garlic cloves and chopped, fresh basil leaves the the chicken and quinoa mixture. Add sea salt & black pepper to taste. Next add 1 cup tomato sauce and use a fork to gently combine the ingredients. Spread the mixture into a casserole dish and pour the remaining 1/2 cup of tomato sauce on top. *I used a shallow casserole dish so if you want a large casserole that feeds many, double the recipe and use a large, deep casserole dish.
4.) Add 1/2 cup shredded Almond cheese on top. Cover the dish with aluminum foil and bake for about 25 minutes.
Serve HOT and ENJOY!!!
Created by: Loryn Huff
Certified Personal Trainer, Champion Figure Competitor, NEW Mom and Owner of Femme FIT Company, Ft. Lauderdale.
FemmeFIT Physique 