Healthy Dinner time

SO tonight I decided to be really really good, and make a healthy dinner.  It ended up being a LONG process (took 2 hours) and it turned out really good. I should have known to time it better, but oh well.

Here's what I did.

I took 6 squash, 3 yellow and 3 green. I cut one of each color in half lengthwise after cutting the ends off.  I sliced them down the middle again, and one more time cut down the middle of the spears.  I should have left it but I wanted to make sure they didn't take forever to cook.  I cut them in half in the middle, and threw them in a bowl. Once the squash was all cut, I poured in about 3 tbsp of garlic (yeah, a lot but it was so good) and about 1/3 cup of oil.  Admittedly there was a lot of squash, as I ended up doing about 2 of each color.  So you can do less, it just helped.  Toss the squash in the garlic and oil, and spread it out on a foil lined baking sheet.  Sprinkle salt and pepper over the squash.  Put in a 350 degree oven for about 45 minutes.

Take the rest of the squash, and cut it into rounds.  Throw them together, and put them in a steamer basket.  These take about 15 minutes to steam, so you may want to wait until it's almost done to steam them so everything is hot together.

Take 2 boneless Skinless chicken breasts (preferably defrosted) and cut them in half down the middle.  Put them in a hot pan, and sprinkle with lemon pepper seasoning.  Cover and let them steam, turn them over about 4 minutes into the cook time.  They don't take that long to cook when they are cut thin, and it really helps them to stay tender and juicy if you add a little bit of water to the pan after searing both sides.  When you turn them the first time, sprinkle some more lemon pepper on the chicken (to enhance the flavor, not overpower it.)  This takes about 15 minutes to cook.

The carrots are the same as the squash.  I peeled them, cut them into rounds, and put them in a steamer basket. They took about 10 minutes to steam soft, but not gummy.

If you time it all correctly, than it will all come out warm and fantastic together.  I would start the squash in the oven, and about 20 minutes until it's done, start the chicken and get the veggies steaming 5 minutes after you start.  Or you can just eat in shifts, like my poor daddy did.

The end result? A very colorful, VERY healthy dinner. The vegetables were all fabulous, but the steamed squash and carrots needed some butter.  The squash was good with lemon pepper sprinkled on it, and the carrots needed just a tiny bit of salt.

If you time it better than I did, this should only take you about an hour from start to finish.  IF You have 2 steamer baskets and were ready on time... Laughs. I had one steamer basket, and the chicken was frozen when I started so I had to do everything in shifts. It helped to put the carrots in a bowl, and put them into the oven to keep it warm.  Same with the chicken.

Enjoy!

And if you are counting points, this dinner will end up costing you about 4 points.  WOW!! :)  How's THAT for a good dinner? :)