It’s time for another recipe! One of my simple faves, and takes under 15 minutes to make.

• whole wheat pasta of your choice
• Quorn chicken tenders (meatless & soy-less) or lean grilled chicken
• your favorite tomato based sauce (I’ve used Whole Foods Four Cheese Tomato)
• zucchini
• butter
• fresh black pepper

Get the pasta boiling, and in the meantime let’s get started on chicken tenders. The tenders take about 10 minutes to make, and if you’re really in a hurry, you can throw a few into the microwave to defrost first but I avoid nuking my food as much as possible.

Chicken Tenders: heat up some EVOO (extra virgin olive oil) in a nonstick pan and throw the tenders in.  I cover it off with a lid to kind of steam them soft at the same time. Keep an eye on them and just toss them around from time to time so it they don’t brown too much.

Zucchini: if you’re comfortable running a few pans at the same time, I suggest you start on the zucchini as well as that will take some time to steam. If you’re not, then leave this until the chicken is done, cause the zucchini will get cold very quickly. Get a fresh pan going on low heat and throw in a pat of butter.  I used one pat for one zucchini which makes the amount pictured above. The amount does reduce once cooked to keep that mind. Skin and dice up the zucchini, the smaller the pieces, the faster it’ll cook. Once the butter is melted, throw the zucchini in, coat it in the butter, and cover it with a lid.  Keep a close eye on it and toss it frequently cause you don’t want these to get too mushy. Think “al dente”.

Back to the pasta: By now, your pasta should be done. Drain and throw the sauce, and chicken tenders in. Bring the heat to medium and let that simmer while the zucchini finishes cooking.

Throw it on a plate, top the zucchini off with freshly ground black pepper and you’re all set!

Those of you who know me, are probably wondering why there’s chicken on this vegetarian’s plate. Relax. It’s not really chicken.

Those of you who are vegan or vegetarian know how difficult it can be to incorporate protein into meals for a balanced diet. And perhaps some of you carnivores are looking for a healthy alternative. Toss together this easy salad and let me know your thoughts.

• Organic spinach
• Organic strawberries
• Organic pears
• Walnuts or Pecans
• Quorn Naked Chik’n Cutlets (these are also soy-free for those of you with soy allergies) or lean grilled chicken
• Balsamic dressing of choice (I used OrganicVille Olive Oil & Balsamic Vinaigrette)

There’s 11 grams of protein in one chik’n cutlet, plus a few more grams from the nuts. Go easy on the dressing and you’ve got a decent salad.