Chicken Tomato Zucchini Pasta

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Tonight we are on pins and needles.  We are riding out hurricane Matthew here in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida.  We have only had a few rain bands hit us so far, but we still have about 4 hours before the worse gets here.  So I have been cooking things all day that we can eat cold in case we lose power.  Of course I have my grill that I can fire up but I don’t want to do that in the rain.  So I have made a pasta salad, seared some chicken breasts to make soft tacos and finally this evening I made a Chicken Tomato Zucchini Pasta dish.

Only being one week into my newly mandated diet and then being put into the middle of a hurricane has not been easy.   I have this problem of having to cook and eat when I am stressed or stuck in the house for to long.  I mean come on, it’s hard to count calories, sugar and carbs when your stressed over getting blown away by a hurricane.  Normally I would be baking my butt off.  Making cookies, cakes or some other sweet snack.  It’s my way of dealing with stress but I am now limited in what I can eat.

Don’t worry though.  I will be coming up with more recipes with lower carbs, sugar and calories.  Look for them right here on my webpage.  They’ll be right on the front page.  Especially during the upcoming holidays.  We can all use them.

So before I get blown away by hurricane Matthew lets get on to what I came up with for dinner.  Of course it’s low carb but still quite delicious.  Fortunately I found some great zucchini’s this past week at the farmers market.  I utilized my new zucchini spiral cutter and made them into the noodles I used in the dish.  So none of the carbs from pasta.  Give it a try and let me know what you think.

INGREDIENTS:

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 chicken breasts, cubed
• 1 medium yellow onion, diced
• 1 green bell pepper, diced
• 1 small carrot, shredded (for sweetness)
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 28 ounce can crushed tomatoes
• 1 tablespoon smoked paprika
• 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
• 3-4 large zucchini, spiral sliced
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper

Directions:

1. Heat a large pan over medium high heat and add olive oil.
2. Once heated, add the chicken and sear it for 4-5 minutes. Sprinkle with salt and pepper to season.
3. Add onion, bell pepper, carrot, and garlic and cook for 3-4 minutes to soften the onion/peppers, add a bit more salt and pepper to season this layer.
4. Now pour the crushed tomatoes into the mixture reduce to medium and stir to combine.  Cook for 4-5 minutes.
5. While the tomato mixture is cooking, spiral slice your zucchini’s.
6. Add zucchini to the mixture, stir to combine and cook 3-5 minutes to your desired texture.  I cook mine to the texture of al dente pasta.
7. Taste and season with additional salt and pepper to taste.