Almond Coated Chicken with Apple Spinach Salad - Healthy Hot Plate Recipe from Horsepower Coach Maddy Curley

   Hi! My name is Maddy Curley. I’m so glad you’re here to get fit and healthy with me. Even though I have a pretty impressive athletic background as a national champion gymnast, successful CrossFit athlete and coach at Horsepower, I never really learned how to cook, eat and train on my own until my late twenties! My mom and coaches just did everything for me (oh the good old days). But in college I gained 20 pounds. Thus, I began working tirelessly to learn how to lose all that weight and KEEP it off for good, all while having no kitchen and only one hot plate. I’d like to share some of my favorite healthy, simple, and delicious recipes, all of which can be prepared with only ONE HOT PLATE!

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Almond Coated Chicken with Apple Spinach Salad

Ingredients:

 8 boneless, thin-cut skinless chicken breasts 

2 large eggs 1 ½ cups breadcrumbs ½ cup almond flour 

1 lemon: grate the zest and keep, and capture 1 tablespoon lemon juice 

⅓ cup olive oil 

Salt to taste 

Pepper to taste 

1 tablespoon olive oil (might need more) 

4 cups spinach 

1 small crisp apple, thinly sliced 

½ cup roughly chopped basil 

½ small red onion, thinly sliced 

Preparation:

1. Place the breadcrumbs, almond flour, lemon zest, ½ teaspoon salt, ½ teaspoon pepper together in a dish that’s not too deep. 

2. Mix (with your fingers is probably easiest) to combine the lemon zest evenly into the crumbs. In a separate, similar size dish, lightly beat the eggs and season with salt and pepper. 

3. Heat ⅓ cup olive oil in a large nonstick pan or skillet over MEDIUM-HIGH heat. Make sure it’s HOT! Breadcrumbs should sputter when they hit the oil. 

4. Choose 2 chicken breasts to dip at a time. Dip into the egg mixture, let the excess drip off, then dip into the crumb mixture and cover the chicken. 

5. Add the covered chicken to the hot oil and cook 2 to 3 minutes per side or until the chicken is browned and cooked all the way. Transfer to a paper towel to get rid of moisture. If the breadcrumbs on the chicken cook too quickly, reduce the heat and add time! 

(If you prefer to cook on LOW, still cover the chicken and you’ll probably need 7-10 minutes per side.) Add olive oil as needed for each set of chickens. 

If you aren’t sure if chicken is “done”, cut the chicken at the thickest part to make sure there is no pink! If it’s pink at all, cook it longer. 

For the Salad: Toss the spinach, basil, red onion and apples with 1 tablespoon lemon juice, 1 tablespoon olive oil and salt and pepper to taste. Serve with the chicken!