Cooking Artichoke And Rosemary Chicken

Rosemary Chicken Ingredients:

2.5 pounds chicken thighs, skinned
1/3 cup chicken broth, reduced sodium
8 ounce frozen artichoke hearts, thawed
1 medium onion, chopped
1 medium red bell pepper, cut into stripes
1 tablespoon quick cooking tapioca
2 teaspoon fresh rosemary, snipped or 1 teaspoon dried rosemary
6 medium garlic cloves, minced
2 teaspoon lemon peel, shredded finely
¾ teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
½ teaspoon salt
Cooked brown rice, optional
Fresh rosemary sprig, optional
Parsley, optional

Method:

1. Take a medium sized, approximately 4 quarts slow cooker and heat on low heat. Combine chopped onions, minced garlic, low sodium chicken broth, tapioca flour, dried or snipped rosemary, 1 teaspoon shredded lemon peel, and ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper.
2. Sauté for a minute to mix all the ingredients well. Add chicken, salt and remaining black pepper and sauté further.
3. Cover the cooker and cook on low heat setting or high heat setting for 5 to 5 ½ hours or 2 ½ to 3 hours respectively.
4. After this cooking time turn the cooker to high heat if you use low heat setting and add red pepper strips and artichokes. Cover the cooker again and cook on low heat for about 30 minutes.
5. Before serving remove the chicken in a platter and sprinkle the remaining 1 teaspoon lemon peels over it. Serve along with cooked brown rice. If desired, garnish the rice with parsley and fresh rosemary sprig. This recipe makes 6 servings.

Health Tip:

• This is a low calorie, diabetes friendly recipe as it provides about 168 calories, 8 gm carbohydrates and 4 gm total fat per serving. Protein content of rosemary chicken with artichokes is 23 gm per serving and is contributed mainly by lean meat that is chicken.
• The total fat, cholesterol, saturated fat and calories in this recipe are low because skinless poultry is used in the recipe. If you have a choice between chicken with the skin and chicken without the skin, always choose lean skinless chicken. This is because the protein and other nutrients in lean poultry remains the same, but the cholesterol and saturated fats are decreased considerably. Saturated fats and cholesterol in poultry are mainly situated in and under the skin of the poultry.
• Rosemary chicken and artichokes is a simple recipe but as the method involves use of slow cooker it can be a very time consuming recipe. But an advance preplanning can make things simpler.