This pregnancy has been hard in that it is making me crave foods I no longer eat.  Like Olive Garden.  You know how when you are pregnant and you see a food, you instantly want it.  No, neeeeed it.  It is all you can think about until that craving is satisfied.  Yeah, that is me right now.  The cravings have been for Olive Garden and waffles, both of which I don’t eat anymore.  It is soooo frustrating at times.  So I decided to throw something together the other night that might curb my Olive Garden craving for awhile.  It worked too!  Add in a big Olive Garden like salad complete with onions and olives and a vinaigrette and I’m good now, craving satisfied.  Well, actually, we have had two nights like this, this recipe turned out better so you get this one!  I posted this on facebook the other day and a few people requested the recipe.  There really isn’t one, I just threw it together.

Here is what I did…

I used this recipe to cook 4 chicken breasts (we use pastured, organic, chicken).  We cook the chicken in organic, grass fed ghee, which can handle high heat better than other oils.  This is our favorite way to cook chicken.  So easy, you don’t have to tend to it constantly and it comes out perfect and tender every single time.

Perfect Chicken Breasts

Wash and pat dry chicken.  Season one side with sea salt, pepper and garlic salt.
Heat ghee on high heat to get the skillet good and hot.
Turn temp down to medium (around 5) and add chicken seasoned side down.
Let sit for about 1 minute and season the side facing up.
After 1 minute, turn heat down to low, flip the chicken over and cover.
Let sit for 10 minutes.
After 10 minutes, turn temperature totally off.  Let it sit for 10 minutes, leave the lid on, don’t open it.
That’s it.  Easy peasy, tender every time.

Cashew Cheese (recipe from Edible Austin)  The only changes I made were that I eliminated the lime for this recipe and I didn’t let it sit for 24 hours.  I like my cashews to soak longer than 2 hours, it makes for a creamier cheese.

Other ingredients:

Quinoa Pasta
Coconut Milk
Herbamare
1 Tub Cherry Tomatoes cut in half
1 Jar Artichoke Hearts (with juice)
1 Red Onion
6-8 Cloves Garlic
Fresh Basil

I cooked 2 boxes of organic quinoa pasta then mixed it with a splash of organic coconut milk and mixed in the cashew cheese and chicken.  I sprinkled sea salt and herbamare (my absolute favorite seasoning) over the top.  If you don’t have a dairy allergy, I would recommend covering the top with yummy raw, organic, cheese. You could also sprinkle a little rice cheese over it.  I placed it in the oven and let it sit under the low broil setting for just a few minutes.

While in the oven, I sauteed 1 tub of organic cherry tomatoes cut in half, 1 glass jar of organic artichoke hearts cut up in large chunks, one organic red onion, a handful (6-8) of fermented whole organic garlic cloves (you can use regular garlic but I would chop it up some as it won’t be as soft if not fermented) and a big handful of fresh basil leaves.  My family loves eating whole garlic cloves, if yours does not, I recommend chopping them up.  I sauteed everything in the juice from the artichoke hearts jar.  This gave it a wonderful flavor, especially the tomatoes, they soaked it right up.  Once hot, I spooned it over the cheese and chicken casserole dish and served it hot.  The house smelled divine and it was beyond delicious!  We reheated leftovers for lunch the next day and I needed to add a bit more coconut milk to get it creamy again but it was just as good the second time around.