Skinny Cacciatore

Pasta, dah-ling! I've missed you! LOL

Here's a low-fat version of cacciatore we tried last week. I loved it. So flavorful! It's 8 points a serving, but, baby, you get a *plateful* of food! You will not be hungry after this meal. (In fact, it made a lot for our little family, and we froze half. It'll be perfect for some crazy busy night. Yum!)

I found this recipe easiest to cook when I "Martha-ed" it. You know how all the cooks on TV have everything set aside, all prepared and measured out for them? We would all be gourmet chefs if we had a little assistant doing that for us, every time we knocked out a recipe! LOL This recipe does call for a lot of veggies and spices; if you have them ready to go when they're called for, this recipe's a breeze!

Enjoy. Ciao for now!


Skinny Cacciatore

1 1/2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1 inch pieces
3 teaspoons canola oil, divided
1 large green pepper, chopped
2 celery ribs, thinly sliced
1 medium onion, chopped
1 3/4 cups sliced fresh mushrooms**
1 medium carrot, shredded
3 garlic cloves, minced**
1 can (29 oz.) tomato sauce
1 can (14.5 oz.) Italian diced tomatoes, undrained
1 bay leaf
3 teaspoons dried oregano
2 teaspoons dried basil
1/4 teaspoon pepper
9 oz. uncooked spaghetti
(additional shredded carrot -- optional) **

1. In a large non-stick skillet coated with cooking spray, brown chicken in 2 teaspoons of oil; drain. Remove and keep warm. In the same skillet, saute the green pepper, celery, and onion in remaining oil for 3 minutes. Add the mushrooms, carrot and garlic; saute 2-4 minutes longer or until all the vegetables are tender.

2. Stir in the tomato sauce, tomatoes, and seasonings. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer uncovered, for 10-12 minutes or until thickened. Meanwhile, cook spaghetti according to package directions.

3. Stir chicken into tomato mixture; cook for 8-12 minutes or until chicken is no longer pink. Discard bay leaf. Drain spaghetti; serve with chicken mixture. Garnish with additional carrot if desired.

Serving: 1 1/3 cups of chicken mixture with 2/3 cup spaghetti
Yield: 6 servings
8 points per serving


** We used canned mushrooms from the pantry, instead of fresh. We used minced garlic spice. Both times these substitutions worked fine. BTW, we skipped the shredded carrot garnish on top. Bleh.

recipe and picture credit: Healthy Cooking magazine, December/January 2009, p.55 (original recipe: Anita Webb)