Chicken Taco Pizza (or Wrap if you so please)

Pin It As I was brainstorming which meals I wanted to cook up for the week, I decided I wanted to use up the frozen chicken tenderloins I had in the freezer.  I highly recommend cooking meals up ahead of time by the way.  Especially if you are as busy as I am as a college student.  A lot of people's reason for eating convenience/fast food  is that that simply have no time to cook a meal for themselves every night.  I totally understand that, but there are ways to work around it.  It is so important to be fueling your body with real food especially when you are so busy.  You may think you feel perfectly fine running on McDonalds, boxed foods,  Ramen, Easy Mac, and frozen microwave dinners, but what you don't know is how much better you would feel if you were running on real food.  I dare you to try it! 

I do my best to find at least one-two hours a week to cook up a bunch of food to have as leftovers for the week.  And no this doesn't mean you have to eat the same thing seven days in a row.  I normally cook up 1-2 types of meat/protein or make a casserole/hot dish of some sort or a big batch of soup.  Then I make sure I have fresh veggies and  some type of healthy carb (ex. Cooked up quinoa, whole wheat noodles, lentils, chickpeas).   Make sure you wash and chop the veggies ahead of time because I know in the middle of your busy day when are in a pinch for time, you're not going to want to waste any time washing and chopping.  Make your veggies as quick and easy to grab as your favorite sugary granola bar.  Preparing a few things ahead of time, allows me to get creative  throughout the week. 

Here is two of my favorite recipes from the week:

CHICKEN TACO PIZZA ( or WRAP)

Ingredients:

Shredded Taco Chicken

4 pieces Frozen chicken tenderloins (or about 16 oz frozen chicken breasts)

1/2 cup salsa

2 tsp Low sodium taco seasoning

Pizza

1 Low carb tortilla (or 100% whole wheat)*

1/4 cup Refried beans (I used spicy fat free beans)

1/2 cup Baby spinach

1/4 cup Mozzarella cheese

or

Wrap

1 Low carb tortilla

1/2 cup Baby spinach

2 tbsp Lowfat cottage cheese

2 tbsp Salsa

*Look for tortillas high in fiber and low in bleached white flours

Directions:

Shredded Taco Chicken

1. Dump all the ingredients for the shredded taco chicken in a slow cooker and mix together.  Add just enough water to barely cover the chicken.

2. Cook on medium-high for several hours until chicken can be easily shredded.

3. Shredded chicken with a fork and drain most of the liquid.

Pizza

1. Preheat oven to 350 F.

2. Lightly spray a tortilla with cooking spray and place greased side down on a cookie sheet. Note: the spray helps brown the tortilla for a crispier crust.

3. Evenly spread out the refried beans as the sauce and cover with spinach.

4. Top with taco chicken and sprinkle with cheese.

5. Bake 10-15 minutes until cheese is melted and edges look crispy. Enjoy!

Wrap

1. Layer the spinach, chicken, salsa, and cottage cheese on the tortilla.

2. Wrap and enjoy!

Nutrition Facts:

1 Whole Pizza

Calories: 281

Total Fat: 8g

     Sat. Fat: 3g

Cholesterol: 75mg

Sodium: 706.3mg

Potassium: 397.5mg

Total Carbs: 20.5g

     Dietary Fiber: 9.8g

     Sugars: 0.5g

Protein: 38.3g (!!!!)

Vitamin A: 31.5%

Vitamin C: 3.5%

Calcium: 36.5%

Iron: 20.5%

*Sorry I don't have time to calculate the nutrition facts of the wrap....I am so behind on my blogs!