Fit Friday - Healthy Poppyseed Chicken and 30 Days of Core

Happy Fit Friday everyone! Our favorite Ruthie is here with a healthy spin on one of my favorite childhood dinners. Check it out along with our 30 days of core.

Poppyseed Chicken with Rice is a family favorite made healthier with some of our favorite "healthy tricks"!  
 Poppyseed Chicken with Rice is one of our most used recipes in our family recipe box! Even my son, who has always been my pickiest eater, loves it. This is actually his favorite meal and we often make it for his birthday! 
Here's how I reduced fat and calories from the original recipe of Poppyseed Chicken with Rice and "skinnied" it down to make it healthier! Let's get to it. . . I used light sour cream instead of regular sour cream, whole wheat ritz crackers instead of the normal ritz crackers, and fat free cream of chicken soup instead of the full-fat cream of chicken soup. The original recipe also called for 1 cup of butter in the sour cream cream of chicken mixture but I took that out completely. In the ritz cracker mixture, it called for another 1/2 cup butter which I reduced to 1/4 cup. I love our "skinnied" version of Poppyseed Chicken with Rice tastes amazing and you can't even tell that any changes have been made!!

Poppyseed Chicken with Rice

Author: Ruthie A Knudsen

Prep time: 25 mins

Cook time: 40 mins

Total time: 1 hour 5 mins

Serves: 6

Ingredients

• 4-5 chicken breasts, boneless/skinless
• 1 (16ounce) container of light sour cream
• 1 (22.6 ounce) can of fat free cream of chicken soup
• 2 sleeves of whole wheat Ritz crackers
• 1/4 cup butter, melted
• 1 tablespoon poppy-seeds
• 6 servings brown rice, prepared according to directions

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Brown and cook chicken in a frying pan.
3. Once chicken is cooked all the way through, cut into small cubes or shred.
4. Meanwhile combine sour cream and cream of chicken soup in a mixing bowl; mix to combine.
5. Put the 2 sleeves of Ritz crackers, butter, and poppy-seeds into a gallon zip top plastic bag.
6. Seal the bag and crush the Ritz crackers.
7. Place chicken in the bottom of 9x13 baking pan.
8. Add the sour cream and cream of chicken mixture.
9. Top with the Ritz cracker mixture.
10. Do not cover and bake for 35-40 minutes or until the edges are bubbly and the top is golden brown.
11. Serve over brown rice.
12. Enjoy!

Poppyseed Chicken with Rice is healthy, quick and easy meal with only 6 simple ingredients!

3.5.3226

  I teach an awesome boot camp class twice a week. One of the reasons I love this class is because the people that come are dedicated and always up for a challenge. So that is what we do, we take on new challenges every 30 days, a fitness and a nutrition challenge.  We talk about ideas and get a feel for what people are needing, especially for the nutrition challenge.

One of my favorite ways to take on the fitness challenge is 30 days of different exercises. These aren't overly challenging moves, but they force everyone to think about moving everyday. Getting in exercise doesn't need to be overly challenging and complicated, but it does need to be consistent and often (more days than not).

Here is one of my favorite challenges so far. Thirty days of core.

30 situps	3x30 sec. planks	30 bicycles (each leg)	30 leg drops	30 v-ups	30 russian twists
15 situps 15 pushups	30 sec side planks each side	30 weighted situps	30 single leg drops	15 v-ups 15 bicycles each leg	30 plank with jacks
30 straight leg situps	30 windmill situps	30 russian twists	3x30 sec planks	30 situps	15 v-ups 15 plank jacks
30 single leg drops	30 weighted situps	30 v-ups	30 pushups	30 russian twists	30 straightleg situps
30 windmill situps	30 leg drops	30 v-ups	30 bicycles each leg	30 plank with jacks	10 v-ups 10 pushups 10 v-ups

Thirty days of consistently doing something for your core. Not just for that awesome flat-toned belly but in order to make sure your power house is ready for any future challenge you want to take on.

Much Love and Peace~

 Nichole and Ruthie