It’s time to get back into better habits and meal prepping for the week on Saturday is the best plan I have found to keep me on track with eating well. This week after an amazing dinner out last night with some girls at an Italian restaurant I decided a variation of Italian for this week’s lunches sounded like a good plan! I only needed to make 4 lunches this week since Wednesday is New Years Day, but this recipe could likely be split into 5 without many problems or stretched by adding a few more noodles and a little more chicken since there was plenty of sauce.
I had never tried making Alfredo sauce until today and decided it sounded so good and I had everything on hand, so I might as well attempt it!
First I started with putting some chicken in the instant pot to cook from frozen to shred. I put my frozen chicken in the pot (I did 2 lbs to have extras for dinner this week) along with seasoned salt, garlic powder, onion powder, pepper and water. I set the pot for 6 minutes on high pressure. After the cooking of this is complete you let the pot naturally release for 6 minutes. Be sure to cook longer if you are using full sized chicken breasts.
Always make sure your meat is at the right temperature when done cooking, chicken should be cooked to 165 degrees. This is important to check with the variation in size of chicken breast and the possibility of inconsistency of times chicken breasts may need to cook due to size.
Once the chicken is set, I then started boiling the water for the noodles and then I sliced up the zucchini quick to roast. Also I preheated my oven to 400°.
I sliced up 2 zucchini’s for 4 meals this week. I usually would throw some squash and carrots in the mix, but I didn’t have any on hand. I usually do approx 1/4-1/2″ slices.
When the water came to a boil, I dumped in the noodles and stirred them occasionally. I used penne noodles, but this recipe would be great with fettuccine, bow tie, or rigatoni noodles as well.
To mix up the roasted vegetables (or just Zucchini today for me). I put the zucchini in a mixing bowl and poured over the olive oil, garlic powder, onion powder, seasoned salt and pepper. Once all pieces are coated in oil and spices spread out on a baking sheet or tray to place in the oven for 15 minutes on each side.
At this time, your chicken is probably done, I did a quick release after the 6 minute natural release and used a hand mixer to shred my chicken. I then let it set while I mixed up the sauce and finished the rest of the dish.
I looked all over for an Alfredo recipe I wanted to try, this was the best one I found and it worked out wonderfully! It’s originally published by better Homes and Gardens and only has 4 ingredients besides salt and pepper! You could also used canned sauce, I haven’t ever tried any but I’ve head it is way better when you make it fresh!
I started the sauce by melting the butter over medium-high heat. I put in the minced garlic while the butter was melting and after the butter was completely melted I added in the whipping cream slowly while stirring. I continued stirring the sauce pretty consistently and added in salt and pepper, I ended up adding in more salt and pepper than I would have expected it needed afterward. Once the cream solution comes to a boil reduce the heat slightly and lightly boil the solution for 3-5 minutes until the solution seems thicker. Remove from heat and then add in the Parmesan cheese until the cheese is completely melted. Set aside.
I drained my noodles and placed them back in the original pan. I then poured over the sauce and added in the shredded chicken. When everything was well mixed I divided up the contents by 4 in my meal prep containers.
Once the zucchini is done I added it to the meal prep containers equally. I let the meals cool for about 20 minutes before putting them in the refrigerator.
Ingredients
Chicken Alfredo
Chicken
1 lb of frozen chicken breasts or tendedloins
1/2 Cup water
1/2 Teaspoon seasoned galt
1/4 Teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 Teaspoon onion powder
1/4 Teaspoon pepper
Noodles
1 1/2 cup noodles (approx 8 oz)
Sauce
2 Tablespoons Butter
1 Teaspoon minced garlic
1 Cup whipping cream
Salt and Pepper to Taste
1/2 Cup grated Parmesan cheese
Zucchini
2 Zucchinis
2 Tablespoons Olive oil
1/2 Teaspoon seasoned salt
1/2 Teaspoon onion powder
1/4 Teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 Teaspoon pepper
