Spinach & Tomato Orzo with Chicken

This week’s Works-For-Me Wednesday has a theme and the theme is sharing a low-fat recipe with everyone. I wish I would have saved my low-fat chocolate chip cookie recipe for this week, instead of last week, but hopefully you can still enjoy that recipe.

Here is one of my absolute favorite low-fat dishes that I love to eat. The chicken in this dish could be omitted if you wanted to keep the dish vegetarian.

This recipe came from one of my Rachael Ray cookbooks and it was originally prepared without the chicken, and was served as a side dish. I thought the addition of the chicken would make it a wonderful main dish.

This is one my favorite recipes to bring to potlucks because it something different than people normally prepare and it can be served warm, room temperature, or cold.

I hope you will enjoy this recipe as much as I do. The only bad thing about this dish is that it isn’t as good reheated the second day. The tomatoes make it a mushy mess. The good news though is that there are rarely any leftovers! Enjoy!

Be sure to swing by Rocks in My Dryer for more great recipes!

Spinach & Tomato Orzo With Chicken

1 pound spinach, washed, dried, stems removed

1 pint grape or cherry tomatoes, halved
2 lemons, zested
1 1/2 cups orzo, cooked to al dente
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
24 basil leaves, torn or thinly sliced
1 pound cooked chicken breasts, diced
Salt and pepper

Pile spinach leaves in stacks 1 on top of the other. Thinly slice stacks of leaves to make spinach confetti. Pile shredded spinach into the bottom of a medium sized mixing bowl. Halve grape or cherry tomatoes with a paring knife and add them to the mixing bowl. Add the zest of 2 lemons to the bowl and save the lemons in the refrigerator to juice for another recipe. Next add, the cooked chicken to the bowl. Add hot cooked and drained orzo pasta to the mixing bowl. The heat of the pasta will wilt the spinach and warm the tomatoes at the bottom of the bowl and get the juices flowing from veggies. The heat of the pasta will also release the flavor and oils in the lemon zest. Drizzle 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil over the pasta and toss to combine the veggies and orzo. Add basil and salt and pepper and toss to combine. Taste your orzo to adjust seasonings and serve.h

Published January 10, 2007 by:

Amy Allen Clark is the founder of MomAdvice.com. You can read all about her here.

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