Lemon Herb Chik'n

I'm generally not one of those vegetarians that eats a lot of meat substitutes. I didn't much like meat before becoming a vegetarian, so I don't see the need to replace it. I eat Gardenburgers because I like the taste and consistency (they're not hamburger-like) and avoid the Boca Burgers because they're too hamburger-like. Creepy.

An exception would be Quorn, though. The Quorn Chik'n nuggets are tasty and just as good as I remember the nuggets from Chik-Fil-A being (well, almost). And the Naked Chik'n Cutlets are amazingly versatile and have the texture of a good chicken breast (albeit not as stringy). The cutlets were on sale at Kroger the other day, so I picked up a box and decided to make one of my old favorites, Lemon Herb Chicken.

I started out by pouring in six tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil and four tablespoons of lemon juice in a shallow glass baking pan. I stirred in about a teaspoon of minced garlic, a teaspoon of salt, a tablespoon of oregano, and a generous amount of crushed dried rosemary (I really love rosemary). I stirred it all up and placed two frozen Chik'n breasts in the mixture and spooned it over them as well. I then sprinkled more oregano, rosemary, and pepper on top and set the dish in the refrigerator.

In the meantime, I cooked some organic brown basmati rice. When there was about 20 minutes left on the rice, I placed the Chik'n in the oven and baked it for 18 minutes at 400 degrees. The marinade for the Chik'n makes a good sauce for the rice, though it's not quite the same as with real chicken that has broth that cooks out, but it's just as good. I placed the Chik'n on the rice and drizzled the marinade/sauce on top. I think marinating the Chik'n helped ensure that it didn't get dried out while cooking, because not only was the flavor really good, the Chik'n itself was flavorful and moist. It was probably better than if it had been made with real chicken!

I didn't serve a side dish with this. I opted instead to get my greens by starting with a Mediterranean-ish-style salad of mixed baby lettuces, black olives, sauteed onions, and roasted red peppers. I topped the salad with crumbled goat cheese (because that's what I had on hand) and a little salt and freshly-ground pepper.