The benefits of tomatoes, an easy bruschetta recipe and a delicious meal all in place!
Today, we are going to talk about the benefits of tomatoes (and olive oil) and then get into this easy and delicious bruschetta recipe.
One of the best known health benefits of tomatoes is that they are a great source of lycopene. Lycopene has amazing antioxidant properties that are believed to help prevent a number of different cancers. Olive oil has been indicated in protecting against heart disease and cancer because its full of antioxidants as well. Yes, olive oil is higher in calories and fat, but it contains the good fat that helps your body absorb all of the nutrients. Another super food in this awesome summer salad is the arugula aka, rocket salad. Rocket salad is rich source of certain phytochemicals such as indoles, thiocyanates, sulforaphane and isothiocyanates. Together they have been found to counter carcinogenic effects of estrogen and thus help benefit against prostate, breast, cervical, colon, ovarian cancers by virtue of their cancer cell growth inhibition, cytotoxic effects on cancer cells.
So the above info is the basis of what people are talking about when they rave about the Mediterranean diet, which is full of tomatoes and olive oil.
Cook Time: 20 Min. • Serves: 2 • Calories: 555 • Total Fat: 13 grams • Protein: 50 grams
Oven baked polenta (pictured), lightly pan fried chicken, paired with asparagus, bruschetta, and rocket salad.
Let’s get to that bruschetta recipe now, shall we?
INGREDIENTS:
- 8 oz Chicken Breast without Skin
- 4 tablespoon Bruschetta
- 8 Asparagus Spears
- 6 oz Polenta
- 4 cups arugula
- 1 oz Parmesan Cheese
- Salt and Pepper to taste
- 4-5 Sprays of Olive Oil
INSTRUCTIONS:
- Preheat oven to 350 F
- Wash and pat dry 4 cups of arugula. Divided into two portions and plate in a dish or salad bowl.
- Slice 4 rounds (about 6 oz) of polenta from premade. Spray the olive oil once over a cookie sheet and add the polenta, season with a pinch of salt and pepper. Place the polenta on the middle oven rack and bake for about 8 minutes.
- In the meantime bring about 2 cups of water to a boil in a medium sized chefs pan and add the asparagus. Cook through for about 5 minutes or until the asparagus has turned bright green and is still crunchy in texture. Remove from the water and slice into bite sized pieces.
- Remove the skin and any excess fat from the chicken breast and cube into bite sized pieces, season with salt and pepper.
- Give 2-3 sprays of the olive oil in a medium size sauté pan and cook the chicken until cooked through.
- Top the arugula with the 4 oz chicken, 3 oz polenta, 4 asparagus, and 2 tablespoons of store bought bruschetta per serving.
- Sprinkle with parmesan cheese and eat immediately!
ENJOY!
Look below for all the nutrition facts as well as a break down of the nutrition for all the ingredients!
Diabetic Friendly 
High Protein 
Low Fat| Ingredient | Linked To Nutritional Value | Cal | Fat | Carb |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PER SERVING: | 554.4 | 12.8 | 58.9 | |
| 8 Ounce-weight chicken breast | Chicken, broiler/fryer, breast, w/o skin, rstd | 187.15 | 4.05 | 0 |
| 4 Tablespoon bruschetta | Spread, bruschetta, classic, refrig | 30 | 2 | 2 |
| 8 Each asparagus | Asparagus, fresh, spears | 16 | 0 | 3.2 |
| 6 Ounce-weight polenta | Polenta, fine | 226.8 | 0 | 51.05 |
| 1 Ounce-weight parmesan | Cheese, parmesan, grated | 61.1 | 4.1 | 0.6 |
| .8 Teaspoon salt | Salt, Kosher, coarse | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| .8 Teaspoon black pepper | Spice, pepper, black, ground | 2.35 | 0.05 | 0.6 |
| 1 Teaspoon olive oil | Oil, olive, extra virgin | 21 | 2.35 | 0 |
| 4 Cup arugula | Greens, arugula, chpd, fresh | 10 | 0.25 | 1.45 |
Love to hear you thoughts below!
