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Photo:BackyardProduction / Getty Images
BackyardProduction / Getty Images
The term “Marry Me Chicken” is nothing new. It traces back to 1982 andGlamourmagazine’s“Engagement” Chicken, a lemon-and-herb-flavored whole bird so delicious that, legend has it, several staffers compelled their boyfriends to pop the question after consuming it.
Healthy Baked & Roasted Chicken Recipes
More importantly, the dish, which features chicken cutlets in cream sauce,reintroduced sun-dried tomatoesinto my life. I had long thought of the ingredient as the province of the 1990s, along with pesto and molten chocolate cakes. All things that are delicious, but that I strongly associate with my tweens and teens. Now, when I head to Trader Joe’s, I always put a jar of Julienne-Sliced Sun-Dried Tomatoes in Olive Oil in my cart.
Why do I love the TJ’s version so much? First of all, there’s the price. At $4.49 for 8.5 ounces, I get several servings for very little. The tomatoes are packed in olive oil, which I use to sauté the chicken in the recipe, imbuing it with a deep tomato flavor. Best of all, they’re already julienned, so I don’t have to risk my fingers cutting the slippery nightshades into slivers myself.
As I’ve become more comfortable with the ingredient, I’ve learned to improvise with my own uses for sun-dried tomatoes. They make forstellar omeletinclusions, and I recently threw some in with a mustard cream sauce for pork chops that added an unexpected complexity to the acidic flavor.
But I always go back to EatingWell recipes. I recently tried theSun-Dried Tomato & Fresh Mozzarella Quicheand loved the balance of creamy and intensely tomatoey flavors. I’ve even tried adding them tomy favorite vegetablein the form ofRoasted Brussels Sprouts with Sun-Dried Tomato Pesto. Yes, a pesto. It seems everything old is indeed new again, but I’m not obeying the dictum that you shouldn’t wear it if you were there for it the first time.
Of course, there’s the question whether it’s good for me to eat sun-dried tomatoes as often as I now do. And there’s excellent news. Sun-dried tomatoes have some of thehighest levels of lycopeneof any food. Lycopene is a strong antioxidant, known to potentially lower inflammation, improving heart health. That same compound may also aid in cancer prevention.
The truth is, I don’t love raw tomatoes, so using sun-dried tomatoes in so many recipes has tricked me into getting an almost-daily dose of the fruit’s vitamins C and A and potassium.
There’s just something so special about these healthy sun-dried tomatoes. It’s the ingredient that makes my husband wish he could marry me all over again. And while I appreciate what it does for our heart health, I’m in love with its versatility. That’s why I never leave Trader Joe’s without it.
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SourcesEatingWell uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable and trustworthy.U.S. Department of Agriculture FoodData Central.Tomatoes, sun-dried, packed in oil, drained.
Sources
EatingWell uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable and trustworthy.U.S. Department of Agriculture FoodData Central.Tomatoes, sun-dried, packed in oil, drained.
EatingWell uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable and trustworthy.
U.S. Department of Agriculture FoodData Central.Tomatoes, sun-dried, packed in oil, drained.
