Simple Dinner Packed with Flavor: Chicken Piri-Piri

Originally from Portugal and spread around the world with Portuguese colonial occupation, piri piri sauce is spicy and packed with flavor. Don't settle for bland, dry chicken—try this as a marinade and your dinner will be anything but boring.

For marinade:

1 Tbsp olive oil

1 red bell pepper, roughly chopped

1 small or 1/2 large yellow onion, roughly chopped

1 clove garlic

Juice of a lemon

1 bunch cilantro, chopped and stems removed

1 Tbsp balsamic vinegar

Cayenne pepper to taste (optional)

Pinch of salt

Other ingredients:

1 lb chicken breast, chopped into bite-size pieces

2 c cooked quinoa (optional; omit for a low-carb meal)

1 head leaf lettuce

1/2 cup sunflower seed kernels (raw, unsalted)

4 tsp olive oil

1 Tbsp vinegar of your choice (such as white wine or white balsamic)

Combine all marinade ingredients and process in a food processor until smooth. Place chopped chicken in a large Ziploc bag (I recommend freezer bags because they're less likely to spring a leak), then add the marinade. Seal the bag, pressing the air out, and then flip and squeeze it a few times so all the chicken is coated with sauce. Marinate in the refrigerator for a few hours or overnight, flipping and squeezing the bag occasionally if possible.

When it's time to cook dinner, transfer the chicken along with the marinade into a hot pan and stir continually until the chicken is cooked through.

Serve over quinoa or on its own with a side salad of lettuce and sunflower seeds dressed with oil and vinegar.

Makes 4 servings. Container counts per serving: 1 red, 1 green, 1 orange, 1 teaspoon, 1 yellow (if quinoa was included).