What we ate: Dec 26-Jan 1

I always like meal ideas from other people, so I'm going to try to share with you all what we ate to give you all some ideas too.  Like I told you in my 2012 goals post, we are trying to reduce our grain consumption for health reasons, so the only grain you see is rice.  I won't be having much rice though in the future because Bailey doesn't like it.  I had some left in my pantry from a dish I made for Christmas which is why it makes an appearance this week.  I will go into detail about the grain reduction at a later date.  For now, here's what we ate!  Hope you enjoy!



Monday:  (not pictured) leftover ham from Christmas, roasted broccoli and roasted butternut squash


Tuesday:  Bunless lettuce wrapped grass fed beef burgers, sweet potato fries and avocado.  Bailey went crazy for the sweet potato fries.

Wednesday:  Chicken fried rice and something else, but honestly I can't remember.  :(

Thursday:  Spicy honey chicken, salad and leftover butternut squash

 Friday:  Chicken salads with lettuce, spinach, peppers, avocado, cheese, carrots, ranch dressing, and egg

Saturday:  Cheesy Chicken, broccoli and rice casserole made with leftover chicken and soaked rice

 Sunday:  Chicken soup (not pictured)  I was sick this day and my hubby made it.  :)  It made me feel loads better!


Heavy on the chicken this week because I made chicken stock and didn't feel like freezing anything for a later week.  I wanted the soup since I was sick.

Make the most out of your whole chicken: Connected Meal Planning

As much as I love to cook, I don't always have the time, energy, or money to make a huge complicated meal seven nights a week.  We're often on the go, making it tempting to run through a fast food drive through.  I know fast food isn't the best option for us so instead I've started carefully planning meals so that I can cook one large piece of meat and use if for several different meals later in the week.  I like to call this connected meal planning.  I have started buying pastured chickens, pork and grass fed beef which is much pricier than conventional grain fed meat.  One whole chicken can typically cost anywhere from $15-$25 depending on the size of the bird.  If I were to use that for only one meal, I would likely go broke!  Instead, I cook a whole chicken about once a month and try to stretch it out to 3-5 more meals.  This saves me time in the kitchen and money in my pocket.  If I had a very large family, I would cook two chickens and use this same method.  I do want to mention that just because you can get 5 meals out of one chicken doesn't mean you have to have chicken every night in the same week.  I personally like a little more variety.  Many things can be frozen like a casserole dish, soups, enchiladas, etc.  This makes dinner even easier for later in the week.  Just thaw and pop in the oven or heat on the stove.  So here we go.

Meal one: 

 Roasted chicken. 
This is delicious with roasted veggies, mashed potatoes (in moderation), and gravy.  This is one of my favorite meals.  If you make this, take out 2-4 cups of chicken for future meals or you will eat it all and won't have any left.  :) Save the bones and immediately throw them in a pot of water to prep for my meal 3 below.  The rest of the meat can be used for the following dishes:

Meal two:

Chicken salads.  This one is super quick and easy.  Use this for a night where you feel lazy or need something on the table quickly.  I only use one chicken breast that I took off the chicken first.  This gets chopped up for the two adults.  My 3 year old eats some of the dark meat.  If your kids say they don't like salad like mine does, don't stress.  Serve them components of the salad like the chicken, hard boiled eggs, avocados, carrot sticks, etc and let them dip them in the salad dressing.  I usually also have Bailey choose a fruit to add to it too or make her a quick smoothie.




Meal three: 

Chicken soup.  After you have deboned your roasted chicken, use the bones to make chicken stock overnight.  Reserve 8 cups of the chicken stock the next day, add 1-2 cups of shredded chicken, cut up veggies, salt, seasonings, and rice if you prefer.  I usually don't add rice to mine.  Bring to a boil and simmer for about 30 minutes until veggies are tender.  Another quick and very healthy meal.  It's particularly good if you have someone who is sick in the family or in the winter when you are trying to prevent illness. Chicken soup really is good for the soul and body.  It's also great for getting rid of extra produce in your fridge.  Just throw whatever you have on hand in the pot.  You may come up with a combo that you love.



Meal four:

Chicken, broccoli and rice casserole.  This is a true comfort food.  Once the chicken is cooked and especially if you use leftover rice, this comes together quickly and will be a hit for even the little ones in your family.  I don't have an actual recipe for this because I still need to tweak it, but it was basically leftover chicken, leftover rice, chopped up broccoli, homemade mayo, sour cream, chicken broth, cheddar cheese.  Season, stir together and bake 350 degrees for 30 minutes.


Meal five:
Use the rest of the broth in a casserole or in a soup that calls for broth such as this creamy tomato soup or kale and white bean soup.  The possibilities are endless.  You still get the benefits of the meat from the broth without having to use actual meat.4



Other favorite leftover chicken dishes:  Chicken enchiladas, chicken tacos, quesadillas, paninis, cold sandwiches, chicken pot pie, stuffed in pitas, chicken fried rice, chicken curry.

Grain free options:  salads, chicken lettuce wraps, shredded bbq chicken, chicken taco salads


So as you can see, homemade food doesn't have to take a long time and doesn't have to be expensive.  To get the most bang for your buck and to save yourself time in the kitchen, it just takes a little advanced thought.  I promise the more you do it, the easier it gets and you'll wonder why you never did it this way before.

 
ANY OTHER IDEAS FROM YOU?  HOW DO YOU LIKE TO STRETCH YOUR FOOD?

Changing our diet: Goals for 2012

Ok, this list may seem like I've gone off the deep end to most of you.  In my quest for real food, I have stumbled upon the Weston A. Price Foundation.  It's a non profit organization committed to helping others find good nutrition.  Their philosophy is the closest to what I believe is true good nutrition.  Most of my goals will be in accordance to the practices that they teach.  They primarily teach how to get back to "wise traditions", the way people used to eat back before modern conveniences changed us into unhealthy, fatigued, overweight, diseased people.  We have already switched over to a whole food diet with little processed foods, but I've learned so much on how we can improve after doing some digging.  So without further adieu, here are our household family dietary goals for the upcoming year.  I'm excited and will inform you on how we are doing on each of these throughout the year. 

Buy less in the grocery store and more from farmers.  It's fresher, tastes better, supports local farmers and is better for us.

Buy a quarter grass fed cow, half grass fed hog, and 10 organic pastured chickens, and a dozen pastured eggs (weekly).

Buy raw milk from grass fed cows.

Start taking fermented cod liver oil daily.

Eat more liver and more salmon.

Eat more fermented foods.

Grow more in our garden than we currently do.

Can a significant amount of produce this year.  (I say I'm going to every year but never get around to it.)


Reduce grain consumption and soak, sprout or ferment the ones we do consume.

Get Bailey allergy tested and work on healing her damaged gut.

Healthier living in 2012

1.  Don't eat processed food.  Eat food that you know what it is and preferably where it came from.  Local produce directly from the farmer will be your best bet.  If you do buy from the store, seek out food that is in its most natural state and grown in the most natural way.  God knew what he was doing when he created the world.  Let's try not to mess with it too much!


2.  Buy quality meat and eggs: grass-fed beef, pastured chickens and pork.  Eat meat that is fed the way God intended them to eat.

 3.  Switch out bad fats and oils for the good.  You may think you are eating a good type of fat by choosing a butter substitute or a "heart healthy" canola oil.  The reality is that those are fake oils and fats, which I believe have contributed to heart disease, obesity and a slew of many other diseases.
Use instead:  coconut oil, real butter (made from grassfed cows is best), animal fats, and olive oil (light sauteing and cold dressings only)

2.  Quit buying low fat products.  Low fat and fat free is not natural.  Take milk for example.  The fat of products like milk, butter, cheese, etc is where the nutrients lie.  When you strip out the fat, you strip out the good stuff and it becomes chemically altered and replaced with junk fillers like sugars.  Ever wonder why we have only become fatter as a society after the low-fat craze?  Fat is not the enemy, just unhealthy man made factory fats. 

3.  Cook at HOME!  You will never be healthy if you eat out all of the time.  Most restaurants are concerned not about your health but the almighty dollar.  Fast food is full of non-food items, unhealthy rancid fats and oils, and sugar laden junk.

4.  Move your body.  The best exercise I have found is slow and easy like walking long distances, and short and hard like sprints, heavy lifting, etc.  Make exercise fun so you'll do it.  Play outside with your kids, bike with your family, go swimming, play basketball, play frisbee, go hiking. 

5.  Reduce chemical exposure in your home.  I will expound on this at a later time, but for now, use as natural of products as possible.  I find that homemade is usually the best and cheapest.  I make my own detergent, hand soap, deodorant, household cleaners, and occassionally shampoo and conditioner.  Most of the time castille soap, baking soda, and vinegar will clean just about anything.

6.  Get adequate amounts of sleep!  I can't stress this enough.  Sleep is so important to your health.  It heals, rejuvenates, destresses, and prevents illness.  Don't skimp on this one!  It's more important that you think.

7.  Reduce the amount of stress in your life.  Forget the drama mama!  Stress leads to a world of health problems:  high blood pressure, weight gain, insomnia, etc.  Get rid of it in your life and find time to unwind.

8.  SLOW DOWN!  Simplify your life.  If you don't have time to do the important things in life then you are doing too much.  If you keep running yourself down, you will stay sick and unhappy.  You don't really need to be on 5 different boards or committees, be involved in 15 activities, and have your kids in 5 sports each.

9.  Most importantly, seek out the One who created you and the One who died to give you life!  The health of your body is very important here on this earth, but the health of your SOUL has eternal implications.  Having a relationship with JESUS is the only way, is the truth and will give you life!

Spicy honey chicken

This meal is a family crowd pleaser for young and old alike.  It's quick, easy, and the results are tasty.  Although it's not the most gourmet meal I've ever made, it's one that we will make regularly because of it's simplicity.  The name says it's spicy, and for some it may be, but not really for us.  My three year old even ate it with no complaints.  The red pepper just gives it a kick.  I'm not including measurements on the spices because it's totally up to your personal tastes but don't be afraid to liberally season.  If Chicken is pretty bland by itself and can take a lot of seasoning.  If you like spice, add more red pepper.  If you aren't crazy about spice, only add a bit, but don't skip it.  The honey butter sauce adds a great sweet balance to the spiciness of the chicken.  I like to stretch my meat a little more, so I always slice mine instead of giving one person an entire breast.  It always goes further if it's sliced.  Hope you like this one.


Spicy honey chicken
3-4 chicken breasts (3 large breasts fed 3 adults and a 3 year old) Pastured chicken is best
sea salt
black pepper
garlic powder
red pepper
4 tbs butter (from grassfed cows is best:  I use Kerrygold)
2 tbs honey (raw local is best)
2 tbs filtered water

Melt 2 T of butter over medium heat in stainless steal skillet.  Do not use a non-stick.  Liberally season one side of the chicken breasts with salt, pepper, garlic, and red pepper.  Place season side down in the pan.  Season other side.  Let cook for 4-5 minutes until brown.  Flip and cook other side.  After chicken is cooked through, remove from pan and let rest.  Add remaining 2 T of butter to the pan, honey and water.  The water will deglaze the pan.  Use a wooden spoon to scrape up bits from the pan.  Cook a few minutes until sauce is reduced and begins to thicken.  Slice chicken breasts on the diagonal and drizzle honey sauce on top.

Homemade taco seasoning

Who doesn't love tacos?  I don't know too many that don't.  It's one of my favorite meals because it's easy, quick, relatively cheap and tastes delicious!  You all know by now that I love to make food myself instead of relying on packaged food.  This is one reason why.  It was a Monday and I hadn't gone to the grocery store for the week yet.  I didn't really know what to make, but I did have a pound of ground beef in the freezer.  I didn't have tortillas or taco seasoning, but I did have spices for the seasoning, and butter, flour and salt for the tortillas.  This did mean I had to spend about ten more minutes in the kitchen but it saved me having to go to the store with both kids and saved me about $4-$5 as well.  I'll trade ten minutes in my kitchen for 30 minutes of torture dragging whining children to the store in the rain.  Coats and car seats annoy me.  Anyway, back to the taco seasoning.  :)

A typical taco seasoning mix has this in it:
SPICES (INCLUDING CHILI PEPPER, CUMIN, OREGANO, AND RED PEPPER), ONION, WHEY SOLIDS (MILK), SALT, SUGAR, PAPRIKA, GARLIC, POTATO STARCH, AND CITRIC ACID.

This may not be a big deal to you but I don't really want added sugar in my tacos and I certainly don't need processed whey solids, potato starch and citric acid in it either.  Plus any time I can decrease my grocery bill, I will.  It takes maybe about a minute more to put the spices in yourself instead of opening a package and saves you about a dollar if you already have all of these ingredients in your spice cabinet.  You can also control the salt and spice if you make it yourself.  This particular recipe does have a little spice to it, so if you don't like spice, I'd start out with a lesser amount of chili powder and red pepper and work your way up.  


Taco seasoning

• 1 T chili powder
• 1/4 t garlic powder
• 1/4 t onion powder
• 1/4 t dried oregano
• 1 1/2 t ground cumin
• 1/8 t red pepper
• 1 t sea salt
• 1/2 t black pepper

Mix all together.  Add to browned and drained ground beef.  Add 1/4 c water and simmer until water is completely absorbed. 

Note:  This amount of seasoning was enough for approximately 1.5 lbs of ground beef for me.  Adjust to your tastes.

How to make your own chicken broth/stock

There are so many health benefits to bone broth.  It's great for healing the gut, great for healing and preventing illness, aids in digestion, and provides essential minerals and nutrition to your diet.  Lots of recipes frequently use broth or stock as a base for sauces, gravies, or soups.  Previously I have always bought an organic version in a tetra-pack.  I thought I was using a healthy version but really I was paying for mostly water, little nutrition and lots of hidden MSG and additives.  A better and even more economical alternative is to make it yourself.  I know what you're thinking.  "I don't have time for that!"  Sure you do!  It takes little time to prep and simmers on the stove for up to 24 hours.  You can do this while you are sleeping, running errands, etc. I've even heard of people doing it in the crockpot, although I've never tried it.  You can make it with leftover bones from a chicken that you have roasted or you can boil a whole chicken and go from there.  I've done it both ways and I think I prefer the whole chicken method, but really both are sufficient.  It serves as a wonderful source of nutrition and cost merely pennies.


How to make chicken stock
1 whole chicken (pastured chicken is best)
1 onion
2 carrots
2 celery stalks

2 T apple cider vinegar
filtered water



Place whole washed chicken with innards removed in a large stockpot.  Add filtered water, just covering the chicken.  Add 1 onion, 2 carrots, and 2 celery stalks, chopped if desired, although they don't have to be.  You may also add veggie scraps that you have saved in the freezer.  Add 2T of apple cider vinegar.  Stir and let sit for 30 minutes.  This begins to draw out minerals.  Then bring to a boil and skim off any foam that rises to the top.  Reduce to a simmer.  Take out chicken after about 2 hours.  Debone the chicken and save it for future dishes.  Continue simmering for 4-24 hours.  After the time has elapsed strain off the broth, and discard bones and veggies.  You will need salt as well.  I usually add it to the dish I am preparing it with.  That's it!  It makes a ton and was practically free!  I store mine in mason jars in the fridge.  It can stay in the fridge for 5 days or frozen if you won't use it in that amount of time.

Now you can use it for a million different things such as soups, casseroles, cooking rice, etc.   Happy cooking!