Yummy Taco Chicken plus Five Ways to Serve It

When I was recovering after the arrival of Superman right around the New Year, several friends brought our family supper. It was an unbelievable blessing. One friend (Thanks, Christie!) brought us fresh chicken tacos complete with avocados and whole grain tortillas from Whole Foods. The chicken she brought was shredded and seasoned with a recipe she found on Food Renegade. Our family loved it so much, I looked up the recipe and added it to my repertoire...

 

Only, as you well expected, I tweaked it a bit . :-) I never have onion powder on hand. And my chicken seemed dry if I didn't use some stock with the seasonings. So this is what I did...

 

I started by cooking a pastured chicken all day in a crock pot. I only added a cup of water and generous sprinklings of salt and pepper. (Sorry this is the only photo of the process! By the time I got home to finish the meal, I was desperately behind. There was not time to document in pictures.)

 

 

After cooking all day, I put the chicken to cool on a cutting board. Then I strained the cooking juices and let the fat rise to the top. After skimming most of the fat, I poured the liquid into a large skillet and set it on medium heat. I added the following (see Food Renegade for the original spices):

 

•1 Tbsp. Chili Powder
•1/2 tsp. Garlic Powder
•1/8 - 1/4 tsp. Cayenne Pepper 

•1/4 tsp. Dried Oregano

•1/2 tsp. Paprika
•1 1/2 tsp. Ground Cumin
•1 tsp. Sea Salt
•1/2 tsp. Black Pepper

 

I stirred up the seasoning and chicken stock until well blended, then let it simmer. While it was simmering, I pulled the chicken off the bones and added it to the skillet. With each addition I stirred to blend the seasonings into the meat. After all the meat was in the skillet with the seasonings, I used two forks to pull apart any clumps. I left it to simmer until most of the liquid was reduced.

 

And there you have it. Terrifically spiced Chicken Taco Meat.

 

We have used it for:

1. Chicken Taco Salad... oh so perfect for these warm GA spring days!
2. Chicken Enchiladas... I usually make my own enchilada sauce, but this time around I just used some tomato soup that I made way too spicy for the kids. It worked perfect as enchilada sauce!
3. Chicken Quesidillas... using Sprouted Wheat tortillas and Cheddar Cheese
4. Chicken Burritos... wrapping up the chicken with sauteed onions, peppers and cheese
5. And, last but probably the best, Southwestern Chicken Noodle Soup... this was a last minute invention because second grade math lessons ate up my afternoon yesterday.

 

 (The soup was steaming when I snapped this picture, so the stock looks blurry... sorry again!)

 

This soup was so delicious. My husband even ate thirds! It's quite simple... Throw all of this in a large soup pot:

 

• 2 quarts chicken stock (or a combination of water and stock)
• 2 cans of petite diced tomatoes with the juice
• 1 can of drained and rinsed kidney beans (it would be best if you had soaked and cooked these properly, but I made do with canned)
• 1 cup of frozen corn
• 1/2 of a chicken cooked in the taco seasonings above
• 2 large cloves of garlic, minced
• A few generous dashes of Cayenne Pepper
• 1/2 tsp. to 1 tsp. sea salt
• 1 bunch of kale or chard, finely chopped (or, if your children are not used to greens, less)

 

Bring to a boil and simmer for 10 minutes.
Add about 8 ounces of whole grain pasta and continue to simmer until tender. Serve with a sprinkling of grated cheddar cheese.

 

I hope you enjoy these recipes!

A Funny, Yet Effective Awareness Campaign

Have you ever heard of Chicken Plumping? I hadn't heard the term, although I had heard of the practice. I think you oughta know about it... so go to SayNoToPlumping.com... watch the short video on the front page, then click the "Health" tab and watch another part of the video. I got a chuckle from it... and it made a very good point.

What is PLUMPING?

"The practice of injecting saltwater, chicken stock, seaweed extract or some combination thereof into chicken to increase its weight and price, meaning that when you buy a package of chicken you can be spending 15% more on SALT WATER. More importantly, a plumped chicken has up to 700% more sodium than a chicken that hasn't been plumped. The result: hundreds of thousands of consumers are ponying up extra cash (about $1.50 per package of chicken) to unwittingly feed themselves and their families a dangerously unhealthy amount of salt."

How much SODIUM?

"One serving - just 4 oz - of plumped chicken has the same amount of sodium as a large order of french fries. That's 700% more than natural chicken."

What should you do?

Read the labels. Don't purchase chicken that says something like "contains up to 15% saltwater." Or, read the ingredient label to make sure it doesn't contain added salt of any kind. Buy real chicken and salt it to taste at home.

For your health,

Roasting Chickens and Making Mineral-Rich Stock

For the past year, I have been cooking a crock pot chicken each Monday and stretching the meat over three meals. (You can read about that method here.) But this summer, things are not quite as routine. Thinking ahead to prepare the chicken has not been happening. I had to come up with a good solution so that I still could use my whole chickens, which I buy from a local pastured poultry farm.

I have been roasting three chickens in my turkey pan, freezing the meat in meal-sized portions, and making several quarts of stock with all of bones and such. This has been a great solution. I have chicken ready in the freezer for those meals that have to be prepared quickly, which has been a lifesaver through this unscheduled season.

Here's how I've been doing it:

First, I thaw out my chickens in the fridge. Then, I rub them with extra virgin olive oil and place them in my turkey roasting pan. You see here that these three were so big that one had to fit on its side. (I also use this pan for cooking up huge quantities of pumpkin and such.) I sprinkle them with salt and pepper only since I don't know the final dish the meat will make. I wouldn't want clashing herbs or seasonings!

Then, I cover the chickens by making a "tent" with foil. The pan came with a lid, but I prefer to allow some air circulation.

I oven-roast the chickens at 375 degrees. These three took a little less than three hours. After two hours, I took off the foil so that the meat could brown a little. I started checking the temperature at two and a half hours. But it didn't reach the final temp (180 degrees at the deepest part of the thigh) until twenty five minutes later.

We ate a hearty portion of the chicken for supper. Then I deboned all three of the birds and divided the meat into baggies to freeze for later. The deboning does take a while, BUT it is sure nice to have all of the meat ready. I consider it worth the effort.

See the pile of bones? Don't throw those away! There are so many minerals and other nutritive properties in those bones. Making stock is a great way to make use of every nutrient in the chicken!

To use all three carcases at the same time, you will need an extra large stock-pot. But, don't let making stock scare you. It is actually really, really simple. Sorry I don't have photos for this process...

• Place all of the bones, skin and everything in your stock pot.
• Cover with fresh, pure water.
• Optional: add three to five carrots and three to five celery stalks for extra flavor.
• Add three tablespoons of vinegar to help draw the minerals out of the bones.
• Let stand for thirty minutes.
• Bring to a boil and skim off the foam that rises to the surface.
• Cover and let simmer for 12-18 hours.
• Optional: add a bunch of parsley for the last ten minutes. This will impart extra mineral ions to the stock. (This tip, and much of this process, belongs to Sally Fallon.)
• Remove bones and strain stock into large bowls.
• Refrigerate until the fat congeals at the top.
• Skim and discard the fat.
• Divide the stock into pint- and quart-sized portions and freeze for future use.

I use stock when I steam rice, when I make soup, when I make sauces or when I cook beans. It makes a meatless meal even more nourishing! By the way, you know you have used a healthy chicken when the stock congeals like jello... just in case you wondered.

Simple Changes -- Lunch Meats

Today I will mention another simple change... another baby step in your journey to health. If you choose to eat lunch meats, select a brand that contains no nitrates, nitrites or other preservatives. These extra ingredients are potent carcinogens that are linked with several digestive tract cancers, such as esophagus, stomach, intestinal and bladder cancers.

European countries, like Germany, banned the use of nitrates and nitrites in 1997. Yet the United States FDA has continued to allow their use. (For more information on this topic, go here and to the reference pages sited on this page as well.) The same nitrate/nitrite-free suggestion goes for bacon, hot dogs or other processed meats. If you are going to eat them, eat them without the preservatives.

Actually, I had to give up processed meats long before I found out all of the details about the preservatives. I discovered they were a trigger for my frequent migraines and so I gave them ALL up. (Thankfully, chocolate was not a trigger food for me, as it is for some people! This was several years ago, and I no longer deal with migraine headaches except on rare occasions when driving into the sun will spur on a migraine.)

Hormel makes a lunch meat line that is preservative-free and priced very reasonably. They also go on sale at my Kroger several times a year. Applegate Farms makes a very good beef frank hot dog, but I have only seen it available at my health food store. These hot dogs are a major treat every spring break!

We don't often eat lunch meat, but when we are traveling in the car over a mealtime, instead of stopping to pick up food, we will take turkey roll-ups with us. We just spread mustard over a whole wheat or sprouted wheat tortilla, layer on cheese, turkey and lettuce and roll it up. We keep it simple for the car so there is less mess. Tortillas don't crumb like bread and we all enjoy our meal in the car since turkey is considered a special treat.

For more Works for Me Wednesday posts, check out WeAreThatFamily.com.

Grass-Fed Beef

So I know that "being healthy" can seem daunting. And I know that it can be overwhelming. I deliberately try to keep this blog simple and encouraging because most moms I have talked with want to take small steps... and their families want them to make changes slow enough that they don't notice either!

While there is definitely a place for drastic change, my blog exists to keep busy moms learning new ideas AND moving progressively. All that being said, there are some big changes that deserve consideration. Today I'll discuss one of these bigger health steps... buying grass-fed meat products. Resist the temptation to say "we could never do that!" Read my post. Give it some thought. Digest the information. Take it one step at a time!


So, grass-fed meat. What's the big deal about regular meat? Why not just buy the Walmart specials. Well, completely setting aside irradiation and other meat preservation methods, completely setting aside the dangers of E. Coli or mad cow disease, completely setting aside the dangers of genetically modified feed... let's just look at how grain- and other strange-product-fed beef effects our health.


Did you know that the fatty acid profile of commercial meats is drastically different than grass-fed varieties? And, did you know that when a cow is penned up, the muscle, the meaty portion that we eat, becomes different as well? Unfortunately, feedlot beef is not a good thing.


We hear a lot about the dangers of eating too much red meat. So many of these health hazards are man's own doing. You see, cows were designed to roam and to eat lots of green grass. When they are raised on a modern feed lot, penned up and given grain or other by-products for food, they are like cow couch potatoes. They loose quality muscle; they put on the not-so-great kind of fat. Did you know that feedlot beef has 50% more saturated fat than pastured beef? Sadly, commercial beef contains the kind of stick-to-your-arteries fat we want to stay away from.


In addition to the increase in saturated beef found in feedlot cattle, the Omega 3 and Omega 6 fatty acid ratio is shown to be skewed. So, while we want a diet with Omega 3s and Omega 6s in a close ratio, America's diets are most often between 1:15 and 1:50. This is largely due to a lack of Omega 3 fatty acids and a staggering amount of Omega 6 fatty acids in feedlot beef. Beef from cattle allowed to graze on pasture is loaded with Omega 3s and CLA, which are both known to support heart health and reduce inflammation.


So, yes, feedlot beef is really bad for our hearts! It is really bad for our waistlines! However, properly raised beef has a healthy ratio of fatty acids and is naturally leaner. Like with boxed cereal, this is something I just think you should know... not that it is pleasant to be the bearer of bad news.


Just a side note: We have been vegetarians in the past. Then we added in some high quality, grass-fed meat products, and we noticed a significant benefit. However, we consume meat in moderation, and fill up our daily fare with LOTS of fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, legumes and grains.

For further information on this topic, please visit this very informative site. Also, while I find Mercola's Grass-Fed Beef a bit pricey, here is his very helpful explanation. And, this Healthy Child page will give a great summary on the benefits of grass fed beef for your children. (The site will also link you to a scientific page.) I have just been able to touch on the subject here, but these websites do a very good job explaining things!

Is Your Seafood Safe?

Not everybody loves seafood, but it can be a very beneficial dietary addition. The consumption of fish has been associated with a reduced risk of heart disease. Fish is rich in Omega 3 and other long chain fatty acids (the healthy fats), is an excellent source of fat-soluble vitamins A and D, and contains an abundance of macro and trace minerals. But fish can be potentially dangerous, especially for pregnant women and children.

If my memory serves me correctly, I was pregnant with Witzy when my husband found this useful Calculator from GotMercury.org. Since then, I've used it to "check" the types of fish we eat for their level of mercury contamination. It has been a really useful tool... not only because it has revealed which types of fish to stay away from, but also because it shows which fish are healthy choices.

Visit this handy page and bookmark it! Especially if you are pregnant or are nursing, take the time to check the most common fish you eat on this calculator. Oh, and another good thing... you can enter your child's weight to see danger levels for their size as well.

Cooking Whole Chickens

Have you ever looked at the price of organic, free range chicken packages in the store? YIKES! Buying healthier meats can put quite a strain on a budget. But, at the same time, commercially farmed chicken can put quite a strain on our body. I mean, we don't really do well with the extra antibiotics and vaccine ingredients. (For a complete list of what's scary about commercially farmed chicken read this.)

Here is what works for us:

I purchase whole chickens from a local farm operation. (Check out LocalHarvest.org for farms near you.) These chickens are much healthier than grocery store chickens, even though they are not as cheap as the whole birds at the market. They are much cheaper than the boneless, skinless packages though!

In order to make the meat go as far as it can, I cook one each week so that I have meat for three meals and stock for rice and soups. Making stock is important. There is more nourishment on a chicken than just the protein in the meat! Preparing a stock to use in other recipes will take advantage of the abundant minerals and other nutritive properties found in the whole chicken.

This may seem like a daunting process, but it actually is quite simple... as long as I remember to thaw out a chicken in time! I just put a chicken in the crock pot with plenty of pure water and let it slowly cook all day long. Vegetables may be added to give flavor and extra nutrition to the stock, but they won't be very palatable after the extended cooking.

At the end of the day, I debone my chicken and divide the meat. We usually eat 1/2 of the chicken with supper that night. And I use the other half in a casserole or other recipe that will give us enough leftovers for two complete meals. Keep in mind that this diced chicken can be used in any recipe that calls for chicken breasts. Last, but not least, I strain the stock and refrigerate it for other recipes as well.

Our chickens cost about $10 each. For three meals and plenty of nourishing stock, we figure it beats the packaged store chickens both for our budget and for our health.