Tag Archives: chicken

Excuse Me, Did Somebody Spike My Chicken?

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Catchy title, no?

Before I get into my actual post, I just want to take a minute and say that I am so excited about being freshly pressed on Monday! I’m so happy to be able to have the chance to reach more people, and to all of my lovely new followers: thank you, and welcome!! If you’re new here, take a minute to peruse around some of my older posts if you wish, or simply just keep on reading. What you’ll find here is a mix of science-y, educational, mildly funny information with a whole bunch of random thoughts thrown in for fun. It’s really just a  clear snapshot of what’s going on in my brain at any given moment. Also, a gratuitous amount of cute animal pictures, because who doesn’t love those?

Now let’s get on with it!

So I’m pretty sure that by now, most of us have seen the picture of the “pink slime” or Mechanically Separated Chicken that many processed chicken products are made out of. (I can’t even post the picture here, because it grosses me out so much)

But what about the unprocessed chicken meat that you buy from the grocery store? I’m talking real, straight-up chicken here, not some packaged, pre-formed “chicken product”. That’s safe to eat right? I mean, it’s obviously just chicken. Right?

That’s where things get tricky. Take a few minutes to read this article about what really may be in your chicken, and then let’s have a chitty-chat.

Go on, I’ll wait.

(See what I was talking about above) Waiting patiently…

Ok, read it? Good, let’s go.

I don’t know about you, but when I’m eating chicken, I’m not trying to eat antidepressants, antibiotics, arsenic, caffeine, pain killers, allergy meds, or anything else that they’re pumping those chickens full of.  I know that a lot of this doesn’t come as a total shock to a lot of us; there has been a lot of negative press about poultry farming and the resultant meat that we are fed, but I do think that it continues to deserve attention.

The biggest thing that concerns me here is the antibiotics. If there is a chance, even a small chance, that ingesting these antibiotics (even in trace amounts) could lead to antibiotic-resistant strains of bacteria that could ultimately be dangerous to humans, I’m going to try to avoid this as much as possible.

Could allergy meds found in chicken play any part in the drastic rise in allergies in children over the past decade or so? (This is just speculation on my part, but I don’t think it’s totally out of the question).

And Prozac? Don’t even get me started there. The fact that farmed chickens are fed Prozac is alarming, never mind the fact that traces of that drug can than end up on our plates.

So how can we avoid this? Buy organic. Grass fed, antibiotic free, organic free-range chicken. Many people dispute the importance of buying organic, and I do too for certain foods. But when it comes to beef and poultry, I honestly feel that avoiding all of those additives and drugs could be immensely important to our health and the health of future generations. True, not everyone can afford organic chicken, and if that’s the case than there’s no getting around that. But if you can afford a few more dollars for organic, grass fed poultry, you will be doing your health a favor. It’s not just a gimmick, or a trend, it’s the truth.

What do you all think? Do you buy organic poultry, and do you think it’s worth the few extra dollars to do so? Do articles like the one linked above make you worry, or do you think it’s just media hype?

Cooking Ahead to Make Life Easier

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I totally missed the boat this week on What I Ate Wednesday, the foodie-voyeuristic trend of the healthy living blogosphere. Not that I’ve participated in one of these yet, and I don’t have any definite plan of doing so in the future, but I did have some food pictures all ready to post this week.

And then life happened.

This week has been a whirlwind (Wait…it’s ONLY Thursday??) and on top of a busy schedule full of late nights at work, I also have an exam on Friday that I’m trying to prep for. So that means.. You guessed it… No time for blogging.

Cue: Sad puppy dog face

However, here I am with a quickie post on this beautiful Thursday because I just can’t stay away!

Since I knew this was going to be a crazy week from the get-go, I knew that I would have to do a little bit of prep on Sunday and Monday in order to actually have food to eat for the rest of the week. So THIS is what I did:

Thai Peanut Chicken Stir Fry

First, I went to the grocery store and loaded up on an assortment of veggies… Bell peppers, mushrooms, green cabbage, broccoli, and cauliflower. These were all chopped and the peppers, broccoli and cauliflower were sent into the large fry pan first with a little bit of coconut oil, while the chicken was cooking separately.

Ooh..Colorful!

Into the pan they go…

Once these got to be a little bit tender, in went the mushrooms and cabbage to round out the veggies, and I also added the chicken and Thai Peanut sauce at this point.

All of this simmered together for a little while until the veggies were tender and it became one big mess of Thai-Peanut flavored goodness.

I used this San-J Thai Peanut sauce, which was very good!! If you’re going to go the store bought route, I definitely recommend this. It’s gluten free, has no artificial anything, and the ingredient list is short. Yes, it has high sodium but anything with a soy-sauce base is going to, which is ok in my book sometimes.

And because I have NO time this week, I made a crap ton of this stuff to last me. I ended up getting 3 full meals out of it served on a bed of brown rice. I also saved a bunch of the cooked veggies before the peanut sauce went in, so that I could make a personal sized Veggie Flatbread Pizza later on in the week, using a Trader Joe’s Whole Wheat Flat Bread.

These things are Perfect for quick personal sized pizzas!

Finding ways to transform your meals and reuse ingredients is key when cooking ahead of time and in large quantities. I knew that I would need pre-made dinners all week, but also knew that I wouldn’t want to be eating exactly the same flavors every. single. day. So I got a little creative! Since there are literally a million and a half things you can do with cooked veggies, having a bunch of them made at the beginning of the week is a great idea when you know you won’t have a ton of free time coming your way.

And before I forget, I also made these coconut almond flour pancakes from Clean Eating Chelsea. Chelsea caught my attention with these about a week or two ago, and I couldn’t wait to try them. I think the name says it all, but they are DELICIOUS. And filling too!! If you’re looking for a good pancake recipe that will stick with you and completely satisfy, than look no further. I can’t show you any pictures of mine because they were a complete visual fail, but just trust me that they were scrumptious! (Or better yet, make them yourself and test them out!!)

Do any of you have to do massive food prep to start the week? Did anyone eat Pie yesterday for Pi Day? Happy Eating everyone!

Fun Foods Friday!

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I’m going to start this off by saying I’m not the most adventurous of eaters.

But it’s not for lack of trying. I have gotten much better over the past few years as Will has been able to convince me to try many new things, most of which I’ve really enjoyed.  My biggest roadblock when it comes to new foods actually has nothing to do with taste though, and has everything to do with texture.

Case In Point: the Head Cheese I tried a couple of weeks ago. Everyone else was raving about the delicious ham flavor, while I couldn’t get past the slimy, pasty texture without almost gagging.

One bite was enough for me. One and done.

However, on Wednesday night, Will came home with something a little bit suspicious for us to cook for dinner. It was something that I’ve never even heard of before, but you know what? I LOVED it. Aren’t you curious what this mystery food was?

Squid Ink Pasta

YES!!!!

Now, even though it was not especially appetizing to look at, I didn’t even hesitate on this one. Maybe it’s because I was ravenous after a long day, or maybe I was just in the mood for some iodine, but whatever it was, we got cooking right away.

First, we chopped up some onions and garlic and sauteed those with a touch of butter while the pasta was cooking.

Once the pasta was done, that went into the onion mix as well.

Ooh, Steamy!

But thats not all…

We had actual squid meat too!

MMmmmmmm… Tentacles!!

When everything was done, we served the pasta up with some roasted green beans, roasted asparagus that we had left over from the night before, and some roasted chicken.

YUM-O

I ended up eating about 3/4 of this. If I hadn’t gotten so gosh darn full, I would have eaten the whole thing. It was all so delicious!

Now, if you’re like me and have never heard of or tried squid ink pasta, yes, it is actually made with the ink that squid secrete, along with some eggs, flour, and a little salt. I’m really not sure how they get the ink, so if there are any animal activists reading this, I’m sorry if I’ve done something wrong?!  Surprisingly though, the pasta only had the very slightest hint of a seafood flavor, and was not “fishy” at all. It was a little bit salty, and did I mention it was delicious? The squid itself was actually not fishy either, and was just a little bit chewy with a mildly tangy flavor.

When all is said and done, this is definitely something I’d eat again and would also recommend to anyone who’s curious!  Are any of you especially adventurous with food? What’s the weirdest food you’ve tried and liked? Is anyone else picky about texture like I am?