Tag: cayenne

Pulled Chicken Chili

Hello 2017! It’s been a while but we are back with some delicious and nutritious recipes to help you stay on track with your healthy New Years resolutions! 

What else is there to make when it’s freezing everywhere other than chili? Yes, usually the meat is on the fatty side and it’s normally paired with some sort of fat-inducing carb. But this recipe packs the protein and subs out the starch for a carotenoid rich squash. And, it’s topped with some cruncy kale because tortilla chips are certainly on no ones diet right now 😉.

Tomato Coating
Ingredients

Chicken: One red onion, One garlic clove, One (any color, yellow used here) bell pepper, One can tomato paste, 2 tablespoons apple side vinegar, 2 tablespoons agave nectar, 3-4 boneless chicken breasts

Coated Chicken
Chili: 1 can tomato sauce, 1 can diced tomatoes, 1 can black beans, 1 can kidney beans (any combo of beans will work) 

2 Spaghetti Squashes (serves about 5) 

1 bag of chopped kale. Juice of 1/2 lime. 

Directions: Dice veggies. Heat a skillet to medium heat. Brown veggies and then reduce heat. Stir in tomato paste, vinegar and agave. Add any hot spices you desire (cayenne, chipotle, cumin and black pepper used here). Mix until a cohesive paste. Lightly coat each chicken breast. 

In a slow cooker, add 1/2 the can of diced tomatoes and 1/2 can of sauce. Add chili pepper and any other hot spices desired. Add both cans of beans. Place coated chicken on top. Add the remaining diced tomatoes and sauce. Cook on low heat for 4-5 hours. After about 2 hours, use a fork to break apart chicken. 

Chicken in chili
Refer here for instructions on cooking spaghetti squash. 

For the crunchy kale topping, spread the greens out on a cooking sheet. Drizzle lime juice over and sprinkle with cilantro if desired. 

Crunchy Kale
This is just the thing to warm you up without costing you your diet. The squash serves as a great base that will make you forget all about that pasta. 

Pulled Chicken Chili over Spaghetti Squash 

Blazin’ Burgers over Coolin’ Quinoa

Coolin' Quinoa and Blazin' Burgers
Happy Memorial Day! MDW officially kicks off summer, so that summer body better be ready! It’s kind of ironic: we kill ourselves in the gym and with keeping a healthy eating plan, only to spend the summer eating fatty cuts of processed meats, nutrition-less fried startches, and washing it down with adult beverages. Then, it’s a sleigh ride into the holidays and their indulgences so we can start over again next January. Vicious cycle. 

But there are ways to stay on track even when attending fun events like BBQs and beach parties: BYOS (Bring your own sides). While hotdogs and hamburgers aren’t exactly tofu, the proteins aren’t the biggest culprits. Mayonnaise based sides like potato salad and cole slaw and heavily processed potato products like chips and French fries are the real culprits for the extra belly fat. Well, that and the beer (we’ll let you know when we find a comparable substitute for that one ;).

Cilantro Lime Quinoa Salad
Quinoa: 1 cup of quinoa, 1 cucumber, half of a large tomato, quarter of a red onion, bunch of cilantro, 1 lime

Quinoa is usually described as a good fill-in for rice, but it’s actually more flexible in that you can serve it either warm or cold. In this case, we are using it as a nice, cooling base for our sizzlin’ hot burgers.

To cook, 1 cup of the quinoa was combined with 1 1/2 cup of water in a pot and boiled until all the water was absorbed. Quinoa does not have much of a taste on its own, so normally we heavily season it to give it a flare. In this case, we added a quarter of the lime and cilantro into the boiling water to add some zest to it. Once cooled, diced tomatoes, cucumbers, red onion, cilantro, and the juice of the remaining lime were added. Put in refrigerator to chill. 

Cilantro, Lime, Tomato, Red Onion, Cucumber
burgers on grill
Burgers: For our meat, we choose 1 lb organic, grass fed beef (makes about 5 burgers). It will give you all the flavor of a regular hamburger without the nasty, processed extras. 

To compliment the chilled quinoa, we went extra spicy with our seasonings. Cayenne, chipotle, cumin, black pepper, salt, a pinch of raw sugar, and a dizzle of balsamic vinegar for moisture were added, so these bad boys are anything but flavorless. They were cooked on a stove top grill for about 10-15 mins each side. 

Blazin' Burgers over Coolin' Quinoa
Garnished with avocado and green peppers, the meal has a southwest yet All- American feel. This goes to show you that BBQ food doesn’t have to be fatty and repetitive. Happy summer!