Golden Meal

Sometimes I notice we go through stretches where we eat a lot of what I like to call "golden meals". These types of foods include:

Hamburgers
French fries
Chicken wings/tenders/nuggets
Hot Dogs
Grilled cheese
Onion rings
Mozzarella sticks
Basically anything "golden" and usually fried

These meals are nice going down but ALWAYS leave us sluggish, bloated and unhappy.  I've been scared to try "healthy" golden meals but made one tonight without realizing and it hits the spot without leaving us feeling yuck: Breaded Chicken with Roasted Cauliflower and Quinoa

To feed a toddler and 2 adults:
2 large boneless chicken breasts sliced thin
1 head cauliflower chopped in 1" pieces
1/2 cup rinsed quinoa
Shake n bake (or breading of choice)
Olive oil
Powdered garlic, paprika, salt
Vegetable bouillon

Preheat oven to 400.  Rinse and coat chicken with breading (I don't use milk or egg) lay on a foil lined baking sheet. In a gallon bag add cauliflower pieces, drizzle with 1tbs olive oil, 1 tsp paprika, 1 tsp garlic and a pinch of salt. Shake bag and put with the chicken on the foil lined pan. Pop in the oven.

In a small pot put rinsed quinoa, 1 cup water, 1/2 vegetable bouillon cube and a pinch paprika. Stir and bring to a boil. Cover and reduce heat to low. Set the timer for 8 minutes.

After 8 minutes, flip the chicken and toss cauliflower. Set the timer for 7 minutes.

Remove quinoa from heat and stir. Set oven to broil and watch closely. You just want a nice light crisp (about 6 minutes). Remove from oven and serve.

It's crispy, crunchy, healthy, filling and the cauliflower gives the illusion of French fries. Nom!!

PlusPeace

Glorious Coconut Oil

I am back!  I left the blogging world to focus on some personal goals and I am back at a place where I can sit down and finally write up some of the posts I've been saving up!

I am starting out with a small post on coconut oil.  This stuff is awesome - it's good for you to eat and it's good for your skin too!  I have used it in some baking recipes, vegetable stir fry and as a super moisturizer for my legs and makes awesome lip gloss/chap stick replacement.

Thankfully, I live in Maine so it pretty much stays as a solid and the most "liquid" it has become is like Vaseline consistency.  I love it, I use it on me and I use it on my kid.

I bought mine at Traders Joes in a 16 oz jar for $5.99 (the same size jar at a regular grocery store was $21.95) The ONLY ingredient is "Organic Extra Virgin Coconut Oil" - so you know its good!  I wanted a "travel size" version so I picked up three "cosmetic cases" at target for $1.

I scooped out about 6 tablespoons of the coconut oil and heated it in a glass jar (30 seconds in the microwave) until mostly liquid.  Divided it between the three jars, put the lids on and froze overnight.  Now I can have one in my purse, one at my desk and an extra for my car.

If you are not familiar with coconut oil, check out this giant list of 101 Uses for Coconut Oil

Love,
PlusPeace