Southwest Chicken Chili

Posted on by Sam Boyd

This is a milder and tangier chili recipe meant to be better for summer.  I find that a robust chili is better in the winter, this one feels more summery to me.

Ingredients:

  1.  16 ounce of chicken breasts cooked off and set aside to rest completely (reserve any liquid that came off)
  2. 3 cans of diced tomatoes washed and drained
  3. 2 cans of light red kidney beans, washed and drained.
  4. 3 medium onions chopped into 1/2 inch chunks
  5. 6 cloves of garlic, minced
  6. 10-12 mini peppers sliced into 1/4 slices
  7. 1 teaspoon of the following:  celery seed, coriander, cumin, white pepper, lemon peel
  8. 1 tablespoon of the following:  paprika, dried chives, black pepper
  9. 2 tablespoons of the following:  tomato paste, salt, lime juice
  10. 3 cups of veggie broth
  11. 1 cup of water

Recipe:

  1.  Put all the veggies in the pot:  onions, tomatoes, peppers, garlic.  Sweat for about 10 minutes on medium heat, stirring often.  If you hear sizzling, turn your heat down a little.
  2. Add the liquid:  veggie broth, water, bring to a boil over medium high heat.  Cover to speed up the process.
  3. When boiling, add the beans and the chicken liquid (yummy, chicken liquid, let’s call it stock instead).
  4. Uncover and keep uncovered until boiling again.  Add the chicken and spices into the liquid and stir vigorously to get the paste all mixed in.
  5. Reduce heat to low, cover and let cook like this for about 30 minutes or so, stirring every so often to keep it from sticking, but not too often as you don’t want to lose your heat.
  6. Turn off the heat and let come to above room temperature.  We use a dutch oven for most soups so it keeps heat for a long time.  I let it sit for about 4 hours, then it’s cool enough to eat.  You know your cookware, so you should do it how you see fit.
  7. I am notorious for undersalting my food, this one is good for me, but you may want more salt in yours.  Do as you wish.

Cajun Chicken with “Rice”

Posted on by Sam Boyd

Ingredients:
1. 8 drumsticks (I use drumsticks or dark meat for this recipe because it provides a stronger chicken flavor. If you are really looking to go lighter, use chicken breasts)
2. 1 head of cauliflower “riced” (this means break it into chunks and put in a food processor until about the same size as rice)
3. 1 can of diced tomatos well rinsed.
4. 3 cloves of garlic, minced.
5. 1 medium onion, minced.
6. 1 teaspoon of the following: paprika, salt, celery seed, garlic powder, black pepper, onion powder, oregano, red pepper, caraway, dill, turmeric, cumin, bay, cardamon, basil, marjoram, rosemary and thyme. (Looks like a lot, right. That’s cause it is. Use any decent cajun seasoning that has no sugar in it, that’s what I did. We use Cajun Seasoning from Penzey’s: https://www.penzeys.com/online-catalog/cajun-style-seasoning/c-24/p-351/pd-s)
7. 1 tablespoon dried cilantro
8. 3 tablespoons vegetable broth/chicken broth

Recipe:
1. Clean and wash your chicken, put the 3/4 of the rub on it generously, then put in a preheated oven at 375 degrees for about 25 minutes, or until done. Drain off the liquid into a pan, then cover with foil.
2. In the saucepan, add the tomatos to the chicken liquid, bring to a simmer, cover for 10 minutes.
3. Toss the cauliflower in the remainder of the rub and add to the pan with the vegetable broth and recover for another 10 minutes.
4. Take lid off, smell, say yummy.
5. Stir the mixture around until well mixed, then leave uncovered for abot 10 minutes on medium heat.
6. Unwrap your chicken and pour whatever liquid is left onto your “rice”.
7. Put on plate, sprinkle with cilantro, eat.
8. Say yummy again.
This recipe will make approximately 4 servings, each having 2 cups of veggies each with about 3.5-5 ounces of chicken. We ate, two, then packed the other two up for work lunches.

Mango Chicken with Grilled Carrots

Posted on by Sam Boyd

Ingredients:

1.  Between 8-12 chicken drumsticks or breasts

2.  4 Mangoes

3.  1lb carrots, halved, cut into 4 inch pieces

4.  1/2 teaspoon of the following dried seasonings:  pepper, thyme, dill, basil, sage, mustard seed, clove, allspice, star anise, chives and 1 tablespoon of Dijon mustard, red wine vinegar, veggie broth

5.  1 tablespoon salt

6.  1 cup hot water

7.  2 teaspoons red wine vinegar, lime juice

8.  10 mini sweet peppers

Recipe:

1.  Combine water, all dried spices and all wet ingredients into a blender/ninja cup and blend until all the spices are shredded

2.  Split this mixture into 1/2 cup batches

3.  Combine 1/2 cup spice mixture and drumsticks into a Ziploc bag to marinade for a few minutes

4.  Take the other half of the spice mix and combine in a new blender cup/ninja cup/whatever will blend with the mangoes, blend until smooth.

5.  Liberally salt your carrots and peppers then  place on indirect heat on the grill, come back inside

6.  Move your Chicken to a bowl, throw away this marinade, you don’t want salmonella

7.  Put chicken on the grill and grill until done (mine took about 18 minutes on medium fire)

8.  Pull your peppers off when you put the chicken on, they will burn otherwise

9.  Cut your peppers into 1/4 inch slices

10.  The carrots should be done about the same time as your chicken.

11.  I pulled the chicken off and put in a bowl with the mango sauce while I got my plates ready

12.  I plated in this order (bottom to top):  carrots, sauce, chicken, sauce, peppers, chives over the top to make it purty.

13.  This made enough to take 2 extras to work.  Enjoy.

 

Clean Hawaiian Chicken

Posted on by Sam Boyd

This is a very quick and easy recipe.

Ingredients

1.  16 ounces of chicken breast – cubed, or cut into chunks, or hearts, whatever, just bite size.

2.  2 medium red peppers, cut into strips

3.  1 medium onion, cut into wedges

4.  8 small radishes, star cut (meaning cut into 6 wedge-like pieces)

5.  12 ounces of pineapple, roughly 2 cups

6.  1 tablespoon coconut oil

7.  2 tablespoons soy sauce (real soy sauce please)

Recipe – the order is fairly important here

1. Put radishes and coconut oil in a skillet, on medium heat, cook for about 3 minutes

2.  Add the onion and chicken, cook for 3 more minutes

3.  Add the red peppers  and cook for 2 minutes

4.  Add the pineapple, cover and cook for 5 minutes

5.  Uncover and give a good toss to coat everything in the juices.  Recover and cook for 3 minutes.

6.  Uncover and plate up two servings, separate the other two for leftovers.  At the end of it, you have about 4 oz of chicken, 2 cups of veggies, 3/4 cup of fruit, and 1/2 tablespoon of healthy oil in each serving.  I have no idea about calories, I don’t do that.  This is Phase II for LTL.

Quick and Easy – Chicken and Green Tea Squash

Posted on by Sam Boyd

Ingredients

1.  8 ounces of cooked cubed chicken.  (Note:  I say it like this because we always have chicken on hand for snacking, ease or whenever else we need to eat a protein with our veggies.  If you do not, then cook enough chicken to make this dish.  But you should always have snacking protein available throughout the day.  I should make a post on this.)

2.  2 medium yellow squash, cut into 1″ pieces

3.  1.5 cups of vegetable broth

4.  3 tablespoons soy sauce

5.  1 cup green tea

6.  1 teaspoon ground ginger

7.  1 tablespoon of date paste.

Recipe

1.  In a medium saucepan, combine veggie broth, soy sauce, green tea, date paste and ginger and bring to a rolling boil for about 5 minutes.  This should reduce it between 1/8 to 1/4.

2.  Add the squash and cover for 4 minutes, you do not need to turn the heat back on.

3.  Uncover and place the chicken in the pot and recover.  Keep this about 3 minutes or so.

4.  Uncover this and separate into 4 servings.  Eat 2 of the servings with someone you like and put the others in the fridge for lunches.  This will be as soupy as you want.  The picture shows it less soupy.  I love broth and the soup involved, especially in the winter.

 

Total time to cook:  About 14 minutes, depending on how prepped you are.  If you have to cook the chicken, it takes longer of course.

Chicken, Sweet Potatoes and Beets

Posted on by Sam Boyd

This recipe is a hearty awesomeness that is sweet, savory and very filling while being light on the calorie load.  Beets help lower cholesterol, reduce inflammation and have been known to increase endurance.  Sweet potatoes are ridiculously high in vitamin A and help reduce inflammation overall all as well.

Ingredients

1.  3 medium beets, cut into 1/2″ squares

2.  2 medium sweet potatoes, cut into 3/4″ squares

3.  3 medium chicken breasts, about 12 ounces total.  Cook these in the oven first to save time (350-375 for about 30 minutes, they will stay fresh in the fridge for aobut 3-4 days).

4.  1 tablespoon garlic powder, roasted garlic powder or some other garlic based powder, but not garlic salt.

5.  1 teaspoon lemon zest, black pepper, salt

6.  4 tablespoons of H2O

Recipe

1.  Combine water, garlic powder, lemon zest, and black pepper in a small bowl and set aside. This is called blooming and works well for any dish that is not a soup to save time and increase the flavor of dry spice before use in a wet sauce.

2.  Saute the sweet potatoes and beets separately with a tablespoon of water each in order to keep the color.  If you don’t care about the color, saute them together, but everything will be red.

3.  The beets give off more liquid than the sweet potatoes.  When they are done, they might have given off as much as 2-4 tablespoons of beet juice.  Keep this, it’s the basis of the sauce.

4.  Add the spice water to the beets and saute for about 10 minutes longer than the sweet potatoes.

5.  When plating it, put the beets in first, then the chicken then the potatoes.  Pour the liquid over all of it.

Per usual, this makes 4 servings, eat 2 now with someone you feel warmly towards, and save the others for work lunch.

Herb Chicken with Lemon Veggie Puree

Posted on by Sam Boyd

Ingredients

1.  16oz of chicken

2.  2 cups each of chopped carrots, celery, onion

3.  4 cloves of garlic

4.  1/2 cup fresh squeezed lemon juice and vegetable broth

5.  1 teaspoon each of salt, pepper, dried lemon peel.

6.  1 teaspoon each of salt, pepper, dried oregano, dried basil, dried lemon peel

7.  1 teaspoon olive oil

8.  1 teaspoon rice wine vinegar

9.  1 teaspoon dried chives (for garnish and flavor)

Recipe

1.  Rinse and wash your chicken then pat very dry

2.  Rub the chicken with the olive oil (yes there is enough)

3.  Cover in spice mix from #6

4.  Bake in 375 degree oven for roughly 30 minutes (till its done, all ovens are different, relax, chicken is very forgiving when its rubbed with oil and spices)

5.  Combine all veggies, vinegar, lemon juice, vegetable broth and remining spices in a pan and sweat.  Over the next 20 minutes or so, there should end up being some decent amount of liquid.

6.  Take a hand-mixer to it till its what professionals call a “puree”.  Your are looking for a texture sort of like loose mashed potatoes or even grits.  Chunks will not alter the flavor, but you want it well combined.

This recipe will divide up into approximately 4 servings (we ate 2 for dinner, then took the other 2 for work lunches, yes they microwave well).  At the end, you have 4 ounces of chicken, and about 1-1/2 cups of veggies.  Its pretty yummy.