Food Rule 63 and Vietnamese Roasted Chicken with Dirty Sticky Rice

Today's Food Rule is about enjoying and savoring food and not rushing through a meal:

It's about appreciating the first bite of a food and understanding that no matter how many bites come afterward - be it 2 or 200 - none will taste as good as that first bite.  It's a Food Rule to help keep pleasure at a maximum and calories at a minimum.  A Chinese proverb sums it up well:  "The more you eat, the less flavor; the less you eat, the more flavor."

I hadn't intended to pair today's recipe with this particular Food Rule, but it was beautifully illustrated as I took my first bite.  This was a new recipe for me, and I was anxious to finally taste how it came together.  And, my, how that bite was delicious.  I'm pretty sure I swooned right there at the dinner table.  That first bite was a perfect slightly crispy and charred texture with tender and juicy insides, and unique flavors that still managed to be familiar.  Oh, that first bite was delicious.  So were the second, third, and fourth bites too.  But none tasted as good as that first forkful into my mouth.

So from here on out, I'm going to try to keep this Food Rule in mind.  I'm especially bad at limiting myself with sweets.  Just this morning, I took two, then three, then four, then five bites of a huge cookie.  A cookie I should not have been devouring before breakfast even.  And in hindsight, that first bite was incredible.  But those subsequent bites were more along the lines of stuffing my face in a sugar-induced delirium.  I could have enjoyed that cookie just as much with one bite, if I had really paused in the moment to savor it.

Savor Things,

         

Vietnamese Roasted Chicken (Ga Ro Ti)
adapted from Sunday Night Dinner

2 lbs. chicken thighs, bone-in (about 4 thighs)
1 1/2 tsp. granulated sugar
1/2 tsp. ground black pepper
1 1/2 Tbsp. soy sauce
1 1/2 Tbsp. fish sauce (I prefer Golden Boy brand)
1 1/2 Tbsp. sesame or canola oil, plus additional for frying
5 cloves garlic, minced

Remove skin from thighs and trim excess fat using kitchen shears; set aside.  In a medium bowl, whisk together sugar, pepper, soy sauce, fish sauce, oil, and garlic.  Add the chicken thighs and evenly distribute the marinade between the thighs.  Cover and marinate for 12-24 hours in the fridge.

Heat oven to 350°F and line a medium-sized baking dish with foil.  Heat 1/2 Tbsp. oil in a large skillet over medium high heat. Reserving marinade for the rice, add the chicken to the skillet and fry until deep golden brown, about 5 minutes. Flip chicken and brown other side for 2 minutes.  Remove from skillet and place in foil-lined baking dish.  Don't overcrowd chicken during browning; work in batches if necessary.

Roast chicken for 25-30 minutes. To check for doneness, poke the chicken with a knife; the juices should run clear (bone-in thighs 170°F internal temp, boneless thighs 165°F internal temp).  Serve with dirty sticky rice.

Dirty Sticky Rice
adapted from Sunday Night Dinner

1 1/2 c. cooked sticky rice (3/4 c. uncooked)
3 green onions (white and green parts), sliced
2 Tbsp. chicken stock or broth
Salt and pepper to taste

Remove any completely burned bits from the chicken skillet, leaving a thin layer of grease.  When about 10 minutes remain for the roasting chicken, heat skillet over medium heat. Add green onions and sauté until softened, about 3 minutes. Add reserved chicken marinade and cook an additional 2 minutes.  Deglaze skillet by adding chicken stock and scraping up browned bits, and heat through. Add salt and pepper to taste. Add cooked sticky rice to pan and fold the scallions evenly into rice. The rice should be a light brown color filled with scallions and de-glazed chicken and garlic bits.

         

Roasted Chicken Ingredient Lineup:

Dirty Sticky Rice Ingredient Lineup:

Food Rule 21 and Green Smoothies

(Lest you think I've gone off the deep end with my treats consumption, ha!)

I'm going to throw down some honesty here today.  That up there?  That's my breakfast every day.  Yep.  A huge green smoothie that I suck down while I'm sitting in traffic, on my way to work.  Why?  Obviously I'm capable of making other, more traditional items to eat.  But why am I eating 3 overflowing cups of kale and spinach for breakfast?

Because I'm waging a war on my acne.  There you have it.  My skin has the ability to go from allllmost clear to a disaster within a matter of a couple of days.  It's 90% of the reason I avoid dairy.  Dairy hormones and sugars make my acne (and body hormones) fly out of control, resulting in painful red bumps and cysts on my face.  Which then turn into dark scars.  It's not exactly a great way for a girl to go out in the world, especially considering that wearing a bag over my head isn't something I've been able to pull off.  (Yet.)

Now, I'm a firm believer in healing my body from the inside.  I've done just about everything for eliminating external irritating detergents and fabric softeners and body washes.  So, when my skin flares up, I know that something isn't happy on the inside.  After reading a bit about alkalinity and watching this video, I really felt compelled to get more greens in my diet.  Which is perfect for another Food Rule:

I've raved about greens in the past, but short of throwing them into every single dinner, I couldn't figure out a way to get more into my diet.  Until I started seeing Green Smoothies pop up everywhere.  They sound iffy at best - Spinach for breakfast?  Raw?  And you drink it??  Yes, indeedy, my friends.  And they taste really, really good.  Throw in a banana and some other fruit, close your eyes, and you don't even know it's loaded with leafy green vegetables.  I swear.

I follow this basic recipe for my breakfasts each morning:

Some Chia Seeds for omegas, fiber, protein, and energy
3 huge handfuls of greens - usually kale or spinach
1 fruit to make things sweet - a ripe banana or an apple
1-2 other fruits for flavors - raspberries and mango together are really good!

Note: If you add red or blue berries, your smoothie color won't be as vibrant green.  Because red + green = kinda brown in color.  Which equals disgusting photos, lol.  I didn't want to scare you away any more than I already might be, so I left the fruit for this recipe pale in color so that all you see is that gorgeous green!

What do you all think??

Are you already a Green Smoothie aficionado?

Tempted to come over to the vibrant green side of the fence?

With Bo in thinking that my breakfast is too whack to even consider? :)

My Hippy Roots are Showing,

         

Green Smoothie

2 Tbsp. chia seeds
1 c. water
3 c. kale, chopped with stems removed
1 c. frozen peach slices (unsweetened)
1 banana, sliced and frozen

Soak Chia seeds in water for at least 5 minutes, as you gather the remaining ingredients. Add ingredients to blender in this order: Water with soaked Chia seeds, kale, banana, and peach slices. Blend until smooth.  Makes one 24oz. smoothie.

       

Seriously, check this out.  These are the numbers for my recipe above:

It's a pretty great way to start the morning, am I right?!

Food Rule 34 and The Bomb Chili

True Story:  I once made this oh-so-delicious chili recipe for a group of friends, and as we began eating, I was raving about how healthy my recipe is.  Especially when I make it with the ground venison my dad packages just for me, without any fat added to it.  Venison?  You all are ok with venison, right?  I'd forgotten that I was sitting at a table with a group of people raised in an enormous city and who'd probably never even met someone who hunts.  To this day, my best friend teases me about "that time you served us venison and asked if we were ok with it after we'd already started eating."  Ha!  And sorry, guys.

But, really, as a red meat, venison is insanely healthier than the beef you typically find in grocery stores.  And that's because it is wild game.

Plants and animals that are left to raise themselves turn out to be healthier options for eating, because they've grown as nature intended.  Without bulking-up feeds and fertilizers.  They're hearty because they've survived nature.  And therefore, healthier for us to consume. 

Wild game is packed full of Omega 3s, Vitamin E, and antioxidants and is typically very lean.  Yes, it can taste "gamey," but I nearly always use it chili or taco recipes where the spices stand out as the main flavor.  For those who don't have dads who fly clear across the country with a cooler full of venison and dry ice, you can definitely substitute with ground beef.  Try to find some that's labeled "grass fed" and "free range" in order to get the greater health benefits.

Enjoy!


p.s.  It was completely unintended, but that green towel in my photos looks like I'm trying really hard to be Superbowl festive!  I didn't even think about it looking like football turf until I uploaded my photos later.  But, I love it!

        

The Bomb Chili

1 medium onion, diced
1 – 2lb. ground venison or extra lean ground beef
4, 16oz. cans beans, rinsed and drained
2, 28oz. cans diced tomatoes in juice
1/4 c. Dijon mustard
2-4 Tbsp. red chili garlic paste
3 cloves garlic
1/2 bottle beer
6oz. can tomato paste
Johnny’s season salt (or your favorite seasoning salt), to taste

Cook the onion and ground meat in a skillet over medium-high heat until cooked through and onions are translucent.  Drain any grease.  Stir all ingredients into a crock pot or large roasting pan.  Cook in crock pot on High for 4 hours or Low for 8 hours, or bake in large roasting pan at 250 degrees for 5 hours. Stir occasionally. Makes a vat (about 14 cups).

        

Ingredient Lineup:

(MIA:  ground meat, beer, and tomato paste.  Whoops!)

Food Rule 68 and Banana Pudding

Attention, please!  Raise your hand if you're incapable of eating just one cookie off the still piping hot baking sheet.

Anyone??

Please tell me that I'm not the only one who has zero willpower when it comes to a tray full of warm cookies!  I can be utterly diligent with my meals and snacks all day, but put a tray of homemade cookies in front of me, and I'll inhale 7 of them before I've realized that my hand was even moving to grab them.  It's awful.  So, you can imagine how much I struggle with this food rule:

And I'm pretty sure that it doesn't mean I should grab all 7 cookies at once, haha.  One easy way to keep desserts portion controlled is to divide them into dishes as you make the recipe.  And what better portioned out - and pretty - dessert than a layered pudding?  Dividing this recipe into individual glasses keeps me from sneaking spoonfuls and not paying attention to how much I'm actually eating.  Perfect!

The other thing to note is that by using unsweetened almond milk instead of dairy milk, we shave nearly 200 calories off the recipe.  I use almond milk for a lot of things (ranch dressing, even), so I was excited to make a treat that was not only nondairy (aka "Sara-safe"), but one that saved me a few calories to boot.  You can go ahead and make this recipe using dairy milk or a mix of dairy and almond milk; it's up to you.

Yummmmmmm,

         

Banana Pudding
adapted from Food Network magazine Jan/Feb 2012

2 c. plain unsweetened almond milk
3 Tbsp. cornstarch
pinch of kosher salt
1/3 c. sugar
1 egg
2 tsp. vanilla extract
2 large bananas
6 graham crackers, broken into 1-inch pieces (or Nilla wafer cookies)
1 Tbsp. cocoa powder or cinnamon

Heat the almond milk in a saucepan over medium heat until almost simmering, whisking often.  Meanwhile, whisk the cornstarch, salt, sugar, and egg in a medium heatproof bowl. Temper the egg mixture:  Pour about half of the hot milk into the bowl and whisk vigorously until smooth. Pour the egg-milk mixture back into the saucepan and cook over medium heat, whisking vigorously, until thick and starting to bubble, 1 to 2 minutes. Remove from heat and whisk in the vanilla. Transfer the mixture to a bowl and let cool, stirring occasionally.  The pudding will continue to thicken as it cools.

While the pudding is cooling, cut the bananas into thin slices. Layer a few banana slices, a few pieces of graham cracker and 2 tablespoons of the prepared pudding in each of 4 glasses; sprinkle with cocoa or cinnamon, then repeat to make 2 more layers. Cover with plastic wrap and chill for an hour. Makes 4 servings.

       

Ingredient Lineup:

Tempering the eggs isn't as tricky as it may seem!

Just think of when your hands are frozen on a cold day, and the last thing you should do

is put them straight into hot water.  Ditto for eggs!

You'll put a little of the hot mixture into the cooler eggs, whisking to mix in evenly.  

Then you'll whisk the warmed up egg mixture into the pot on the burner
to bring the entire milk-egg liquid up to boiling. Tempering accomplished!

Food Rule 28 and 100 Flower Blossoms

Happy Chinese New Year!  Today marks the start of the Year of the Dragon, and I thought it'd be fun to pair a Chinese dish with our new food rule:

I picked this particular recipe, because, if I'm being honest, I can't remember the last time I ate cauliflower.  I love a million different vegetables, but I always skip over cauliflower.  Maybe because I've only ever had it raw (yuck!) or smothered in goopy cheese (yuck! plus, I stay away from dairy).  But in a light sauce, with some garlic and salt, it's pretty tasty.  I'm going to try incorporating more of this little powerhouse vegetable into my rotation.  It's high in fiber, vitamin C, and anti-cancer phytochemicals, and those are definitely welcome in my diet.

Enjoy!
ssssssss*

* My Chinese sign is a Snake :)  What's yours??

         

100 Flower Blossoms
adapted from Steamy Kitchen

8 oz. cauliflower florets
6 oz. broccoli florets
6 oz. sliced carrots
salt to taste
1 tsp. cornstarch
1 tablespoon water
1 tablespoon cooking oil
1-2 cloves garlic, finely minced
1 cup vegetable broth
6 oz. crab meat, optional
1 egg white

In a large pot of salted water, boil the cauliflower florets for 1 1/2 minutes. Without removing the cauliflower, add the broccoli florets and the carrot slices to the same pot and cook for another 1 1/2 minutes, until fork tender at the stem. Rinse the vegetables with cool water to stop the cooking and drain. Lightly salt the vegetables.

In a small bowl or cup, stir together the cornstarch and the water to make a cornstarch slurry. Set aside.

Heat a wok or large frying pan until hot. Add the cooking oil and swirl to coat. Turn the heat to medium and add the garlic. Fry 15-30 seconds until fragrant, but do not burn. Pour in the vegetable broth and add the salt to taste. Let broth come to a boil.

Stir the cornstarch slurry one more time, and then pour into the broth. Stir and let simmer for 30 seconds until broth has thickened. Stir in optional crab meat. Slowly pour in the egg white and use a fork or chopsticks to gently swirl in one direction to create long tails. Immediately turn off the heat. Taste the broth, and add additional salt if needed. Pour mixture over the vegetables and serve.

         

Ingredient Lineup: