Chicken and Collards Pilau (easy & delish)

A foodie-friend of mine with small children passed along this recipe for Chicken and Collards Pilau.  I made it within the week of her recommendation and wonder why I waited so long.

Everyone in my family liked it.

It's a one dish wonder and comes together rather quickly.  Win-win!!

After reading the recipe you can see it is quite versatile.  I used kale instead of collards, doubled the pork (used Italian sausage) and reduced the amount of chicken.   I omitted the celery because I didn't want to make another trip to the store and used homemade chicken broth instead of vegetable broth. Next time I will use two bunches of greens instead of one.  I think mushrooms would be nice in this too.

Does anyone follow a recipe exactly?  :)

A word about pork: if you are not able to buy local pork, consider purchasing at Whole Foods or other reputable source.  Industrially raise pork is given routine doses of antibiotics whether or not the animal needs it.  The residual antibiotics in the meat is transferred to your body.   If you ever need to take an antibiotic, you don't want to have a tolerance built up to antibiotics because of the meat you're eating.

If you're looking for a new-easy-yummy dish to add to your repertoire put this one on the list.  Don't wait more than a week or you will be kicking yourself.

Julie

Free Pizza at New Pizza Joint

Hey Little Rock foodies!  There's a new pizza place in town.  Blaze Pizza opened Thursday (yesterday) in Pleasant Ridge and is offering free pizza today (Friday 10am-10pm) to anyone who follows them on social media and can prove it on their phone.

Blaze Pizza boasts of made from scratch dough, artisanal ingredients, and fast-fired for 180 seconds.  Check it out!

10 Easy AND Healthy Party Snacks

It's the most wonderful time of the year...

But not exactly the EASIEST.

Here are some ideas to make your party going a bit easier on your conscience health.

1.  Real Food Cheese Dip:: don't tell your family there's no Velveeta in it!  I've been making HB's recipe for dinner and taking it to parties (crowd favorite!) In the comments, I wrote a minor change I've made to the recipe.

2.  Low carb and nutrient dense:: Pull out a pretty platter and take a quick plate of cheese cubes, olives,  nuts, and dried fruit.  Kroger and Whole Foods makes this really easy.  They have an olive bar and a giant cheese selection.  Of course you can use jarred olives.  Bonus points if you buy cute toothpicks.

3.  High carb and kid friendly::  Fruit platter - quick rinse grapes, berries and slice up oranges or buy a bag of Cuties (easy to peel!).  Remember if you take apple slices to sprinkle them with lemon, orange or pineapple juice.  This step will keep the apples from turning brown.

4.  Pop popcorn stovetop in coconut oil.

5.  Hummus and veggie sticks, chips, or whatever strikes your fancy.  You can make it homemade or grab a container at the store.  Alton Brown adds baking soda when cooking chickpeas in a crock pot.  This makes for creamy hummus.

Lori's Pineapple Cheese ball

6.  Growing up, it seemed there was a cheese ball at every function of worth.  Lori makes a yummy one.

7.  Grab a jar of salsa and your favorite chips.  Bonus if you wanna share some of your probiotic salsa.

8.  Energy bars or balls take a bit more energy to make than opening a jar, but man, they are good.  Best of all, you can feel good about your family snacking on them!

9.  If you want to have a bit of sugar but not go overboard, coconut macaroons are an easy and relatively good for you cookie.

10.  I've also been making low sugar no bake cookies and substituting some of the oats with coconut for easier digestion (grains, unless properly soaked or sprouted are difficult for the body to assimilate their nutrients).  Of course you can make those cookies completely gluten free by using all coconut and no oats.

What have I missed?  What do you like to take to parties?

-Julie

Pasture Raised Eggs (at Kroger)

Buying local pastured eggs is one of my food priorities.  Sometimes however, I can't always find local eggs... or, enough to fill my family's demands.  I have an egg share with Farm Girl but lately my people have been eating a lot.  Unfortunately I think this is a trend that will only continue.  My 11 year old son grew three inches last year.

After talking with a knowledgeable friend, I decided to try the above pictured "Pastured Raised" brand eggs that my Kroger carries.   This morning I was delightfully surprised at the color of the yolk.  The bright orange hue is telling of the chicken's living conditions.  These ladies ate a bit of green grass in their lifetime.  

The dark color in the yolk is evidence of nutritional density.  If you are looking to sneak some nutrition into your family, buy the best quality of eggs you can afford.  Quality eggs taste better, too.

Buy local when possible.  When in a pinch, I will now recommend and buy Pasture Raised brand from box stores.  

--Julie

Related:: Why you should pay more for eggs and the difference in wording on the cartons.