My family is lucky, we don't really suffer from many food allergies.....or do we? We really don't know because the symptoms could be very subtle or we've just gotten used to living this way. But my kids are very active and growing very fast. JB and I are a little bit the opposite, we try to be as active as we can be and we're on the other end of "growing very fast". So I'm hoping to add a little bit of "healthy" into this goal of mine. Let's call my 2016 goal "trying out new and healthy meals"! I'm thinking this will be fun and good for us too, it's really a no-brainer in my opinion. The kids are already having deep discussions about how this is going to go! Let's see what our first meal has in store for us.
Pineapple Chicken, Black Beans, Cilantro Rice
First, I want to give credit to the site that I found these three great recipes. Check out The Nourishing Home when you have a moment. There's great stuff to be found there!
Here are the details on the Grilled Pineapple Chicken recipe:
Ingredients:
- 1 lb. boneless, skinless organic chicken breasts or tenders
- 3 tbsp olive oil
- 1/4 tsp fresh grated organic lime zest (about 1 lime)
- 2 tbsp unsweetened 100% pure pineapple juice
- 1 tbsp fresh-squeezed lime juice
- 1/2 tsp sea salt
- 1/8 tsp dried rosemary
- 1/8 tsp dried thyme
- 1/8 tsp garlic powder
- 1/8 tsp freshly ground black pepper
What to do:
- Cut chicken breasts in half lengthwise, so that you end up with two thinly sliced breasts for each breast you cut in half (or cut into chicken tenders, if you prefer).
- Place chicken in a glass baking dish.
- In a small bowl, add remaining ingredients and whisk together until well combined.
- Pour marinade over the chicken. Cover and refrigerate for 30 minutes prior to grilling, but no more than 45 minutes prior to grilling, otherwise the chicken will become mushy.
- Then, preheat grill until hot. Grill chicken about 2-3 minutes per side, until cooked through.
- Remove chicken from grill, place on plate and cover with aluminum foil. Allow to sit 3-5 minutes before serving.
- When ready to serve, top with a heaping dollop of fresh pineapple salsa and a side of black beans and cilantro rice!
Chicken soaking in a herbed-pineapple bath.
Chicken cooking....I didn't grill them today.
Finished and ready to serve!
Now for the Baja-Styled Cilantro Rice
Ingredients:
- 2 tbsp butter
- 1/2 tsp dried parsley
- 1/2 tsp sea salt
- 1/2 tsp onion powder
- 1/2 tsp garlic powder
- 1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper
- 2 cups of white basmati rice
- 2 cups of homemade bone broth
- 1 cup of filtered water
- 2-3 tbsp of minced fresh cilantro
What to do:
- In a medium saucepan, over medium heat, melt the butter and add all the seasons. Stir well to combine.
- Add the rice and stir well, making sure all of the rice is well coated with the butter-seasoning mixture. Cook the rice, stirring constantly for about 2-3 minutes.
- Then, increase the heat to high and add the bone broth and water. Once the rice comes to a gentle boil, cover the saucepan and reduce the heat to low/simmer. (I know it’s tough to resist, but don't peek under the lid.)
- Allow rice to cook about 15 minutes. Then turn off the burner and remove the pan from the heat.
- Let the rice sit, covered, for an additional 5 minutes. (Again, try not to peek under the lid, or you’ll allow the steam to escape.)
- Then, remove the lid and add the minced cilantro. Fluff the rice with a fork to separate the grains and distribute the cilantro throughout the rice. (You can also create a delicious Veggie Confetti Style Rice by adding an assortment of fine-diced sautéed veggies. See recipe note below.)
- You can serve the rice immediately, or put the lid back on to keep it warm while you finish cooking the rest of your meal. Enjoy!
Our finished product!! Just can't wait to tell you what we thought!!
And lastly but not leastly....the Crockpot Black Beans
- 1 1/2 cups dried black beans, picked over and rinsed
- very warm water to soak
- 4 cups organic chicken stock
- 1 1/2 cup finely chopped yellow onion (or use green onions!)
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 tsp all-purpose dried herb seasoning (I like Simply Organic brand)
- 1/4 tsp ground cumin
- 2 tsp sea salt
- 1/4 tsp pepper
- 1/4 cup chopped fresh organic cilantro
- Optional: 2 uncooked strips of uncured, nitrate-free bacon
Step One: Soak Beans
Step Two: Crockpot
What to do:
Step One: Soak Beans
- The afternoon/evening before you plan to serve the beans, place dried beans in colander and pick through them removing any small stones or other foreign matter.
- Rinse the beans well and place in a large glass bowl, or remove your ceramic crockpot from its base and soak directly in the crockpot.
- Add about four times the volume of very warm water to beans. (I use a combo of half "almost boiling" water to room temp water.)
- Place bowl (or ceramic crockpot) in your oven with the oven light on and the door closed for 8-12 hours. (You might want to leave a post-it on your oven door to remind you not to turn on your oven – trust me – been there done that! Ha ha!)
- If you have time, ideally, it's best to drain the beans, rinse them and put them back through this same soak process again (which would extend the soak time and help to further reduce phytic acid, and further increase digestibility).
- Once the beans are finished soaking, drain them, rinse them thoroughly and put them in the crockpot with the above ingredients.
- Set crockpot on low and cook for about 8-10 hours.
- Remove strips of bacon before serving.
That was the recipe....now here's what I actually did:
I didn't have time to do the soaking or the crockpotting, so......I used a pressure cooker instead. I combined dry beans and all the seasonings and bacon to the pressure cooker. Set it on high for 65 minutes, and pressed start!
Once the beans were done cooking, I let them cool just a bit. My kids and hubby do not like the whole bean dish so I just quickly dumped the cooked beans, juices, spices, and bacon in a food processor and hit "go". The consistency was that of refried black beans without the "refried" part. We topped each bowl with a bit of mozzarella cheese. Let me tell you.....LB asked for 2nds!!!
Only 8 minutes left to see how this is going to turn out!!!
My best guess on the nutritional values on each dish:
Chicken:
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Beans:
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Rice:
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Family Reviews:
LB - "Chicken was okay....a little too sweet but when I put some salsa verde on top, it was even better!! I loved the beans and the rice was pretty good too." She's not a huge fan of any type of rice but she ate it tonight! No complaints there.
JB - "This is good, Honey. Do you have any pineapple gravy?"
JB2 - "I'm impressed, Mom. The chicken is a bit too sweet for me, tho."
CB - No real comments but she ate all of her chicken and all of her rice.....would not touch the beans with a ten-foot pole....
My Thoughts - Need to keep working on making the chicken a bit better, beans and rice were amazing....even mixed together! This is a "make again" meal! Everyone agrees too.
