Pulled Chicken Omelets and Stuffed Peppers

Pulled chicken is so versatile, you can eat it by itself, put it in rolls or tacos, use it in soups, etc.  I really like the way that pulled chicken retains a lot of moisture and flavor from whatever liquid you cook it in.  This was a crockpot recipe my wife found at Life as a Plate (really well put together website btw), we modified slightly. We decided to put the chicken in an omelet for dinner, and stuff some peppers for the next day.  Though it works great the other way around, peppers for dinner and omeletes the next morning.

What you need: 
1 lb organic chicken breast
6 eggs
2 large bell peppers
2 fresh jalepenos finely chopped
2 fresh tomatoes roughly chopped
1/2 cup chicken broth (I used leftover from soup earlier in the week)
1/2 small red onion finely chopped
1 small bell pepper finely chopped
1 cup organic salsa
1 avocado
1 tsp salt
2 tsp onion powder
1 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp crushed red pepper
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp ground oregano
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/4 tsp ground black pepper

What to do:
Put everything except eggs, salsa, and the 2 whole bell peppers into a crockpot on low for 4 hrs.
Pull the chicken when it is ready
Hollow out the bell peppers, place in a small oven safe dish, fill with chicken, top with  the salsa, and bake for 30 min at 350.
While the peppers are baking crack the eggs and mix in a bowl with a little salt and pepper. 
Pour the eggs in a skillet (with a little butter or olive oil) on med high.  When the eggs are firm enough to turn, put the chicken on half and flip the opposite side over the chicken. Cook until brown on both sides, and top with avocado. 

Better Beef Jerky

 It's always good to have some easy protein around to get you through the day.  Making your own beef jerky is more cost effective, and you can control what you want in it.  This batch is way lower in salt than anything you will get off the shelf, but has a great flavor.

What you need:
3 lb of lean beef (I used 2 london broils), cut into 1/4 inch thick strips, across the grain
     Or have your butcher cut it (normally they are happy to do it and it saves a ton of time)

1 bottle coconut aminos
1 heaping tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp turmeric
1/2 tsp crushed red chili pepper
1/3 tsp ground cayenne
1/2 tsp garlic powder
fresh ground black pepper to taste

What to do:
Mix the coconut aminos and all of the spices in a mixing bowl.  Taste it and adjust spices if needed.
Place the sliced meat in a 1 gallon ziplock bag and fill with the mixture. Squeeze any excess air out of the bag and close it, then squeeze the bag a few times to make sure all the meat is covered.  Put it in the fridge overnight.  When marinating is done, place the meat on a drip rack and put that on an aluminum foil lined baking sheet.  This amount of meat will require two racks.  You want to allow just a sliver of room between each piece of meat for air flow.  Put the meat into a 200 degree oven for 6 hours or so.  You will know it is done when the meat cracks but does not break when bent.  
When it's done I put it in a ziplock and put it in the fridge.  It should last for a couple months, but you'll never know because it'll be gone by then. 

O-Run Atlanta

We had a great time at this race.  Awesome obstacles.  Hard as hell terrain. We came in 5th ot of 97 teams.  My wife spent some time talking with the creator of the race, who was very down to earth and did a lot of hard work getting this thing ready. I'm glad there are people out there dedicated to organizing events like this.  Click here for an example of one of the obstacles, or Check out their website

Easy Turkey Burgers

What you need:
1lb lean ground turkey (99% fat free)
1/2 red onion finely chopped
2 cloves of garlic chopped (or 1 tsp minced garlic)
10 diced black olives
1/4 of a bell pepper, chopped
6 diced dried tomatoes (the really dry ones, "Melissa's brand")
1 Tbsp coconut oil
1 pinch ground oregano
Dijon mustard
Salt and pepper

What to do:
Heat coconut oil in an oven safe skillet over med high heat
Heat oven to 400
Cook veggies and garlic in skillet until soft
Mix turkey with veggies and spices in a large mixing bowl
Form meat and veggie combination into small patties (we made 6)
Return patties to skillet and brown on each side over med high heat
Place skillet in oven to finish cooking over 5 to 10 minutes
Serve with mustard and a side salad

The idea for these burgers came from Stupideasypaleo.com

Starting the Whole 30 Diet Today

My wife and I felt like we needed to change things up a little after being on vacation last week.  All that heavy food made us want to eat clean for a while.  So we decided to do the "Whole 30", starting today. Looks tough, but it will also feel really good to eat right for a little while.  Hopefully it will inspire us to learn some new recipes and try some new foods.  Here is a link to the Whole 30 website.

Salmon with Steamed Brocolli

What you need:
2 salmon filets (skin on)
2 cups brocolli, washed and cut into florets
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
salt and fresh ground pepper
1 lemon

What to do:
Heat oil in skillet over medium high heat
Place salmon filets face down (skin up) for five or six minutes until they get some color,
Flip filets and turn down heat to med, let cook for another six minutes or until meat is flaky but moist.  Garnish with lemon slices.
Steam brocolli in microwave for three minutes while fish cooks.
(Sometimes I will turn on the oven if the meat looks like it is going to burn before it cooks all the way. I'll throw the skillet in the oven for about ten minutes, usually turns out perfect.)

Were the English in the 1860's healthier than us?

     I came across an interesting article this week in the International Journal of Environmental and Public Health (I will link to it at the bottom of the page). The article focused on life in England in the mid to late 19th century.  The lifestyle that this group led provided them a level of health and longevity that remains unsurpassed in todays modern cities.  They also (according to the article) enjoyed a virtual lack of degenerative disease that has not been seen since.
       So how did they live, and what can we learn?  First off, let me say the fact that these people lived long did not mean they lived easy.  The majority of the population back then worked physically demanding jobs for long hours.  The hard work was a large part of what contributed to their longevity.  To fuel 60 hour work weeks at labor intensive jobs, these folks took in 150 to 200% of the calories that we would normally eat today. The benefit that came from eating all these calories was not a result of the calories themselves, but of the organic foods they ate.  These people lived off the land.  They raised their own fruits and vegetables, and ate them fresh from the garden.  Their meats were fresh kills from local farms or successful hunting.  These people did not waste.  They ate far more of the animals they had, including: organs, soups made from bones, whole fish including the heads and roe, and fatty parts that we tend to throw away these days.  Essentially the biggest thing that this group did right was to eat a very large amount of highly nutritious foods.  Their hard work provided the incentive to eat, and their nutrient dense foods kept them alive a long time.  According to the study, a person that lived past the age of  five in that setting could expect to live a longer and healthier life than we do today, over a hundred years later.
     So what can we do today to recreate the good aspects of the lives they led so that we may reap some of the benefits?  The following are two steps toward living like they did :

By Samuele on English Wikipedia Samuele nella Wikipedia Italiana [CC0], via Wikimedia Commons

  
Work Hard: 
     If you are like most of us and don't spend your days lumberjacking or bricklaying, the next best thing is to hit the gym.  Don't get me wrong, I don't think an hour at the gym is going to simulate 8 hours shoveling dirt, but it will get your metabolism up and stimulate an appetite.  If you are looking to burn  maximum calories in minimum time, olympic lifts with heavy weights are a great way to go.  The more you do the better, whether it be at the gym, at work, or in the yard.  The average workers back then burned between 3000 and 4500 calories a day.  We probably are not going to get anywhere near that on a daily basis, but the closer the better.  

Eat More... of Good Things: 
     A result of the hard work you do will be the desire to get some grub.  When I say eat more I mean eat more of certain things.  In America today we get more than enough carbs and protein, there is no need to up the intake of that stuff.  What we do need more of is phytonutrients, and that comes from plants.  Eat organic plants and eat lots of them.  The leafier and the darker the better.  Try to get in as many colors as you can daily as well.  Blending and drinking the juice and pulp is a good way to get in a ton of plant matter conveniently.  When considering meat products, try using as much of the animal as you are comfortable with.  An easy way to start is with beef bone broths and chicken soups (check out the simple chicken soup post).
     When you can, buy organic and local fruits and veggies. When organic is not available buy conventional and local.  You always want to get food that was grown as close to home as possible.  Free range organic meat products are not only better for the animal, but they are better for you.  Animals that live in the sun and graze on grasses and grains that they would naturally eat will provide more and better nutrient quality when consumed. 

                  By Malakwal City (Own work) [CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

      Pretty simple, work hard and eat good stuff.  And yeah, we may never be able to take in the high amounts of vitamins and minerals that they did back then.  As a result we may never come to know the low levels of degenerative disease that they saw.  They lived hard lives, they deserved a break.  In the meantime we'll have some fun while we're strong and if we do get some crappy disease when we're old, at least we'll have 3D movies to distract us.  Carpe Diem.  


Click here to check out the article.