Eating Healthy Doesn't Have to Suck
It doesn't have to take a lot of work either!!!
Julia Child said -
"People who love to eat are always the best people."
In a rush, busy, running late? Do you feel like the rabbit from Alice in Wonderland hollering " I'm late! I'm late!" It's time for dinner and not a lot of time before kids and the spouse starts crying " I'm hungry!" or "When is dinner going to be ready?"
It's tempting at times like these to resort to packaged, pre-processed foods, canned or frozen but remember those labels!!! Dyes, sugars, cholesterol, chemicals, and fillers! Clean eating is critical to a healthy lifestyle and diet especially if you already have existing health issues but that doesn't mean it has to be difficult or time-consuming.
Last night's dinner is a prime example of this. It did not require tons of prep time or complicated cooking techniques. I had a package of organic, free-range, anti-biotic-free, boneless, skinless chicken thighs in the fridge from Monday's market trip. An onion, a red bell pepper, green bell pepper, and an avocado. Five main ingredients! Now grab some salt, pepper, garlic powder, chili powder, and ground cumin.
The chicken thighs I salt and peppered, then dusted with garlic powder. Thighs are nice because they don't easily dry out if they cook a bit too long like chicken breast does. Cook them in your favorite frying pan with some olive oil (olive oil is heart-healthy). While those are cooking slice your onion and bell peppers in long slices like the picture above. Slice the avocado and plate it. By now the chicken thighs should be ready to turn, there should be a nice light crust on them after about 10 minutes, turn them over and move to one side of the frypan to continue cooking. Now add the bell peppers and onion to the other side of the pan and dust them with chili powder and ground cumin lightly (or heavier if you are a fan). Turn the onions and peppers frequently while they cook getting some of the juice from the chicken thighs mixed in with them. After 8-10 minutes the thighs should be done and so should the onion, pepper mix. You can cut into a thigh to check if they are done or use an instant-read thermometer (my favorite), the temp should be 160-165 degrees. Your pepper should still be somewhat firm, NOT mushy!
Plate and serve. Your happy, they're happy, only one pan to wash, win, win, win!
Total cook and prep time roughly 20 minutes!!!
Healthy rating - A+
Hope you all enjoyed my post - and thank you so much for stopping by for a visit.
Yes, it is harmful to health, but hasn't it always been like this? What is harmful always attracts people :))
Actually, it hasn't. It wasn't until the latter part of the 20th century that foods became overly processed and we began to see so many ready-to-eat meals. I remember as a kid growing up the only ready-to-eat meals were frozen TV dinners, while they weren't the greatest meals they had FAR fewer preservatives than today's ready-to-eat items. I found some old food labels on the internet one time of canned and frozen items and it was amazing how few preservatives there were in the '50s, '60s, and '70s. I don't think harmful attracts people, no one really wants to harm themselves when they eat a frozen pizza. It's easy, it's convenient, it tastes good, it sets off that crave center in your brain. I get your humor in the comment, I get it, but it is also a mindset that drives us away from eating healthy, an excuse so to speak. I'm in my late fifties and I've learned that eating well doesn't start with just changing what you eat, it starts with behavioral changes. It's not convenient, it's not easy, and it takes work, and that is hard to do when you're an old dog. 🤣
They say that one eats first through the eyes and your recipe has made me sigh, I would like to eat something like this today.
I believe that to be true. Food isn't just to please the mouth and stomach but to be an experience for all the senses. Sight, smell, taste, textures (feel or touch), and even sometimes hearing, like the sizzling popping sound of fajita's fresh from a cast iron pan! Glad you enjoyed the post, thanks for the reblog too!