Tag Archive for: rice

Chicken Kebabs with Rice and Lettuce Wraps

Embracing Motherhood Chicken Kabobs with Rice and Lettuce Wraps

It’s summer, and that means it’s time for grilling! There is just something so amazing about slow grilled, flame-licked, and well seasoned meat on a hot summer’s day or cool summer’s night. Get ready to have your taste buds blown away with this amazing recipe that has quickly become a family favorite in our household. I have always enjoyed cooking kebabs, but I was inspired by some an online post about a beef, rice, and lettuce wrap and I decided to take our kebabs to the next level by adding rice and lettuce and turning them into these amazing wraps!

Ingredients

3 Large Chicken Breasts
2 Bell Pepper
1 Medium Onion
Cherry Tomatoes
Skewers
3 T. Apple Cider Vinegar
3 T. Olive Oil
1 c. Fresh Herbs (I used cilantro, parsley, and dill. You could also use oregano, basil, thyme, etc.)
3 t. Salt
½ t. Cayenne Pepper

Directions

Cut up the chicken breast into one inch cubes.
Cubed Raw Chicken
Marinate the chicken cubes in apple cider vinegar, olive oil, fresh herbs, and salt. You can add some pepper here too if you want. I like add a little cayenne pepper for extra flavor. Add more or less depending on how spicy you like things.
Raw Chicken Cubes with Seasonings
- I like to use fresh herbs from my garden when I can, but any kind of herbs will do.
  My Little Herb Garden
- You might as well go ahead and make some Italian dressing while you’re at it now because it needs all of the same ingredients.
  Italian Dressing
Cover and place in the fridge for an hour, up to overnight.
Chilled Marinated Cubed Chicken
Cut up the onion and bell pepper into one inch squares.
Skewering Chicken Kebabs
Make the skewers. I like to alternate bell pepper, chicken, onion, chicken, bell pepper, you get the idea! The tomato on the end doesn’t always stay put on the grill, but it sure looks pretty, and it tastes amazing!
Raw Chicken Kebabs
Make sure to preheat your grill and scrape it clean before you start grilling. Set the grill temperature to medium, and grill for about 20-25 minutes turning the skewers occasionally. I like to try to make sure that every side of the chicken gets some grill time. You can also paint the kebabs with any remaining sauce as you turn them. Before you take all of the skewers off from the grill, test one to see if the chicken is fully cooked. It should be firm throughout, not pink, and not opaque.
Chicken Kebabs on the Grill

Grilled Chicken Kebabs Served on a Plate
While the chicken is grilling, prepare your rice. I just used an Uncle Ben’s Lemon Wild Rice mixture, but you can cook any kind of rice. *Check out my post about phytic acid to learn how to properly prepare rice and other grains. But in this case, I just view the rice as something extra that gives flavor rather than a “healthy addition”.
Prepare the lettuce. I like to buy organic romaine lettuce bunches. I just went to the middle to get some firm leaves for the “shell” or the “bed”.
Make the lettuce wraps.
Chicken Kebab with Lettuce and Rice Wrap

Cut Up Chicken Kebab on Rice in a Lettuce Wrap

Chicken Kebab Kid Plates

Kebab Salad

June 25, 2015/by Stacey Maaser

How to Make the Best Baked Salmon

Fish, General, Recipes

baked salmon with lemon juice, olive oil, salt, pepper, and dill baked

Salmon is a nutrient dense food that we like to eat about once a week. Stay away from farm-raised salmon that are fed soy meal and given a chemical to make their flesh pink. Wild caught salmon are rich in 18-carbon omega-3 linolenic acid that protects us against heart disease, high blood pressure, strokes, cancer, arthritis, psoriasis, asthma, and autoimmune disorders. It is also rich in the longer chain fatty acids like EPA and DHA that are necessary for proper function of the brain and eyes (and are especially beneficial in the diet of pregnant women and growing children). Salmon is also an excellent source of vitamin D and contains vitamin A and E, iron, iodine, and the B vitamins. (Information from Sally Fallon’s Book Nourishing Traditions p. 418)

Ingredients/Materials

Wild Caught Salmon (We buy ours at our local grocery store for $10 for 16 oz.)
¼ c. Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1 Lemon
½ t. Dill
1 t. Real Salt (I buy my Real Salt in bulk here. You can buy a shaker here, or a refill pouch here.)
½ t. Pepper
Glass Pan (Buy one here.)
Lemon Press (Buy one here.)
Everything You Need to Bake Your Wild Caught Salmon

Everything You’ll Need to Turn this into a Great Dinner

Directions

Preheat the Oven: Preheat the oven to 425˚F.
Salmon: Arrange the salmon in the glass pan. I usually need to cut the tail off in order to make it fit. (I like using my kitchen scissors for this.)
Wild Caught Salmon Cut to Fit in a Glass Pan
Lemon: Use the lemon press to squeeze the juice of one lemon all over the salmon.
Squeezing Lemon Over Wild Caught Salmon
Extra Virgin Olive Oil: Drizzle the olive oil generously on top of the salmon.
Pouring Extra Virgin Olive Oil Over Wild Caught Salmon
Spices: Sprinkle generous amounts of dill, salt, and pepper all over the salmon.
Sprinkle Salt, Pepper, and Dill onto the Salmon
Bake: Bake at 425˚F for 10 minutes. The fish should flake apart with a fork when done.
Baked Wild Caught Salmon
Enjoy: Serve with rice and broccoli for a complete and delicious meal. Our kids love salmon. It is one of their favorite dinners.
Elliot Loves Salmon!

April 6, 2015/by Stacey Maaser

The Dangers of Phytic Acid and What to Do About It

Food Science, General, Health

When you eat a bran muffin, brown rice, or whole wheat bread, you think you’re making a healthy choice, right? Well, because of the phytic acid present in these foods, that is not the case. If you are not going to properly prepare your foods that contain phytic acid, it is actually a better option to eat a blueberry muffin made with white flour, white rice, and white bread.

Phytic acid is present in all seeds (which by definition includes nuts, beans, grain, oats, rice, corn, tubers, etc.), and is an anti-nutrient that protects plants, but is harmful to us if we eat it in its raw state. In order to unlock the phytic acid so that we can get the phosphorus within and prevent it from leeching additional nutrients from us, we need to unlock the phytase within the seed (or add it if enough isn’t there). We can do this by using proper preparation techniques such as soaking, sprouting, and sour leavening.

What is an Anti-Nutrient?

There are many different types of anti-nutrients such as protease inhibitors, lipase inhibitors, amylase inhibitors, oxalic acid and oxalates, glucosinolates, trypsin inhibitors, lectins, flavonoids, and saponins, and they are all good for plants, but bad for us. Basically, they are the protection system of plants. They are found most often in the hull or husk of a seed and acts as a protective coating that can be “taken off” when the conditions (for growing) are just right.

This Coat is Like the Anti-Nutrients in a Plant

Taking the Anti-Nutrient “Coat” Off

Phytic Acid is an Anti-Nutrient

Phytic acid is the specific anti-nutrient that I want to focus on here because it is prevalent in so many of our foods, and by properly preparing foods to unlock the phytic acid, we will also be unlocking the mechanisms of some of the other anti-nutrients as well.