For some reason, I thought I would try something new this week. Oh, what is it, you ask? Well this week I will challenge myself by not eating meat.
That's NO meat people
WTF is wrong with me?!
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I'm going to attempt this week to be more healthy and not eat any meat. I'm not doing it for animal rights or anything like that, I just want to kind of detox. But I am allowing myself things that are cooked with meat or using a beef or chicken stock. Oh and eggs...I'm going to be eating a lot of eggs for my protein. I'm just not eating meat. It's gonna be hard. Props to those who do it everyday, I just know myself and I couldn't go vegetarian.
I wouldn't dream of making Hubster join me in this journey...I don't think we'd like each other much if we both didn't eat meat for a week. So I'm still cooking like nothing's different. Except it is for me...sigh. SND this week is a dish I love and thankfully everything about it is full of flavor so even tho I can't eat the meat part I can still enjoy the meal.
Arroz con Pollo
It's an old recipe I've had for so long I can't remember where I got it from
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Ingredients
3 large garlic cloves, chopped
4 TBS fresh orange juice
2 TBS fresh lime juice (if you microwave the lime for ~10 sec you can actually get more juice from it!)
1 1/2 tsp salt
3/4 tsp black pepper
chicken (I used 4 drumsticks and 6 thighs)
1 TBS vegetable oil
1 TBS butter
1 large onion, diced (I use Spanish onion)
2 green bell peppers, chopped
3 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 tsp crumbled saffron threads
1/4 cup dry white wine (if you don't have wine you can substitute with light beer)
2 tsp ground cumin
2 tsp salt
1 bay leaf
1 can diced tomatoes, including juice
1 1/2 cups low sodium chicken broth
1 1/2 cups water
2 cups white rice
1 cup frozen baby peas
Prepare the chicken
In a blender puree the garlic, oj, lime juice, salt and pepper until smooth. Pour the puree over the chicken pieces, turning to coat. Cover the chicken and marinade and chill in the fridge for about an hour.
After marinating, transfer the chicken to paper towels, letting the marinade drip back into the bowl. Pat dry. Heat the oil and butter in a large oven safe pot over medium high heat until the foam subsides. Brown the chicken in batches, trying not to crowd the pot, for about 7-8 minutes per batch.
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| Damn you chicken for taunting me! |
Transfer chicken to a plate. In the same pot you cooked the chicken, saute the onions, peppers and garlic, stirring occasionally and making sure to scrape up the yummy brown chicken bits from the bottom of the pot. Cook for about 8 minutes, or until the veggies are soft.
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| veggies are my friends |
Add the wine and bring to a simmer, then remove from heat.
Back in your veggie pot, add cumin and salt to the veggies and stir for about 2 minutes.
Stir in the saffron mixture, bay leaf, tomatoes (including juice), broth, water and reserved marinade and bring to a boil. Once the mixture boils, add the chicken ensuring each piece is submerged in liquid. Cover and turn heat to low and cook for about 10 minutes. Stir in rice and return to a simmer. Cover pot tightly, then transfer to the oven and bake for 20 minutes.
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| it may look like a hot mess but soon it's a thing of beauty |
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| see?! looks much better! |
Have you ever tried 'testing' yourself by doing something really hard? How long did you last? Do you think I can make it?
{ cindie }
btw...the picture of the finished plated dish is Hubster's. Mine was just way too sad to take a picture of.
1 comments:
Good luck! You can do it. I didn't eat meat for a year, just to see if I could and to see if I felt better after doing so (I didn't). I didn't miss it at all....just make sure you don't swap meat out for total junk, like I did. Not ideal! :)
Also, that recipe looks really good - I'm bookmarking that!
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