Cream Chicken

     I have to say, chicken is one of my favorite things to cook so any time I come across a good chicken recipe, I try it! This recipe caught my eye because the girl’s blog I got it from talked so much about what a family recipe it was for her. Her grandma made it, then her mom, now she makes it for her family. I love recipes that have been passed down because if it is worth keeping, it must be good right?

http://www.northdakotamom.com/?s=cream+chicken

The Taste Test

                The best part about cooking is getting to actually taste the amazing meal you just created isn’t it? After all, I think it is well deserved after all the time it takes to prepare! I was quite surprised about how tender the chicken was. I used boneless chicken and man was it good! The seasoning you put on the chicken before it gets cooked is very tasty. I was amazed you could still taste it even through the gravy. Now the gravy was to die for. It turned out to be the perfect consistency. The best part of the gravy is the chicken bouillon you add to it, it adds great flavor! A+ on the taste test!

Preparation

                If I were to rate the ease of preparation on a scale from 1 to 10, 10 being easiest, I would have to give this recipe a 6 or 7. This recipe had a lot of steps to it and took a long time to prepare, but my oh my was it worth it! Nothing good comes easy right?

Nutritional Value

Chicken:
                Chicken is a great source of protein (31 grams), niacin, selenium, vitamin B6 as well as vitamin B12. There is about 3.6 grams of fat in one small boneless skinless chicken breast.

Niacin is also known as vitamin B3. It helps the body convert food (carbohydrates) into fuel which is what the body uses to produce energy.
Selenium is very important for reproduction, thyroid gland function, and protecting the body from infection. Selenium is definitely a nutrient our body needs to stay healthy!
               

Eggs:

                Eggs are very low in calories but high in cholesterol. There are 72 calories per egg and 186 mg of cholesterol. There are three different types of fats in eggs, saturated, polyunsaturated, and monounsaturated. Those three fats combined make about 5 grams of fat per egg. There is 10% of vitamin D in each egg.

Cholesterol is a waxy, fat like substance that is found in all cells in your body. We need cholesterol to make hormones and substances that help digest our food. Vitamin D aids in enhancing our ability to absorb calcium, iron, magnesium, phosphate and zince.

Milk:

                Milk is very high in potassium. Potassium is very good for your body because it helps reduce the risk of strokes, lowers blood pressure, reduce chances of heart and kidney disorders, helps with anxiety and stress as well as enhanced muscle strength metabolism, and nervous system.

                Milk is a very good source of calcium, but that does not mean you should drink too much of it. It is wise to limit yourself to about two servings per day. It is not a bad thing to have more or less, as long as you are getting enough calcium in your diet.

These nutritional values are important because they all have a different function that plays into our bodies. It is important to know what functions each food gives you so you know what you need more or less of in you daily diet. It was interesting to me to learn about the nutritional value in each ingredient in this recipe because it showed me that you can get vitamins and proteins and things like that from more than one type of food.

I would say one major negative aspect of this recipe is the amount of fat it has in the gravy. Cream is full of unhealthy fat which when digested can cause bloating in the stomach. Another negative aspect to this recipe is the lack of variety of food groups included. In this recipe there are only ingredients from the protein and dairy food groups. I would have liked to incorporate more food groups in this recipe.

Food groups:

The five main food groups are fruits, vegetables, grains, protein, and dairy.

The recipe I chose to cook contains mostly protein and dairy. I chose to add vegetables as a side dish because I love all kinds of vegetables. I feel like it is very important to eat veggies on the daily. I decided to put a small portion of a variety of vegetables (carrots, broccoli, cauliflower, and celery) with my meal so I made sure to get their nutrients in my body. I could have also added some fruit, or cooked rice to get the grain portion into my diet.

Anderson, K