Pizza Chicken

When I was pretty little, my mom was trying to figure out what to make for dinner. She saw the tomato sauce, and she saw chicken. She decided to get creative and put the two ingredients together. While she was still trying to figure out what else to put in it, my dad told her he was craving cabbage. That really got her creative juices flowing which then became a family childhood favorite. When she served it, my siblings and I immediately called it Pizza Chicken, even though it is nothing like pizza. The name stuck, and a new tradition was born. For the first time, this original family recipe will be available to the public. This was actually my first time making it, and the first time my mom and I wrote the recipe down on paper. It was so fun working in the kitchen with my mom giving me instructions on our family favorite. Now I can pass it down to my own children. You will need:

1 Large onion (chopped)
1 Large green pepper (chopped)
2- 13 oz cans of large mushrooms (keep juice)
2- 15 oz cans of tomato sauce
3 Cups Shredded Mozzarella
5 lbs Chicken without skin (to absorb flavor)

Seasonings (all to taste):
Salt
Black pepper
Italian herb blend
Minced Garlic

Directions
Grease electric skillet. Place chicken in a single layer in the skillet. Don't cook yet. In a separate bowl, mix onions, green peppers, mushrooms with juice, and tomato sauce. Fill empty tomato sauce can half way with water. Poor water back and forth between both sauce cans to get the remaining sauce. Poor tomato water in the bowl with the vegetables. Add spices to taste in the bowl. spoon part of the sauce mixture onto the chicken just enough to cover . Cut cabbage in half. remove core. Cut each half in quarters or smaller leaving wedges in tacked. Remove loose leaves . If desired, roll loose leaves together to add in (note: loose leaves will turn to mush if in the sauce by itself) . Place wedges and rolls in a single layer on top of the chicken. cover cabbage with the remaining sauce mixture. Cover. Turn skillet on to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Cook until chicken is done. turn off the skillet. Add cheese on top, cover back up until cheese is melted.

This recipe makes 20 servings. We have a large family, so we have to make a lot. But for those who are cooking for one or a few, all you need to do is use the desired amount of each ingredient. There is no magic trick to adapting this recipe for smaller or larger amounts. That is what I love about "to taste" recipes. I love how easy pizza chicken is to make! If you are only making enough for one person, you only need one wedge or one roll of cabbage...unless you love cabbage and want more. The picture below is me with the pizza chicken already half way gone!

 Nutritional Value:

Calories:               184
Total Fats                 4 g            6%
     Sat Fats               2 g           10%
Cholesterol             59 mg       20 %
Sodium                 719 mg       30 %
Total Carb                8 g            2%
     Dietary fiber        4 g          11%
     Sugars                 4 g
Protein                    28 g           50%
Potassium                                   5%
Vit A                                          6%
Calcium                                    14%
Folic Acid                                   2%
Vit C                                          43%
Iron                                              2%

This recipe include protein, vegetables, fruit (tomatoes), and dairy. The food group that is missing is grains. Our favorite side dish is rice (especially rice with cream cheese and mushrooms mixed in it...shhh...don't tell anyone if that isn't considered healthy ;) ). If you want to make it healthier, then just do plain rice. We love to drizzle the sauce on top of the rice. This dish could probably use more fruit as well. Any fruit would do (how about a fruit salad?), or even a homemade fruit smoothie.

Pizza chicken is an excellent source of protein which is a building block for just about every cell in your body to help grow hair, finger nails, build and repair tissues. Protein is a building block for bones, muscles, cartilage, skin and blood. Pizza Chicken is also an excellent source of Vitamin C which helps protect our bodies from immune system deficiencies, cardiovascular disease, prenatal health problems, eye disease, and skin wrinkling. It can help boost our immune system when we are sick. This recipe is a good source of calcium (if you need to have it dairy free, the calcium value significantly decreases to 2%). Calcium is crucial for for bone strength, bone growth, and preventing osteoporosis. It can also help maintain heart rhythm, muscle function, and more. Even though this delicious recipe doesn't go over the sodium limit, I feel the sodium is a little high for one meal.

I hope you all enjoy my mom's family famous pizza chicken recipe! Enjoy!

Paxson, S.

Turkey Meatloaf

I love this recipe because it's simple and matches my diet specifications exactly, I hope you find it enjoyable too!  I am allergic to gluten and dairy and have very low sugar and corn tolerances and simply don't like soy, so many of the ingredients used in this recipe can be replaced with regular ingredients to cut down on cost.  Because the turkey meatloaf is pretty much protein with vegetables I added recipes for a more well-rounded meal as well.

Recipes:

Turkey Meatloaf:

2 lbs ground turkey
2 large egg whites
2 Tbsp. coconut aminos (or soy sauce if you prefer)
1/2 cup diced onion
1/2 cup chopped celery
1 tsp. minced garlic
1 tsp. sea salt
1 tsp. black pepper

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.
2. Combine all ingredients in a large mixing bowl.  Mix well.  Press mixture into a nonstick loaf pan and bake for about 1 hour or until cooked through.  Let rest for 10 minutes.  Slice and serve!

Fool-proof Brown Rice:

1 1/2 cups brown rice

2 1/3 cups water

1/2 tsp. salt

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Place rice in 8x8 glass baking dish

2.  Add water and salt to a medium saucepan and heat.  Once boiling immediately pour over rice and smooth with a dinner fork.  Cover tightly with one layer of aluminum foil and place in the oven.  Bake rice for 1 hour.

3. Remove baking dish from oven and uncover rice.  'Fluff' the rice with a dinner fork and loosely recover the dish with the aluminum foil.  Let sit for 5 minutes and then serve fresh or refrigerate it.

Cherry Smoothie:

I chose to add a cherry smoothie to this meal because it is full of healthy fats and tastes amazing!  It is a little more on the expensive side, especially if you use xylitol instead of sugar.

3/4 cup of frozen cherries (defrosted)

3/4 cup almond-coconut blend milk 

xylitol 

1.  Pour almond-coconut milk and cherries into a blender and blend until smooth.  

2.  Add xylitol to taste.

3.  Serve immediately.

Taste:

I love the taste of these recipes.  The turkey meatloaf gets most of it's taste from the celery and onions and the cherry smoothie is very flavorful, but the brown rice is, admittedly a little bland.  I used a lime to add some flavor though a sprinkle of salt can also do the trick.  I never add butter to rice, but I suppose that is an acceptable substitute for added flavor as well.

Ease of Preparation:

Honestly these are some of the easiest recipes I know, though the meatloaf and rice do take an hour to cook.  The ingredients are fairly simple and do not take a lot of work.  Prepping all three recipes takes less than half and hour.  

Specific Nutritional Value:

Turkey Meatloaf (only):

Serving Size: 1 - 1" slice

Estimated RDA:

Total Fat: 20.7%

Saturated Fat: 18.75%

Cholesterol: 45%

Sodium: 5.8%

Carbohydrates: 0%

Fiber:  1%

Sugar: 0%

Protein: 60%

Vitamin A: 1%

Vitamin C: 4%

Iron: 8%

Calcium: 6%

Nutrition Analysis:

So this recipe is very high in protein and has a large portion of fat.  I try to use lean or lower fat ground turkey to minimize fat intake.  I usually eat turkey meatloaf as a protein boost for lunch or around dinner when I need to stay fuller for longer.  The saturated fat and cholesterol levels are high as well, but definitely within the bounds of their RDAs.  

Because this recipe is so lop-sided when it comes to nutritional value I nearly always eat 1/2 - 1 cup of brown rice alongside it.  Brown rice is a fantastic healthy carbohydrate which will boost your B-6, magnesium and dietary fiber.

Without the smoothie this recipe has absolutely no sugar.  I include the smoothie for it's healthy fats and natural sugars as well as it's great taste.  Coconut-almond milk is very low calorie and relatively low-fat while adding a variety of vitamins and minerals, including more calcium than a glass of milk. 

Proteins:

Protein is essential to a healthy diet because they make up the body's basic structure rather than being burned for energy.  While the normal American diet is high in protein it is still important to consider it when making your meal.  Without protein your body would have difficulty repairing itself from basic wear-and-tear.

Carbohydrates:

The American diet is overly focused on quick carbs.  Carbohydrates are necessary for energy, but should be carefully chosen in your daily diet.  Complex whole-grain carbohydrates provide more, longer lasting energy than simple sugar carbohydrates.

Lipids:

While healthy fats are necessary to a healthy diet they need to be monitored. They are necessary for regulating blood pressure and cell repair but are only required in small amounts.  The current American diet is too high in lipids which can lead to cardiovascular disease.

Christensen, A.

Summer Vegetable Tian

I am not a big fan of vegetables so, the fact I love this Summer Vegetable Tian recipe speaks volumes.   Not only is this dish full of different vegetables that nourish your body but is also a cheap meal costing around $8 for the whole casserole.  I originally found this recipe on Pinterest but it originates from www.budgetbytes.com.

Taste: I love the taste of this casserole!  My favorite part is the tomatoes, zucchini, and the garlic. The mixture of all the vegetables makes this meal fresh and delicious!

Ease of Preparation: This recipe is pretty easy to make but it does require a lot of slicing.  Also I did experience some problems trying to get the potatoes to cook all they way through.  You can alter the recipe and slightly boil the potatoes before you cut them or cook the casserole for longer.

Ingredients:

1 yellow zucchini
1 green zucchini
1 roma tomato
1 yellow onion
1 russell potato
3 cloves of garlic
1 bag of shredded mozzarella cheese

Preparation of Recipe:  The hardest part of the meal is chopping up all of the vegetables.  I took around 15 to 20 minutes to slice and chop all the vegetables.  I sliced the tomato, potatoes, yellow and green zucchini first.  Then I chopped up the onion and garlic finely and sautéd them for a few minutes placing the mixture at the bottom of my 11 x 7 baking pan.  The last steps is layering the vegetables, season as desired, top with mozzarella cheese, and popping it in the oven for another 30 minutes!

Specific Nutritional Value: This meal is low in calories and high in nutrients, which makes it a nice light dinner!

Estimate Nutritional Value Per Serving:

Calories 172
Fat (g) 8.5
Saturated (g) 4.9
Cholesterol (mg) 29.5
Sodium (mg) 255.6
Potassium (mg) 262.9
Carbs (g) 12.5
Fiber (g) 3
Protein (g) 12.1
Sugar (g) 4
Vitamin A (%) 17.9
Vitamin C (%) 72
Calcium (%) 23.2
Iron (%) 5.8

Nutrients:

The RDA recommends around 64 g of fat in a 2,000 color diet so a 8.5 g in a dinner dish is perfect! The fattest part of this meal is the mozzarella cheese.  The sodium in this meal is also rather low also.  Warning though, I found that my potatoes need extra salt for taste which increased the sodium for my serving,.  With all the vegetables in this meal is comes to about 13 % of your daily value of sugar which is rather low. This meal is low carb making it great if you've eaten most of your daily carbs.  Also the Vitamin C in this meal makes up almost 3/4 of your daily intake!  Not to mention all the different colors of the vegetables, that give us a rich supply of photochemical.

What Nutrients This Meal Lacks:

Unfortunately, summer vegetable tian lacks in iron.  Thats why its good to pair it with a protein or make it on a day you've already consumed enough iron.  Fiber is lacking from this meal as well.  You might want to consume your fiber with a whole wheat bread or have a fiber rich breakfast that consists of oatmeal. Also vitamin A is lacking from this meal which can be consumed through from carrots, cooked sweet potatoes, dark leafy greens, and tuna fish.

What else to eat: Summer Vegetable Tian is very light with a main focus on vegetables and dairy, so I recommend pairing this meal with a side that is a bit heavier such as an whole grain bread and/or chicken apple sausage.  This way you can reach your daily intake of dairy, vegetables, proteins, and grains.

Enjoy, Julia Dillman

Fish and broccoli

Hey everyone, my name is Jeannie Wilmore.  The recipe I chose to share is very easy to make, doesn't take much time or effort and is delicious.  For those who don't like fish or seafood, this may not be for you.  It literally takes 20 minutes from start to finish.  I bought a pack of Trident Pollock Fish Fillets, you simply take out however many you need and put them in the oven on 400 degrees for 10 minutes on each side.  While these are cooking, put some broccoli in a pan and steam it for 20 minutes.  Top the broccoli off with butter, cheese, and salt.  I usually put Tarter Sauce on the fish to spice it up a little.      It is important to have a well rounded meal, something from each food group because the body does need all the vitamins and minerals.  A few additions a person could make to this meal, to include more food groups, could include a bed of rice under the fish, or you could make a fish sandwich.  You can also add a glass of milk to increase the dairy intake.  Milk, complex carbs, fruits and vegetables, and meats are a way to make sure you are eating all the nutrients you need.  My body digests things differently because 3 years ago I had a weight loss surgery.  The surgeon basically cut my small intestine and my stomach in half.  I have lost over 250 pounds, and I feel so much healthier now.  I do have multiple vitamin deficiencies, but I take supplements to try to boost my levels to where they need to be.The specific nutritional value is limited on any meal I consume because I can't eat certain things.  My main goal with each meal is to consume at least 20 grams of protein, and try to eat as much vegetables as I can.  I don't drink anything with my meals, but I will drink water up to 30 minutes before or afterward.  I have learned there are good reasons for every food group, including fats and sugars.  The body needs to be able to access quick energy (fats, sugars, and carbs) as well has draw from its stored energy (proteins). There are also a lot of vitamins, minerals, and phytochemicals the body uses from fruits and vegetables.  Most foods contain too much sodium, which is a major problem when you are looking at cardiovascular disease.  This particular recipe contains 250 mg of sodium, 18 g of protein, Vitamin A & C.  One benefit my dr gave me is I will never again have to worry about high cholesterol or sodium intake because I can't absorb enough of it to make it a problem.  However, one of the drawbacks is the vitamin deficiencies, lack of fiber intake, and low calcium.  I will have to take vitamin supplements for the rest of my life.                                                                                  Wilmore, J

Nutrition Ananysis, Acai Bowl!

I like this recipe because it is so tasty and healthy! It is a great energy booster for the morning time and easy to make while you have a busy schedule. I usually soak the chia seeds first thing in the morning, so it is a quick breakfast to make when the time comes.

*Vegetarian/Vegan

*Gluten Free

*Breakfast

Taste- This is a super tasty breakfast for someone who is on a healthy CLEAN diet. (Obviously we aren’t talking as tasty as Kneaders french toast, but to much of that would kill us.)

Ease of Preparation- SUPER easy. I make this a few times a week!

Nutritional Value-  This recipe is a great source of fruit, protein, and the acai powder will help aid with weight loss, skin health, heart health, is a great energy booster, and so forth. It’s also vegan AND gluten free!

Specific Nutritional Value- **This depends on how you make you bowl, but here is what mine usually will consist of.

Calories 350

Calories from Fat 80

Total Fat 10g

Saturated Fat 2g

Carbohydrates 66g

Dietary Fiber 6g

Sugars 43g

Protein 5g

Why are these nutrients important?

Fruits: Fruits are full of essential fiber and nutrients! Although one negative side of a lot of fruit is that they are slightly high in sugar, when they are consumed in moderation they can provide the body with great minerals and vitamins. When eaten correctly, they can help prevent from certain types of cancer, diabetes, high blood pressure and cholesterol and help speed up your metabolism.

Nuts: (If you use them as a topping for your bowl). They are a great source of protein and good fat. They also provide a good source of fats, protein, and fiber. Also, from what I have found they are great for quick energy!

Protein Powder: A little unusual to use in a normal Acai bowl, but it is a great way if you are an athlete to help with muscle recovery and repair, lean muscle growth and overall health. If you are looking to lose fat… The more muscle you grow, the more fat you burn!

Acai Powder (Berries): There are many benefits of Acai berries (powder). These berries are full of antioxidants and have been used for aiding with healing, immune stimulating, energy, heart health, aids with weight loss and many other benefits. I have also found that this is a great energy booster for the morning! Although a negative side of this berry is that the research is very limited, and claims about these benefits haven’t yet been fully proven.

**You could add some gluten free oats on the side in order to include all essential food groups.

Serves 1 Person

• 1 Cup Frozen Blueberries (I like to switch this out for raspberries sometimes.)
• 1 Frozen Banana (You can also replace this with 1 cup of strawberries)
• 1 Handful of Spinach (I substitute this with Baby Kale)
• 1 Tbsp Acai Powder
• 1 Tbsp Chia Seeds (or Flaxseed)
• About three Tbsp of Vanilla Protein Powder (I like the whey or vegan friendly)
• ½ Cup Unsweetened Almond Milk (I like Unsweetened Vanilla Almond Milk)

Directions: Soak the Chia seeds for about 20 minutes in some of the almond milk. Once done, combine the soaked chia seeds with the blueberries, banana, spinach, acai powder, protein powder and the rest of the almond milk into a blender. Blend the ingredients until smooth and creamy, if you would like, you can add more almond milk to make it a little bit thinner. Spoon into a bowl and add fresh berries, banana, nuts or seeds.

Torres A.