24 oz of Greek Yogurt for 0.63? NO FREAKIN WAY!!!!

I told you guys how much I love Greek yogurt and all the cool uses for it, right? It gets so expensive, $4.20 for a 32oz container at Sam's Club twice a month can add up, so I was very excited to find out that I could make my own and I didn't need a fancy gadgets. And the results were - I could make this no problem. So I bought a gallon of milk this time (you can freeze a little of your yogurt to use as a starter). A gallon of milk from Aldi's is 1.99, there are 16 cups in a gallon (0.125/cup) and I used 5 cups of milk and got 24 oz of yogurt that costed .63! That's not bad - 32oz for $4.20 Vs 24oz for 0.63!!! And, I took one of the ideas from the web site I posted about what to do with the extra whey from making yogurt, using it in place of buttermilk in recipes and I made the most delicious soda bread ever. Sooooo crispy on the outside and moist on the inside. So it's a win-win! I really hope you guys try making your own Greek yogurt, I'm telling once you taste it you will never want store bought again. Enjoy!

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Food and your body

I'm not a nutritionist, just someone who loves food, wants to be healthy.... and I love reading.

I had gained some weight during November and December, who doesn't right? Two weeks ago is when I seriously got back into my regular routine. I was sick a few times with this crazy weather. Those freezing cold mornings didn't help because hiking thru the woods in the ice cold did not seem pleasing to me. Can we just go to the gym? No! because that morning cardio in the woods helps you in so many ways. Hiking thru the woods with no music in your ears, no cell phones, just you and your thoughts and your beautiful surroundings helps clear your head. Plus you also get a full body workout. You can walk or run, you still get the same workout. Your heart rate is still going up. Digging your heels into the ground trying to get up steep hills gets your heart rate up. You feel great at the end, ready to conquer the day with a clear head and positive thoughts. We got our cardio out of the way so we go to the gym at night to do weights. We went last night and worked out on the weights for 20 mins hard, I'm in so much pain right now. This morning I weighed myself and I had lost 8 lbs.and I didn't have to starve myself. Lifting weights builds muscle which burns fat and when you mix that with cardio you are building your body. And, don't forget to feed your muscles. Muscles are built in the kitchen.

Some people think that starving themselves and working out hard is the way to go OR working out hard and eating low fat, fat free, lean cuisines is going to help you get healthy. No. I have tried every diet fad and also exercised hard on stationary machines and ate fat free this or that and the results were slow and the only thing that I gained from it was I stopped smoking cigarettes but that only lasted 2 years. When I totally changed the way I saw food and learned about nutrition and what whole foods do for your body is when I finally saw fast healthy changes in my body and I want to continue on that path. The way I see everything is so different and fresh and this is why I write this blog, to share this with you guys. I ate good food and did not go to bed starving and I lost weight. After a very, very long hike I was so hungry and we made our famous tacos with brown rice and black beans on the side. I ate 3 chicken 3 beef tacos with real cheddar cheese, lettuce, homemade salsa, hot sauce and Greek Yogurt with brown rice and black beans and I lost a pound. Explain that? When you eat real food your body can process it. When you eat garbage your body cannot process it so it sticks on your body. So while you are only concerned with calories and fat, you are not reading what you are ingesting into your body. I have been doing this for a year now and I have never seen my hair and skin so healthy. You guys should give it at least 30 days and see how you feel. Try a small challenge at first: no sugar for a week, no fast food for a week, no fried food for a week. Anything.

Pollo Guisado

This is a meal that I watched my grandfather make a million times when i was a kid. As of far back as I could remember, I was always hanging out in the kitchen watching. I was so young sitting on the kitchen floor as my grandmother made her famous soup. I would watch really hard and wanting to know what she was doing. As i got older I could stand on a step tool and watch closer. She would at times give me the peels from the potatoes and onions and I would pretend to make soup. When I got a little older, I could actually help and I learned a lot. My grandfather was a chef so when I watched him cook it was different. I could only watch no helping but that was fine because it was fun watching him and listening to his work stories and his fancy skills with his knives and all his kitchen stuff, it was different then the things we had at my home, I would think to myself. So anyway, one of the things I loved was his pollo guisado (chicken stew). He would take anything he had in the frig and create this delicious stew. That's another thing I could say about him, he was so good at what he did it, when it seemed like there was nothing to eat he would make a delicious meal that came out of nowhere. As a young kid I thought that was cool and would practice what I saw at home because with grandpa I was only allowed to watch the cooking.

Healthy food and affordable is what this is all about. I know some people have their issues about poultry: store vs farm raised/organic. And that is fine. I enjoy fresh poultry but I am also trying to keep things under a budget. But I do however try to only purchase organic corn and whole wheat products when I can. So I purchased this whole chicken at Sam's Club (2 whole chickens for like $10) and had my husband cut it up for me because I still cannot cut cut a whole chicken in a nice way. It looks like an animal attacked after I'm thru with it. I'm still learning.

  
















I froze the breast for another meal and I will be using the legs and thighs for the stew and the middle part is for making broth. The wings are for a super bowl app I'm gonna show you guys in another posting. I just wanted to show you how one whole chicken can be stretched put into a few meals. Eating healthy on a strict budget is possible, but it takes so work.

I seasoned the chicken legs and thighs with sazon and adobo (recipe here), poured a little apple cider vinegar on them and placed them in the frig.

 




This is how I make my chicken broth. To make: take the chicken parts and put them in a large pot and fill with water. Bring to a boil and let it simmer and reduce a little. When it does, add roughly chopped celery, onion, carrot (you can add any veggie you have in the frig at this point, remember this is to make the stock we will be straining it and tossing it), bay leave, sea salt and pepper. Let this simmer and reduce more, about 40 mins. We want a nice tasty broth here.

 

Pull out the chicken parts and set aside to cool. Then strain the rest and toss in the trash. When the chicken is cool enough to touch, pull the meat off and place in a container and put in the frig form a later meal. You can use this for soup if you making it or chicken salad which is what I'm gonna make with it.

That is the chicken broth that I will be using for this stew. So I set this aside. Usually I would have some broth in my freezer but I used the rest of it the other day. The extra the I have I will be putting in containers and freezing for a later time. Let's get started.

Heat up a cast iron pot or pot of your choice, add some oil olive (I have been using coconut oil). Brown the chicken and then take it out and set it aside. Pour extra oil out. Time to make sofrito.

To make sofrito you need:

one medium onion, chopped
one medium green pepper, chopped
lots of garlic, chopped
handful of cilantro, chopped
a few sprigs of recao leaves, chopped

Put all this in the pot and cook until veggies are translucent. Add the tomato sauce and stir it around. If you need fill the can up with water and pour this over the veggies if it looks like it is getting dry. Let this cook a little then add the adobo and sazon and stir. Add broth, beer, carrots and potatoes. Bring to boil. Add the chicken, olives and bay leaf. Bring to boil and let this simmer until it cooks down. Serve over brown rice or yellow rice and bean. Enjoy!

My Pollo Guisado Recipe

6 chicken legs and things, skinned and most of the fat trimmed
1 C chicken broth, homemade or canned low sodium
2 medium carrots, sliced
2 medium red potatoes, diced
1 medium onion, chopped
1 medium pepper
half a garlic bulb, minced
handful of cilantro, chopped
1 T adobo
1 T sazon
8 oz can of tomato sauce, no sugar no salt
12 oz bottle of light beer, Corona or Bud but here I used 2 shots of whisky and some water
capers or Spanish olives
bay leaf
salt the pepper to taste

Would you like some industrial chemicals with your rice and beans tonight?

You guys should always read the ingredients of products and stop paying attention to the front of the package. Don't be fooled by the nutrition facts. Be aware of what you are consuming. I have been making my own spice mixes, dressing, sauces for a little while now because it is so scary what things you can find lurking in your fav store bought seasonings. For example, here is the ingredient label for Goya Adobo.




















So I see all recognizable ingredients except for TRICALCIUM PHOSPHATE. What is that? Well, here is says, "prevents caking". Ok, sounds harmless. WRONG. I Googled it and this is what I found out: "a substance found in some cosmetics, industrial chemicals, and cements" and "elevated concentrations a correlation with heart disease and chronic renal failure." That's disgusting and I am sooooo glad I stopped putting garbage into my body. Goya's Sazon is even worse:

monosodium glutamate, salt, dehydrated garlic, cumin, yellow 5, tricalium phosphate, coriander, annatto, red 40

WOW sounds delicious. I'll let you guys Google each nasty chemical addictive. This is why people are always feeling ill. If you exclude the crap there's your recipe for Adodo and Sazon. Here are the measurements. This one is a mix that I like, you guys can adjust it to your liking. I used less salt and pepper because I like the flavor of the other spices and when I sprinkle more on my food it tends to make it more salty and peppery you can use 1 Tbsp of each if you like. You can use less or more of any of these spices and make the mix your own.

Sazon

1 tsp salt
1 tsp black pepper
1 Tbsp granulated garlic
1 Tbsp oregano
1 Tbsp coriander
1 Tbsp cumin
1 Tbsp ground annato (optional, it's for color)

Mix these up and place in a glass spice jar, 1/2 Tbsp of this mix equals one Sazon packet.

Adobo

1 tsp salt
1 tsp black pepper
1 Tbsp granulated garlic
1 Tbsp turmeric
1 Tbsp oregano

Mix these up and place in a glass spice jar or whatever you have.

Sam's club has great deals on spices. Coriander and turmeric I found at the health food store (Nature's Pantry) in the buy in bulk section.