Saturday, June 14, 2014

Changing the Game: Food Textures

Hey folks! As you know, I'm in off season diet mode since there are NO competitions coming up. Even in an off season phase, it's important to be consistent with clean eating.

A BIG part of my diet is chicken. Well, specifically, chicken breasts. Yes, the dry wonder... Now, don't get me wrong, I love a good piece of grilled or baked chicken but it can get monotonous. So what's a girl to do?

*insert shoulder shrug*

So I said to myself.. hmmm maybe ground turkey! Fast forward to the supermarket meat aisle... ground turkey was $3-4 per pound! Yikes and gadzooks, I'm not willing to pay THAT much on a regular basis for it. The ground chicken was the same price... then I had a light bulb moment.... why not ground up the chicken I already have?? Ha!!!

*insert evil laugh here*

First we start with some chicken breasts:


Then, cut the breasts in to smaller, "bite size" pieces.. ( please don't bite these... ) Arrange them in the food processor (see below). I do them in small batches so I can make sure they all get "processed". 






Pulse that sucker until all your chicken pieces are ground up nicely. This is the end result....



Tada! We have ground chicken! *and the crowd goes wild* Okay, now that we have our chicken, I added about 1 egg white to help it stay together to form the patties below. Mine are seasoned with sage, italian seasoning, salt, pepper, and any other random stuff I found lying around.  Honestly, I just pick up stuff and shake it on. Don't judge me. BUT I will say this.. Sage is a constant, because it gives the meat a "sausage like" taste. I made some today, and added blended onion and garlic (cut onion and garlic and process until it's pureed, then added to chicken).



The cooked result...


Yay!

Note: Now, since this IS ground chicken breast, it can be kind of dry. I used a combination of  chicken thighs (skinless) and breasts, and the added fat from the dark meat of the thighs made the result a bit more moist and flavorful. 

Enjoy! 




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