Amazing Chicken and Brown Rice

By:  Michelle Williford

I threw together an amazing meal tonight on the fly.  Lucky for me I can raid the garden to get my veggies… and raid it I did!

I made enough to feed four or in our case two for dinner tonight and two for lunch tomorrow.  Hello brown bag!

Ingredients:

Brown rice (2 cups cooked)  I cooked mine with rosemary because I can’t cook anything without a little something.

3 Chicken breasts (chopped into bite size pieces)

3 cups chopped cabbage ( I used what I had left over from making cabbage rolls the other day)

Jalapeno peppers (I used 3 because the ones I got aren’t that spicy)

2 cups chopped mushrooms

2 cloves garlic (chopped)

A handful of Cilantro (that is a unit of measurement in my kitchen)

Greens of choice ( I used collard greens, spinach, kale, and swiss chard)

A few radishes and their leaves

A sprig of fresh thyme

A couple sage leaves

A couple Thai basil leaves

About a tablespoon of fresh oregano

1 tbsp arrowroot

1 tbsp ground ginger root (man how I wish I had some fresh on hand)

A splash of lemon juice

1 tbsp coconut oil

Directions:

Please start your brown rice first as it will take approximately 45 minutes to cook.

Chicken breast

Saute chicken in coconut oil

Put coconut oil in pan on med-high.  Once oil has melted, add chicken and let cook for a couple of minutes.

Add cabbage, stir and let cook for a couple minutes

Cabbage

Add jalapenos, stir and let cook for a couple minutes

Add Jalapenos

Add mushrooms,stir and let cook for 1 minute

Add mushrooms

Add radishes, stir

Add cilantro, sage, thyme and greens and stir. (I ran a knife through mine so they would be bite size)

A handful of cilantro and some oregano

Greens & Herbs

Your pan will seem overly full, don’t worry, it will cook down shortly.

Add greens

Add a splash of lemon and stir to spread.

Add ground ginger and stir.

Take notice of all the juicy goodness in the bottom of the pan… it is the base for your sauce.

Dissolve the arrowroot in a little water and pour into pan.  It will thicken quickly, so stir until it does. Once thickened, remove from heat.  Your sauce should have completely coated your dish.  Your meal is ready to serve!

Stir in arrowroot until thickens

Serve warm with brown rice and enjoy!

Serve with brown rice

Cabbage Rolls Michelle’s Way

I was craving cabbage rolls tonight – THANKS MISTY (we talked about it and I had to have it)!  Luckily they are easy to make!

Ingredients:

1/2 cup cooked quinoa

1 head cabbage

1 lb ground turkey

2 green onions

2 cloves garlic

1 jalapeno pepper

2 tsp fresh rosemary

2 tsp fresh sage

2 tsp fresh oregano

1 tsp fresh thyme

2 tsp ground ginger (I didn’t have any fresh on hand)

Directions:

First I toasted then cooked the quinoa.

Then I carefully peeled the  cabbage leaves (don’t beat yourself up when you tear almost each one unexpectedly)

I popped the leaves in the microwave for 2 minutes to make them more pliable While they were cooling…

Cabbage leaves

I chopped my onion, garlic, jalapeno and herbs

Chop ingredients

I mixed them with the ground turkey.

Mix together

Then mix in the cooked quinoa.

I cut each cabbage leaf in half (lengthwise) and I removed the thick stem part.

Put about a tbsp of turkey mixture in a cabbage leaf and rolled.

Roll cabbage

Don’t worry too much about them all not rolling up all pretty.

They will still taste good and that’s what is most important!

Steam them for about 10 minutes each (or until turkey is cooked through).

Serve warm and enjoy!  I like to eat mine with some soy sauce sometimes.

Cabbage rolls ready to eat