These Organic Chicken Salad Wraps were so so good!
This is one of my fast and easy meals to put together because I always have plenty of quart size ziplock bags filled with organic shredded dark chicken meat ready to use. I regularly buy two whole organic chickens that I cook, separate the white and dark meat, and then use the bones to make broth. It's much less expensive buying organic whole chickens and using EVERYTHING, than it is to buy organic meat and broth separately. It can be a bit of a process, but it's easy and so worth it!
Ingredients:
Organic Sir Kensington's Mayonnaise
Organic Dark Chicken Meat
Organic Green Grapes
Organic Celery
Lemon
S&P
So after adding everything in a big bowl you know what to do...
Mix it all together.
Add extra sea salt, pepper, or lemon to taste.
Top it onto your favorite lettuce.
I love butter lettuce for its softness or iceberg for its crispness.
Add some veggie sides...
And enjoy!
Just one word on the Sir Kensington's Mayonnaise...
DELICIOUS
Good ingredients and so tasty.....
My hubby loves this Siracha Mayonnaise.
There are plenty of great ones right HERE that include Avocado Oil Mayo, Organic Mayo, their Classic Mayo, Chipotle Mayo, their Special Sauce, Dijonnaise, they also have "Fabanaise"a vegan mayor and from what I hear awesome ketchups and mustards. I bought this Siracha Mayo at my local Albertson's that costed $8. Yeah, expensive. However, thankfully I found it at my favorite online food/supplement company Vitacost. Yes!!! Check out their super good prices HERE!
These meatballs are Paleo and have no dairy (cheese) or grains (breadcrumbs) for fillers.
I know I know to not use the different variety of cheeses that can be put into meatballs is almost unthinkable, but I can't have dairy or breadcrumbs that have wheat in them, so non-traditional meatballs it is. *The meatballs are Paleo, but definitely not the mac&cheese and rice!
Luckily, Against All Grain always saves me and provides good recipes that I can mostly eat.
We made the sauce, but The Fish Fam didn't like it because it was too tangy and tart. I think if you used the tomato puree she suggests it might taste better. But, after having leftovers and still having lots of sauce and meatballs left we dumped the sauce and washed off the meatballs. And throughly enjoy the meatballs by themselves, great flavor.
The meatballs remind me of the flavorful meats in different dishes we had in Asia.
Here is Danielle's recipe for her Game-Day Sweet and Sour Meatballs...
AUTHOR: Danielle Walker - AgainstAllGrain.com
SERVES: 3 dozen
PREP TIME: 20 mins
COOK TIME: 45 mins TOTAL TIME: 65 mins
Ingredients:
2 pounds ground beef, chicken, or pork
2 large eggs
2 small vidalia sweet onions, about 1 cup minced
¼ cup almond meal (with the skins) or 2 tablespoons coconut flour
Make the sauce first by combining all of the ingredients in a wide pot. Bring to a low boil then reduce the heat to medium-low and let it simmer uncovered for 45 minutes, until thickened.
Meanwhile, make the meatballs.
Place the onion in a food processor and pulse until finely minced.
Add the egg, almond meal, beef, oil, ginger, and sea salt. Pulse until fully combined.
Roll the mixture into small bite-sized meatballs.
Space them evenly on two rimmed baking sheets and bake for 12 minutes, turning once.
Once the sauce has thickened, transfer it and the meatballs to a slow cooker set to low. Cover until ready to enjoy.
*We used organic beef and turkey meat. I wouldn't suggest the turkey meat with beef, but it's all we had in the freezer to make the 2lbs. Also, I made more meatballs, without the sauce and added some tamari sauce (gluten free soy sauce) in the mix.
**To make it Fodmap free for me I had to take out the onions in the meatballs. In the sauce I also had to void the honey and used maple syrup instead. Also, had to void the onion powder. I used white wine vinegar instead of apple cider vinegar. I also only had organic canned tomato sauce in my pantry and not tomato puree.
The Fish Fam topped the meatballs over rice with organic mac&cheese and broccoli for sides.
*I had a bowl of rice with three meatballs and some steamed yellow squash and bok choy.
Place all of the syrup ingredients in a saucepan and simmer over medium heat while you prepare the waffles, or about 15 minutes. Keep it at a low but constant boil to bring out the juices from the fruit and reduce the syrup.
Preheat a waffle iron to the lowest setting.
Add all of the ingredients to a blender, making sure to put the liquids at the bottom for easier blending.
Blend on low for 30 seconds, then increase the strength to high and continue blending until completely smooth, about another 30 seconds. If you do not have a high-speed blender, it may take a bit longer and a couple of times of pushing the batter down the side of the jar with a spatula.
Spoon the batter into the waffle iron, filling half way full and spreading evenly over the mold.
Cook on the low setting for 45 seconds to a minute, until the steam stops rising from the machine and the waffles easily release with a fork. Keep the waffles in a warm oven while you finish the batter.
Allow the syrup to cool and thicken for 15 minutes before serving.
I change up this recipe a little bit by adding ghee instead of coconut oil and I don't melt it. And I can't do honey, so I add 1 1/2 tablespoon of organic maple syrup. And I don't add the vanilla extract, just to take out unneeded things for myself. I also don't do the fruit syrup. I just "butter" it with some ghee, which is clarified butter. Soon, enough I'll try some blueberries.
They are a bit more delicate and fall apart easier than regular glutenous flours for breads.
These are seriously my favorite. Enjoy!
I also highly recommend Danielle Walker's Cookbooks they are excellent...
Family and friends who know of my food struggles/intolerances/sensitivities/decline in health would be jumping for joy for me.
For the last year I have greatly struggled to find foods that my body will tolerate/digest/breakdown/absorb. It's been such a rough year.
However, challenges can bring a monumental amount of strength and growth.
I always say, "You gotta know the bad to know the good."
And good health is SO important! You have probably heard the phrase...
"You are what you eat!"
Which is sort of true. The more correct phrase would be...
"You are what you can digest."
The hardest part for me was that for these last 10yrs. I've learned so much about good overall health, well-being, and diet, yet the harder I tried to eat more healthy the sicker I got. Weird I know. My body was having such a hard time digesting food and left me with little to no energy, constantly fatigued, which with both of these I related to having kids and being non-stop pregnant and/or nursing for six years = little sleep and rest, and losing a great amount of weight, eventually a dangerously amount because my food sensitivities became so great, I was left with almost nothing to eat. My diet has been so healthy and clean it's crazy....very minimal to no processed foods, no refined grains, sugar, foods, no dairy, no unhealthy oils, no this and no that! You'd think I'd be on top of the world eating organic, raw/cooked veggies, pastured meats, plant based, vegan, paleo, and all this healthy diet and that healthy diet. But, nope I've had such huge and extreme abdominal discomforts of bloating, gas, burning, diarrhea, constipation, cramps, pain, pain, pain. I've seen so many doctors and specialist both conventional and functional (naturalpathic). That eventually they say, "I don't know what to do with you." Great. It has been discouraging. It's hasn't been until I've been in my own way my own doctor that I've been able to put the pieces together and figure this out. Ultimately, it has been through much prayer that I have been able to get through this. There is only one heavenly being that knows what is going on with me and know how to help me. And how THANKFUL I am for a wonderful and loving Heavenly Father who hears our cries, listens to our prayers, knows how to help, and guides us in every way possible. Even if that means learning the hard way by taking lots of dead ends. I know that I've needed to travel these rough roads to have the knowledge of what wouldn't help and what would. It's been a slow road, but things are coming into perspective and I'm able to make much better choices about the way I go about this. I have read so many articles, websites, blogs, books, etc. about health and our well-being. In conclusion...OUR BODIES ARE INCREDIBLE AND SUCH A WONDERFUL GIFT. We think we may know so much about these magnificent bodies, but really we know so little. It is only our great creator that truly knows how to help and heal our spirits, mind, and body. But, we have to be in tune with our bodies and seek for that inspiration to know how to retain good optimal wonderful spiritual, mental, physical health. Which leads me to this video clip from Elder Nelson, a LDS Apostle, "God's Greatest Creation" I love it....
So, finally for me on this health journey I finally discovered what the major problem has been. And is called FODMAP's. Yeah, FOD-what? you might be saying. It's a crazy acronym for a crazy complicated name that stands for...Fermentable Oligosaccharides, Disaccharides, Monosaccharides, And Polyols. These are quote, "All types of carbohydrates found in many different types of fruits, vegetables and grains." And, AND..."The most common Paleo foods high in FODMAPs are:
Fruits: apples, avocados, cherries, mangoes, peaches, pears, watermelons, fruit juices and dried fruit.
Other: sugar alcohols (any sweetener that ends in -ol), honey, agave.
This isn't a complete list, but it gives a small idea of problematic foods. It's no wonder I was in so much pain trying to eat fruits, veggies, plant based foods, etc. All this research about FODMAPs is quite new too, within the last decade. It has greatly helped solved much of the IBS community sufferers digestive problems. I also have a fructose malabsorption again fructose is found in SO MANY AMAZING WONDERFUL fruits, veggies, plant based foods. Sigh.
Read this article that explains the FODMAP problems, diet, and explanation very well...
It's no wonder, it was my latest attempt at following a strict Paleo diet with supplements that threw me overboard that greatly exasperated my symptoms and problems. Inside I blew up with pain, inflammation, and lots of suffering. This last year has been quite terrible, but it very good to know why. WHY WHY WHY has been a huge question. But, the better question to ask is HOW HOW HOW, how do I fix this??? Slowly, but surely I am learning how to help my body heal and why it has had such difficulty. It's still hard to think about sometimes and I get so frustrated and miss my days as a child, adolecsent, and young adulthood days of a properly functioning and working body.
One day I will be better and stronger than I ever have been. That's a promised blessing and I will not give up and I will fight and I will win. It's taken a year for me to get a hold of this and things are finally calming down in my body to where just recently I can eat something like this among a few other things. WHAT A BLESSING. Seriously. "Count Your Many Blessings..."
When upon life’s billows you are tempest tossed,
When you are discouraged, thinking all is lost,
Count your many blessings name them one by one,
And it will surprise you what the Lord hath done.
Count your blessings, name them one by one;
Count your blessings, see what God hath done;
Count your blessings, name them one by one,
And it will surprise you what the Lord hath done.
Are you ever burdened with a load of care?
Does the cross seem heavy you are called to bear?
Count your many blessings, every doubt will fly,
And you will be singing as the days go by.
When you look at others with their lands and gold,
Think that Christ has promised you His wealth untold.
Count your many blessings, money cannot buy
Your reward in heaven, nor your Lord on high.
So amid the conflict, whether great or small,
Do not be discouraged, God is over all;
Count your many blessings, angels will attend,
Help and comfort give you to your journey’s end.
So, all in all, to those wanting to regain your health, slow down, regather your thoughts, meditate, pray, and listen to your spirit, listen to your body.
