Celebrating Celery! Cashews and Chicken with Celery!

I used to have a favorite Chinese restaurant that served a dish called Cashew Chicken Ding. I've never been able to find the exact recipe and only remember that it was HEAVY with celery. So, I thought I'd give it a go my way. Celery, the main ingredient,  is a crisp, crunchy, low calorie, high in vitamin k and potassium veggie that's a great green nutritional high fiber filler that will help you lose weight painlessly while you don't even realize it  But, going organic with celery is essential. It's one of the dirty dozen and non-organic celery is sprayed heavily with pesticides. And none of us wants to willingly eat pesticides, so DO go organic on this one. The crunchy green stuff, along with protein from chicken and cashews and a few peas makes this a delicious dish that is a really good alternative for lunch or supper. You can serve it over a bed of organic rice if you choose. Today I chose not to and just had it minus the bed.

CASHEW CELERY AND CHICKEN

Makes one serving

4 ounces pasture raised chicken breast - cooked

2 cups diced organic celery

1/2 cup chopped onion

1/4 cup frozen peas

1/4 cup raw cashews

1 T olive oil

2/3 cup chicken stock

2 tsp arrowroot

1 tsp liquid aminos (non soy alternative that tastes like soy sauce with a far lower salt content)

1/8 tsp powdered ginger

black pepper

Saute the celery and onion until tender crisp. Add the chicken and the peas. Combine the chicken stock, arrowroot, liquid aminos and ginger and stir until the arrowroot is dissolved. Pour it over the chicken and celery mixture. Toast the cashews until crunchy and toss them with the rest of the dish just before serving. Add black pepper to taste. It's from the earth and delicious!!

Soup is So Simple! Organic Chicken and Portobello with Rice Soup

For whatever reason I find chicken soup to be a serous comfort food. I think because one of my grandmothers always gave it to me when I was sick, so I associate that with a loving and caring grandmother. But she did give me canned soup. Maybe canned soup back then wasn't so bad, maybe it wasn't so good. I just don't know. But one thing for sure, I wouldn't touch that stuff while wearing a hazmat suit now. And, whether or not this can be associated with processed food that my grandmother ate, she did die of Alzheimer disease. Maybe an association, maybe not, but I make my chicken soup from scratch while still retaining the fond memories of time I spent with her, whether she gave me canned soup, or not. Plus, there's not a doubt in my mind if she had thought there was anything wrong with it, she certainly would have never given it to me. But, I'm not getting to the point. Here is the soup I made. It's organic, healthy, very simple and it's good!!

Organic Chicken and Portobello with Rice Soup

1 cup pasture raised cooked chicken breast cubed

1 cup organic Portobello mushrooms chopped
1 organic carrot chopped
1/2 cup organic uncooked rice (I used basmati  rice for this particular soup)
1 tsp organic onion powder
1 tsp organic minced garlic

2 cups organic chicken broth
4 cups organic mushroom broth

1/2 cup white cooking wine

Put it all in a pot except the wine. Bring to a boil and lower to a simmer and cook until the rice is tender and the carrots are done. Add the wine at the end. Season with pepper and salt (if you used low sodium broth) and enjoy! I bring it to work for lunch and it makes the day (especially a Monday) much nicer!

Slow Cooked Roast Chicken with Leeks and Rosemary

My grandparents raised chickens and once in a while on Sunday we would have fried chicken made from one of those chickens. It was delicious! They were raised as free range chicken, never given antibiotics on a routine basis the way chickens from factory farms are and actually got to live their lives outside eating bugs and whatever else chickens eat. We'd gather eggs from the yard and play with baby chicks in the spring. I realize it's not easy to find an organically raised chicken and they're expensive (or at least they are in my area) but give it a try. For this recipe, it's worth it!

SLOW COOKED ROAST CHICKEN

WITH LEEKS AND ROSEMARY

1 frying chicken

6 small  to medium leeks (you'll need about 2 cups chopped)

1 sprig of fresh rosemary

2 teaspoons of minced garlic

salt and pepper

Gravy recipe is below (optional but it's REALLY good)

Roughly chop the leek tops and the whites(I did the leeks the night before because I'm always in a hurry in the morning). Reserve about 1/4 cups of the whites and finely chop those for the gravy. Wash and dry the chicken and salt and pepper the cavity. Stuff the cavity with the chopped leeks, the rosemary sprig and 1 teaspoon of the garlic. Place the chicken on a rack in the slow cooker (you can also wad up pieces of aluminum foil and place the chicken on top of that instead of using a rack). Tie the chicken legs together with cooking twine, place in the slow cooker and spread the remaining minced garlic over the top of the chicken and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Cook on low for about 8 hours.

Gravy

After cooking and removing the chicken to a platter (it should be falling apart tender at this point) take a ladle of the broth from the cooker and put it in a small pan. Add the finely chopped leeks and 1/2 teaspoon of minced garlic and cook until the broth is reduced by half and the leeks are tender. Add 1/4 cup of organic flour to 1 1/2 cups of organic chicken broth. And that and 1/2 teaspoon of poultry seasoning to the leeks and cook until thickened. Just before serving add 1/4 to 1/2 cup of white wine and salt and pepper to taste. Pour the gravy over the chicken or smashed garlic potatoes. Add a side of a green veggie and you have a delicious dinner made by the earth (and you)!