Revisiting a Cookout Favorite: Ground your chickens and cook your bacon!

Local fitness enthusiast Jason Murphy remakes favorite meals of his youth into healthy dishes. See the full list of his recipes at www.mysaline.com/shirtless.

Ground your chickens and cook your bacon

I’m sure you’ve noticed that everything is more expensive these days. Chicken breasts are no exception. The last time I bought local, pasture raised chicken breasts, I thought I was going to have to finance it for a couple of years.

Lately I’ve decided to go a cheaper route and buy ground chicken instead, which usually isn’t on the radar for most folks.It works great for meatballs and patties, and plays well with many different flavor options. Plus, if you have an electric griddle, you can cook them up fast and save heating up your oven and your house during these near 100 degree days.

Ground chicken can be sticky stuff, so use some disposable gloves with a little no-stick so you don’t end up with meat club-hand. For patties, 4 ounce is a good weight, or .6 ounce for meatballs. This is a much lighter choice than traditional ground beef for the summer months as well, a 4 ounce patty is only about 120 calories and 2 grams of fat, with 25 grams of protein.

I like to pair the patties or meatballs with roasted veggies and sun-dried tomatoes, then throw them all into a bowl with some diced avocado and maybe one slice of crumbled bacon. It’s delicious stuff, and a bowl full of lean protein, complex carbs, vitamins, and healthy fats. For any of you still stuck in the 80’s with a bottle of Bac-O-Bits in the fridge, I’m begging you to chunk that horror show of chemicals and just cook a slice of real bacon. Just look at the ingredients:

Defatted Soy Flour, Partially Hydrogenated Soybean Oil, Water, Salt, Sugar, Artificial and Natural Flavor, Red 40 and Other Color Added, Soy Sauce (Water, Wheat, Soybeans, Salt), Hydrolyzed Vegetable Protein (Corn, Soy, Wheat). Refrigerate after opening for added freshness and convenience.

That is scary stuff. Why does it need to be refrigerated? I’m betting a nuclear bomb wouldn’t alter the DNA structure of that unholy concoction. I don’t even need to bother looking at the nutrition label. It should just say “Bad” for every category. I remember as a kid just eating a handful of them at a time. I can still feel the greasiness and taste the weird not-quite-bacon aftertaste it left. It’s like eating the congealed oil spill residue that hit a Denny’s restaurant before coming to a stop.

Give ground chicken a shot at this recipe or even just replacing ground beef in your own regular recipes. You will be pleasantly surprised at how well it works and tastes for a fraction of the fat and calories.

Ground Chicken patties with roasted veggies:

Ingredients:

2 lb ground chicken

1/2 tsp sea salt

1/2 tsp fresh ground black pepper

1/2 tsp dried oregano, parsley, basil, chives, onion and garlic powder

1 package Brussell Sprouts

1 red onion sliced thin

1 package mushroom sliced thick

3/4 cup grass fed heavy cream

4 ounce grass fed cheddar cheese

3 slices cooked bacon

2 tbsp almond flour

1 tbsp avocado oil

1 jar sun dried tomatoes drained

Instructions:

Mix the spices and ground chicken, then weigh out 4 ounces and form into patties. Cover and keep in the fridge until ready to cook:

Pour the avocado oil in a 12 inch cast iron skillet and place in the oven.. Preheat to 400 degrees. Trim and cut the brussel sprouts into 4ths, then toss with a pinch of salt and pepper in a bowl with the red onion and mushrooms:

When the oven hits 400 degrees, carefully take the hot skillet out and toss in the veggies with a quick stir:

Bake for 17 minutes, then remove and add the heavy cream with a pinch of the shredded cheddar cheese. Stir to combine. Then top with the rest of the cheddar and then top with the almond flour. Bake for another 12 minutes, then remove and top with the crumbled bacon. Let rest for at least 5 minutes: