Lunch needs to be quick and easy most of the time. Those two things normally mean pushing the nutrition virgin into the volcano. Do you really have to sacrifice health for time? No, you don’t.
With a bit of planning and anticipation, you can keep some basic healthy ingredients on hand that will allow you to whip up a tasty lunch. And faster than you can drive to town and pick something up from a teenager in a paper hat and questionable hand washing technique.
If you keep some frozen cauliflower rice and a box of minimal ingredient chicken strips on hand, you are halfway to a delicious chicken bowl without even having to put on pants, if you have decent curtains. It will taste great, will make enough to eat for several days, and not have a calorie count that will destroy the rest of your meals for the day.
There’s a certain fast food place that offers chicken bowls, let’s just say it starts with K and ends with FC. The average bowl has 729 calories, 79 grams of simple carbs, 34 grams of fat, and – hold onto your hats and your blood pressure cuffs, folks – 2450 mg of sodium. If there’s any reason to stop eating fast food, the sodium count should be it.
Two things. The only reason any meal would have that much sodium is to hide how low quality the ingredients are in the first place, and if you ever wean yourself off of high sodium foods, you will realize just how bad they actually taste.
I’ve tasted a grilled chicken salad from one of these places, and I would have sworn it was pulled up from the bottom of the Dead Sea. Nothing good can come of consistently eating a diet so extraordinarily high in sodium.
If you are auditioning for the role of “bloated corpse found in the Hudson River” on one of those CSI shows,then knock yourself out. Otherwise, steer clear if you don’t like the idea of your eyeballs shooting out of your head from the pressure.
When I eat any meal, I prioritize protein, complex carbs, vitamins, and healthy fats. This one covers it all, and does not require melting a salt lick block into it from your local agri feed store. It cooks up quick and easy, tastes great, and will leave you ready to face the day. Your tiny, delicate little blood vessels will thank you.
Quick and easy chicken bowl:
Ingredients:
One package chicken strips (read the ingredients and make sure it’s not full of flavorings or sodium additives)
One 16 oz package frozen cauliflower rice
1 can rotel, drained
1 1/2 cups plain greek yogurt
1/4 cup grass fed cheddar, shredded
White bean chips, avocado, and cilantro
Juice of 1/2 lime
2 tbsp avocado oil
1/2 tsp sea salt, pepper, onion and garlic powder
1 tbsp cumin
Instructions:
Heat the avocado oil in a large skillet. Add the cauliflower rice lime juice. Cook until lightly browned and the moisture has evaporated.
Slice the package of chicken strips into thin bite sized pieces. Brown in a cast iron skillet and coat with the spices:
Add the rotel to the cauliflower rice and heat through, and melt the shredded cheese, stirring to combine. Remove from heat and then add the greek yogurt to the rice:
Add the chicken to the rice:
Garish with white bean chips, sliced avocado, and cilantro if desired:
See the list of all Jason Murphy’s recipes at www.mysaline.com/jason-murphy.