So far, so okay...

There haven't been any sweeping changes made in our household yet, but our fast food intake has definitely diminished. I consider that a moral victory. Last week I purchased two "natural" chickens from Wally World. Something Heartland or Harvest or some such thing. County Market also has Just Bare chickens that I purchase occasionally. I also purchased a pound of ground bison. Bison is cool because it's regulated in such a way that they are always grass-fed and not given antibiotics or growth hormones. At least that's what they say. As I age I seem to be gaining a healthy (well, I guess that's debatable) dose of skepticism toward any kind of governmental regulation. But it seems that bison ranchers are somewhat self-governing, so maybe that's better. Or maybe it isn't. But I digress.

So Friday evening I roasted chicken numero uno. Yum. Very simple, I just chopped some carrots, potatoes, and onions (organic because root vegetables absorb a lot of pesticides through the dirt) and spread them on the bottom of my roasting pan. After rinsing the chicken I put some chopped onions and garlic and s&p in the cavity (not organic because I had them and didn't want them to go to waste and we wouldn't be eating this part) and laid miss chickie breast-side-up on the veg. Popped it in the oven at 425 for one and a half hours, and voila! Supper, and a good one at that. Oh yeah, I had drizzled evoo on the veg and s&p'd them. Some were a bit blackened, but it was a yummy, caramelized sort of blackened. I had also steamed some broccoli florets. (Five dollar steamer basket= one of the best purchases ever.) So yeah. I wish we always ate that well.

After dinner I popped the carcass into the crockpot to make some broth. Normally I would let it go for 24 hours, but we were at Joel's parents' Saturday, and I didn't get back to the broth 'til Sunday morning. That night I made some yummy chicken and rice soup, which lasted a couple days (I don't mind leftovers when they're good), and then Tuesday I cut out all the breast meat from chickie numero dos and put it in the crock pot for white chicken chili:

White Chili

3 15.5 oz cans of white beans, drained some (ex. Great Northern beans, Navy beans, etc)
1 lb chicken breast, cubed (do not cook first)
16 oz salsa (medium is good)
1 tsp. cumin
8 oz shredded Monterey Jack cheese
1/4 cup diced green chilis (4 oz can)

Mix all ingredients in a crock pot on low for 8 hours or high for 6 hours.

Easiest recipe ever. I'm trying to get away from using too many canned goods (bpa in the linings. Arrgh.), but Eden Organics does have bpa-free canned beans. Really expensive bpa-free canned beans. My eventual goal is using dried beans all the time, but I'm not there yet. Baby steps.

So the rest of chickie numero dos is now in the freezer waiting for his chance to become stock.

Now there is a thawed pound of bison in the fridge waiting for tonight. But I'm not sure what to do with it yet. I'm a work in progress.

ETA: Well, that was a major fail. A pizza's on its way.