Saturday, November 14, 2009

Chicken & Chips

With a protein shake in my belly, I took Melbourne by storm and shopped until I almost literally dropped. The goal was to find summer clothes for work, but everything I like tends to be on the tailored-therefore-warm side. Nonetheless, I did find a couple of sheer, breezy tops that will work for school, as well as a couple of very exciting purchases - a high-waisted work skirt (I could never wear high waists before since my muffin-top was too prominent, but now it tucks away seamlessly!) and my first ever Little Black Dress - satin, slim-fitting, short, and skimpy! The beau approves! Now I just need a cocktail event to wear it to...

After such a big day, I skipped the bother of cooking and picked up a roast chook, and served it with a brand new treat - kale chips!


Kale chips have done the rounds of the low-carb & paleo communities a few times, but I never jumped on board because a) I didn't have access to kale, and b) they sounded totally foul. Well, a) kale showed up in this week's veggie box, and b) I was totally wrong!

I was reminded of the recipe via Simply Sugar & Gluten Free, and followed their basic recipe. Here's exactly what I did, in case your oven is more like mine and less like Amy's -

Recipe - Kale Chips

Ingredients:

Kale
Olive oil
Salt

Method:

Heat oven to 180° Celsius. Line a tray with foil.

Wash and dry kale in a salad spinner, then tear into chip-sized pieces. Place in a bowl, and drizzle with olive oil. Toss to coat.

Place kale on the tray in a single layer.

Bake for 10 minutes, watching for browning. If chips shatter slightly when firmly prodded, they're ready. Leave them in for 5 minute increments if they're still floppy.

Sprinkle with salt, and serve hot or cold. You could let them rest on some paper towel if they're too oily for your preference. Yum!!


I love how the sunlight has filtered through the fragile, transparent chips to leave green shadows...

Finally, I've been hearing a lot of doom and gloom about genetically modified/engineered soy and other products making their way into the global market, with the first (we assume) GM soy being used in Aussie products recently/soon. When I bring this up with people, sometimes I receive blank stares, or questions wondering why it matters. Yipe. So when I found this Civil Eats article today, neatly dealing with the whats and whys of GM food, I thought I should share it here in case you haven't found a reliable resource of your own. This is also one to pass on to friends who consume mindlessly.

Enjoy your safe, healthy & tasty food choices!

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

hello, i have a question about the amount of chicken you eat for lunch. How many ounces of chicken you have in a meal? Because today my lunch was just barbequed chicken, and i had about 14 to 15 ounces of cooked chicken. I weigh the meat i eat, and i think that i eat like around 13 to 16 ounces of chicken a day for lunch.

Before, when i used to eat green vegetables i used to eat 9 ounces of chicken along with some vegetables. But lately i have been eating chicken alone for lunch without any carbohydrates. So i had to increase the amount of chicken i eat.

Oh, another thing i wanted to comment is that Whey Protein Powder has some carbs. The Body Fortress Whey Protein Powder i use has about 5 grams of carbs per scoop, that's why i quit eating vegetables so i could stay around 10 to 20 grams a day from whey protein i use.

Oh by the way that chicken looked pretty good ;-)

.

Jezwyn said...

I eat until I'm sated - last night and this morning I ate 7oz (200g) of meat, including skin. I've eaten more before, but 150g-200g meat tends to be enough for me these days. Even without veggies. The fattier cuts tend to be more satisfying, too.

Your whey protein is way too high in carbs. My Whey Factors protein is only 2g carb per scoop, and my Professional Whey powder has just 1g, even after adding ground vanilla. Egg protein has zero carbs, so that's even better if you're trying to minimise insulin production. Even with three shakes a day, some with cacao powder, I never go over 10g carbs from the shakes. Today's the last day of shakes though, so hopefully I'll have some zero carb days coming up soon.

Anonymous said...

Hello, how are you? i made a mistake. My whey protein powder, has 2 grams of carbohydrates per scoop not 5 grams like i thought. Anyways i think that the reason of why i have to eat so much chicken is the weight-training and the walking and cardio. I do 1 hour of weight training, 4 days a week and 1 hour of walking, 5 days a week, maybe all that exercise is what increases hunger and that's why i need 12 to 15 ounces of chicken or meat for lunch every day.

I think i will try to buy some protein with zero carbohydrates.

Take care.

.

Anonymous said...

Oh, i forgot to tell u that u are right, any amount of carbohydrates can increase insulin production when u are on a zero or low-carb diet. because the other day i drank some cough syrup of the cold, and i forgot that cough medicines are full of fructose and sugars, and the next day i woke up real bloated and puffy hahaha

Anyways, take care

,

Scott Grice said...

Hi, I stumbled across your blog today, I myself have been phasing paleo in for two weeks now. I was curious, since you are are a year in, how is your weight loss and how much "exercise" are you doing? Great blog, I've been reading it all day.

Jezwyn said...

Hi RSG,

Since January 1st, 2009, I have lost 14kg, with my original goal being 15kg. I have now adjusted that goal to 20kg, although 1kg of fat now is a more noticeable loss than before, so I may be over-estimating how much I have left to lose! My judgement is now based on whether or not I have a muffin-top poking out over my belt, or whether I'd be ok wearing short shorts in public :)

So, at 5'9", 76.5kg and big boned, I'm pretty close to my 'normal range' - even the awfully flawed BMI calculations agree. 75kg is the top of the normal range for my height, despite the fact that I'm built for hard labour.

And I'm still losing fat - my experiment with the Eades' 'Six-Week Cure' got the fat burning happening again, so we'll see if switching back to a primarily carnivorous primal lifestyle helps or hinders that progress...

Exercise? I don't do anything that works up a sweat for the sake of working up a sweat. However, my lifestyle can be fairly physically active at times - I walk to and from work (1.5km each way) most days, and sometimes I have to lug a big tub of books from one side of the school to the other (I teach English & Drama), so I get a bit of strength training that way! At any rate, I'm doing something that's keeping my shoulders surprisingly cut! But I might pick up some sort of routine to help my lunch-lady arm flaps! :)

Thanks for reading!