Did he eat it?

So, I am finally ready to bring this feature back!

I haven't done it in a long time, for a variety of reasons. I still cooked dinner most nights since we have lived in our house, but I just didn't feel excited enough about it to try to include it on the blog. Food was not my favorite thing, was just something else I had to think about. Now that I have been doing really well with the healthy eating (more on that in another post to come) and have the energy to be excited about cooking, I wanted to include it on the blog.

Another factor is that as I have been doing better with cooking and eating healthy, I am less likely to fix John something that is super unhealthy. (Not that I deprive him, mind you! He just finished eating a piece of cake after enjoying the healthy meal that I am about to describe!) The good news is, is that John has eaten most everything I have made without complaining. Obviously, chili fries and pizza taste better than anything I would choose to cook, but I am trying to stress to both of us that just because vegetables don't taste as good as ice cream doesn't mean you can't eat them. I am really working on John's palate, trying to find out what he absolutely detests, and what he can suffer through.

Anyway, with all of the progress I have made (I have gotten him to eat cauliflower, whole wheat pasta and bread, carrots and apples and non fat milk consistently, plus we only really eat out a few times on the weekend.) there was that one thing that I hadn't tried yet. The thing that drove me crazy when I was perusing my Cooking Light Magazines for recipes. The thing was this: the man won't eat chicken.

HE WON'T EAT CHICKEN.

seriously.

I was patient about it, and thought I would build in healthy things little by little. I didn't want to overwhelm him with too many changes, so I always made recipes with beef or no meat. It is not because of an allergy but because, in his words, "it makes me gag."

huh?

Once I realized that it was mostly in his mind, I began planning how I could discreetly include chicken in a meal. I mean, come on. I'm really not going to cook chicken ever again? My kids are going to eat chicken. Furthermore, my kids are going to see their dad eat chicken.

My mom is totally John's food homie, and is famous for undermining me. She will bring him cake out of the blue. She has made him a pizza or a burger for Thanksgiving every year since she has known him. So when she recommended a very simple recipe from Weight Watchers (speaking of which: my mom is rocking on Weight Watchers!! Pay attention the next time you see her... You will be able to tell) that had chicken in it, I thought it might work. Her exact words were "Maybe John will like it!"

I decided to make a Mexican feast, and include this new recipe. It is SUPER simple. It literally involves tossing frozen chicken breasts into a crock pot with a tub of salsa. That is all. The reason my mom suggested it is becuase the chicken gets so moist and tender that it shreds really easily. I made John's favorite black bean recipe, so that I could just sneak some chicken into his beany-cheesy burrito. Oh yeah, I made brown rice to complete the meal.



All of the ingredients (except the black beans, which I forgot to put in the picture). I decided to use corn tortillas because we had a million for some reason. I guess they turned in to chicken and black bean tacoes instead of burritoes.


Mincing the garlic into hot olive oil.


Chili powder and garlic make the black beans taste AMAZING! John always looks at me like I am crazy when I start raving about the beans, but I guess it's because I was raised on canned refried beans flavored with Taco Bell hot sauce packets. (No hard feelings, Mom! :) )

Add in the beans and a small amount of water, bring them to a boil, then cover.

After it simmers, the beans thicken up. Adding the salsa kicks up the flavor even more. Mashing up the beans a little makes it more refried-bean-in-a-burrito-ish.

The chicken sat in the salsa in the Crockpot for a few hours on low. I used the yummy Roasted Garlic salsa from Trader Joe's.

The chicken was cooked so well that it shredded really easily. I tried to make the pieces as small as possible.

Crisping up the corn tortillas always makes me think of my Granny's tacoes. The only difference is that I use a splash of cooking spray instead of a cup of Canola Oil to get them crispy. They honestly taste the same, except my don't drip all over you!

I made such a complete meal, that I decided to put everything in bowls and set the table.

I should have taken pictures of the final verdict, but I got so excited to eat them that they were gone by the time I thought to take a picture.

Molly's Verdict: This meal was super easy, delicious and healthy. I made my tacoes with a little rice, a little chicken and a little black beans with fresh spinach on top for crunch. I tried to keep it under 400 calories, with a serving of a MUFA (mono-unsaturated fat), which are the 2 main tenets of my diet plan. (Again, more on that later). The MUFA in this meal was the olive oil in the beans. I was thinking that this would also be super yummy with just the chicken and some avocado for the MUFA. I will definitely make this meal again!

John's verdict: He ate chicken... and he didn't die!! He ate really small bites, and was very tentative about it, but he did eat it. He said he wasn't tempted to gag, and that there was a time that he liked chicken and fish. I took this to mean, "Please cook me more chicken and fish, so I can expand my palate, my love." (I am not sure that's how he meant it...)

His own words: "It wasn't that bad."

Overall, I would call it a small victory, because he did actually eat chicken. My dream is for him to say "WOW! That was AWESOME! I am so glad you are teaching me how to eat like this!" Short of that, I will be happy with the fact that he didn't puke. :)