Science & Society Q1 Benchmark

Ingredients and Recipe for Corn Chicken Stuffing (With Optional Stir Fry)

Ingredients:

2 cups of water

1 package of STOVE TOP cornbread stuffing mix

8 pieces of boneless skinless chicken breast

1 can of condensed soup

1 package of microwavable streamed corn

2 green bell peppers (Optional)

1 raw white onion (Optional)

1 cup of vegetable oil (Optional)

Other things you will need:

Measuring cup

Stove

Microwave

Metal Spoons

13x9-inch baking pan

Saucepan

Butter

Recipe:

PREHEAT oven to 425 degrees fahrenheit. 

Mix water and the stuffing mix in a bowl. 

Spread butter over the top of the mix

Place the stuffing mix in the microwave on HIGH for 6 minutes.

Cop the pepper and onion to any size you choose (Optional)

Place the copped vegetables in a sauce pan. (Optional)

Add one cup of vegetable oil, fry then set aside. (Optional)

Place bag of corn in the microwave for 4 minutes or until unfrozen.

Open the can of soup.

Place the chicken in the 13x9 inch pan. 

Pour the soup over the chicken and bake 30-45 minutes or until chicken is cooked thoroughly.

Take the chicken out of the oven.

Mix the corn, stuffing, and (optional) peppers and onions.

Spread/mix wit the chicken.

Analysis:

The food in this dish was processed for the most part. If I ate nothing but this meal everyday, I'm pretty sure I would have very high blood pressure since the stuffing mix has 500mg of sodium per serving and there is 6 servings per box. That makes 3000mg of salt per box.  In contrast, I would not have to worry about diabetes because there is only 12g of sugar in each box. There are some foods/drinks that have 3 times as much sugar as this box of stuffing. This meal was both organic and commercial. My mom bought the peppers and onions from SHARE foods. They grow their own vegetables and they don't use harsh chemicals to protect their foods (I know because I volunteered here during the summer). The rest of the food was commercial and bought from the supermarket. The peppers and onions were about 2 or 3 dollars. The only other food that could have been grown would have been the corn. Corn is really cheap too. The steamed corn was about 2 dollars a bag. This corn is much better than using corn from out of a can. Corn out of the can is very high in sodium. I’m pretty sure the chicken that I used was once mistreated because there was no label on the packaging saying it wasn’t! This isn’t the healthiest meal and if this were to be eaten everyday by someone, they would get sick and feel sluggish after a while. This is a meal that you would only have one like special occasions. But I think that it may be just as worst as eating a McDonalds cheeseburger everyday!

Unit Reflection:

This unit as taught me many things I didn't know or ignored about food. The movie "Food Inc" had somewhat of a big impact on the way I feel about how food is processed. Thinking about how they use ammonia to clean beef makes me sick to my stomach. A part of me wants to change the way I eat for health reasons but the other half of me isn't ready to make a total change. I think about how much I didn't know about diabetes and it scared me. I know so many people with diabetes that it's a shame that I didn't know more. I've realized how my eating habits effect my body and is my motivation for wanting to change. This unit has been one of the main topics that I've talked about during dinner time with my family. My mom helped me with the supermarket worksheet while we were at the market and we were both surprised by how many products weren't organic. Since diabetes runs in my family, my mom and I agreed to start making changes with the amount of sugar that is in food that we eat. This will be a much easier change for me because I have a red dye allergy and I have to check food labels anyway. My grandma has diabetes and my mom decided to take trips to the market with her to see the types of foods she buys compared to the foods we usually buy. My grandma says "eat like you have diabetes and you won't get it." This is going to be another one of my new food rules.