Ingredients: 

1 skinless whole chicken

curry powder

salt

garlic

lemon juice

pepper (optional)

white rice

Directions:

1. Cut the chicken into edible bites.
2. Clean the chicken by washing it and adding some lemon juice to it. This also helps with flavor.
3. Turn the stove on high and place vegetable oil in a skillet to heat up.
4. Season your chicken with salt, pepper, garlic, and curry powder.
5. Once seasoned and once the oil has heated, place the chicken in skillet to cook for about 30 mins
6. Half way through cooking time, boil rice. 
7. Place the chicken over the rice and Enjoy.

Analysis:

My dish is able to me made organic or non-organic. I personally used non-organic items because they are cheaper. The whole chicken I used was processed so it was more than likely fed steroids and products to make it fat. A chicken on a proper diet prior to being butchered is considered an organic chicken. Removing salt from the chicken would also make it a healthier dish; alternatives such as accent are great substitutions for a better diet. Cooking the chicken in vegetable oil is great too.

The rice was actually rice that’s able to be cooked in a bag (cheap) , but their are healthier alternative.Using some sort of organic white rice would benefit you more. There’s a myth that brown rice is the better rice between the two , but it actually studies actually show that replacing all brown rice with white rice in your diet would lower your chances of diabetes. Sticking with the white rice is the best way to go!

Majority of the ingredients are simple seasonings and they are the main source for the taste of the food. Most should not be swapped out. They calories from the seasonings do add up, but they aren't too bad.

Overall, my dish is not unhealthy, but there are plenty of ways to make it healthier. Depending on your serving size, the meal is no more than 500 calories. I'm unsure what curry chicken would be like if it was baked, but it would not hurt to try it!

Reflection:

During this quarter, I learned a lot about the foods that I often consume. Just because it isn’t fast food, I assumed that it couldn’t be bad for you. I also gained understanding on what processed foods can do to your body over the course of years. People in their mid-years or older age tend to get problems such as heart disease from bad decisions from when they were younger.

Initially I had no plans of changing my diet but I do understand it would benefit my body. I tend to be sluggish and energy deprived, and I wondered if a better diet would change that. Over the next month, I plan on switching out foods for better alternatives to see what they do to me. 

Diabetes, obesity, heart disease, and more are common killers in America. We’re known to be greedy and it shows. I don’t want to become another statistic, so I plan on changing that.

Ingredients:

-Vegetable oil
-Garlic
-String beans
-Black pepper

1. Pour vegetable oil in a frying about the size of a quarter.
2. Lift the pan and move it around so that the vegetable oil coats the surface of the pan.
3. Add a spoonful of garlic to the oil.
4. Move the garlic around the pan same as the vegetable oil and let it simmer.
5. Pour string beans into the pan and cover them.
6. Take the cover off and move the string beans off with a spatula, fork, etc. and add black pepper
7. Let the string beans become a nice green and turn the pan off.
8. Enjoy!

Food Analysis:
I feel that my dish would only be considered "processed" because of the vegetable oil unnatural additives and properties.  The vegetable oil is taken through a lengthy process before being sold to supermarkets across the country.  Other than that, my dish is pretty healthy.  It is a vegetable and contains natural ingredients such as garlic and black pepper.

The dish is not fattening because it is vegetable-based.  Also, the garnishes and seasonings are natural and do not contain any added chemicals, additives, etc.  It also helps with bowel movement because of it's vegetational state.  If eaten too much, there will be limited to no waste inside of the body.

I think that the food mostly comes from the Midwestern part of the country.  This part of the country is the most occupied with crops used to grow fruits and vegetables.  The food is conventionally grow but its organic counterpart can be purchased at stores that whole foods like Trader Joe's, Whole Foods, etc. for a slightly inflated price.

This dish is better than any fast food that can be purchased.  This dish is healthier because of the lack of fats, oils, grease, processed additives and extra chemicals.  The only way that this dish can be used to make money is by the company it was made by or if the cook decides to sell it.

Since the food started on a farm, it had to be grown and washed by selling to different grocery stores.  Then the consumers buy those vegetables and take them home for preparation.  The problem is that it was taken through a lengthy process to be bought and eaten so if you were to grow your own string beans, garlic and pepper, you'll be saving gas from going to the grocery store and the money that you were gonna pay for the groceries.

Personal Reflection:

From this unit, I learned that some people do not have access to healthy foods because of their geographic location and their income.  Healthy foods are expensive compared to fast food which are seen as a way to not break the bank and feed yourself and the family, if any.  While realizing this, I am glad that I was taught good eating habits such as eating vegetables and starches and not just fats, oils and grease.

I also learned that the essential food knowledge that children should learn has to start at home.  With good knowledge on food, the child can take it everywhere they go and share it with others who may not be as informed.  The opposite can happen with little to no food knowledge which results in carrying bad habits throughout the course of life and imposing those habits unto others.  We all need to learn the basics of food in order live healthier lives.  That in turn will promote better living and in turn a happier nation.

• 3 zucchinis sliced long
• 1 jar of tomato sauce
• 1 pound of ground turkey or beef (optional)
• 1 can of tomatoes
• 1 onion chopped
• 1 12oz container of ricotta cheese
• 16oz various shredded cheeses
• 1 bunch of basil
• 1 beaten egg
• 1 pinch of nutmeg

Directions:

1. Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees.
2. Sauté onions until golden over medium heat. 
3. Then brown ground beef or turkey in the sautéed onions. 
4. Then add the sauce and tomatoes and let that simmer. 
5. Mix the ricotta, the beaten egg, nutmeg, 4oz mozzarella and parmesan cheese together.
6. Grab dish for lasagna.
7. Place the sauce at the bottom for first layer
8. Begin layering the zucchini layer (salting slices to draw out moisture if wanted), then ricotta mixture layer, sauce again, then the shredded cheese. 
9. Repeat this process until you have completed 3-4 full layers. 
10. Place basil on top.
11. Cover the dish with foil and bake for half an hour then let rest for 15 minutes and serve!

Recipe

Ingredients:

• Whole grain all flour tortilla wraps

• skinless chicken breast

• whole onion

• whole green pepper

• mushrooms

• 3 blend mexican cheese

• olive oil

• salt

• pepper

Process

1. Take your onion, green peppers and mushrooms and dice them up into tiny pieces

2. In George Foreman Grill or in pan cook chicken breast until it’s safe to eat.

3. Once cooked cut up chicken breast into small pieces.

4. Grab a pan and cover pan with a light blanket of olive oil.

5. Turn pan on to medium low heat and throw the tortilla wrap into pan.

6. Take your 3 blend mexican cheese and sprinkle it until tortilla is completely covered.

7. Take your diced cooked chicken breast pieces and put them on the layer of cheese spreading them out evenly.

8. Take your diced vegetables and repeat step 7.

9. Put another layer of cheese on the chicken and vegetables.

10. Take another tortilla and put it on top.

11. Once first layer of cheese has melted carefully flip the quesadilla so that the other side can do the same.

12. Once both sides of cheese has melted turn off stove cut up into favored amount of slices and enjoy.

Analysis

Not only is this meal extremely tasty it is also very healthy. With the only ingredient that I think is processed is the 3 blend cheese, every other ingredient on here is completely natural. This is an easy to make meal with all natural ingredients and while none of these ingredients are organic they are still better than eating processed foods. 

Now while meat is somewhat of a no-no from what I learned was poultry is the healthiest choice of meat to choose from. Chicken is an excellent source of protein and isn’t a red meat so the risk of cancer and obesity goes down my a significant margin. And since it’s not processed that adds more points to the healthy factor. Let’s look at the tortilla bread next. The tortilla bread I am using is all flour and whole wheat making it completely natural. Also thanks to it being whole wheat it’s way healthier than buying white tortilla bread which is sometimes processed to make it look white. To add a bit more health benefits to the dish I decided to add all natural vegetables . Green bell peppers are a great source of vitamin C, onions help regulate blood sugar to a safe level and mushrooms help combat chronic diseases. The 3 blend Mexican cheese is with pasteurized milk which makes it the only thing on this list thats processed. The only health benefit the cheese has is being low in cholesterol and sugars.

Reflection

I’ve learned a lot about food this unit, especially about the western diet and how it affects humans. I always knew the western diet was little worse than everyone else’s diet, but didn’t know it was worse than what I thought it to be. I had no idea some of the top leading deaths in America were diet related and it shows how bad the American diet really is. Another thing I noticed was that there are more obese people in the south than any other part of the country. This is due to the amount of meat they eat which I learned is in correlation with cancer.

Some food changes I could make would be not eating as much processed foods. Eating foods that take forever to decay can’t be good if its sitting in your stomach. Cutting back on the processed foods would probably make me healthier overall; however, I think it would be insanely hard to do this since most of the foods we eat are processed. Also whole foods tend to be much more expensive than processed foods since processed foods can be made in a factory. Once I start living on my own and buy my own food I would consider not buying as much processed foods.

BAKED BEEF RIBS

(For Beef Ribs)

• 2 lbs country-style boneless (or bone in if you prefer) beef ribs
• 1 medium onion, sliced
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 2/3 cup good barbecue sauce
• 1/3 cup plum jam (amount to taste)

1. Place ribs, onion and garlic in crock pot.
2.  
   Cook on low for 8-10 hours, or until pork is cooked through and tender (your time may vary with your appliance).
3.  
   Drain ribs and onion from crock pot.
4.  
   Discard any juices from crock pot and return meat and onions to crock pot.
5.  
   Stir together barbecue sauce and jam until blended.
6.  
   Pour over ribs, stirring lightly to coat.
7. Cook on high for 30 minutes or until sauce has thickened and ribs are glazed.

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BAKED PORK RIBS

Ingredients: 

- 2 lbs country-style boneless beef 

- 3 tablespoons of dry rib rub

- 2 tablespoons of worcestershire sauce

- 1 tablespoon of pepper

- 2 tablespoons of brown sugar

- 1 tablespoon of organio

- Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Steps:

1. Mix together above ingredients in bowl until in paste form

2. Apply paste form to ribs (go through thoroughly).

3. Apply Olive Oil To Ribs 

4. Begin to bake ribs at 350 to 400 degrees.

5. Repeated apply oil to ribs while cooking in order to keep them moist.

6. Let cook for an hour. 

7. Apply BBQ (If preferred) in the last 10 mins.

8. Take out, let rest & enjoy with BBQ sauce.

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Sauteed Veggies 

Ingredients

1 1/2 pounds baby spinach leaves
2 tablespoons good olive oil
2 tablespoons chopped garlic (6 cloves)
2 teaspoons kosher salt
3/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
Lemon

Steps:

1. In a very large pot heat the olive oil and saute the garlic over medium heat for about 1 minute, but not until it's browned.

2. Add all the spinach, the salt, and pepper to the pot, toss it with the garlic and oil, cover the pot, and cook it for 2 minutes.

3. . Uncover the pot, turn the heat on high, and cook the spinach for another minute, stirring with a wooden spoon, until all the spinach is wilted.

4. Using a slotted spoon, lift the spinach to a serving bowl and top with the butter, a squeeze of lemon, and a sprinkling of sea or kosher salt.
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 ANAYLSIS

Overall, this meal wouldn't be considered the most healthy thing in the world at first glance since ribs aren't particularly healthy. However, it's in the way that they are cooked. By making them in a crock pot and baking them I am taking away some of the unhealthier parts such as the grease and fat that stays on the food from grilling. Also, depending on the rub you use for pork (or beef if you want) it's completely up to you since every ingredient in the rub is completely interchangeable (other than the worcestershire sauce,) it can be sized up to fit any person's diet. While meat isn't always the greatest thing for your body it is an important part of your diet (if you choose to eat meat). Also the main thing people miss with ribs since it's typically a summer grilling food is that you need to eat veggies with it which is what I always do to balance out the meal! You always need to have some green on your plate. So overall i think I would consider this a whole meal or close to it seeing as how you have all of the biggest parts of the food pyramid and what's needed. Meat is good for the body and knowing how to balance it out with veggies makes your diet that much better. Overall, there aren't many if at all preservatives in the rubs (which again, YOU can change to your thing!) so it stays typically healthy. 

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PERSONAL REFLECTION

Looking back on this unit I feel as If I've learned a lot more about myself more than I have about the american diet. While yes, I did learn a lot about the diet and how "food deserts" exist and make it difficult for people to get food. However I've been interested more in the solutions that people have been posting such as the ted talk was giving different solution instead of just listing the problems that we sort of know (or should know) to be true due to the horrible american diet. I would say that my role in the food system would be to just try and make more food instead of buying a bunch of fast foodish stuff. If many people can start to try and give up on fast food or at least ween themselves off it due to the fact it's not healthy companies will begin to go with what the "craze" is and make there food that way. If the "craze" is eating healthy then companies will adapt.

I think that overall the biggest problems with the U.S food system is that it's set up to make us fat. Cheaper foods that take more processing and time to develop cost less money while whole foods you just grow/organic foods cost way more. People aren't willing to pay that extra 20 dollars for organic because they may need it for a bill or something and that's the biggest problem. We are set up for failure. As stated before, I can cook a lot more than I do. That works out well since I've been learning how to cook for college so trying out new recipes at this time to see what's health and good works out perfectly. In all honesty making huge diet changes I'm not particularly fond of but If it helps me in the long run and I see evidence how it will help me I'm willing to try it at least for a month or two.

***Peter is working with me

Ingredients & Instructions for Enchiladas 

• 1 can of black or pinto beans
• 8-10 flour tortillas
• 1 small onion
• any vegetables you like
• 1 can of diced green chiles
• 3 cups of shredded cheese
• 1 can of enchilada sauce
• herbs for garnishing
• salt and pepper to taste
• *can add chicken or beef if you’d like

1. Preheat your oven to 350 F
2. Add some oil to a pan and sauté the onions and green chiles for 6-8 mins
3. Add the other vegetables you want to use and cook them throughly
4. Remove vegetables from the heat and set them aside for later
5. In order to assemble the enchiladas, speed out a tortilla on a flat surface. Then, spread enchiladas sauce on it and fill it with the beans, cooked vegetables, and cheese. Then, wrap them up and place them into a long baking dish.
6. Before placing it into the oven, cover the enchiladas with more sauce and cheese.
7. Place it into the oven for 20 minutes uncovered. 
8. Remove it and serve with fresh herbs as a garnish. 

Analysis

The ingredient for this dish are mostly processed foods, however the vegetables are fresh and not processed. There is a possibility to make your own tortillas and buy fresh beans from a farmers maker and cook them yourself for somewhat of a ‘healthier’ dish. However, for the sake of this project and our wallets, we decided to go with some of the processed foods, however it’s completely possible to make this dish more ‘whole’.The estimated calorie content of the dish per serving is 404 calories, 22.1g of fat, and 2g of sugar, which isn’t bad for one meal. One serving is one enchilada, and even that can be a little too much for one person (since they’re pretty big in general). You couldn’t eat this everyday because if you did, you would probably have bathroom problems from all the beans and a lot of carbs from the flour tortillas. Most of the food was processed and probably grown with ingredients grown on mass production farms with fertilizers and chemicals and whatnot. The meal cost under $15 which is really goo, especially when feeding an entire family. 

Personal Reflection

I’ve learned a lot about how food effects us in different ways, even after we consume it and feel full. I knew about obesity and why food contributes to that disease before coming into the unit, however I wasn’t aware that many of the top ways to die in this country is by food. It boggles my mind that we are more likely to die from the food we eat than under and being in an accident. However, what can we do? It’s difficult to really pinpoint the problem in this since there’s needs to be a systematic change in the way we eat and produce food. But it’d difficult to change a system that’s been working for so long, and that’s so important to millions of Americans. 

My personal role in the larger food system is somewhat hard to explain. Yes, I purchase food and consume it on a daily basis, however, I feel like my few dollars don’t make such a huge impact as everyone seems to make it out to be. If I solely stop purchasing unhealthy food, then what will happen ? It’s difficult to just say that I’d be willing to change my food choices since there’s not that many choices in the first place. Only a handful of corporations actually produce the food we eat. And they own so much of it, it’s hard to run away from them effectively. 

 So honestly, no, I won’t change my food habits. Especially since I don’t have a personal income and even when I go off to college, I’ll be worrying about my studies than what I’m eating. And ‘healthy’ foods are so expensive in the first place, it’s difficult to get them anyway.

Food Slide

This is my food rule. I picked this one because I see too many times on labels that the entire package isn't one serving, but only a couple of pieces of the product are indeed on serving. And most people think that the calorie count on a food product is the total amount of calories for the entire product, even though it's only for one serving. 

Instructions on how to make Pasta al Pesto

Ingredients:

- pasta (500 g)

- pesto (5oz)

- salt (pinch)

- water (fill pot & 1 table spoon for pasta bowl)

- parmigiano cheese

Process:

1. Boil pot of water. Put a pinch of salt in the water. 

2. Once water is boiling, put pasta in the water for about 8-10. You want the pasta to be a little bit had and not extremely mushy. 

3. Once done cooking the pasta, strain the pasta. 

4. In a large serving bowl, put your pesto at the bottom and put 1 table spoon of water to make the sauce creamy.

5. Dump the cooked pasta into serving bowl, mix well and add parmigiono cheese.

6. Ready to serve.

Analysis:

Since most people do not make homemade pasta, the pasta used in this meal is almost all processed. Pasta is made of mostly flour, eggs, wheat, in other a lot of gluten. However, the pesto is 100% whole foods if you get it fresh.  

In one box of Barilla, there is about 8g of fat, 336 carbs, and 0 sugar. The carbs and fat will cause weight gain but also a lot lipids to fight of viruses. Carbohydrates give your body with a lot of energy that we our bodies need. The process of how we digest pasta is quite simple. As soon as the pasta hits the tongue, the saliva immediately starts to breakdown the carbohydrates so it is easier to go through the stomach.  The cell walls and acid then deconstruct the pasta. Eating pasta everyday is not a good idea, it will make you gain way to much weight, and too much gluten isn't good for you. 

The pasta was probably made in Italy, but they probably got some of the ingredients from other countries in Asia. Since Barilla is such a large company, the pasta was manufactured  commercially. 

This is a pretty cheap meal, because pesto costs about 7$, and then box of pasta is 12$. A whole box is about 500 grams, which feeds 4-6 people. So per person it would be out 4$ per person, if there are about 5 people. 

Making pasta at home takes a lot time, effort and precisions. I think that just buying a good brand of pasta is a lot more convenient. Especially since it takes so long for the pasta to go bad, so you buy a lot at a time. 

Old Fashioned Sugar Cookies

1. 1 cup butter, unsalted

2. 1 cup white sugar

3. 2 eggs, lightly beaten

4. 1 Teaspoons baking powder

1. 1 Teaspoon salt. 

 Analysis