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.

Pesto Chicken Florentine 

Sieanna Williams & Brian Birkmire

Ingredients

- Olive Oil (2 Tbsp)

- Garlic (2 cloves)

- Chicken breast (boneless/skinless/4 count)

- Fresh Spinach Leaves (2 cups)

- 1/2 White/Yellow onion (chopped)

- 1/2 cup of white wine

- Pepper/Sprinkle of Salt

- 1/4 cup cream

- Basil

- Parmesan cheese

Instructions

1. Boil pot of water, preferably large pot. Boil pasta.

2. While preparing the pasta, cook the chicken. Sprinkle some salt and pepper on the raw chicken. Heat some olive oil in pan and brown both sides of the chicken breast. Remove chicken when browned.

3. Add chopped onions and sauté for about 2-3 minutes. While the onions are cooking, slice the chicken in strips. Put aside any pieces already cooked by the browning and the others that aren't cooked to be finished.

4. When the onions begin to brown, add the garlic and sauté for another minute, roughly. Add white wine and and boil until it is half reduced.

5. Add the spinach and undercooked chicken to the pan. Using tongs, turn them over to coat them with the juices in the pan. Continue to cook, turning and stirring often, until the spinach is wilted and the chicken cooked through, about 2 minutes.

 6. Turn off the heat and add some black pepper, the pile of cooked chicken pieces and the pesto (basil, olive oil, parmesan cheese sauce). Stir to combine. Drain the pasta put it in a large bowl. Add the cream to the sauté pan and stir well to combine. Add the contents of the pan to the bowl with the pasta and mix well.

ANALYSIS

The beautiful thing about our meal is that it contains 0% of processed food. There are no additives or preservatives and some of our food is even homemade. Brian and I were originally going to buy fettuccine sauce but it had modified enzymes so we opted to make it ourselves with natural ingredients, as well as the pesto. The spinach leaves were not organic but they were organically grown. The only ingredient on the back was spinach.

We carefully read each of the ingredients on the back of the labels of the foods we used, all of them contained less than 10 g of sugar and fat. There is very little to no grease and the only oil used was olive oil (very little) on the chicken which was sauteed thoroughly. Although our dish is very healthy and will not caused any harm to one’s body from eating it once or twice in a row, the pasta is what dominates the dish. Pasta contains lots of starch and too much starch is very harmful to the body, so we strongly suggest to never eat a pasta meal every single day. On the other hand, it has low Glycemic Index which means it does not increase glucose levels rapidly this makes it easier for the body to maintain energy for longer periods of time. Pasta also has folic acid which is crucial for reproduction.

Our meal contains a variety of crucial dietary nutrients. It is a cleansing meal that will not only taste good but make you feel good. 

Personal Reflection

Ever since I joined the Girls Ultimate Frisbee team last school year, I’d begun to seriously think about eating more healthily. Not only had I never played frisbee before, but I had very little experience with exercise. I’d just joined the team when both boys and girls had gone to the states championship. For both tournament days, my coach, Ms. Echols, kept me in every single game for several points straight. I had never been so run down in my life and I couldn’t figure out how the rest of the girls had so much energy. When I finally had the chance to break, I looked upon the food parents and coaches brought with them. All that had been there were granola bars, bananas, sandwiches, etc. I didn’t think much of it but went on eating. Almost immediately I noticed a change in myself throughout the tournament. The food wasn’t only delicious, but I felt better on the inside. It was then that I’d seriously begun to consider eating more whole foods. 

The issue with my new resolution was that once I left frisbee and once I left my boyfriend’s home there was nothing to go home to but processed, artificially flavored and sugary foods. I live in a home where we only have as much food as we do because we are fortunate enough to receive food stamps. But even so, our food stamp money has been continuously cut despite our lowering income. Because of this, my mom has stopped buying as much fruits, she’s opted for pop tarts instead of oatmeal and often I’m starting to see more and more snacks than usual. I know my mom understands that I want to eat healthily (as well as I’m sure she understands that we should be eating this way), but we have a mutual understanding that we simply cannot afford such foods. What do I think is the biggest problem with our food system? There’s too much consumption. Too many people are buying so much food and I believe that’s what has upped the price on natural foods and set the price low for sugary foods. This way, farmers get what they work for by growing so much food so fast and companies make profit. Either way, it’s human consumption that’s caused these issues. There’s too much food circulating when there really does not need to be. Despite this issue, I will continue to try to eat as healthy as possible. Not just because it tastes a lot better, but because it makes me feel a lot better.