Tabasco Braised Chicken with Chickpeas and Kale

I dont know about you, but these cold winter days make me crave warm, hearty food.

Okay, so its 70 degrees here (one perk about living in the desert), but just watching the news of all the havoc the weather is wreaking in the South makes me crave warm, hearty food.

Also, I love anything with Tabasco.

I came across this recipe during one of my late night Pinterest trolling sessions, and it intrigued me. Tabasco? Chickpeas? Kale? Either it would be a success of epic proportions, or it would be a complete, albeit healthy, disaster. Either way, you only live once.

I absolutely adore food blogs and Pinterest recipes. The only problem is that I never know if the recipe is going to work in the “real” world, or if its going to fall flat without Photoshop and 10 thousand kitchen tools that no one actually has.

The good news is, this recipe delivered (plus some). I have nothing fancy in my kitchen, and I cook on a strict budget. We are a one income family, so there is no room for waste, or for 25 ingredient dinners. Not only is this recipe incredibly easy, it was also an out of the park hit with the family.

Tabasco Braised Chicken with Chickpeas and Kale 
(adapted from Foodie Crush, orginal recipe can be found here.)

Ingredients:
(I have listed what I used, for a pantry and budget friendly dinner. You will find a slight alteration from the original)

1 lb chicken thighs, skin removed

salt and pepper

1 tsp onion powder

2 x 15 oz cans of diced tomatoes

1 x 15 oz can of garbanzo beans

2 cups chopped kale

1 tbsp Tabasco

½ cup water

1. Most people use oil to cook their chicken thighs, so here is where I should tell you to season the chicken with salt and pepper and cook until just done over oil. I actually go old school (and save some calories in the process) and boil my chicken thighs until the meat is loosening off the bone. Boiled chicken isn't for everyone, but I much prefer the tenderness that it creates in the meat.

2. Remove the thighs from the water, sprinkle with salt and pepper OR if you used the oil method, set them aside. 

3. In a large skillet or pot, combine the tomatoes, beans, kale, Tabasco, and water. Add onion powder (you can certainly use fresh onion, but it tends to throw my boys off of a good meal because they don't love it). Stir so that everything is distributed evenly. 

4. Add the chicken thighs to the mixture. Make sure they are set deep (not floating on top).

5. Simmer over a medium heat (depending on your stove, we cook on a gas range). Simmer for 20 minutes, or until the ingredients are cooked to your liking. A simmer lets the flavor distribute nicely, but you don't want it hot enough to scorch. 

6. Scoop and serve! I served over a scoop of brown rice, but really anything would do - noodles, a steamed veggie medley … or even just as is.

I cannot tell you how amazing this dish is. I scoffed at the recipe because it didn't have a ton of spices in it, but that Tabasco lights it up. Its not overly spicy, but it does have a kick, so be cautious if you're serving to little ones.

My husband asked for seconds … and then asked when we could eat it again. This is going into the file labeled "Pinterest recipes that actually work". 

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Emergency Flaxseed Heated Pad

I am on Day Two of a cold - me and the rest of the country, right??  In my case, it involves a really heavy-feeling head and sore ears.  I expect by tomorrow, it'll move into my throat and chest, but meanwhile all I want to do is get some relief from the pressure.

I keep a bunch of rice bags and flax bags on hand to provide soothing heat for various reasons, but for some reason, today I couldn't locate any and being sick makes me whiny and low patience, so after searching for a few minutes, it seemed easier to just make one than to find one.

So bear that in mind - this isn't a pretty flax bag! It's an emergency flax bag.  Someday, when I'm feeling better, I can make a delightfully cute bag - but today, it's all about getting myself curled up in a chair as quickly as possible with a blanket, a nice cup of tea, and this flax bag, heated up, soothing my poor congested head.

To make an emergency flax (or rice) bag, you need:

1 sock
1 1/2 cups whole flax seed (or rice, or non-instant whole barley)
1/4 c. Mint (optional)
1/4 c. Lavender buds (optional)

The key point is - USE WHAT YOU HAVE.  A container, and some sort of grain or seed that can be heated up repeatedly.

Socks are the easiest container, because we all have mismatched socks, somewhere right?  If you don't, you're far too organized to ever need an emergency anything, so nevermind!  But for the rest of us, here goes - -

My first step was choosing my mismatched sock, and that meant pulling out my sock drawer and realizing what a terrible mess it was.  I sorted socks and put the matches together, and then selected the softest unpatterned, non-nylon mismatched sock that was left.  (Why unpatterned? Because I'm a big baby and didn't want any texture annoying me when I held this to my face.  Why non-nylon? Because I'm going to microwave this, and I'm not entirely sure one of those wouldn't melt!)

I used mint and lavender because I had it on hand, and because I think they add to the soothing qualities of the hot pad.  Mint helps with congestion, and lavender has relaxing properties and can help with headaches.  But if you haven't got them on hand, don't worry about it - the key part is quickly getting to some nice, moist heat.

Rice is something usually on hand as well, and it works fine here.  As it happens, I didn't have any, but I did have a bag of whole flaxseed.  In a perfect world, I might have used both, because flax provides a really nice moisturizing element to the bag that I like.  But here again - use what you have, unless it's instant rice or instant barley or instant anything - instant means that when you heat it, it will actually cook, and you don't want that!
 
Once you've got your items together, mix the flax and herbs together, and put them into a 2 cup measuring cup.  You want a spout to direct the pouring of the flax into the sock.

The only even slightly tricky part is getting this fragrant soothing mixture into the sock without making a big mess that will make a sick, pitiful person fall apart and cry.

Junk mail to the rescue!  Somewhere, you've got a thin piece of cardboard laying around, about post card size.  Use that to hold open the sock.

Now, pour the flax and herbs into the sock - easy peasy!  My knee sock filled up about half way with this 2 cup mixture.

I considered briefly trying to just do a sort of twist and fold over procedure so that the sock could be emptied later, and  then I realized that had to be the illness talking - this sock is full of seeds and herbs that will never come out cleanly, and its wayward partner is never, ever coming back.

So, instead, I knotted it closed like a sane person would, threw into the microwave for 1 minute, and curled it up near my ear and dozed off into a relieved nap.

Total time, start to finish, including the time it took me to tidy my sock drawer and the minute to nuke the flaxseed pad - 10 minutes.  Not bad, eh?

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Review: Healthy Surprise Subscription Box

My introduction to this subscription box company could not have come at a more perfect time. Just like so many other people, I made New Year’s resolutions that included the same vows year after year. We all know the ones I’m talking about- Eat better, lost weight, hit the gym. So naturally, just like so many other people, by week two I was burnt out and craving cake.

HealthySurprise was precisely what I needed! Just in time, a bright green box showed up in my mailbox. I opened it to find festive tissue paper, like a Christmas gift. I thought it was a nice touch. Under that was an array of delicious looking snacks! What’s even better is the fact that indulging in the contents wouldn’t throw my goals off course!

I received the Starter Box, the smallest of three box options they provide. Each Starter box costs $33, plus $7 shipping and is recommended for 1-2 people. In them, you can expect to find at least 11 fun snacks to discover. 

There was 12 items total in my box. None of the items were sample sizes; they were all full and filling! What’s even better is that out of the 12 products, I had only ever heard of three of the brands!

My husband, as well as my 4-year-old daughter, was extremely excited to see the contents of this box. Chocolate, granola, chips, and fruit- I couldn’t wait to dig right in!

I love sunflower seeds! However, Sprouts Sunflower Seeds were definitely different than what I expected. I’m used to the small, clean, salty ones you find at a gas stations. These were much more…earthy. I liked them, though. My daughter ate most of these. 

I’ve never been a huge fan of almonds by themselves. They tend to be the go-to handful snack when dieting and they don’t have a ton of flavor in my opinion, but Trophy Farms Almonds would be perfect for any almond fan. 

The Enjoy Life Seed and Fruit mix was one of my favorite things in the box. It was the perfect combination of sweet and salty. 

The Rawma Bar was interesting. I liked it, but the texture was something I wasn’t used to, that I still haven't identified. My husband joked that it should be in a zombie apocalypse kit. 

Most of the fruit stuff went to my daughter. The very first thing she grabbed when I opened the box was the Tomato Snapz. That was a big surprise! She loved them. I thought they were way to strong. I’m a big fan of tomato products but it was like eating sun-dried tomatoes straight from the bag. 

After she demolished those, she wanted the pineapple Snapz. She loved them both! These all made great after school snacks for her, and I’m so happy to have discovered healthy treats that she enjoys.

We shared the Veggie-Go Berries, Spinach, and Apples Fruit Leather. It was so good! 

She loves the applesauce pouches, so Plum Kids Berry Organic Mashups was all hers. 

Over the course of about a week, my husband and I shared the Alter Ego Noir dark chocolate bar. It was very tasty!

Hail Merry is already one of my favorite companies. I discovered them in another subscription box a few months back. However, I had never tried the blonde macaroons! These were so incredibly tasty! I was sad there were only a few in the pouch. 

The Daily Crave Veggie Chips I’ve also had before and I knew I would like them. 

This last item, Just Pure Foods Maple Cranberry KALEnola, I’m still not sure what to think. I love granola! So I was excited to see some in there. Of course, upon further inspection I discovered that this wasn’t granola; it was KALEnola. 

I opened and smelled it, and then closed it for a few more days. I’ve never been a big fan of Kale, and this was a concept I had never even heard of. Eventually I tried it. It had a little bit of sweetness, and some natural saltiness as well.

It was crunchy just like the granola I was used to. It was one of those situations where I honestly kept eating because I couldn’t decide if I liked it. Once again, my daughter was a big fan, and my husband liked it well enough. Eventually the bag was empty so I guess it wasn’t too bad!

All items in each box are natural, gluten free, vegan, soy free, corn free and wheat free.

Aside from the Starter Box option,  Healthy Surprise also has the Healthy Box and a Combo Box. The Healthy Box is recommended for up to 4 people and contains at least 16 full size items. It costs $60 a month plus $10 shipping. The Combo box includes both the Starter box and the Healthy Box, and costs $95 with free shipping.

Doing a simple Internet search I was able to find each item in my starter box. Their combined cost was roughly $26.50. With it costing $33 plus $7 shipping, that is a little steep. However, I could still see paying for this again as the surprise and convenience seems to make up for the difference! If you have children, and want them to eat healthy snacks, I highly recommend this. No kid could resist new fun snack showing up in the mail! 

Healthy Surprise on Facebook

Healthy Surprise Website 

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