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My Favourite Ingredients: Chicken and Asparagus #chickendotca

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I’m not one to make things from recipes. I just can’t seem to get organized enough to make sure I have all of the ingredients I need.  “Meal planning” has never been my strength.  Very frequently, when it’s my turn to cook, I’ll choose some main ingredients and see what happens!

One of my “go to” meals is grilled chicken thighs and a vegetable.  Right now, the asparagus is so yummy so that’s what I chose.

Oh, and if you don’t like what I’ve come up with, at the end of this post, I’ve included the information about the #nonakedchicken twitter party on Thursday, August 30th where Theresa Albert will share her yummy ideas!

Start with fresh ingredients! 

asperagus

chicken

Ingredients:

Directions:

1. Preheat the grill to a medium temperature (350 degrees) and preheat oven to 420 degrees.
2. Wash your hands — safety is very important when handling chicken
3. Wash and clean your chicken

4. Spray your grill with extra virgin olive oil or a non-stick spray
5. Open up the thighs to lay flat on the grill.  Cook about 10 minutes each side until they reach an internal temperature of 165°F (74°C) (See chart at chicken.ca for details)

6. While chicken is on first side, snap the ends off of all the asparagus. Lay them on a cooking sheet

7. Drizzle the olive oil on top, sprinkle on spices to taste. Toss.

8 Flip the chicken after 10 minutes. (Now we’re cooking the 2nd side)

9. Put asparagus in the oven for 8 minutes.

10. Test the temperature of the chicken – chicken temperature chart -internal temperature of 165°F (74°C)

11 Remove asparagus from oven, place in serving dish.

12. Pour BBQ sauce in a bowl, then brush it on the thighs. Flip the thighs again, brush on BBQ sauce.

13. Serve.

 
 
Enjoy!
 
To see other amazing grilled chicken ideas, join the Chicken Famers and
Theresa Albert’s No Naked Chicken Twitter Party!

Thursday August 30th 9-10pm EST

Follow the hashtag – #nonakedchicken 
  
I am participating in the Chicken Farmers of Canada program by ShesConnected. I received compensation in exchange for my participation in this campaign. The opinions on this blog are my own.

making picnics (and camping) easy with the help of #chickendotca

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This summer the weather has been sunny and hot!  A great time to head out and enjoy a picnic with your family. We have done a lot of camping this summer so easy meals that are fun to prepare are always on the menu.

There is a great Grilled Chicken Pita recipe on chicken.ca that is very yummy.  I have slightly modified the prepartion directions to fit into our camping menu.  This would also make this recipe very picnic-friendly!  Instead of preparing the whole recipe from start to finish, part way through, I pack up all the ingredients into separate containers to be packed in the cooler.  When we’re ready to eat it, everything is ready to go and all we need to do is assemble all the parts!  Healthy, easy and very yummy!

Picnic-ready Grilled Chicken Pita 

(The original recipe is here.)

Ingredients

Grilled Chicken Pitas
1 tsp oregano, dried
1 tsp dill, fresh, chopped
3 Tbsp lemon juice
1 Tbsp water
1 tsp vegetable oil
1 onion, large
2 plum tomatoes, chopped
1/2 cup English cucumber, chopped
4 pita bread
Sauce 
1 cup low-fat plain yogurt
2 Tbsp dill, fresh, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tsp lemon juice
salt, to taste
pepper, to taste
Preparation
  1. Slice chicken breasts lengthwise into ½ inch (1 cm) strips and place in a resealable plastic bag. Combine oregano, dill, lemon juice, water and vegetable oil and pour over chicken; close bag and turn it until all the strips are coated with the marinade. Let stand at room temperature for no longer than 30 minutes.
  2. In the meantime, combine sauce ingredients and refrigerate until needed.
  3. Preheat barbecue on medium heat. Thread chicken strips onto eight metal skewers; discard marinade. Grill skewers, with the lid down, for 5 minutes per side.
  4. Cut onion into ½ inch (1 cm) slices and grill for a few minutes on each side. Remove from heat and cut slices into four.
  5. Pack the chicken skewers, sauce and vegetables in separate containers and put into a cooler.
  6. If you have a BBQ or fire, wrap pita breads in foil and warm over the heat.
  7. Spread yogurt sauce over pitas, top with tomatoes, cucumber, and grilled onions and two skewers of chicken. Fold the sides of the bread up, pull the skewers out of the chicken and eat the pita like a taco.
  8. Serve with a Greek salad.
Get ready for your picnic with a great picnic cooler seat and a set of 4 chicken bowls from the Chicken Farmers of Canada! 

Share your favourite thing about picnics or wonderful picnic memory to enter.
Be sure to click through and complete the Rafflecopter form.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

So that you don’t miss more amazing recipes and other great information about the Chicken Farmers:

Like CFC on Facebook
Follow @chickenfarmers on Twitter
Read the great info on their website — http://www.chicken.ca

I am participating in the Chicken Farmers of Canada program by ShesConnected. I received compensation in exchange for my participation in this campaign. The opinions on this blog are my own.

Your MP could win $10,000 for your local Foodbank and #WinWithChicken "Tw-eat in" Twitter Party

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On May 9th, Chicken Farmers of Canada is throwing a twitter Party to promote their #WinWithChicken contest!

“Everyone Wins With Chicken” contest where MPs are encouraged to submit chicken sandwich recipes for a chance to win up to $10,000 for their local Food Banks (2nd prize is $5000, 3rd prize is $2000)!

The winning recipe will also be served to over 10,000 people at the 20th Annual Great Canadian Chicken BBQ in Ottawa on Canada Day.

To support this amazing contest, please tweet or email your MPs in your province.  You can use the MP Twitter Listing to find your local MP’s details.

Example: Hey @TerenceYoungMP, our local Food Bank needs $10,000. Pls submit your chicken sandwich recipe. #WinWithChicken

Join  @ShesConnected, @chickenfarmers and follow the tag #WinWithChicken to participate in the
“TW-EAT In” Twitter Party
on May 9th from 8-9:30pm EST in support of Hunger Awareness Week!

Did you know May 7-11th is Hunger Awareness Week?

On the evening of May 9th, MPs are fasting for the day, and will be breaking fast on May 10th. The TW-EAT IN will last 1.5 hours with 30 minutes per sponsor.
Let’s TW-EAT IN and make a difference.
As a Chicken Farmers of Canada Brand Ambassador, I’ll be joining in on the party!  Please don’t hesitate to ask questions if you’ve never done a twitter party before.  They are a lot of fun!
But twitter parties is only a small sample of what I’ll get to do as an Ambassador.  Over the next year, I’ll be sharing a lot of great information about chicken and the Chicken Farmers of Canada!

Disclosure – “I am participating in the Chicken Farmers of Canada program by ShesConnected. I received compensation in exchange for my participation in this campaign. The opinions on this blog are my own.”

ShesConnected is on

90 days with Adult Essentials #ShesConnected

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It’s hard to believe that 90 days has passed since I started the Adult Essentials Brand Ambassador program with ShesConnected.

Over the past 90 days I have been taking Adult Essential vitamins daily.  As I stated in my last post my energy levels are increasing.

These last 90 days have made me stop and think about what else I could be doing to be healthy.  Right now it seems that taking my Adult Essential vitamins is the easiest part of my healthy routine.

The one thing that I know would make my overall health better would be to increase my sleep.  Better sleep habits are hard for me though. I have so many things going on and so many things to do.  Sleep gets pushed a side.

I’m going to stick with them.  They’re yummy and good for me!!  And they can be my daily reminder that my health and my sleep are just as important as getting my daily vitamins!

Adult Essentials is connected!
You can connect with and find out more about Adult Essentials on:

Their website — http://www.adultgummies.com

Disclosure – I am participating in the Adult Essentials Blogger Outreach program by ShesConnected.  I received a supply of vitamins and compensation in exchange for my participation in the campaign.  The opinions on this blog are my own.

now Dakota can eat healthy too! thanks #Milkbone!

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Dakota - 4 months.jpg

October 2002 – 4 months

Dakota is our fur-baby.  She came to live with Craig and me in October 2002.  She was 4 months old.
All we know is that she was born in June. Her mom is a Rottweiler who’s owner bread her with other large dogs so that he could sell the puppies as guard dogs.  Dakota’s dad is a black lab.
At 8 weeks old and weaned from the mother, Dakota and her 3 sisters were left tied to trees in the back yard because they couldn’t be sold.
A neighbour of the dog owner, found out about the puppies, and contacted, what was then, Caledon Rottweiler Rescue.  They are now Adopt-a-Rott.  Once the puppies had be checked by a vet and given some shots, they posted an ad on Petfinder.com.
We were looking for black lab puppies when their ad came up in our search.  One of Dakota’s sisters is all black so we went to see her.
I love the sun.jpg

February 2003 – 8 month old

But Dakota chose us.

When we were visting with each of the puppies individually, Dakota was on Craig’s lap, put one paw on each of his shoulders and then nuzzled into his neck.That was over 9 years ago, and now I can’t imagine our lives with out her.  But at age 10, we know that she’s not going to live forever.

Photo of Rachel and Dakota

A girl and her dog

We have always made healthy choices when it comes to Dakota’s food.  She eats an holistic, all-natural food will no fillers.

Now that she has arthritis in her back, she’s not as active as she used to be and we moved her to a senior food that helps to maintain/reduce her weight.Photobucket
When ShesConnected advertised their program with Milk-Bone to spread the word about their new Milk-Bone Healthy Favorites, I knew this was something that would be great for Dakota.We received samples of the Oven-baked Granola Biscuits and Oven-bakes Chewy treats and before we even opened the box, Dakota was very interested and didn’t leave the box alone.  Once we opened the box, she couldn’t wait to try the new treats!
“I can read everything on here!”

Craig’s reaction when reading the package was “I can read everything on here!”  He wasn’t kidding.  The ingredients were all regular, healthy foods — ground whole wheat, carrots, rolled oats and flaxseed, apples, chicken sweet potatoes.  Sounds pretty good to me!

For information about Milk-Bone Healthy Favourites, including where to purchase them, go to http://www.milkbone-canada.com

They are also on Facebook — https://www.facebook.com/milkbone

You could win some treats for your dog too!

One lucky reader will receive a Milk-Bone Healthy Favourites gift pack valued at $50 which includes an assortment of Milk-Bone Healthy Favourites Chicken Chewy Treats, Milk-Bone Healthy Favourites Beef Chewy Treats, Milk-Bone Healthy Favourites Chicken Recipe Biscuits, and Milk-Bone Healthy Favourite Beef Flavoured Biscuits.

[Giveaway closed]

Disclosure – I am participating in the Milk-Bone Blogger Outreach program by ShesConnected. I received a supply of products and compensation in exchange for my participation in this campaign. The opinions on this blog are my own.