My Own Personal Food Sustainability Series: Episode 1

I am starting this series for a very particular reason, and I will give a brief introduction, but I think anyone who reads this will better understand it as we go.

Do you know people who spout a lot of rhetoric, "the environment is in trouble!"... "more people need to take the state of the earth seriously!"... "I have eight million opinions about food and distribution..." (or anything else for that matter; pick your cause related to the earth, food, sustainability, etc... in our country), and then throw away 75% of their lunch every day, for instance (I figure a lot of people could related to a work or school environment). Well, I sure have, and... it really gets under my skin. The reason being, everyone has a lot of ideas and opinions about how we should all be living our lives, but most people don't actually want to take responsibility for what they spout, or if they think they do, if you observe them closely, are very hypocritical. Not that mistakes can't be made, from the previous example I am not encouraging you to eat a steak that has gone bad for the sake of not throwing it away. No, not at all what I'm saying, by all means if you have food that smells bad or looks like this, throw it away and don't eat it! (see exhibit A below).

What I am saying, is it is all very interconnected. What I call "eating sustainably" can be very nutritious, save a lot of money both in your pocket, and in the whole business that is food, and cause a more even distribution of food to all people, in theory.

So, what I want to do in these posts is unlike other dietitians. I am not going to give you a recipe and encourage you to meal plan. I am going to share with you ways and ideas that I am using, in my every day life, to try and eat more sustainably, and you can take that and apply it to what you have in your fridge and cupboard right now. 

Spicy Chicken Taco Macaroni

Two days ago I needed to cook something for dinner, not unlike every single other adult currently living. I looked in my fridge and real quick in my mind took inventory of what I had, how long it had been sitting there, and what I needed to use. Some left over chicken had been in there a while, still good right now, but probably didn't have a whole lot longer. I had had burritos, quesadillas, some of the basic things, I needed to re-vamp it, I needed something new. I also had some sweet mini-peppers, and onion that I needed to use, and I had a package of boxed macaroni and cheese.

I am going to get off topic for a second, but I want to talk about boxed macaroni and cheese because some people are like, seriously? AND YOU CALL YOURSELF A DIETITIAN... But I'll try and be brief. Is it healthy? No... Not really. The pasta has some vitamins, but mostly not very healthy. HOWEVER... We can make it better! If I had carrots I needed to use, I would have put them in the water while I boiled the pasta. The pasta will absorb nutrients from the carrots, and the orange will give your pasta, and sauce, a nice, rich color. What I did, was add chopped veggies to the boxed macaroni, which helps too.

Ingredients:

- Boxed macaroni and cheese

- Chopped or shredded chicken

- Sweet mini peppers (diced or chopped - as many as you want)

- 1/2 Onion (diced)

-Chili Powder

-Garlic Powder

-Onion Powder

Notes: Cilantro would have been great, I just didn't have that. Diced jalepenos also would have been good, or some of the liquid from the can or jar of jalepenos would give it more kick. Instead of the various seasonings, you could use taco seasoning, however even low-sodium taco seasoning is going to contribute a decent amount of salt to your meal, and I personally did not want that.

Directions:

-Mix pasta as directed on box

-Add in everything else after pasta is strained and cheese is added

-Seasonings to taste - I would estimated that I used a little more than a tbsp of each, but I like spicy foods. You could probably follow that rule for garlic and onion powder, but definitely add the chili powder to YOUR liking.

Get it a little now? It's about analyzing what you already have, and working with it to create nutritious meals. So fast, so easy, tasted like... well... spicy chicken taco macaroni! and no extra money in ingredients I didn't have.

See you next week!