Go-To Meals-Brown Sugar Chicken

Once upon a time, I was living on oatmeal and pasta, and life was very bland. While I was figuring out what foods triggered my IC, I went on an elimination diet--meaning I cut out pretty much everything and added foods back one at a time to see what triggered flares. Needless to say, food was rather plain. This was a recipe that I figured out early on because it's very simple and yet added some flavor to my otherwise dull meals.

I cook my rice in a rice cooker because one, I can't cook it on the stove and two, it is VASTLY superior to minute rice. But minute rice works too, depends on how much time you have.

Brown Sugar Chicken
Rice
Chicken
Brown Sugar
Carrots
Celery

Wash the rice and start it in the rice cooker (takes about 20 minutes, by which time everything else will be done). Defrost a chicken breast and cut into cubes. Cook in a saute pan on medium heat, stirring occasionally. When the chicken starts to turn white and opaque, sprinkle about 1 T of brown sugar over it. Continue cooking until chicken is done (completely white and opaque). While the chicken is cooking, dice carrots and celery and cover with water. Bring to a boil and add about 1 T of brown sugar to the water. Boil on medium for about 10 min or until veggies are soft (yet still firm).

When everything is done, serve chicken and veggies over rice, using the extra juice from the chicken as a sauce.
Simple, fast, and flavorful. Gotta love it.

Go-To Meals-Chicken Broccoli Fettuccini

Still in that week of not wanting to use the 400˚ oven, so another go-to meal of mine is pasta. I try to dress it up with veggies and chicken, but it's really just pasta. Tasty, easy, non-400˚-oven pasta.

Chicken Broccoli Fettuccine
Pasta
Broccoli
Chicken
Alfredo sauce

Yup. That's why it's a go-to meal. :) Just cook the pasta according to package directions. While cooking, wash, cut, and steam broccoli and warm up some chicken. Mix together and cover with alfredo sauce.

I actually can eat the Classico brand of alfredo sauce, but if you have IC, be careful, everyone is different on what artificial ingredients they are sensitive too.

A great alfredo sauce recipe can be found here. Thanks to SIL Brooke!

A note about chicken. For a lot of my go-to meals, I use pre-cooked, frozen chicken either that I made myself or that comes in neat little packages like this. It saves time and tastes fine and is all natural so it doesn't make me sick. :)

Go-To Meals-Quesadillas

So here's the deal. This week was hot (mostly) and I REALLY don't like cooking when it's hot. Usually the summer of my childhood consisted of pasta salads, potato salads, anything COLD. However, I haven't found a lot of cold IC recipes (pasta salad has vinegar dressing, potato salad has mayo, etc). So I'm still looking for those if anyone has suggestions.

My solution has been using the oven as little as possible, and that turns into quick meals that I don't really have recipes for. They are so easy, I feel a little silly putting them up, but maybe it's something you didn't realize was so easy, so it'll help you . . . maybe.

Quesadillas
Flour tortillas
Cheese
Warmed Black Beans
Pre-cooked, warmed chicken
*You could put anything--olives, tomatoes, peppers, etc. This is just what I can have and what I usually have on-hand.

Really, that's it. Derek LOVES them, and they take about 5 seconds to make (more like 10 minutes from start to finish, but still, fast!). You put the beans all over the tortilla, then the chicken, then the cheese. Place in an pre-warmed skillet and cover with another tortilla. Flip when bottom tortilla becomes stiff. Then I slice it with a pizza cutter. Pretty simple. Derek usually dips his in BBQ sauce. But he's been dipping just about everything in BBQ sauce lately . . .