Day 13 of 30- Apple cider vinegar chicken with Califlower rice

Ashtanga Tuesday.  There's a joyous ring to that.  The Ashtanga primary series is pretty intense.  Here's a link to a video led by K. Pattabhi Jois and his students.  It is supposed to be a cleansing practice, where you align your breath with movement, clearing your mind and also bringing attention to the muscles in your body and how it works with your breath.  It's almost painful to watch and as a beginner to the primary series, I've found that it's just a little tricky to tie yourself up into a little pretzel and balance on the point of your butt and somersault backwards back into chaturanga.  Uh..... definitely got stuck the first time i tried.  But overall, it's a challenge that I am very excited to face.

This class however, was my second go at the full primary series, and I realized that today was markedly less difficult, more familiar, and also more challenging than last week.  Because I spent less time trying to figure out how to position myself and spent more time focusing on all the alignment and breathing, I got more out of this practice than last week.  I also found myself able to bind in ways that were unavailable to me last week, and perhaps it is due to the rigorous regiment of yoga class attendance these past couple weeks!  My muscles have been aching, my body twisted and turned, pulled and stretched in so many ways, it's remarkable how good I feel!  Mind and body together, I would say we are going on an exciting and new journey.  Maybe this will help me think less about the exact date that the PhD will magically land in my pocket, and think more about the ways I can make the most of my time in research before moving on to clinical obligations.

Stock photos of yoga are always a person's silhouette with a sunset in the backdrop, balancing on some object on one leg..... It always looks so serene.  the opposite of what today was.  haha

If only practicing was like this every day. 

But less about yoga, more about food!  One thing I have missed terribly since starting this challenge, has been RICE.  I LOVE RICE.  like, LOVE.  LOVE. LOVE it.  It's been a staple grain of my diet since before I was born.  Finding recipes that are delicious to eat without rice has been a little tough, BUT-- I randomly came across this recipe where they used caluiflower to mimic rice.  I decided to give it a whril (haha in my food processorrrrr!!!!) and see how it would taste, and goodness gracious, it is AWESOME!  I enjoy eating raw cauliflower, but man, cooking it up really brings out a delicious sweet flavor, and it seriously has the consistency of short grain white rice.  I may be in love again. It was so simple to whip up and dangerously easy to get a generous serving of vegetables without even feeling like you ate vegetables.

Also, chicken is great because you can spend 5 minutes preparing the raw chicken in a delicious marinade/sauce and it'll feed you for days.  

Apple cider vinegar chicken and Cauliflower Rice

Ingredients

For the cider chicken
Chicken thighs, de fatted
Apple cider vinegar (~1/4-1/3 c?)
2 tsp whole seed mustard
lime juice
paprika
salt
pepper

1.  Marinate the chicken in the vinegar and mustard with all the spices and lime juice.  I put it in a bag and tried to squeeze the air out so that all the juices will co mingle with the chicken.  Let marinate for......... i dunno.  30 min?  I threw it in the fridge because I made it the night before, so that's ok too.

2.  Preheat the oven to 425F, warm up your cast iron (if you don't have a skillet, a baking dish/pan/whatever is totally fine too), and a non stick frying pan.

3.  When the frying pan is hot, sear the chicken thigh, skin side up for about 3 min, and then flip to sear the skin side for about 3 min.  Transfer the chicken to the skillet, skin side down and throw into the preheated oven.  Bake for 20 min or so, until the chicken is fully cooked.

Usually, while I have incubations like this, I like to whip things up really quickly.  During the chicken bake, prepare your RICE!

Cauliflower rice
1/2 head of cauliflower (this will make 2 generous servings)
garlic (or garlic olive oil-- just a drizzle)
shiitake mushrooms

1.  Cut up the cauliflower into smallish pieces and put in the food processor.  Pulse until the pieces are about the size of short grain rice.

2.  Cut up the mushrooms.  If the mushrooms are dried, reconstitute them in some hot water for about 5 minutes and they will soften up nicely.

3.  Sautee the cauliflower crumbles, drizzle lightly with garlic olive oil or toss in the chopped garlic, and add the mushrooms.  Sautee for about 5 or so minutes, until the crumbles are soft and tender and sweet.  Salt to taste (I don't generally salt my food much, but just a dash here really brought out the sweetness of the cauliflower).

RICE! made of cauliflower with perfectly seared and baked chicken

These two piled up on top of each other were seriously a filling and delicious meal.  (sorry about the crappy photo, I couldn't wait to run and grab my real camera so my iPod was the closest thing i had at hand.  All the cauliflower is piled up underneath the chicken and on the side.  Sweet, savory, and satisfying!

Til next time, EAT WELL and BE WELL!