Triple Threat is your Best Bet

In our last newsletter, we talked about setting a daily schedule, with regular mealtimes. Once you do that, you want to think about the makeup of each meal. To keep your blood sugar and energy stable and maintain control, make sure meals have these three components.

1. Protein – this can be anything from yogurt or cottage cheese (we love Good Culture) to eggs or fish. Protein is a natural appetite suppressant.

2. Produce – it’s important for both your microbiome and blood sugar to get fiber. This could be a high fiber fruit such as raspberries or apples or a fibrous veggie, cabbage and broccoli are great as they last a while in the fridge.

3. Fab fat – we’re not in love with the term “good fat”. We prefer fab(ulous). Each meal should have at least 1 tablespoon of an oil such as olive or MCT or avocado or seeds. Fat does something very similar to your brain as sugar. Up the fab fat, whenever you’re trying to reduce the sugar.

Have triple threat meals and you’ll notice a difference in how you feel fairly quickly. Need more support? Try Foodstalking.

Winner Winner Chicken Dinner

Did you know that phrase is said to have originated in a Vegas casino? Yup, we have some extra time on our hands. We know many of you are legit cooking, maybe for the first time.

Here’s one of our favorite, easy chicken recipes called, Shake n Bake. Lauren’s also loving this, if you prefer chicken breasts. She advises “do not skip the 15-min brine”

Shake N Bake
Can we squash the myth that you have to eat only white meat, boneless chicken? Now that that’s done, we’ll tell you that this recipe is insanely good. It sounds so simple but wait until you try it. You can make it with thighs, wings or, if you insist- chicken breasts, with skin. Have this hot, out of the oven, or cold as leftovers. 

What you need:

· Baking sheet

· Parchment paper or foil

· 1 package (approx. 4) organic, bone-in chicken thighs with skin or 1 package organic wings (most of time about 1.7 lbs.). If you want to cut cooking time by ~10 min, use boneless, skin-on thighs

· Spices: ¼ teaspoon each of: salt, black pepper, garlic powder, dried oregano, ground thyme, and paprika. Remember our rule UFUH (use food you have). No thyme? No problem, but having said that, oregano and garlic are pretty crucial for flavor here.

Optional- meat thermometer (a good investment if you don’t have one)

What to do:

1. Preheat oven to 400 F.

2. Line a baking sheet with parchment.

3. Place chicken on parchment, pat the chicken dry with paper towel

4. Combine spices in a small jar or Ziploc, close jar or bag and shake to mix.

5. Sprinkle spice mix generously on chicken thighs (or wings). You may have extra spice mixture to use next time you make this, we make a big batch as this is a regular recipe in our rotation.

6. Bake chicken in oven until skin is crispy, 35-45 minutes or when the thermometer says 165 F.

7. Garnish with any fresh herbs or lemon slices and serve over greens.