Guess what! Guess what! Guess what!!!!!
It's kumquat season!!! And I am so beyond happy about that. Don't get me wrong, raspberries are still my favorite fruit, but kumquats are awesome...and fun to say...kumquat!
So, like most people my eating habits went to hell (well my definition of hell but I'm sure it could have been way worse). With all the holiday eating out and traveling it's hard to control what you eat or explain to people that while potatoes are gluten free you really don't want one...or that bowl of rice...or that disgustingly sweet milk chocolate, so you eat it. Also, I've discovered I have a bad habit of just eating what's on my plate when I'm not at school. It's totally fine for me to leave a half eaten piece of something in the fridge and come back for it later. When I'm not at home it's either just weird to wrap two bites of steak or worse yet someone (you know who you are) might eat it before I get back to it.
All of this is a long way of saying I decided to do the 21 day sugar detox. I'm already on day 8 (oh wow!) and after kicking those chocolate cravings in the first 4 days (tell me I can't have something and I instantly want it) it's been pretty peachy. Except not literally peachy...those aren't allowed. Technically I don't think kumquats are either but grape fruits are because they're low in sugar and aren't sweet tasting and kumquats fit both of those requirements as long as I don't eat too many so I allow a couple. I'm also supposed to give up alcohol but for academic reasons that's not possible. I swear it's not that I think getting drunk all night every night helps my grades. I'm in an intro to wines class (most failed class at my school...no joke) and I'm not about to forgo tasting 1850's Bordeaux's for a silly detox, please.
Prepping for the detox actually resulted in a pretty cool realization for me. There are three levels for the detox (1 being the easiest and 3 being the hardest). In describing the levels Diane suggests that level 3 is not for first time detoxers so I figured I'd probably being doing a level 2, however after taking the quiz to determine what level I should do it is in fact a level 3. I started reading the banned materials for level 1, it's stuff like bread, candy, and "diet" foods. I've had 2 slices of gluten free bread in the last year and a half in a moment of weakness during exams last winter, I hadn't had more than 6 hours of sleep for 6 days, most nights less, so I went and got a sandwich made rather than try to cook. Actually, I'd run out of counter space to put more dirty dishes because I hadn't had a spare moment to do dishes, I was too busy writing around 500 pages of reports, papers, and appendices.
Anyway, this got me thinking about what I was eating two years ago right now and juxtaposing that to what I eat now. I lived on gluten free cookies, instant oatmeal, and chips and salsa while I was transitioning to gluten free living in the sorority where I had very limited control over my diet. Sometimes I get so caught up in right now that I don't take a minute to pat myself on the back for all I've achieved, and I'm guessing I'm not alone. In the course of 6 months I gave up a huge portion of my diet (bread, pizza, PASTA) and yeah it was awful for a time but it got better and I got better, and that's not a small feat. So pat yourself on the back and then make some chicken roll ups to celebrate.
Ingredients
- 1 Chicken Breast
- Handful of Spinach
- Cheese, I used a sharper chevre because it's what I had but feta is the traditional choice for spinach
- 3-4 Strips of Bacon
- Handful of Cherry Tomatoes
- Salt and Pepper
- Oven safe pan (preferably cast iron)
Directions
- Preheat oven to 350
- Preheat cast iron skillet/grill pan if you have one on medium to medium-high heat
- Wash the spinach and tomatoes
- Butterfly chicken breast
- Pound out butterflied breast
- Spread cheese on inside of chicken breast
- Place spinach leaves in an even layer on the cheese
- Roll the chicken up (I'm so clever with naming, aren't I?)
- Wrap strips of bacon around chicken
- Place chicken roll up in pan seam side down for ~5 minutes
- Roll the chicken on to the other sides for ~2 minutes
- Place in the oven for ~15 minutes
- Once removed from the oven take chicken out of pan for a moment to rest and put cherry tomatoes in the pan over low heat until they're just about to burst
I bet you could put tooth picks in the roll up before you cut it and serve it as an appetizer. Also, I have another idea for a roll up that as soon as I have the appropriate ingredients for, and finish the detox since I can't have dairy right now, I'll taste test.
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