lean meat – The No Salt, No Fat, No Sugar Journal

Say it ain’t so Naf Naf Grill. Did you add salt and fat?

So what has happened? Has there been a drastic reformulation of Naf Naf food for the worse, or is something wrong with it’s nutrition info on-site?

I wrote an enthusiastic post about the relatively new fast food chain Naf Naf Grill back in 2014 when I discovered the low-salt content of its pita bread and the low-fat content of its beef in a pita offering. I’ve been touting it to friends and family ever since.

The menu board from a Naf Naf Grill location in Niles, Ill. Other outlets have slightly different offerings.

So I was shocked and dismayed recently when I checked it’s site and found the numbers have changed drastically for the worse. I’ve written Naf Naf and posted on its Facebook page to get answers but haven’t heard a word yet, very poor customer relations. Continue reading “Say it ain’t so Naf Naf Grill. Did you add salt and fat?”

Know your chicken — here’s a great guide

Sorry organic chicken lovers, you cans till buy it for the taste, or if you feel it helps the environment overall, but don’t expect massive nutritional benefits.

As red meat has become demonized because of high fat content in recent years, people are turning more and more to chicken, and specifically lower-fat white meat chicken. I’ve been eating more chicken since my 2012 angioplasty on orders from my nutritionists, leading me to continually search for ways to bring some taste to white-meat chicken.

When you go shopping for chicken, remember all chicken is not the same and a lot of the things you think you know about what makes for healthy chicken may be plain wrong. Cooking Light recently put out a great overview of the chicken world, The Definitive Guide to Healthy Chicken, which I recommend you read.

It goes after the myths about chickens, which far too many people believe. Continue reading “Know your chicken — here’s a great guide”

Slow-Roasted chicken with lots of garlic

Garlic is one of my old-time food loves. Growing up Italian, it was always around and I came to love it. As an adult, I had roasted garlic for the first time and feel in love with that a swell. So whenever I see a recipe that talks about lots of garlic, like this one from Bon Appetit, I’m interested.

Try skinless chicken breasts instead of the whole chicken to cut the fat.

Slow-roasted chicken with all the garlic was the headline in the BA newsletter I received recently. I had to click through. As with most recipes I see, I’d make some modifications to make it lower-fat and lower-salt. Use chicken breasts instead of a whole chicken as the recipe calls for. Continue reading “Slow-Roasted chicken with lots of garlic”

Skillet rosemary chicken, modified to cut salt and fat

Food Network has tons of recipes it sends me via regular email newsletters but many of them have too much salt, fat and sugar for my post-angioplasty diet. So I find myself modifying them to suit what I need now. Such is the case with this skillet rosemary

chicken.

Here are the ingredients Food Network specifies:

3/4 pound small red-skinned potatoes, halved, or quartered if large
Kosher salt
2 sprigs fresh rosemary, plus 1 tablespoon leaves
1 clove garlic, smashed
Pinch of red pepper flakes
Juice of 2 lemons (squeezed halves reserved)
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
4 skin-on, bone-in chicken breasts (6 to 8 ounces each)
10 ounces cremini mushrooms, halved Continue reading “Skillet rosemary chicken, modified to cut salt and fat”

Major chicken recall underway — check your chicken

A major recall of chicken is underway, if you bought chicken recently at Costco or a host of other stores, check it immediately.

A major recall of chicken is underway, if you bought chicken recently at a host of retailers, check it immediately.

Grilling chicken breasts on my new grill pan. — Check your chicken, there’s a major recall underway.

The brands involved include:
– Acclaim
– Antioch Farms
– Buckley Farms
– Centrella Signature
– Chestnut Farms
– Family Favorites
– Home Dining Selections
– Kirkwood
– Koch Foods
– Market Day
– Oven Cravers
– Rose
– Rosebud Farm
– Roundy’s
– Safeway Kitchens
– Schwan’s
– Shaner’s
– Spartan
– Sysco

The recall of 561,000 pounds of chicken from Chicago-based Aspen Foods is an expansion of an earlier Aspen recall of 2 million pounds of chicken in September. Continue reading “Major chicken recall underway — check your chicken”

A Chinese food recipe that actually works as low-sodium?

I would also eat two servings here, each serving being four ounces of beef. That doubles the fat content to 16 grams and the sodium to 488 mgs, still ok under my daily targets.

Chinese food is a cuisine I love but have given up since my 2012 angioplasty because of the high sodium content of almost anything containing soy sauce or other salt-heavy Chinese sauces. I did binge on Chinese food for a birthday a few years back, but that’s been it.

A low-salt broccoli beef recipe from the American Heart Association.

So I was excited to see this recipe for broccoli beef stir fry from the American Heart Association. It uses only a tiny amount fo low-sodium sauce sauce, one tablespoon, for a pound of beef and two pounds of broccoli. I might add some Mrs. Dash salt-free teriyaki marinade to intensify the Chinese flavors a bit. Continue reading “A Chinese food recipe that actually works as low-sodium?”

Going off my diet in the foothills of Austin — hello County Line

The combo plate came with one giant beef rib and the brisket. In days gone by, I could easily eat three beef ribs.

Austin, Texas, is known for music, the University of Texas, and, of course, Texas barbecue. Ribs, brisket and various sausages all are served as various barbecue spots in this beef-country city. That’s cold comfort for someone like me on a low-fat diet since my 2012 angioplasty.

So rather than torture myself every night I was there, I resolved to go off my diet one night to try some barbecue. My wife, who spends more time in Texas for work these days than at home, recommended a place she’d gone before, County Line. It’s nestled in the foothills on the edge of town and looks exactly like you’d want a roadhouse barbecue place to look. The one we went to apparently is the original location, there are others. Continue reading “Going off my diet in the foothills of Austin — hello County Line”