Mexican Slow Cooker Pulled Chicken Stew

If you live in Canada you'll know the price of fresh vegetables has sky-rocketed! I bought a butternut squash for $15 the other day! Then I found diced butternut squash in the frozen vegetable section for $3 per bag! Not only did the frozen squash save me $12 but it also saved me the hassle of peeling and dicing the squash! From now on if I can't source a locally grown butternut squash I'll be buying the frozen variety!  I like the President's Choice brand (from Loblaws) because their frozen vegetables come in handy resealable bags - isn't that kind of genius? Why aren't all frozen vegetable bags resealable!

This stew uses both canned and frozen vegetables to make it extremely convenient and really cheap! Just combine the ingredients in the slow cooker in the morning and have dinner ready when you get home! I've included protein, fibre, healthy carbs and vegetables packed with Vitamin A to make sure you'll stay full throughout the day without an energy crash. You can serve it on top of brown rice or in a whole-wheat tortilla for more of a burrito experience.

This recipe is 21-Day Fix friendly and gluten-free. To make it easier with the 21 Day Fix containers don't mix the chicken back into the crock pot then portion the chicken into the red container (protein), put the veggies from the crock pot and brown rice in your yellow container. Add in some spinach (green container) to get more greens in!

Mexican Slow Cooker Pulled Chicken Stew           Makes about 8 hearty servings Ingredients  4 Chicken Breasts (boneless, skinless) 2 Cups Vegetable Broth (1 Bouillon cube with 2 Cups of boiling water) 1 Onion, Chopped 3 Cloves Garlic, Diced 1 Cup Frozen Corn 2 Cups Cubed Frozen Butternut Squash 1 Can Black Beans (drained) 1 Can Diced tomatoes (or salsa) 1 Tbsp Chili Powder 1 Tbsp Cumin 1 Tbsp Chipotle Spice 1 Tsp Cayenne Pepper 1/2 Cup Chopped Cilantro 2 Cups Brown Rice 4 to 5 Cups Water Directions Combine all ingredients except the cilantro, rice and water in a slow cooker and cook on high for 4 hours or low for 8 hours.  Cook the Rice according to the directions. After chicken has cooked remove it from the slow cooker and pull it apart on a large cutting board. Add the chicken back into the slow cooker and add the cilatro and combine everything. Serve over brown rice for a meal balanced with healthy carbs, vegetables and protein.

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Easy Gluten-free Seed Crackers

The best thing about these crackers - other than the fact that my gluten-free friends can eat them and my gluten-loving friends actually love the taste too - is that the recipe is so easy you can pretty much memorize it after attempting it once. It basically just includes a half cup of four types of seeds - the crackers bind together through the magic of Chia Seeds (cha-cha-cha-chia!). When you add the water to the chia seeds they excrete clear jelly an stick the whole mixture together. Chia seeds are also magical because they are packed with all sorts of nutritional value - hence the name Endurance Crackers.

The Joy of Spiralizing - Zucchini Noodles (aka. Zoodles)

Spiralizing is fun!

Why did I title this article the Joy of Spiralizing? Because I actually find it really fun to spiralize.

After I bought my spiralizer on impulse I could not wait to show all my friends how much fun it was. Seriously, I brought my spiralizer to everyone's house to show them the amazement. They were really confused why I was so excited. My excitement was met with "Um, okay, I guess you can bring it over". Once they saw how it worked though - and how easy it was - they were converts to my way of thinking. This device is a world-changing food invention! "You can spiralize it" ... I started saying that about everything. It makes eating your veggies really fun - which is awesome if you're doing a gluten-free diet like paleo or dukan.