Nutrition is a science and our beliefs are constantly being challenged when new studies are published. Everyone is doing the best that they can with the information they are given. I don’t buy all organic food but I do try to buy organic when it comes to meat and dairy products. When it comes to produce, I buy organic if the food is listed on the dirty dozen. Tommy loves protein, especially chicken. Unlike most children, he actually prefers it un-breaded so we are not a chicken finger family. I like to say he has sophisticated taste. While he rarely eats the vegetables I put on his plate, he gobbles up his meat as long as it obviously tastes good. These days I make us all similar dinners and today I wanted to share a summer spin on one of my family favorites!
20-minute No Fail Family Friendly Dinner Idea
With a newborn and a toddler, making dinner is a little challenging so I rely on easy go to recipes with ingredients I usually have on hand. One of our favorite buys is O Organics® and Open Nature® Air Chilled Chicken. They are naturally moist, even when skinless. Air chilled chicken are individually processed in cold chambers with purified air for 100% mouth watering natural flavor and texture.
The chicken meat is 3x higher in Omega-3 Fatty acids, up to 40% lower in dietary cholesterol and lower in saturated fat due to a 100% organic diet of flaxseed-enriched feed than conventional vegetarian-fed chicken. The chickens are also raised in a cage free environment and American Humane Association certified which is just as important for me as the nutrition.
This “recipe” is so simple you don’t need a recipe but as a toddler parent, I love discovering new ideas for our family meals. We are big fans of grilling in the summer but if you do not have one, this can easily be made using your stove top. Like a make your own pizza assembly line for kids, make your own quesadillas is just as fun and takes half the time to cook.
Grilled Chicken Quesadillas
Makes 3 servings Ingredients:
- 1 lb chicken like O Organics Air Chilled Chicken
- 6 medium tortillas or 12 small (I like flour but you can use corn as well for a gluten free option)
- 1/2 cup black beans
- 1 bell pepper, red, orange or yellow finely diced
- 1 onion, sliced and diced
- 1 cup organic grated cheese (Mexican blend or Monterey Jack taste best)
- 1 avocado
- Salsa
Directions: Pre-heat your grill on medium high heat. Brush chicken with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Dice peppers and onion. Option to saute these until soft in a skillet while chicken cooks but this extra step isn’t necessary. Cook chicken for 5 minutes on each side or until no longer pink in the middle. Let cool and then chop chicken breast into bite size pieces. Brush tortillas on one side with olive oil. Turn heat on the grill down to medium. Place olive oil side down on top of grill. Add about a 1/3 cup of cheese on top (more if you like!), sprinkle with black beans, peppers, onion and chicken. Add another tortilla on top with olive oil side facing up.
Once the cheese is melted, flip the quesadilla carefully so the ingredients don’t spill out. Cook until the tortilla is seared on the outside and cheese is melted all the way through. Let cool and then cut into 4 or 6 triangles. Serve with avocado, salsa and sour cream. Tommy will eat the avocado and dips the triangles into mild salsa occasionally. Nick and I eat all three. For Tommy, I just do chicken and black beans. Occasionally I’ll get risky and add the peppers but often that means he opens up the quesadilla and takes them out so sometimes I just cut my losses. Nick and I prefer the veggies.
Sometimes however, just a little avocado is enough for me as I’m often eating dinner in the middle of our bedtime routine.
O Organics Air Chilled Chicken and Open Nature® Air Chilled Chicken is available in the Boston area exclusively at Shaws and Star Market. You can also find it at some of the Albertsons Companies family of stores including ACME, Jewel-Osco, Tom Thumb or Randalls. Visit starmarket.com to find a store near you and discover more recipe ideas.
This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of ABSCos. The opinions and text are all mine.
