Friday, August 25, 2017

Healthier Version of Stouffer's Rigatoni with Chicken and Pesto


Sometimes it's great to just pop something in the oven or microwave for dinner.  If it's a frozen dinner the costs are long term.  I love Stouffer's Rigatoni with Chicken and Pesto and we had this with zucchini with spices and cheese.  Both were made in the microwave and it was easy.  The hardest part was slicing the zucchini, which I had to do sitting down.

I thought, this is an easy dinner so why don't I make it from"scratch".  I looked at the ingredients to see what the basics are.  Yikes!  It's amazing how much extra salt, msg and other crap that is put into frozen food.

I had some frozen chicken that I put in the Slow Cooker.  Mixed paprika, pepper, and  with a half a cup of chicken broth (I didn't bother measuring it, just threw it in the Slow Cooker), then I threw the mixture with some crushed garlic over the chicken.

After I cooked the chicken I shredded it and put it aside.  Added pesto, more garlic, milk, orange peel.  I squeezed a section of orange.  I used jar crushed garlic and a jar of pesto.  I sauted mushrooms and pine nuts and mixed it in.  Yes, I could make pesto from scratch and yes I could crush the garlic, but when you have Fibromyalgia or any other illness, there are some concessions that need to be made.

  I mixed the pesto mixture with the chicken and put in the pasta.  It came out watery because I used too much chicken broth (plus the chicken creates it's own broth).  I'd rather it be a bit runny because it insures the chicken doesn't burn.  I put the cheese in a bowl and a bowl of orange quarters as a side dish.

Now that was easy:  chicken, spices, crushed garlic ,chicken broth, pesto and cheese. 

 I forgot to take a picture of the finished product.  I'll do that next time.  The recipe came out great!  I would skip the squeeze of oranges and just keep the orange rind in there.  I'd also put in less milk and broth.  

Back to the Stouffer's Rigatoni-

 Online, I found a website that breaks down ingredients to ready made food.  Here is the link to this product.  http://www.fooducate.com/app#!page=product&id=5E5FE8FA-593F-11E2-AD7C-1231381A4CEA

There are 5 servings in a box.

INGREDIENTS

blanched rigatoni (water, semolina, wheat gluten), cooked chicken white meat (chicken white mear, water, seasoning [salt, maltodextrin, garlic, sugar, spices, dextrose, yeast extract, carrageenan, orange peel, onion, soybean oil, chicken fat, paprika, chicken broth, dried celery, natural flavor], isolated soy protein, modified food starch, caramel coloring, maltodextrin, sodium phosphate, canola oil) skim milk, parmesan and asiago cheese blend with flavor (parmesan cheese [cultured milk, salt, enzymes], asiago cheese [cultured milk, salt, enzymes], enzyme modified parmesan cheese [cultured milk, water, salt, enzymes], whey, salt), basil, water, soybean oil, extra virgin olive oil, 2% or less of cream, romano cheese ([made from cow'smilk], pasteurized milk, cheese culture, salt, enzymes), garlic puree, modified cornstarch, pine nuts, parsley, sea salt, sugar, datem, spice, citric acid.

Explanations:



DATEM is an acronym for Diacetyl Tartaric Acid Esters of Monoglycerides. This is a dough conditioner used to improve volume and uniformity in breads. 

 DATEM is considered safe by the FDA, but a study on rats showed “heart muscle fibrosis and adrenal overgrowth”.

 ---
Source: Meyer, O. (1992) Combined chronic toxicity/carcinogenicity study with DATEM in rats. Unpublished report No. IT 890451 from the Institute of Toxicology, National Food Agency of Denmark





* FoodPoints are calculated by Fooducate based on fats, carbs, fiber, and protein. They are not an endorsement or approval of the product or its manufacturer.
The fewer points - the better.

Protein is important, but some of the protein you find in this product isn't exactly natural. The protein comes from one of the following sources:

 - milk protein concentrate
- whey protein isolate
- soy protein isolate

 While it's fine to get some of your protein from supplemented items, keep in mind that they are not "natural" sources and that it's not ideal to get protein only from processed goods.

This product is highly processed. If you'll take a look at its ingredient list, you'll discover new words to add to your vocabulary. Many of theses ingredients are required to increase the shelf life of the product and improve the flavor that disappears when food is not fresh.

People sensitive to MSG may also be sensitive to MSG-like substances. These are glutamates or chemically similar items added to improve a product's taste. 

 Here is a short list of common MSG-like substances (see our blog for more):

 - Yeast extract
- Autolyzed yeast
- Hydrolyzed proteins

NUTRITION

  • Serving Size: 1 cup (140g)
  • Amount per ServingMy Daily Value
  • Calories270Kcal16%
  • Calories from Fat110Kcal17%
  • Total Fat12g19%
  • Saturated Fat3.5g21%
  • Trans Fat0g0%
  • Cholesterol25mg8%
  • Sodium470mg20%
  • Total Carbohydrate25g11%
  • Dietary Fiber2g8%
  • Added Sugars1g4%
  • Sugars2g5%
  • Protein15g31%
  • Vitamin A400IU8%
  • Vitamin C0mg0%
  • Calcium100mg10%
  • Iron0.72mg4%















My version:  Cooked White meat chicken, spices, cream, milk, orange peel, parsley, pasta, pine nuts and Parmesan, Asiago and Romano Cheese (not Ray Romano, lol).

Let me remind you of what their version has:

INGREDIENTS

blanched rigatoni (water, semolina, wheat gluten), cooked chicken white meat (chicken white mear, water, seasoning [salt, maltodextrin, garlic, sugar, spices, dextrose, yeast extract, carrageenan, orange peel, onion, soybean oil, chicken fat, paprika, chicken broth, dried celery, natural flavor], isolated soy protein, modified food starch, caramel coloring, maltodextrin, sodium phosphate, canola oil) skim milk, parmesan and asiago cheese blend with flavor (parmesan cheese [cultured milk, salt, enzymes], asiago cheese [cultured milk, salt, enzymes], enzyme modified parmesan cheese [cultured milk, water, salt, enzymes], whey, salt), basil, water, soybean oil, extra virgin olive oil, 2% or less of cream, romano cheese (I used Lucerne's Italian Blend), pasteurized milk, cheese culture, salt, enzymes), garlic puree, modified cornstarch, pine nuts, parsley (I used basil instead), sea salt, sugar, datem, spice, citric acid.
The highlighted items are the items that I cooked with.

What would you rather serve, your family, your friends or yourself?  Mind you my version is more expensive because I'm dealing with Real Food.  The costs are diminished when you think of the cost of Health Care.

Since I have Fibromyalgia I know that I'm suppose to stay away from MSG and other additives.  Think of all the problems with ADD/ADHD that children and adults have.  By the way, I have ADD/ADHD.

What have you done lately to improve your health?

 I will make this recipe again. :)




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