Dinner Tonight

Dinner Tonight

Healthy Cooking for a Healthy Texas

How Much Chicken?

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When you have a recipe that needs cooked, deboned chicken, how much chicken do you need to buy and cook? Avoid buying too little or too much with these helpful tips.

 

 




 

 

 

One cup cubed or shredded chicken:

  • 1 cup of cubed or shredded chicken is about 5 ¼ ounces of cooked, deboned chicken.
  • 1 cup of cubed or shredded chicken is also about 1 boiled chicken breast.

Using a whole chicken:

When using a whole chicken, 1 pound of uncooked chicken is about 1 cup of cooked, deboned chicken. For example, a 2 ½ to 3 pound whole chicken, or fryer, will produce about 2 to 3 cups of cooked, cubed chicken.

Using a rotisserie chicken:

You can also purchase a rotisserie chicken to use in your recipe. The average rotisserie chicken is about 2 pounds. The whole chicken will make about 3 cups of chicken- this is about 2 cups of white meat and 1 cups of dark meat. White meat comes from the chicken breast and wings. Dark meat comes from the thighs and drumsticks.

Download this infographic as a PDF or a picture.

(Information from: http://www2.ca.uky.edu/poultryprofitability/Cheeps_and_Chirps/Trivia_question_chicken_wings.pdf)

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Choosing the Perfect Pork

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1-choosing-the-perfect-porkConfused at the meat counter as to what type of pork to choose, or what it should look like? Follow these simple steps to choose the perfect pork!

  • Select pork just before you check out at the grocery store. It is important that pork stay as cold as possible.
  • Look for cuts with a small amount of fat over the outside. The meat should be firm and pink in color.
  • Once selected, put the pork in disposable plastic bags to avoid any leakage that could contaminate other foods in your grocery cart.
  • Take pork home immediately and refrigerate it to 40 degrees. Use the pork within 2 to 3 days or freeze.

Safe Minimum Internal Temperature for popular cuts of Pork

Pork cooking temperatures are the final step in a perfectly juicy, tender cut of meat. Pork today is very lean, making it important to not overcook and follow the recommended pork cooking temperature. The safe internal pork cooking temperature for fresh cuts is 145° F.

Pork cooking temperatures are the final step in a perfectly juicy, tender cut of meat. Pork today is very lean, making it important to not overcook and follow the recommended pork cooking temperature.  The safe internal pork cooking temperature for fresh cuts is 145° F.

Download this how-to as an infographic PDF or image!

Here is a helpful chart from Path to the Plate on the cuts of pork.

Check out our whole collection of pork recipes!

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Cooking Dry Beans

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In addition to using canned beans, you can cook dry beans at homes. This is budget-friendly way to add beans to your favorite salad, soup or side dish. Cooking your beans at home can add variety to your beans by using different spices to flavor them. Find out what you need by watching this video from the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.

Quick Steps: 

  1. Remove debris
  2. Soak
    1. Overnight – place a pot in room temperature water. Make sure to leave room in the pot as the beans will expand!
    2. Boil – Bring a pot of water with the beans to a boil, remove from the heat and let soak for 1 – 2 hours.
  3. Discard water and rinse beans.
  4. Cook
    1. Cover the beans with fresh water – about 6 cups per pound of beans.
    2. Add seasonings but hold off on salt and acidic foods until end of cooking.
    3. Add a quarter teaspoon of oil to keep water from foaming.
    4. Partially cover and simmer until done. Time will depend on type of bean.

Learn more from the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics here.

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