chicken Archives - Rave & Review

Legendary Bar-B-Q tailgating with Foster Farms chicken and Stubb’s sauces

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #LegendaryTailgate #CollectiveBiasI’m currently in denial that summer is over and fall weather is only going to get colder. Here in Seattle, we’re not ready to give up on enjoying the great outdoors, and we’re enjoying every day before the rain starts in on us. This means hours spent on walks around the neighborhood, cookouts with family and friends, and evenings spent in the backyard watching the kids play and grilling up dinner.

As part of our autumn cooking, we’re enjoying grilling up a regional favorite with a Texas twist. By using local Foster Farms Fresh & Natural chicken and pairing it with Stubb’s Bar-B-Q and grilling sauces, we’re bringing grilling season back in a big way.

Super easy chicken fajitas with Foster Farms Simply Raised

I don’t know about you, but there’s a direct correlation between the amount of summer sun and the amount of time I don’t want to spend cooking. Basically, my goal each weeknight is to get everyone fed and happy so we can get outside and play as soon as possible to enjoy time as a family after work. So, when Foster Farms contacted me about trying out some of their Simply Raised antibiotic free chicken to create an easy weeknight recipe post, I jumped at the chance.

Why Foster Farms chicken?

Because there are no antibiotics administered, they are produced with no added sodium, given 100% vegetarian feed, American Humane Certified, and 100% natural {minimally processed, no additives or preservatives, steroids or hormones} and they are locally grown throughout CA, OR, and WA. Oh, and the kids love the commercials with the talking chickens.

My summertime meal criteria includes the following: 1) no oven use because it turns the downstairs into a sauna 2) as few pots and pans as I can manage 3) cook extra whenever possible to enjoy leftovers for multiple nights 4) quick and easy meals are preferred and 5) healthy is a must

One of my favorite easy weeknight meals that satisfies all of these criteria is chicken fajitas because they are full of veggies and goodness, can be cooked in one pan, and they are super quick to make and enjoy for multiple nights.

Dine at home with Foster Farms

It wasn’t that long ago that I thought all frozen chicken you could buy at a store was more or less the same. Dip those suckers in ranch and the kids will eat them up, so why bother shopping around? Just grab whatever is on sale and call it good.

But then I decided to give Foster Farms Crispy Strips a try, and I realized that there actually was something to the “amazing chicken” as they claim in their recent ad campaigns. You know the ones that feature chickens clucking along to the catchiest songs known to man? Not surprisingly, my kiddos are seriously obsessed with these commercials, so I’ve been forced to watch these more times than I care to admit, sometimes on repeat.

The Zaycon Foods experience

Enough people have asked me about my Zaycon Foods experience this fall that I thought I would share it here so you can see how the whole thing works.

Missed my first post and don't know what Zaycon is? Here's what you need to know:

Zaycon Foods is a fairly new company started here in Washington State two years ago as a means of offering natural, hormone free meats at bulk prices all across the US.Instead of traditional delivery services, Zaycon calls itself a “drive thru” meat market that allows you to order online and then pick up during one of their many events across the US in a matter of minutes – no unloading kids or searching through the grocery store to find the best deals.

Now that you have a bit of background, here's my Zaycon story:

We placed an order with Zaycon for 40lbs of chicken to be delivered in October.
I cleared out freezer space like a mad woman in preparation of 40LBS OF CHICKEN. My family dined on some crazy meals in my clearing spree.
A few days before the chicken event near us, I got reminder emails so I wouldn’t accidentally miss it.
The day of the chicken event, I drove my car to the church where the event was taking place where there were maybe 2 cars in line in front of me. In about 3 minutes I was talking with the Zaycon reps, confirming my delivery, and then accepting my chicken, which came boxed and covered in plastic sheeting to contain any juices that may seep out of the internal packages. I never even got out of the car, and my kids stayed buckled.
Within 5 minutes of arriving, I was leaving the parking lot with my order. That's roughly 10x faster than any grocery store trip with two kids if anyone is wondering.
I drove home and began a 2 hour process in which I packaged the chicken into smaller portions, cleaned up after myself, and then I split the chicken packages in between the fridge and two freezers to store them. All in all, I washed my hands over 50 times in this process because I am absolutely crazy about raw meat – especially chicken.

The only part that I did not like about the process was the last step, as 2 hours is far too long to be dealing with raw meat. If I had to do it all over again {and I definitely will}, I will make sure I have someone here to help me with the chicken once I get it home. If one person had the designated clean hands and the other handled the raw meat, this process would have taken about ¼ of the time as most of the 2 hours was honestly spent scrubbing my hands in between tasks.

Verde chicken enchiladas made simple with Kraft Recipe Makers

Are you looking for a simple weeknight dinner that's perfect for back to school? I love enchiladas because they are so easy to make, but Kraft went and made them even easier with the new chicken verde enchiladas Kraft Recipe Makers. Seriously, only a few ingredients are needed and you will feel like a hero … Read more

Ditching the grocery store with Zaycon Foods

Back when I was pregnant with my youngest, I began to detest grocery shopping. It wasn’t that I was too lazy to go to the grocery store; it had to do more with time than anything else. Whenever I did have time in my already busy days of hospitals, doctors, preschool, and work, the last thing I wanted to do was take my almost 2 year old to the grocery store {which always took way longer than it should}.

I was thinking of trying grocery delivery services but was worried about what kind of prices I would be forced to pay as well as quality with someone else picking my food. I was incredibly worried I would be paying premium prices and getting the items they couldn’t push in retail, making delivery not worth it in the end.

Even though I’m not pregnant now, I still don’t get excited about loading both kids into the car and spending an hour grocery shopping, so I was really excited when I first heard of Zaycon Foods on Good Morning America.

Zaycon Foods is a fairly new company started here in Washington State two years ago as a means of offering natural, hormone free meats at bulk prices all across the US. Instead of traditional delivery services, Zaycon calls itself a “drive thru” meat market that allows you to order online and then pick up during one of their many events across the US in a matter of minutes – no unloading kids or searching through the grocery store to find the best deals.