The Method of Madness

To back up my support of Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution, I’m starting a series that I’m calling Friday Fixin’s. Each post will contain a simple, easy-to-prepare, healthy meal. All of these recipes were pretty much created by me, but I will definitely let you know when I create something inspired by someone else.

So here’s the first one! This recipe is super easy, super delicious, and you only need SIX ingredients!

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 pounds of boneless, skinless chicken breast
• Salt and pepper
• 2 Tbsp. olive oil
• 2 tsp. garlic, minced
• 1 box of Goya seasoned rice box (I used the Rice & Red Beans Rice Mix)
• 3 cups water

Equipment

• A Chef’s knife or Santoku
• Large pot (between a 2 and 3 quart pot will do)
• Large cooking spoon, metal or plastic

Instructions

1. Coat chicken breast lightly with salt and pepper. Cut the chicken breast into 1-inch pieces.
2. Place the pot on the stove and turn the heat on to medium-high.
3. Put into the pot: the 2 Tbsp. Olive Oil and the 2 tsp. minced garlic. Stir around with cooking spook and let cook for several seconds.
4. Add the diced chicken to the pot, and stir around with oil and garlic. Let cook for about a minute.
5. Add the package of the Goya seasoned rice mix. Stir around with other ingredients and let cook for about a minute.
6. Add 3 cups of water to the point. Let the water come to a boil, and then let the mixture boil for ONE MINUTE. After that, turn the heat to LOW, and let simmer for about 40 to 45 minutes.

Just a couple notes about the recipe based on my experience making it:

• The overall texture (when done right) is light, creamy rice, and the chicken should be tender and fall apart in your mouth.
• This isn’t exactly a 30-minute meal, but it is extremely light on the preparation (you only have to cut the chicken and throw things together), so if you’re coming home right after work to make dinner this will definitely not tax you.
• This dish is pretty scalable. You can choose to use any Goya rice product you’d like, or you can make everything completely from scratch. The reason why I use the Goya products is because all of the seasonings are in the mix for you. Making your own can be costly, and if you don’t know how to create spice mixes, the flavorings could be disastrous (or non-existent). But if you do, make your spice mix and use whatever rice you’d like!

Given my recipe a try? Let me know what you think in the comments!

I’ve been asking myself this question ever since I’ve had a series of conversations with a teacher friend of mine. A police officer had come to his school district to give a presentation on the “dangers” of social media, and a point he made is that employers can easily request your Facebook record (whether or not they themselves can access your profile) from Facebook itself; and the company will readily comply.

To me, this sounds like utter bullshit, but my friend has reassured me that this is a) part of the Facebook TOS, and b) the reason why employers can do this is because Facebook is “technically” a public domain website. To be honest, I’m not so sure and I’m no legal expert, but I find it hard to believe that employers and Facebook have some carte blanche agreement where user information is so readily given. Of course, if someone knows better please leave a comment!

But getting back to the question: should we be paranoid of Facebook, to the point we very carefully analyze our decision to post something? My teacher friend cited a case where an employee was fired for posting a Facebook status critical of NJ Governor Chris Christie (again, this reeks of civil rights violation to me). Or do we just need to rely on old common sense?

Like I’ve said, I find it hard to believe employers can so easily request your information. Personally, I enjoy Facebook and I like having one because it puts me in control of my online identity. I recommend my friends to have a Facebook so they can do the same, and some businesses I’ve worked with I’ve implemented Facebook Pages. But my teacher friend? He won’t even go on Facebook anymore.