The Gluten-free Chicano Cooks Carb-aware

The Gluten-free Chicano Cooks
Gluten-free Green Chile Chicken Low-Carb Deconstructed Taco

This is harvest time in Hatch, New Mexico, and rival tierra, where fields covered with the long green chile have waited for six months to ripen, pick themselves without immigrant labor, and be trucked fresh to supermarkets across the southwest.

The aroma of roasting chiles wafting across a parking lot can convince impulse buyers to order thirty pounds and have them roasted on the spot. Or ten pounds. Or maybe a vendor is selling roasted chiles by the pound and you buy one pound.

Six or seven succulent chiles is all you need for two people and one chicken breast. I buy the lo-heat chile to make food universally palatable. If everyone you know needs to enchilar themselves, get a hotter chile. A good bottled habanero sauce can add the sabor to sweet chile.

Numerous diets call for carbohydrate awareness. Consult a dietitian and physician before deciding to muck around with your nutrition. My dietitian gives me target limits of carbs per meal, so I read package labels for gluten ingredients and carbs and plan accordingly.

Green chile chicken stir-fry is low-carbohydrate, gluten-free by nature. The tortilla can be optional and served on the side, hence the "deconstructed" label.

 I use a search tool to estimate (link) the values in what I'm cooking. The chicken breast raw is zero grams. The green chiles around a gram. Cheese is forgiving, 2g per cup.

Ingredients
1 chicken breast, boned. 0g carbohydrates.
6-7 roasted Hatch chiles  1g
onion, 3g
garlic, 1g
cilantro 1g
comino, 0g
olive oil, 0g
salt optional, 0g

Slice the chile, omit the seed end. Thinly slice the chicken breast.
Heat olive oil and a good frying pan.
Wilt sliced onion and garlic. Add a pinch of comino, powder or seed.
Add chicken and cook until color is solid white.
Add the chile and stir together.
Add a few tablespoons water, cover, lower flame.
Simmer for ten minutes until meat is tender.

Grease a 6" cast iron pan. Fill with chicken-chile mix. Sprinkle a few leaves of cilantro.

Cover with grated cheese. Cheddar, jack, mozzarella, oaxaca, any combination of melting cheeses.

Bake at 350º for fifteen minutes or until the cheese is browned.

A scoop of fried frijoles (10g) on the side, a hot tortilla (12g) to taquear, at the diner's option. As for the carbs, under 30g in the meal if you eat the tort. Not bad if your target is in the 50 range.

¡Provecho!


News 'n Notes

500,000 People, One Bookstore

That's the demographic of the northeastern corner of the San Fernando Valley, the namesake town plus Sylmar, Sunland, Pacoima, one bookstore. Ni modo, if you're in those parts and you need a bookstore, there's Tia Chucha's Centro Cultural & Bookstore. That middle name means something.

Centro Cultural is the identity of the place. A relatively small inventory means you don't come to Tía Chucha's for the Woodward book, but you want Chicano Literature, you want poetry, welcome to the shelves. Here also find Open Mic and featured readers, book signings, music instruction, and a quiet respite from the barren reaches of estas partes.

Tía Chucha's grew from Poet Laureate Luis J. Rodriguez' and his wife, Trini's, commitment to bringing art to their community. As the video below illustrates, Luis intends that no part of the community be left out.



October 13, 2018, Tia Chucha's will hold its annual fundraising gala at La Plaza De Cultura Y Artes, 501 North Main Street, Los Angeles CA 90012 from 6 pm to 10 pm. The location is central to everybody defeated by the drive to San Fernando.

There will be music, art, healthy Mexican food from Guayaba Kitchen, and an awards ceremony to honor three key leaders of our literary and arts community:
Cherrie Moraga,
Yreina D. Cervantez,
Trini Tlazohteotl Rodriguez.

News 'n Notes
Chicago Chicano Museo

The National Museum of Mexican Art cordially invites you to join us for the opening reception for two extraordinary exhibitions: Día de Muertos: A Spiritual Legacy and ¡No se olvida! Remembering the Tlatelolco Massacre on Friday, September 21 from 6:00 pm to 8:30 pm.

The Día de Muertos exhibition celebrates life and the dearly departed loved ones of our communities through traditional and contemporary works of art. Among the many installations this year will also be an ofrenda from the Parkland, Florida community that underwent a horrific loss of 17 lives this year at the Stoneman Douglas High School.

Click here for ticket information.

Click here for Tickets and information