Make Me Cake

Creating your own favorite jerky is simpler than you think and is a satisfying snack. You can use most types of meat and wild game such as deer, elk or moose.

For the hunters, if you have them in your family, this is a great way to use the meat from what they have brought home from a hunting trip. From the grocery store, steaks, roasts, sirloin tip or round steak are good choices.

Choose a lean piece of meat and trim off all the fat, connective tissue and tendons. Placing the meat in the freezer for several hours makes it easier to cut into strips that are closer to the same size. ? Slice the meat into one eighth to one fourth inch thick strips. The slices can be made with or against the grain.

Most people prefer to put a marinade on the meat to enhance the flavor. You can buy these or you can make them yourself quite easily. Making your own also allows you to use less salt but still get the flavor. Most cookbooks will give you a selection of recipes that can be used to marinate meat.

Prepare the sauce and let it set overnight in the regriderator is the usual suggestion to allow the flavors to blend well. Then place the sauce over the meat and let it set for 45-60 minutes before placing the strips onto the dehydrator trays.
Then follow the recommended time from the dehydrator cook book that came with your unit. Usually 8 hours is the least amount of time but your cut of meat might require more. Just monitor the progress and you can record that in your personal dehydrating cookbook of your own favorites.

Jerky is the easiest to carry and snack on when your schedule is busy and you just want a bit of energy while you are on the go. Home made jerky is without the preservatives and high salt content that is often found in purchased jerky.

For those on lower carbohydrate diets, jerky is a good high lean protein treat to satisfy the craving for food without the accompanying carbohydrates. Models often eat jerky to give them energy during their hectic modeling schedules because it is such  a good source of protein and promotes a feeling of fullness. The minimal fat content helps keep calories down and that means a healthier snack than other options.

Often thought of as just something that was just eaten by the cowboys in the western movies, jerky is still a great easy to carry snack today that can be taken along during the day for a quick pick me up or while hiking and camping. It is also a good choice for lunches and for snacking.

Using your meat dehydrator is one of the best ways to fix this modern day snack to have for your busy lifestyle and to carry with you during your activities. We used to really enjoy taking it along when we went to the sports events we attended and occasionally it went to the movies with us as a simple satisfying low calorie snack.

Beef jerky is something that loads of people buy dehydrators specifically for. Thinly cut meat, prepared with an application of oils, herbs, spices and other flavorings. These are placed in the dehydrator till chewy. These foods can also be placed in the freezer for even greater longevity. Definitely a treat to consider.

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I came across this wonderful video on YouTube about 3 great ways to improve the chicken breasts you consume at home. Chicken breasts are arguably the most popular food amongst fitness enthusiasts due to its high protein content and low fat content making it a fantastic source of lean protein. However, chicken can be bland at times especially if you are eating it regularly so this video goes about addressing that problem and trying to spice things up a bit.

Here in the UK, I get my chicken breasts from Muscle Food as you can get 5KG of premium chicken breasts for $20 if you use an exclusive Muscle Food discount code that they often have over at The Fitness Recipes. The chicken breast from Muscle Food is great tasting with no added salt or sugar so it really is a premium cut. On a side note, The Fitness Recipes have some great healthy recipes to choose from, so go take a look.

Method 1: Slow Cook Your Chicken

Use a crockpot which you can pick up on the cheap and will be a worthwhile investment. All you have to do is put in your chicken breast and then whatever spices you want such as salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, cumin, paprika etc. Then 3-4 hours later you have some amazing tasting chicken.

Method 2: Tenderizing

Preferably you need a meat tenderizer and cover the chicken breast with some plastic wrap. The plastic wrap is to stop the juice from the meat from going everywhere. You shouldn’t go overboard on the tenderizing, only flatten it out to at most 1 inch in thickness any further than that and you can damage the meat. You may have noticed chicken breasts are so much more tender when you eat them at a restaurant and that is because they tenderize the meat and even sometimes they use dehydrated meat.

Method 3: Marinating

Seems obvious but it is often overlooked due to being messy however it is recommended to use a zip lock bag and then place it in the fridge. This takes up less space and is a lot less messy as well as clean up as you can throw the zip lock bag away at the end!

Watch the video to see the tips in greater detail!
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