Saint Ambrose would approve

Yesterday was another feast day- St Ambrose, and he is celebrated in the Catholic Liturgical Calender.  He was Bishop of Milan at one time and for reasons I am not certain , became the patron saint of beekeepers. Where there are bees and beekeepers, there is honey, so a dish to celebrate his feast should involve honey in some form.

Honey...one of those things that is avoided by weight loss people because it is a "bad" food ( bad meaning calorie dense). It is often replaced with a frankenfood like corn syrup or some low cal thing like splenda. In doing so you miss out on a tasty opportunity to consume a food that is a natural germicide and anti oxidant. ( Better to shoot for that magic number on  the scale because that will guarantee you are healthy and develop hardening of the arteries, stiff joints and a higher risk of cancer in the process, don't cha know ?) It is obvious that nature designed our appetites and foods to fulfill them, and then somewhere around 100 years ago slipped a mickey into our gene pool and everything that was naturally beneficial to the body suddenly became an evil substance. I see. Was it nature making the change, or bad science ? Or bad science that could be used to increase several peoples profits ?

So on to searching for a dish to mark this feast. Hmmm- here's a chicken dish featuring honey. And chicken with skin on. And perhaps the most evil substance of all- butter ! Three badies together-the horror ! We have all been told of the "evils" of butter , saturated fats and fat in general . "It promotes heart disease !"  " It will make you fat !" Truth is, butter and saturated fats will do neither. In fact, there are  lot of health benefits to butter. Consider the following :
   1. Butter is rich in the most easily absorbable form of Vitamin A necessary for thyroid and adrenal health.
   2. Contains lauric acid, important in treating fungal infections and candida.
   3. Contains lecithin, essential for cholesterol metabolism.
   4. Contains anti-oxidants that protect against free radical damage.
   5. Has anti-oxidants that protect against weakening arteries.
   6. Is a great source of Vitamins E and K.
   7. Is a very rich source of the vital mineral selenium.
   8. Saturated fats in butter have strong anti-tumor and anti-cancer properties.
   9. Butter contains conjugated linoleic acid, which is a potent anti-cancer agent, muscle builder, and immunity booster
  10. Vitamin D found in butter is essential to absorption of calcium.
  11. Protects against tooth decay.
  12. Is your only source of an anti-stiffness factor, which protects against calcification of the joints.
  13. Anti-stiffness factor in butter also prevents hardening of the arteries, cataracts, and calcification of the pineal gland.
  14. Is a source of Activator X, which helps your body absorb minerals.
  15. Is a source of iodine in highly absorbable form.
  16. May promote fertility in women.Eating butter also prevents vaginal dryness.
  17. Is a source of quick energy, and is not stored in our bodies adipose tissue.
  18. Cholesterol found in butterfat is essential to children's brain and nervous system development.
  19. Contains Arachidonic Acid (AA) which plays a role in brain function and is a vital component of cell membranes.
  20. Protects against gastrointestinal infections in the very young or the elderly.
Yes. An evil "must be avoided for your health" substance indeed.I could follow all of the current health guidelines ( which actual scientific data , as opposed to bad observation, is doing more to make us fat and sick than anything else), or go with things the way nature intended us to eat them ( very low tec methods that were stumbled upon by real people doing real things and not in a laberatory). I opted for the latter, and here is what we ate

  Honey Curry chicken with soaked brown rice ( cooked in chicken bone broth) topped with butter and a mix of kale and chard sauted in coconut oil and seasoned with garlic. Yummy !

HONEY-CURRY CHICKEN

Chicken parts, bone in, skin on,in a sufficient quantity to feed your family.
mix the following:
4 TBSP butter, melted
1/2 Cup honey
1/2 tsp curry
1/4 cup mustard
1 tsp salt
2 cloves garlic
Soy sauce to taste (about 1-2 TBSP)

Place bone in, skin on chicken parts in a 9x13 casserole. Pour or brush on the mixture, cover with foil and bake in a 350 oven for 1 hr. I tossed out the pan drippings, but you could pour them over rice.

Saint Ambrose was a passionate man who people either loved or hated. He had a way of standing for the truth, no matter who or what rallied against it. I think he would be pleased by the real food offerings that I chose to serve in remembrance of him on his feast day