Tag Archives: quick fix meals

Gingered Carrot Soup

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IMG_0348

Inspired by my zucchini soup experiments a few weeks ago, I decided to try something a little different.  As I walked through the produce isle at the grocery store, I picked up a bag of peeled baby carrots which I like to snack on during the week.  I looked down and saw a 2 lb bag of large carrots and it hit me… Carrot Soup!!  Not only was it insanely easy to make, its very good and, of course, nutritious.
Ingredients: 
  • 2 lb bag of carrots peeled and diced
  • 2 cloves of garlic peeled and smashed
  • vegetable or chicken broth
  • water
  • ¼ tsp ground ginger
  • ¼ tsp cayenne pepper
  • 1 tsp ground cinnamon
  • 2 oz softened cheese.
Directions:
  1. Place diced carrots in soup pot along with garlic cloves just cover tops of carrots with broth.
  2. Bring to low simmer and cook covered until carrots are soft.
  3. As broth evaporates during the cooking process, continue to replace evaporated broth only to cover carrots.
  4. Once cooked, take immersion blender and blend carrots in the pot.
  5. Add water to create desired thickness.  I added approximately 1 cup to mine.
  6. Add cheese and spices and blend again.
Voila!  Delish!
I was so proud of the way it turned out that I called my mother and asked her to come over for a taste.  The following is the dialogue from that lovely conversation:
Mom: Ooh, spicy. Very good, but don’t eat too much of this. (as she puts another spoonful in her mouth)

Me: Why? It’s healthy. 

Mom: (pointing to my face) It’s going to make you turn orange!
Me: (shaking my head and smirking)
Mom: (smiling now but trying to be serious) Fine! Don’t listen to your mother.

Garbanzo Turkey Chili

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IMG_0352
Here’s a quick-fix meal I prepared a big pot of for myself this past Sunday.  I have been packing myself leftovers of it for lunch this week.  It’s high in protein, low in fat and super delicious and easy to make. Things like this make it easy to continue to eat healthy despite not getting home until past 8:30pm most nights.  🙂
Ingredients:
  • 1 lb of ground turkey. You can use either 94% lean/ 6% fat blend or ground turkey breast which is 99% lean/ 1% fat.  The turkey breast will be good but dryer.
  • ½ onion chopped, 2 cloves of garlic minced
  • ½ cup of diced carrots
  • ½ cup of diced sweet peppers (optional)
  • 1, 14.5 oz can of diced tomatoes ( I used a “zesty jalapeno” blend)
  • 1, 15.5 oz can of garbanzos drained and rinsed, 1+ cups of chicken broth
  • 1 bay leaf
  • ¼ tsp. garlic powder
  • ¼ tsp. smoked paprika
  • 1/8 tsp. cayenne pepper.
Directions:
  1. In large skillet, heat up 2 tbsps of olive oil.
  2. Saute onions, garlic, carrots and peppers until tender.
  3. Throw in ground turkey and break apart with spoon as it cooks.
  4. Once all the meat is broken apart and cooking, add bay leaf, can of garbanzos and can of diced tomatoes.
  5. Add chicken broth to moisten mixture and to keep ingredients submerged in sauce.
  6. Simmer on low heat for 15-20 minutes to allow seasoning to marry.

Enjoy alone or with some brown rice or tortilla chips! 🙂

May 6th: Green Machine Soup

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green machine soup

 

Today I am grateful for the opportunity to make myself a yummy dinner and relax.  This recipe was inspired by my Spanish co-worker’s quick fix dinner recipe for zucchini soup.  She calls it “Crema de Calabazin” or “Cream of Zucchini.”  I attempted to make it the night she told me about it but made the mistake of making it too thin and watery.  I reattempted it today and added my own touches to make it more nutritious AND amazingly delicious.

Ingredients:

green 8

  • 4 large zucchini
  • 2 large garlic cloves
  • water and vegetable bouillon
  • cube or prepared broth (either chicken or vegetable)
  • 2 oz of soft cheese
  • 1 cup of copped kale
  • ripe avocado for serving

 

 

April 29th: Tortilla Espanola!

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tortilla

Today I’m grateful for the opportunity to cook for someone and enjoy a lovely meal…In Spain a “tortilla” is an omelette, not a flat bread you stuff with beans and rice.  😉 A tortilla espanola is the most traditional and basic of these omelettes which are traditionally served as “tapas” or appetizers.  I make tortillas as my main dish on days that I don’t feel like making meat but want a non-soy source of protein.  Its delicious, easy, quick and impressive looking.

Here’s how I made mine!

Ingredients:

 

 

tortilla 3

  • olive oil
  • 8 eggs beaten and seasoned with salt and pepper
  • 1 large red potato or 1 average sized Idaho potato
  • 1/2 medium yellow onion sliced

Directions:

  1. Slice potato into small pieces and boil in water until tender
  2. in a deep frying pan, sautee sliced onions until translucent
  3. toss in cooked potatoes and lower heat to simmer
  4. pour in eggs and cover.
  5. Cook over low heat covered until bottom of omelette is golden.
  6. Flip and cook on other side until just done.
  7. Enjoy!!

I served mine with simple roasted asparagus and whole wheat baguette… and red wine of course!!

 

Chicken Fajita Salad

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taco salad

Check out what I made from yesterday’s left-overs.  I made chicken fajitas last night and decided that, for lunch, I didn’t want to eat the left-overs wrapped in a tortilla.  Instead, I placed the meat and veggies over lettuce and tomato, used salsa as the dressing and voila!  A healthy, low-fat and super nutritious lunch was served.

Here’s how I made yesterday’s fajitas.

Ingredients:

  • 1 lb chicken tenderloins cut into cubes
  • 1/2 large onion sliced
  • 1 green bell pepper sliced
  • 1 orange, yellow or red bell pepper sliced
  • garlic powder
  • cumin
  • Sazon Goya Complete Latin Seasoning Mix with Saffron
  • cayenne pepper
  • olive oil

Suggested garnish ingredients:

  • 2% milk cheese (Mexican blend)
  • low fat sour cream
  • salsa
  • guacamole
  • shredded lettuce
  • diced tomato
  • whole wheat soft tortillas

Directions:

  1. heat a drizzle of olive oil in large skillet and toss onions and peppers along with desired amount of seasoning until veggies are slightly tender and are a bit charred.
  2. transfer to a plate
  3. using same skillet, heat up another drizzle of oil and cook the cubed chicken tenderloins with desired amount of seasoning
  4. throw both veggies and chicken together in skillet and heat through

Serve family style.  Let everyone fill their whole wheat tortillas as they wish with chicken/veggie mixture and garnishes.

 

Kinda-Cuban Chicken Soup

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I’ve been craving some chicken soup for a little while and today I jumped at the chance to make myself a big ol’ pot of it!  I love all types of chicken soups.  I adore chicken matzo ball soup, traditional american chicken soup with noodles, chicken tortilla soup… but my favorite of all-time has GOT to be my momma’s recipe for Cuban chicken soup.

The reason I have called it “kinda-Cuban” chicken soup in this article is because I omitted the noodles (broken up spaghetti noodles) that are traditionally included in the soup but I can’t stand.  Secondly, I forgot to buy corn which is actually one of my favorite parts of the soup. It was a real bummer to realize this when I got back from the grocery store but the soup turned out pretty good regardless.  I’ll include them in the recipe but I’ll admit to having had a brain fart when I made it for myself this evening.

DSCN5242

Ingredients:

  • 3-4 stalks of celery
  • 3-4 carrots or 1 small bag of baby carrots
  • 1 medium onion
  • 1 medium calabaza pumpkin  (if you can’t find this at your grocery store, use butternut squash like I did today because its not in season)
  • 2 medium pieces of Malanga (this is a traditional Caribbean root vegetable similar to a potato but A LOT more dense.  It can be found in most grocery stores but, if you ABSOLUTELY MUST substitute it, use potatoes.  I’m warning you though…. it just won’t be the same)
  • 2 cobs of corn quartered
  • 2 pounds of skinless dark meat chicken.  (trim off the extra fat)
  • 3 bay leaves
  • 1 envelope of Sazon Goya complete seasoning mix with saffron
  • 2 chicken bouillon cubes

Cuban chicken soup is traditionally enjoyed with a squeeze of lime juice and a side of greasy white rice…. (Cubans are not known to be healthy eaters.)

Or, you can enjoy it my way and enjoy it with a healthy squeeze of lime juice and a few dashes of tabasco sauce! 🙂  Either way, it MUST have a squeeze of lime juice.  It brings out all the flavors and takes the soup to a whole new level of yumminess.

Enjoy!!  What are YOUR favorite types of chicken soup recipes?!  I’d love for you to share!

Ginger Butternut Squash

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pumpkin soup 1

On my way to the grocery store this afternoon, I called my friend Magaly to see how she was doing.  True to her energetic and endearingly quirky way of being, she went into some random tangent about a topic that was completely unrelated but interesting none the less… “How do you make squash soup?  I tried to make it the other day and it was grainy and awful!”

I gave her a quick recap on how I usually make the soup then felt instantly inspired to make and eat some myself tonight!  There are very few ingredients, it contains barely any fat and it is completely vegetarian.  Although I finished making the soup way after I had eaten my steelhead trout dinner, I filled a mug and had treated myself to some on the couch while watching tv.  I also packed myself some for lunch tomorrow.  Yum!!

Ingredients:

  • 2, 12 oz packages of frozen cooked squash
  • 3-4 carrots
  • 3-4 stalks of celery
  • 1/2 large onion or 1 small
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 1 vegetable bouillon cube
  • 1/2 tsp each of garlic powder, ginger and cinnamon
  • 1/4 tsp (or more if you like spice) red cayenne pepper
  • 1/4 tsp turmeric
  • 1/8 tsp ground nutmeg
  • (1 tbsp sugar is optional)

Directions:

The ginger and cayenne give this one a real kick.  Enjoy!

Simple Stir-Fried Sugar Snap Peas

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sugar snap peas

 

See that?!  There’s steam comin’ off of those sugar snap peas.  They were delicious and probably the easiest side dish I could think to make.  Here’s how I did it:

Ingredients:

  • Package of Sugar Snap Peas (wash and take the fibrous tips off)
  • 1-2 tsps of olive oil
  • 2 tbsps. (or to taste) Thai fish sauce
  • 1/4 tsp garlic powder

Directions:

  1. Let the oil get hot
  2. throw in the peas fish sauce and garlic powder
  3. Stir until it gets caramelized on the outside
  4. Eat em’!!

February 19th: Dinner for One

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trout dinner 2

 

Small victory today!  I must share that I am proud of myself for deciding not to just open up a can of garbanzo beans or tuna for dinner.  Although I cook well and have posted several healthy recipes, I must admit that I get tired and lazy sometimes after work and have been known to fix myself quick and healthy, but completely unceremonious things for dinner when I’m feeding only myself.

Today after my run, I stretched, grabbed my keys and purse then headed over to the grocery store all stinky and sweaty before I had any time to get lazy about it.  I bought myself a bunch of veggies and a piece of steelhead trout!  This delicious dinner is the result.

I simply broiled the trout the same way I prepared the salmon from my previous article (see Yumminess page) then made some sugar snap peas and farro as my sides!  Sugar snap peas recipe to follow.

I must say that preparing dinners like these for myself makes me feel like a rockstar…  Its tastier and healthier than eating out! 🙂

February 4th: Dinner and a Movie

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salmon dinner

Today I am grateful for someone to cook dinner for.  I’m pretty good about preparing myself a big pot of something over the weekend and eating it several nights in a row or fixing myself something quick and healthy on the fly after work.  What I DON’T do, however, is make myself any animal proteins when I eat alone.  (unless it comes out of a can, lol)

I acknowledge that this is silly and stupid.  Buying myself a small steak or my own fillet of fish at the grocery store is completely normal and would be a very beneficial to me but… I just don’t do it.  There is something ceremonial about making and eating a more formal meal like that.  I usually reserve that for times when I cook for someone which I LOVE to do.

In my house growing up, dinner was sacred.  No answering phones, no watching TV and no reading at the table.   We took some time to enjoy the meal my mother had lovingly prepared and talk about our day, laugh and enjoy each other’s company.  Thats what dinner is all about… eating something special and enjoying someone’s company while eating it.  On the menu tonight was salmon, broiled broccoli and white rice.  Here’s how I did it…

Salmon:

Ingredients: 

  • Salmon fillet (not steaks)  I find that salmon steaks are more bone and skin than you bargained for.  Figure 6-10 oz of salmon filet per person you are serving.  Trust me, you’ll eat it.
  • Lime or lemon juice (use fresh!! don’t destroy the awesomeness of the fish by dousing it with that GARBAGE they sell in the little lemon-shaped plastic containers)
  • sea salt
  • fresh ground pepper
  • cayenne
  • Optional additions: Onion powder and garlic powder

Instructions:

  1. Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees
  2. line sheet tray with foil
  3. rinse your filet of fish and pat the skin dry as much as possible and lay it skin side down directly on the foil.  This will assure that the skin will stick to the foil and easily slide off the fish.  (don’t have your fish monger take the skin off before hand.  It makes it juicy while cooking.  You just don’t want to eat it because its extra fishy tasting.)
  4. squeeze lime or lemon juice on flesh of fish
  5. season to taste
  6. Place fish in center rack of oven and check after 10 minutes.  Cook to desired temperature.  I like mine cooked through but some enjoy it a little rare in the center.

Broccoli:

Ingredients:

  • broccoli florets
  • olive oil
  • sea salt
  • fresh cracked pepper
  • cayenne (do you see a pattern here?)

Instructions:

  1. Line sheet tray with foil
  2. wash and trim florets to desired size
  3. drizzle with oil
  4. season
  5. roast at 400 degrees (below the fish i the same oven) and shake the tray frequently to make sure that all sides get crunchy.

Enjoy!!!…  Follow it up with a nice bottle of wine and a movie and you’ve got yourself a nice little evening if you ask me 🙂