Friday, January 09, 2015

more food, more fun



All right clean eaters club, here are some ideas for the week ahead. You'll see a mix of links and recipes and a download/printable shopping list at the end if you'd like. I'm just throwing out ideas. A few pretty pictures. We're in it for the pictures, right?


BRUNCH IDEAS FOR THE WEEKEND
Banana-Buckwheat Pancakes

Veggie-Feta Quichlettes (make after milking almonds)
6 servings; each serving 285 cal. A bit high in fat, but the good fat (mostly). Low carb. UPDATED

Almond Meal Crust:
  • 1 3/4 cup almond meal
  • 1/4 cup unsweetened almond milk
  • 1/2 tablespoon olive oil
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 tablespoon fresh sage, chopped (optional)

Vegetable Filling:
  • 5 large eggs (or 6 medium), whisked
  • 3/4 cups unsweetened almond milk
  • 1/2 cup feta (or ricotta) cheese
  • 1 cup Swiss chard, rinsed and chopped
  • 1/3 cup orange pepper (or other sweet peppers)
  • 2 tablespoons red onion, chopped
  • 3 garlic cloves, pressed or minced
  • pinch salt 
  • 1 tablespoon fresh basil, chopped 
  • grated nutmeg (optional)
  1. Preheat oven to 400ºF. Grease a 12-cup muffin pan or line it with silicone baking cups.
  2. In a medium-sized bowl, mix together all the ingredients for the crust until you get a wet, crumbly dough.
  3. Divide the dough evenly among the 12 muffin cups, and press the dough firmly into the bottom of each cup.
  4. Bake the dough for about 10-12 minutes, until the edges of the dough start to brown.
  5. While the dough is baking, mix all the ingredients for the filling in a medium-sized bowl.
  6. Once the quiche crusts have been baked, remove them from the oven and reduce the heat down to 375ºF.
  7. Pour the filling evenly onto the baked crusts.
  8. Bake for about 20-25 minutes, or until the eggs are cooked and the filling is firm to touch.
  9. Let the quiches cool before removing them from the muffin pan to ensure that the crust does not crumble. Grate fresh nutmeg over them.  





OTHER BREAKFAST RECIPES
Piña-colada smoothie
Fill a 2-cup measure with ¼ mango; ¼ pineapple chunks; ¼ frozen coconut (cut off of a popsicle); ¼ almond milk. Blend. Yum! (add whey protein powder if you want – for after a workout)

Curried eggs [ or tofu] (4 servings)
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 medium onion/diced
½ small jalapeño pepper, seeded and minced
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tsp ginger root, minced
¼ tsp coriander
¼ tsp cayenne pepper
1 Tablespoon cilantro, minced
8 eggs [package of drained tofu cut into cubes]
Heat oil in a skillet and add the onion and pepper. Saute for 5 minutes then add garlic, ginger, spices and cilantro, saute another minute. Add eggs [tofu] and stir until done. Serve with whole grain toast/fruit-first jam.

Breakfast tacos (2 servings)
4 tortillas
½ pound ground turkey
½ yellow onion
Peppers of choice
4 oz feta
Fistful of cilantro, minced
Squeeze of lime
Dash of cayenne pepper and white pepper
Pinch of salt
1 Tablespoon canola oil

Preheat oven to 400°
Saute the onions and peppers in oil, add spices
Meanwhile, place tortillas on baking tray, sprinkle feta and place in preheated oven. Watch closely
Assemble meat mixture on tortillas once they’re golden brown and the cheese is ever-so-slightly melted/toasted




LUNCH IDEAS
Here’s what I’ve settled on 3 X week (it’s slightly more than 300 calories if you toast up a small slice of bread with it)

Rotisserie/lettuce/pom-mango-cashew Salad
2 – 3 oz rotisserie chicken breast meat
3 fistfuls of lettuce
¼ cup chopped mango
2 Tablespoons pom seeds
2 Tablespoons chopped cashews
1 ½ Tablespoons Suzy’s Salad Dressing (60 calories)

French Lentil Salad (I made one for lunch recently. It was great! – Buy the ready to eat lentils at Trader Joes!)

DINNER IDEAS
Tilapia Tacos

pan-toasting quinoa
Quinoa Corn Kale Fritter Cakes (makes 4 servings)
¾ c quinoa (toasted for 5 minutes in 1 Tablespoon canola oil)
1 ½ c water
½ cup frozen corn
1 cup kale (chopped)
2 Tablespoons minced minced onions
2 eggs (beaten to within an inch of their lives)
¼ cup buckwheat or other flour
½ cup green onions, chopped
½ tsp white pepper
1 tsp salt
Canola oil as needed
Add the water to the toasted quinoa, bring to boil, cover and simmer 12 minutes
Transfer to large bowl and mix in frozen corn to cool
Meanwhile, blend the kale and minced onions in a food processor (or immersion blender)
Mix blended stuff with eggs and flour and salt/pepper
Combine with quinoa mixture and make the batter
These should resemble fritter/pancakes when you fry them.

Tuna Steak seared two ways
It’s Jamie Oliver!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8liwbhzihU4

Spicy Tofu w/ Broccoli

I love watching and listening to Sanjeev Kapoor https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t_QNVGDMK58

Red Beans and Rice
I love this video – it shows the step-by-step method: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7h6rnVvuSP8
Note: use tofu or ground turkey instead of the sausage for healthier outcome


Whew, what are you making for dinner this weekend? I’m probably going to take the weekend off from the blog, but would love to hear how it’s going with you!

7 comments:

  1. YUM!!!! i'm doing that cashew salad for sure.

    one of my favorite clean eating/easy to make meals is sliced sweet potatoes brushed with virgin olive oil and peppered under the broilder. when they start to brown slightly, I flip them and add more pepper and then some sea salt. Also, once i flip them, i add some shrimp marinated in an olive oil and herb mixture under the broiler.

    while those things broil, I chop up an avocado, red onion, mango, some cilantro, with lime juice and salt and pepper.

    i dump the shrimp on the mango-guac mixture with sweet potatoes on the side.

    so good.

    i also do an egg frittata with three eggs but only use one of the yolks. i saute whatever veggies i have with a little butter and olive oil, then add the egg mixture and bake. sometimes, if i have it, i'll add shrimp or turkey sausage. it's best topped w/ guacamole and/or halved golden tiny tomatoes with a little mediterranean olive oil. (i eat this for breakfast, lunch and dinner)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You're making that in JT, right????? Yum! Heavenly!!

      Delete
    2. fo show

      also, i cannot freakin' WAIT!!! we're so, so close!

      Delete
  2. Anonymous12:13 PM

    Testing the waters here - many of you have noted that your comments disappear after posting, so I'm using a different browser and signing in as the Empress (wordpress) to troubleshoot!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Jeez. That's a lot of work just to post a comment. Anyone familiar with a good wordpress identity/blogger post workaround?

      Delete
    2. Anonymous8:15 PM

      I don't know of a workaround, but I've had problems with almost every Blogger site at one time or another. I don't see the same issues with Wordpress, and it was super easy to switch over when I did it years ago. You might give it a try.

      (Case in point: This is my third attempt at a comment. Bummer!)

      Delete
    3. You are such a tenacious dear! I might just do that - but it may be a bit trickier because this blogger blog is already embedded in my wordpress site. I'll see if I can do it.

      I hate technology!

      Delete

Thanks for commenting. If you have trouble posting a comment, let me know! suzyvitello@gmail.com