Chinese Cabbage Salad (for Angela)

 Salad:  (layer in bowl)
1 head cabbage shredded (I'm sure you can get this in a bag in the states, Ang)
bunch green onions chopped
1 pckg Ramen noodles chopped

Dressing: (combine all and boil for one minute)
1/2 cup oil (not olive oil)
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup vinegar
2 TBSP soy sauce

Pour dressing over salad ingredients just before serving.  Toss together and serve immediately.

Vegetable Quiche cups to go

Sorry- I keep forgetting to take pretty pictures of things  (good job, Kendra! ).  I always double this recipe because they freeze well.  This is my south beach breakfast.  Makes me feel healthy just looking at them!

1 pckg (10 oz) frozen chopped spinach (I buy the bag that I think is close to 500 grams so the amount of spinach I used is actually not quite doubled when I double the recipe)

3/4 cup liquid egg substitute (never seen this here so I just crack and beat the eggs until it's the right amount)
3/4 cup reduced fat shredded cheese (I use swiss or mozzarella usually)
diced veggies of choice (I do any combination of onions, bell peppers, tomatoes, garlic and/or mushrooms)
3 drops hot pepper sauce

Drain excess liquid from spinach.  Line muffin pan with foil baking cups.  Combine all ingredients.  Mix well and combine among muffin cups.  Bake at 350 for 20 minutes or until set.  Recipe makes 12.

Three-Cheese Tortellini

5 servings

1 package (7 oz) dried cheese-filled tortellini
¼ c. butter
½ c. chopped bell pepper
2 shallots, finely chopped
1 garlic clove, crushed
¼ c. flour
¼ t. pepper
1 ¾ c. milk
½ c. shredded mozzarella cheese (2 oz)
½ c. shredded Swiss cheese
¼ c. grated Parmesan or Romano cheese

Cook tortellini as directed on package. Drain. Heat butter in 3 qt. saucepan over med heat. Cook bell pepper, shallots and garlic in butter about 3 minutes. Stir in flour and pepper. Cook, stirring constantly, until mixture is bubbly; remove from heat. Stir in milk. Heat to boiling, stirring constantly. Boil and stir 1 minute; remove from heat. Stir in mozzarella and Swiss cheese until melted. Add tortellini and stir until coated. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.

This is another of my 'go to' quick and easy dishes. You can add chicken for those of you whose hubbies refuse to eat vegetarian :) If you want to add more to it but keep it vegetarian try it with red bell pepper and artichoke hearts - yum!

Garbanzo Beans and Vegetables over Couscous

1 T. olive oil
1 med onion, sliced
2 cloves garlic, crushed
2 c. sliced carrots
1 t. ground coriander
1 t vegetable or ckn bouillon granules
½ t. salt
¼ t. tumeric
⅛ t. ground red pepper (cayenne)
2 med zucchini, sliced
1 can (15 oz) garbanzo beans, undrained

Heat oil in 3 qt. saucepan over med-high heat. Saute onion and garlic 3 min. Stir in remaining ingredients. Heat to boiling; reduce heat. Cover and simmer 12-15 min or until vegetables are crisp-tender. Serve over couscous.

Couscous

1 ¾ c. water
⅓ c. raisins
2 T. butter
¼ t. salt
¾ c. uncooked quick-cooking couscous

Heat water, raisins, butter and salt to boiling in 1 qt saucepan. Stir in couscous; cover. Remove from heat and let stand 5 minutes.

This is one of my 'go to' dishes when I'm looking for something quick and easy. And it's super cheap since it's so middle eastern friendly. We usually have leftovers of the topping but not the couscous so you families of 4 could double the couscous to have enough.

Italian Chicken Lentil Soup

serves 6

1 lb boneless skinless chicken thighs
1 med onion, chopped (1/2 cups)
1 med zucchini, chopped (2 cups)
4 med carrots, sliced (2 cups)
1 cup dried lentils, sorted and rinsed
4 1/2 c chicken broth
1/2 t salt
1/4 t pepper
1 c sliced mushrooms
1 can (28oz) diced tomatoes, undrained
1/4 c chopped fresh or 1 T dried basil leaves
Shredded Parmesan cheese, if desired

Remove fat from chicken. In 3 1/2 to 6 quart slow cooker, mix remaining ingredients except mushrooms, tomatoes, basil and cheese. Add chicken.

Cover and cook on Low heat setting for 5-6 hours.

Remove chicken from cooker; place on cutting board. Use 2 forks to pull chicken into shreds. Return chicken to cooker. Stir in mushrooms and tomatoes. Cover and cook on Low heat setting about 15 minutes or until heated through. Sprinkle with basil. Serve with cheese.

This was DELICIOUS! It's been a long time (okay, I've only done it once...) since I've done chicken in the crock pot b/c it was such a disaster the first time I did it. But this soup was amazing. I didn't use shrooms b/c Alex is not a fan. We had a ton of leftovers since it's just the 2 of us.

Mucho Mango Salad

1 ½ ripe mangoes, peeled and cubed

2 T whole milk yogurt

1 T fresh lime juice

1 T orange juice

1 T o.j. concentrate or pineapple concentrate

2 T grated peeled fresh ginger (opt)

½ t fresh coriander

Salt and black pepper

½ c. cubed kiwi

½ c. blueberries

2 c mild baby greens, thick stems removed

2 T chopped macadamia nuts

Lime wedges, for serving

Place about 1/3 of the mango cubes along with the yogurt, lime juice, o.j. concentrate, ginger, if using and coriander in a food processor until smooth. Season the dressing with salt and pepper to taste.

Place the remaining mango cubes, kiwi and blueberries in a large salad bowl, pour the dressing on top and toss to coat evenly. Divide the greens between 2 salad plates, top each with half of the mango salad, then sprinkle the macadamia nuts on top. Serve with lime wedges.

I didn’t use blueberries (can we even get them here??) or lime b/c I didn’t have any. I just cut up the kiwi and mango and put them on the lettuce. Then I poured the dressing over and topped w/ macadamia nuts – delicious! I served it alongside Italian chicken lentil soup.

Jambalaya

This is one of our all time faves, so I was thrilled to see the healthy choice or butterball polish style turkey sausages at tsc.  I think they are like 10,000 for the package, so not too bad...

This is Jason's mom's recipe and it has been one  of our favorites since we got married.

1 cup chopped onion
e cup chopped green pepper
 2 cloves garlic, minced
2 Tbsp oil
1 can tomatoes
1 can rotel
sausage (diced or cut in rounds)
chicken (cooked and shredded or diced)
1 cup rice (I use brown so I always add a little more liquid while cooking)
1 1/2 cups chicken broth (probably 2, maybe more, if brown rice)
1 tsp salt
1 TBSP parsley
other spices of choice (if I have a cajun seasoning of some sort I use that, sometimes i add oregano, thyme, whatever I feel like)

Saute onions, pepper and sausage in oil.  Add all other ingredients. Cover, cook on low until most liquid absorbed (adding more if needed if rice not tender).  Usually cooks about 30 minutes.  Enjoy!  We usually have with cornbread and slaw or salad

Crock pot tortilla soup

Here's another quick, easy and healthy one girls...


Combine the following in crock pot and cook on low 10-12 hours or on high for 6 hours:

2 chicken breasts, boned and cubed (raw)
1 can corn
1 onion, diced
1/2 tsp garlic powder (or diced fresh garlic)
4 cups chicken broth
 8 oz tomato paste
can rotel tomatoes (when I can't find that I either used diced fresh tomatoes with some shakes of green tabasco or a can of regular tomatoes and a can of green chilies- if I can find that)
1 tsp salt
2 tsp cumin
1 tsp chili powder
1/8 tsp black pepper
1/8 tsp red pepper
1 bay leaf
(it's not called for in the original recipe but I usually add either a can of black beans if I have it or a can of refried beans)

Serve with shredded cheese, labneh and crumbled tortilla chips

German Pizza

I had completely forgotten about this recipe until Jason reminded me of it last week when I was having a "I have no idea what to cook for dinner" moment at almost 6 at night.  It's so quick and easy and cheap.  It might not be the healthiest thing in the world but it goes great with salad.    This is Jason's moms recipe and it's one of those that I'm not completely sure of the amounts of ingredients- you just kind of have to eyeball it.  I make two for our family- one in my large tefal skillet and one in the smaller one.

First, you slice potatoes (I did three medium sized) into thin rounds (like for home fries).  Also dice onions and peppers.  Put a small amount of oil in the bottom of skillet and heat over medium flame.  Layer the potatoes in the bottom of the pan (2-3 layers) building up slightly around the edges.  This will be the crust.  Sprinkle diced onions and peppers over potatoes.  Cover pan and let cook until potatoes tender and beginning to brown on the bottom (around 10 minutes).

Once the veggies are tender, sprinkle meat of choice on top.  I've been using those healthy choice turkey polish sausages that TSC has.  You can also use lunch meat chopped up like turkey or ham. I think the original recipe called for diced ham.  Anyway, put the meat on.  Then beat eggs for each pan (I think I used 4 in the big  pan and 3 in the small).  Pour beaten eggs over meat then top with shredded cheese (swiss is best).  Put the top back on and let it cook for another 10 minutes or so until the eggs are set.   The potatoes on the very bottom will get pretty brown and crispy like a crust.

I don't put all the veggies on the one for the girls:

You can do all sorts of variations with this especially when it comes to the veggies and meat- different color peppers, mushrooms, various fresh herbs add a nice touch.  Also I've used bacon instead of ham.  Another thing you can do is add more cheese at different layers.  Like sometimes I add cheese between the layers of potatoes.    Enjoy!

Yummy Chicken (or beef) Marinade

This is a great and healthy marinade that I found.  You don't have to marinade the chicken for a long time and still end up with a great flavor.  Last time I did it the chicken only marinaded for about an hour and it still tasted great.  I use chicken breasts and cut them into smallish tenderloin size pieces.  You can then grill the chicken or cook in skillet in a small amount of olive oil.  Also, you can boil the leftover marinade and then use it to baste the meat while cooking.

1/4 cup vegetable oil (I think I used olive oil)
1/4 cup red wine vinegar (I used balsamic)
1/4 cup lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1/2 tsp dried thyme
1/2 tsp pepper
(I think I might have added some garlic as well although that's not in the original recipe)