So, I'm trying to cook more, so we don't do things like get pizza, or anything silly like that. Or subsist on pb&js. Here are two things that might make it into rotation.
Chicken "Cacciatore"
- 1 huge boneless skinless chicken breast, diced (about 12oz)
- 1 15 oz can diced tomatoes, no salt added
- 1 8 oz can tomato sauce
- 1/2 onion, slivered
- 3 cloves garlic
- Italian Herbs
- Fresh ground pepper
- Crushed red pepper flakes
- Salt, to taste, when finished.
Throw the onion slivers in the crockpot. Toss the diced tomatoes, garlic in. Add the chicken breast. Top with the herbs and peppers. Add the tomato sauce. Cook on low for 6-8 hrs. Season to taste when done. Serve with breadsticks, garlic bread, pasta, etc. Made 3+ servings. Ate the leftovers for lunch today.
"Salsa Chicken"
- stolen off a message board:
- 1 huge chicken breast (see above), diced
- 1 jar salsa (roughly, i tossed in the remainder of one jar and a splash of another)
- 1 can corn, drained
- 1 can beans, drained (can be pinto or black bean)
Combine all, with the corn on the bottom, and the salsa on top. Cook on ow for 6-8 hour. Enjoy as is, with tortillas, or with tortilla chips. Its almost like a ridiculously easy chicken chili.
Its kind of weird, it seems like ground beef used to be the cheaper animal protein, but I regularly find chicken breast for like half the price. These are both very cheap, very easy, and while not the quickest in the world, the active prep time is pretty minimal. Especially if chicken's on sale and you process (dice!), separate, and freeze or fridge.
Showing posts with label dairy-free. Show all posts
Showing posts with label dairy-free. Show all posts
Thursday, October 1, 2009
Thursday, August 13, 2009
Grilled Marinated Veggies
Grilled veggies are great to have in the fridge. They are easy to bring out when you have people over, easy to snack on, and pretty healthy. Also, its quick to make up a bunch for the week.
Here's what I did the first time around:
veggies cut into 1/2" slices. (used 1 onion, 1 green pepper, 1 red pepper, 2 zucchinis, 1 carrot the first time around)
half olive oil / half balsamic vinegar. salt & pepper
In a shallow tray, lay the veggies out in flat layers, salting and peppering each layer lightly. Mix the olive oil and balsamic til emulsified. Pour over the veggies, stirring them around slightly to get everything touching it. Let sit for at least a half hour, preferably more. Stir around every so often to make sure things are getting the marinade.
When ready to grill, turn your grill on high to med-high. Lay the veggies our in a single layer, until nice and done on each side. Put back in the marinade when done. I liked to cook vegetables with similar cooking times together Like onions with peppers, zucchini with carrots. Also, might be handy to use a nifty grill pan if you have one. Our grill is gas with odd grates that are filled in directly over the burner, so it made it really easy for the small veggies like carrots.
Anyway! Enjoy quick munching :D
Next time, I may use the giant squash from my parents' neighbor. And maybe eggplant. And red peppers were cheap so I have a few of those to use :D Oh and maybe chop a clove or two of garlic for the marinade.
Here's what I did the first time around:
veggies cut into 1/2" slices. (used 1 onion, 1 green pepper, 1 red pepper, 2 zucchinis, 1 carrot the first time around)
half olive oil / half balsamic vinegar. salt & pepper
In a shallow tray, lay the veggies out in flat layers, salting and peppering each layer lightly. Mix the olive oil and balsamic til emulsified. Pour over the veggies, stirring them around slightly to get everything touching it. Let sit for at least a half hour, preferably more. Stir around every so often to make sure things are getting the marinade.
When ready to grill, turn your grill on high to med-high. Lay the veggies our in a single layer, until nice and done on each side. Put back in the marinade when done. I liked to cook vegetables with similar cooking times together Like onions with peppers, zucchini with carrots. Also, might be handy to use a nifty grill pan if you have one. Our grill is gas with odd grates that are filled in directly over the burner, so it made it really easy for the small veggies like carrots.
Anyway! Enjoy quick munching :D
Next time, I may use the giant squash from my parents' neighbor. And maybe eggplant. And red peppers were cheap so I have a few of those to use :D Oh and maybe chop a clove or two of garlic for the marinade.
Sunday, June 28, 2009
Quick and Easy Gazpacho
I think I'm going to attempt to keep gazpacho around for the summer. This version is quick, easy, fairly inexpensive, etc etc. And healthy. It is tomato juice based, with two eggs and a dollop of olive oil included. No bread. I think I could eat this with every meal no problem. And its quite filling and definitely versatile. Oh! And a poached egg makes it all creamy and even better for a quick meal.
I portioned this out, and it lasts decently long. Anyway, here goes!
1 quart tomato juice (store brands would be fine, as would just about any combination of tomato sauce & water, tomato puree & water, and tomato paste & water)
1/4 - 1/2 red onion
2-3 cloves garlic
1 small cucumber or 1/2 large one, ~1/4" dice
1 bell pepper, ~1/4' dice
handful of jalapeno stuffed olives, minced
2 hard boiled eggs
1 tbsp olive oil
salt & pepper to taste
1. Finely mince / grate / process in a food processor, the red onion and garlic. Combine with the tomato juice.
2. Separate the eggs. Combine the yolks and olive oil into a paste. Mix into the tomato juice.
3. Finely dice all of the vegetables and the egg white. Add to the juice.
4. Stir, season to taste, enjoy!
Makes about 6x ~8oz portion.
Nutrition: 89 calories, 4.2g fat, 10.9g carbs, 7.7g sugar, 1.5g fiber, 3.7g protein
Vitamins: A 30%, C 95%, Calcium 4%, Iron 7%
I portioned this out, and it lasts decently long. Anyway, here goes!
1 quart tomato juice (store brands would be fine, as would just about any combination of tomato sauce & water, tomato puree & water, and tomato paste & water)
1/4 - 1/2 red onion
2-3 cloves garlic
1 small cucumber or 1/2 large one, ~1/4" dice
1 bell pepper, ~1/4' dice
handful of jalapeno stuffed olives, minced
2 hard boiled eggs
1 tbsp olive oil
salt & pepper to taste
1. Finely mince / grate / process in a food processor, the red onion and garlic. Combine with the tomato juice.
2. Separate the eggs. Combine the yolks and olive oil into a paste. Mix into the tomato juice.
3. Finely dice all of the vegetables and the egg white. Add to the juice.
4. Stir, season to taste, enjoy!
Makes about 6x ~8oz portion.
Nutrition: 89 calories, 4.2g fat, 10.9g carbs, 7.7g sugar, 1.5g fiber, 3.7g protein
Vitamins: A 30%, C 95%, Calcium 4%, Iron 7%
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Chicken Cacciatore - bastardized
So I've gained about 5 lbs since my dear lovey sister moved down. That, on top of the 5 lbs through the holidays, means I'm really not happy with where I am right now. Granted, I'm still sub-135, but not quite fitting into clothes is not where I'd like to be.
So! I decided now is as good of a time as any to attempt a gluten-free, dairy-free trial run. The fact that I'll be eating more whole vegetables, no bread/pasta and no candy should help me get back to where I ought to be without going crazy about dieting. An all around healthier situation should probably make me feel better too. Possibly make my body feel alive sometime before 10am even?
Anyway. This recipe was adapted quite a bit from a old diet cookbook I picked up at the used bookstore downtown a while back. It has daily menus for about a year of 600 calorie days. Damn, right? Anyway, it says itself that no one should really go to those extremes unless on Dr's orders, and how the fat lil old lady it was originally designed for was sedentary and seeing her Dr once a week and all that. And that its easy to scale. Either with additions (particularly at breakfast where it has a list of items to add and the calories they'd add) or simple multiplication (you want 1200 per day? eat 2 servings!). That's all besides the point though. There are quite a few recipes in there that I'm probably going to modify. They tend to be heavy handed with vegetables, moderate on meat, and nearly nil on grains.
So! Here's the bastardized version of chicken cacciatore:
1 tbsp olive oil
1.5 lb chicken thighs (note, i removed fat first. they were boneless and skinless to begin with)
2 big cloves of garlic, minced
1/4 large red onion, diced
1 28 oz can tomatoes (diced here, cause its what i had)
4 oz tomato paste
3/4 cup chicken broth (using better than bouillon which has wheybut has no gluten containing ingredients that i could discern confirmed gluten free)
1 tsp olive oil
7 oz cremini mushrooms, sliced (from an 8oz package that my sister ate about an ounce or so of)
s&p
'italian herbs'
1. Heat the tablespoon of olive oil in a non-reactive heavy pan large enough to hold everything. I used a wok. Attempt to brown the thighs (please note that i'm terrible at this. however, all the bits that stuck to the bottom ended up helping the sauce a lot). S&P as you go. Set aside
2. Toss the onion into the pan, stir about until they start to lose the red color. Toss in the garlic. Cook a minute or two.
3. Add about half a cup of the chicken broth. Use a whisk to get the good browned bits off the bottom of the pan.
4. Return the thighs, add the tomatoes, paste and herbs. Simmer for about an hour or so? Stirring occasionally.
5. In a small pan, heat the additional 1 teaspoon of olive oil. Add the mushrooms and a dash of salt. Cook through, then add to the sauce. Stir in. Simmer a bit longer.
6. Remove from heat.
Since I used 7 chicken thighs, I separated it into seven servings. Each got 1 thigh, then I added spoonfuls of sauce roughly evenly around until it was gone. I ate it on its own, but would be good over zucchini cut into long strips and blanched, spaghetti squash, rice, etc. Or pasta, if that suits you. :D
Nutrition facts per serving:
257 cal, 11g fat, 8g carbs, 4g sugar, 2g fiber, 29g protein
Today, I ate a serving with a over easy egg on top and it was pretty good. I shredded the thigh before putting the egg in. Its also a pretty cheap meal what with finding things on sale and chicken thighs being pretty cheap.
So! I decided now is as good of a time as any to attempt a gluten-free, dairy-free trial run. The fact that I'll be eating more whole vegetables, no bread/pasta and no candy should help me get back to where I ought to be without going crazy about dieting. An all around healthier situation should probably make me feel better too. Possibly make my body feel alive sometime before 10am even?
Anyway. This recipe was adapted quite a bit from a old diet cookbook I picked up at the used bookstore downtown a while back. It has daily menus for about a year of 600 calorie days. Damn, right? Anyway, it says itself that no one should really go to those extremes unless on Dr's orders, and how the fat lil old lady it was originally designed for was sedentary and seeing her Dr once a week and all that. And that its easy to scale. Either with additions (particularly at breakfast where it has a list of items to add and the calories they'd add) or simple multiplication (you want 1200 per day? eat 2 servings!). That's all besides the point though. There are quite a few recipes in there that I'm probably going to modify. They tend to be heavy handed with vegetables, moderate on meat, and nearly nil on grains.
So! Here's the bastardized version of chicken cacciatore:
1 tbsp olive oil
1.5 lb chicken thighs (note, i removed fat first. they were boneless and skinless to begin with)
2 big cloves of garlic, minced
1/4 large red onion, diced
1 28 oz can tomatoes (diced here, cause its what i had)
4 oz tomato paste
3/4 cup chicken broth (using better than bouillon which has whey
1 tsp olive oil
7 oz cremini mushrooms, sliced (from an 8oz package that my sister ate about an ounce or so of)
s&p
'italian herbs'
1. Heat the tablespoon of olive oil in a non-reactive heavy pan large enough to hold everything. I used a wok. Attempt to brown the thighs (please note that i'm terrible at this. however, all the bits that stuck to the bottom ended up helping the sauce a lot). S&P as you go. Set aside
2. Toss the onion into the pan, stir about until they start to lose the red color. Toss in the garlic. Cook a minute or two.
3. Add about half a cup of the chicken broth. Use a whisk to get the good browned bits off the bottom of the pan.
4. Return the thighs, add the tomatoes, paste and herbs. Simmer for about an hour or so? Stirring occasionally.
5. In a small pan, heat the additional 1 teaspoon of olive oil. Add the mushrooms and a dash of salt. Cook through, then add to the sauce. Stir in. Simmer a bit longer.
6. Remove from heat.
Since I used 7 chicken thighs, I separated it into seven servings. Each got 1 thigh, then I added spoonfuls of sauce roughly evenly around until it was gone. I ate it on its own, but would be good over zucchini cut into long strips and blanched, spaghetti squash, rice, etc. Or pasta, if that suits you. :D
Nutrition facts per serving:
257 cal, 11g fat, 8g carbs, 4g sugar, 2g fiber, 29g protein
Today, I ate a serving with a over easy egg on top and it was pretty good. I shredded the thigh before putting the egg in. Its also a pretty cheap meal what with finding things on sale and chicken thighs being pretty cheap.
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