No Cook Dinner - Cheese, Cracker and Veggie Tray

It's a Monday and maybe you have a fridge full of groceries ready to go for the week, or maybe, you didn't have time for that this weekend and you're just not feeling like cooking tonight.  Enter the No Cook Dinner idea!  This was my actual dinner the other night because I was just feeling a little lazy and didn't want to mess with any pots or pans.  As much as I love being in the kitchen and cooking, sometimes there are days or nights when I just want to get something on a plate and kick back with the DVR.

I had all these ingredients in my fridge and put them together on a plate and called it a night! Obviously there is no real recipe here...you can pick and choose whatever you like. You can also do a smaller version for a snack during the day, or use this for an easy lunch at the office.

My plate was a mix of vegetables, healthy fats, carbs and proteins.  The dip in the middle is my favorite store bought find for a "ranch" style dip.  It's a brand called Bolthouse Farms and this is their Classic Ranch Yogurt Dressing.  It's the best version I've found that is not loaded with a bunch of added sugar or artificial ingredients and still tastes delicious!  If you want to try it out, you can find it in the refrigerated section of the produce department at your grocery store.

Make your own plate and feel free to add what YOU like...maybe carrots instead of cucumber, rice crackers instead of Triscuits, mozzarella cheese instead of cheddar, add some pepperoni to the plate...go crazy and enjoy putting together dinner in just a couple minutes!

How to Freeze Leftover Fresh Herbs

I spent some time a couple weekends ago doing some major freezer meal prep in order to have some healthy home cooked meals on hand for after our baby is born (2 weeks or less!) I know I may not have the time and energy to cook something from scratch in the midst of learning how to handle a newborn, so I wanted to stock the freezer with some meals we can just reheat and enjoy.  In the process, I wound up with a bunch of fresh herbs and there are always leftovers.  I hate just throwing them away but I never use them all in a single recipe so I came up with this way of saving them for future use.

Simple as a couple of ice cube trays, some melted butter and/or EVOO and chopped herbs! I had thyme, sage and parsley leftover.  I just chopped the herbs up, put them into the ice cube trays and covered them with a mix of melted butter and extra virgin olive oil. Into the freezer they go and now they're ready to use for any future cooking where I need to add some herbs.  This can be something like a chicken noodle soup or even sauteeing some veggies in a pan.  Just pop out the amount of herb cubes I need and toss into a hot pan or pot.  Added flavor and I'm not throwing away the money I spent on the fresh herbs!

My goal is to start growing my own little herb garden so I can just use what I need for a particular recipe, but until that happens, I'll buy them at the store and save the leftovers this way.

PRO TIP: If you don't think you'll recognize what herb you froze in the trays themselves, you can freeze them in batches and then transfer them into a Ziploc freezer bag and label what the herb was (parsley, sage, thyme, etc.)

4 Ingredient General Tso Noodle Bowl

It's getting towards the end of the week and you may have some leftovers you're trying to use up or you may just be looking for something super simple but still nutritious and easy. Say hello to my 4 ingredient General Tso Bowl!  This was a recipe born out of my desire to use up some random leftovers in the fridge.  It was a week night and I was looking in the fridge for something quick and easy to make.  Then I spotted the following four ingredients, leftover and sitting in my fridge...all cooked up and ready to go, just waiting for me to give them new life:

• Whole wheat spaghetti
• Roasted broccoli
• Baked chicken
• Half a jar of General Tso sauce

Boom...dinner plan done!

I simply took the following quick steps and had dinner on the table for us in about five minutes.

• Heat a skillet over medium/medium high on the stove top, with a drizzle of olive oil.
• Chop baked chicken into bite sized pieces.
• Add the chicken, broccoli and spaghetti to the pan to heat through, a couple of minutes.
• Add the General Tso sauce and stir to combine and heat through, about three minutes.
• Serve and enjoy!

Bonus Ingredient: Sesame seeds!  I had black ones in the pantry so I sprinkled those on top for fun, but that's totally optional.

Simple food makes for a happy life. 

Chili Two Ways

Last week we had some unusual winter weather in Florida, with lows in the 40's overnight, which was perfect weather to enjoy some chili.  I love making a big batch of chili to start the week off.  Even though I'm only cooking for my husband and myself, I'll still make a huge pot of chili and it's enough for multiple lunches and meals throughout the week.  It makes a busy work week so much easier in terms of getting something healthy and delicious on the table.  I also usually freeze a portion of it for an easy meal weeks later.

Chili is also one of the best ways I know how to get a big punch of vegetables in one easy bowl.  I never make the same exact batch of chili every time but my chili does tend to follow some basics.  It always includes the following:

• Some sort of protein (usually chicken, ground turkey or beans)
• Vegetables (whatever I have to use up around the house or whatever is on sale/in season...this version had mushrooms, bell peppers, zucchini, onions, corn and serrano peppers)
• Liquids (I always add some tomato sauce, chicken stock and/or water and fire roasted tomatoes)
• Spices (cumin, coriander, cayenne, chili powder, paprika and sometimes even some cajun seasoning)
• Fun toppings (freshly shredded sharp cheddar cheese, avocado, sour cream, crunchy bits of tortilla chips, scallions, Greek yogurt)

I enjoyed several meals from this batch of chili, and it's delicious each time, but it's nice to make it feel "different" if I'm eating it several times in a week, whether that means I mix up my toppings or how I serve it.  The top picture was a beautiful bowl of chili that I topped with cheese, sour cream, avocado and crushed tortilla chips.  The picture below was a new idea I had to serve it over a baked sweet potato.  Yum!

You can use this as inspiration for your own favorite chili recipe.  Mix up the basics I listed above and see what combination you find that you enjoy.  After all, variety is the spice of life!

Roasted Vegetables with Ricotta

It's Sunday night and we lost an hour to the day so we're keeping things real simple tonight, even though I do love this time of year and the longer days. :)

Food doesn't need to be complicated, expensive or fancy.  It just needs to taste good. Bonus points if you're getting some good nutrition in as well!  Tonight's dinner is a perfect example of that.  Toss some roasted vegetables into a bowl and garnish with a couple dollops of ricotta cheese...done!  I have some healthy fat, protein and vegetables all in one bowl.  Prep is easy, cooking is easy and clean up is easy!

There's barely a "recipe" to this but the basic process is below.

Ingredients:

• Whole milk ricotta cheese (Just do it...the whole fat stuff is more satisfying than low fat which means you don't need to eat as much!)
• Vegetables - whichever combination you prefer.  For tonight I did asparagus, onion, zucchini and cherry tomatoes.
• EVOO
• Seasonings (whatever blend you like...I kept it simple and just used salt, pepper and garlic salt for this)

Instructions:

• Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
• For easy cleanup, line a baking sheet with aluminum foil or parchment paper.
• Prep any veggies that may need slicing/dicing/etc.  
• I put the cherry tomatoes and asparagus on the baking sheet whole.
• Peel and slice the onion.
• Peel (or wash the skin and leave it on) the zucchini and slice into half moons or discs or whatever shape you like.
• Season veggies with EVOO and your choice of seasonings.
• Roast in oven until done...I like mine a little soft but not mushy, with some good brown color on them.  Takes about 15-20 minutes depending on how you like your veggies and how small or large you chopped the pieces.
• Serve in a bowl alongside a couple small scoops of the ricotta cheese.
• Enjoy!

Granola Banana Snack

It's a Monday so let's keep things simple and quick today!  This was a snack I made up for an afternoon pick-me-up at the office.  Three basic ingredients...banana, almond butter and homemade granola or trail mix (whatever you want to call it).

This granola/trail mix was just a combo of items I had in my pantry that I thought would taste good together.

• Raisins
• Cheerios
• Pepitas (pumpkin seeds)
• Crushed up honey oat granola bar
• A few M&M's
• Chopped up dark chocolate

Slather a banana with almond butter and stick the granola on.  Eat it with a fork and enjoy this salty sweet treat!  I ate this for an afternoon snack but it could easily be a quick breakfast as well.  You've got fruit, healthy fats and protein all working together for a simple and delicious combo.

This is barely a "recipe" and what's great is you can make this however YOU like!  Not a fan of almond butter...go for the classic peanut butter (creamy or crunchy) or maybe some cashew butter?  How about walnuts or almonds in your granola or sunflower seeds instead of pumpkin seeds?  Maybe some toasted coconut or other dried fruit?  The combinations are endless and completely up to you!

Green Smoothie

This smoothie came about in an unexpected way.  My husband and I were on an airplane and I was reading my Rachael Ray Every Day magazine.  Ryan happened to notice this super simple recipe for a tropical green smoothie and said we should try it out when we got home.  This was a surprise coming from my husband who is not always the biggest fan of veggies but I was on board to try something new!

Original recipe can be found HERE.

Now, to be honest, I have never been a fan of green smoothies.  I always thought they tasted like grass from the backyard and it was just not my thing.  But I decided to give this one a try, especially since Ryan was willing to try it out as well.  I figured the fruit would help balance the "green."  Well, imagine my surprise when this turned out to be DELISH!  We have made this many times over since first trying it and I've even experimented with different ingredients.  All of them are easy and taste great and the best thing is it's such a simple way to get a big serving of fruits and veggies!

You can see in the two photos above, the ingredients are slightly different.  These are just a couple of my different variations I give to the smoothie depending on what we have on hand.

PRO TIP: The blueberries are delicious but they will turn the smoothie a rather unappetizing color of brownish green.  I usually leave those out now just because I love the clean green color so much.

Ingredients:
These can vary based on my mood and what's in the kitchen.  You can use these but it's also delicious with even less ingredients.  The original recipe linked above is pretty simple and a good place to start.  This morning I used the following combo:

• OJ, about 1 cup
• Pineapple (instead of fresh I use a canned version that's more affordable, depending on time of year, and that's packed in it's own juices...no added sugar!)
• Chia seeds, about a Tbsp.
• Mint leaves
• Ginger (the dried stuff from the spice aisle is fine but if you have fresh feel free to use it!)
• Red gala apple, chopped
• Carrots, chopped
• Walnuts, small handful
• Avocado, half or whole depending on size and how big of a smoothie I'm making
• Frozen banana slices, roughly 1 banana
• Spinach, as much as I can pack in at the top of the blender
• Ice
• Blend!

* I like mine a bit thicker consistency and I drink it with a straw.  If you want yours less thick, add more liquid like OJ or pineapple juice or even water.

* I've also used baby kale as my "greens" and it's equally delicious.

PRO TIP: We used to have a cheap blender and about a year ago I finally invested in a Vitamix.  Life. Changer.  I bought ours from QVC during the holidays and they sold me with the 6 monthly "easy payments."  It was much more doable to charge $60 to my credit card each month rather than the full $400.00.  I know, I know.  $400 for a blender?! Insane but so worth it if you use it often.  This baby is used all the time in our house and it makes super quick work of everything I stuff in there.

This smoothie doesn't need to be expensive.  I stock up on organic greens when they're on sale but otherwise I'll buy the non-organic stuff, no biggie.  I also have tried it with frozen chopped spinach when the fresh is not on sale.  A big savings there!  Canned pineapple when fresh is not on sale, mint from a more affordable produce store, etc.

I hope you'll be adventurous and try this out for yourself!  I was not a believer of any green drink, except for my green tea, and now I drink this at least 3 times a week.  I make it any time of day...it actually makes for a nutritious and filling dinner if you don't feel like cooking. The best part is it's very easy to customize to your taste...you can tinker with the ingredients until you find a combo you enjoy!