So simple. So yummy. I find that the key really is to season my food properly, but I am a veggie lover all the way, so they don’t need much for me. The chicken adds even more fantastically filling protein and tasty fat. I had a skinless chicken breast already roasted in the fridge, but this would be a great meal for a rotisserie chicken or really any leftovers. If you are starting from scratch, I roast chicken breasts, that I usually season the night before with salt and pepper, in the Ninja at Bake/400 degrees for about 15 minutes. Cooking time will, obviously, depend on the thickness, but I take the internal temp to 165 degrees and then let them rest for at least 10 minutes before I slice them…or whatever it is I might be doing with them.
Before
After
As always, substitute in your favorite products, but I have taken gluten, dairy, and added sugar out of my diet for a month. Even when I am not restricting gluten, it turns out that I enjoy a lot of the “pasta” products that have come out recently. It’s not because I think that pasta is “bad” or I shouldn’t eat it, but because I love the extra bang for my buck that I get in the protein department with some of them. A word of caution for any beginners…I have given many a lecture about pasta replacements that go something like this, “Please, accept this food for what it is. You will be disappointed if you think that what you are about to eat is comparable to semolina pasta, but you may decide you really like it if you let it stand alone.” Now that I have gotten that noodley bit caveat out of the way…. My favorite of the bunch on the market these days are the Chickapea brand products. I love all of their shapes and the noodles cook really fast, which means that I can still reap all the time saving benefits of a box of pasta. You also get all the other benefits. They are reasonably priced, shelf stable, and they have a little selection of shapes to keep it interesting. They are a huge part of my rotation these days. 🙂
I eat so many versions of this salad that I decided I would add the date to the title. Do you have a salad that you can eat every week…sometimes twice a week…and not get tired of it? This is mine. Anyway, I get all of the chicken that I eat these days from Lola Farms and it never disappoints. Again, you could use any chicken that you like or not…This one has the yummy dark thigh meat. I batch cook a few pieces at the beginning of the week and then take the meat off the bone and jar it in 4oz portions. Some weeks, it’s breast and thighs, sometimes it’s quarters…It’s all delicious and, for every day meals, it all gets the same preparation. I thaw it in the fridge and then remove it from the package and put it on a normal dinner plate. I season it liberally…I mean, would I do it any other way…with sea salt and black pepper on both sides. I cover it with another plate and put it back in the fridge until the next day. I roast it in the Ninja at Bake/400 until it hits 165 degrees. The dark meat likes to go just a bit longer so that more of that collagen breaks down, but I don’t get too crazy because a lot of the time I reheat it. Her product is so great, though, that I have never one time been disappointed…even when I KNOW I overcooked it.
Before
After
The beets roast in the Ninja, so while it is a bit time consuming on that side, it’s all inactive and it doesn’t even heat up your house. You can, of cook them in the oven, buy them already cooked, or use your slow cooker. Come to think of it, you could probably steam them…hmmm… As with most things, I usually cook two or three at a time and keep them in the fridge or freezer. This go around a decided to use my vegetable peeler to shave pieces off the whole, peeled beet. There are many days when it all gets mixed together and turns into an entirely pink dish, but I kept them fairly segregated today. I splashed a bit of champagne vinegar and sea salt on the shaved pieces in a small bowl so that they were seasoned, but I dressed the rest of the components together.
The greens came from the my balcony garden Guitar Case Greens collection. 🙂 I can’t get enough of growing lettuce. I get the perfect amount of sunlight for it and there is nothing better than picking greens right before you eat them. This plate was made mostly from the arugula growing in the neck of the case, though there were a few mixed lettuces thrown in for texture. Also, my arugula is INTENSE in flavor, so it really does well as part of a mixed green plate and standing up to a pretty full bodied dressing.
For the dressing today, I used about a tablespoon of the grapefruit juice, a splash of champagne vinegar, a teaspoon of Dijon, a tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil, sea salt, and black pepper. I had a half of a sliced and sautéed white onion in a small jar in the fridge, so I added the ingredients to that jar, re-lidded it, and shook it up. I popped it in the fridge for awhile to meld those flavors. Because I am taking a break from dairy this month, I omitted my usual goat cheese and tried to get just a little twang with the Dijon. I feel like that, plus the umami from the onions, and the juicy chicken made me not miss the goat cheese at all. You will have extra dressing, so go lightly and dress it immediately before you plate it. Though, here’s the truth about how I ate it…
It was in the low 80’s this morning and the beach was lovely. We walked with a neighbor and her dog for about a mile and then hung out like riff raff under the pier for a bit. On the way home, Codee found something that he just couldn’t get close enough to…
Boys Are Gross – Codee Rollin’ It Atlantic Beach, FL – August 5, 2021Camouflage Codee Atlantic Beach, FL – August 5, 2021
In The Gardens:
The balcony plants get a pretty decent amount of really direct morning sunlight this time of year and because they avoid the blistering heat of the afternoon sun, they do pretty well. I’m excited to see if this pepper comes all the way through ripening.
Potted Pepper Plant Upcycle Balcony Garden, The Condo Atlantic Beach, FL – August 5, 2021
I don’t typically get any squash up here, but I think the plants are fun so I grow them anyway.
Honey Nut Squash Flower Upcycle Balcony Garden, The Condo Atlantic Beach, FL – August 5, 2021
Just waiting on the last two little seeds to sprout in this lot of tomato plants….
Tiny Tomato Sprouts Upcycle Balcony Garden, The Condo Atlantic Beach, FL – August 5, 2021
Speaking of seeds…I give you The Ultimate Seed Spreader!
The World’s Cutest Seed Spreader – Codee Atlantic Beach, FL – August 5, 2021
Sweating It Out:
By the time I got around to hitting my five miles for the day, we were just starting our daily storm, so back to the treadmill. I am really grateful that I bought it though I need to stop filling my living room with recreational gear. It was a walk/jog combination holding 3lb dumbbells for 4 of the 5 miles.
What I Watched:
What a fun soundtrack! I mean, the whole movie is pretty glorious, but the orchestrations and songs are everything you want in a musical. Also, I confess that Hugh Jackman is pretty awesome workout motivation for me. A girl can have day dreams, right?
On The Plates:
Should I start posing my brunch Green Drink in random places around the condo so you don’t get bored with it? That’s the thing…it’s not exciting and, I repeat, it’s an acquired taste, but at 215 calories with 25g of protein (important albeit, not complete protein), my concoction takes about an hour to drink and is more interesting to me than plain water. Plus, it’s full of all sorts of things that are really beneficial (for most people) that I definitely wouldn’t consume most days if I didn’t intentionally try, like chlorella and spirulina.
My brunch plate was the greatest example of a silver lining to being single and only cooking for myself. It’s also a reminder that I would never ever recommend that anyone follow my eating plan because it is very specific to my…let’s say…uniqueness. I’m not saying that what was on the plate wasn’t delicious and remarkably nutritious, but who in their right mind wants to eat a plate of roasted beets and steamed broccoli?…Besides me, that is because I really enjoyed it. 🙂 I used a bunch of champagne vinegar and sea salt and the beets I cooked in the Ninja the other day were perfect! You have to be a big beet and broccoli fan for this one. I get it if you aren’t.
Dinner was another “pasta” plate, this time black soybean spaghetti. Now that I have leaned into the single ingredient alternative noodles, you can expect to see lots more of them in my rotations. I do this with most new ingredients that I get into…potentially eat it too often…but I’m reminded why so many people are drawn to making and eating pasta. Obviously, actual, real, good pasta is also amazing, but pulling a meal together with a base of pasta is SO easy and fast. The bonus with the alternatives is that you get the plant protein you want, the downside is that none of them are pasta.
The packaging is a little deceptive on this one in that it says black bean on the front, but the black beans that come to mind don’t have the protein content this product boasts about. It’s because the noodle are actually made from organic black soybeans, so be wary if you are sensitive to soy. I’ll say it a little louder for the people in the back…ALWAYS READ THE INGREDIENTS! Sorry, I don’t mean to be so aggressive about it. Anyway, at the end of this month long challenge, I will do a whole taste test comparison of a few varieties to actual pasta. The soybean ones have a little chew to them versus the chickpea noodles, but I really like most of the varieties that I have tried.
Tonight’s plate had the noodles, carrots, mushrooms, zucchini, extra virgin olive oil, avocado oil, sea salt, and dried thyme. I cooked the noodles in salted water, drained them, and tossed them in a small bowl with 1tbsp of extra virgin olive oil. I added my veggies and dinner was served.
Cronometer:
Time restricted eating saved me from myself again. I had entered in double of my dessert peanut spread and was still in the calorie range, but I was right up to the edge of 10PM with what I actually ate that I didn’t have the second serving. The calorie count wasn’t really the point, but I had already had a TON of food and really didn’t need to eat it. The genesis of that spread is that I was trying to find something to replace, or at least mitigate, the amount of my beloved peanut butter that I eat. I bought what is effectively peanut powder. It is a single ingredient product, but clearly HIGHLY processed. See? I have a bunch of exceptions to every rule, too! The protein powders and supplement powders, and coconut milk that I use fall into the exception category, though I do try to keep them single ingredient items, like the NorCal Organic Peanut Protein Powder. But here’s where my addiction shines through. I have taken to mixing it with full fat coconut milk instead of water completely negating the lower fat, lower calorie feature of the powder. Of course, when you mix it with water, it’s not nearly as yummy, but it’s dangerously close to higher in calories than peanut butter this way plus, the fat from the coconut milk is predominately saturated. At this point, I might be better off with actual peanut butter, but I have MAJOR portion control issues there so it’s never just one serving. With this spread, one is enough.
Garmin Says:
A fairly consistent day which translates, in my mind, to a win. A decent amount of calories burned and steps taken, according to the algorithms.
This is what happens when you make your Misen carbon steel pan ripping hot. There was enough rendered fat left in the pan from the steak that I didn’t have to use any oil for the carrots. I just tossed the spears in the pan while the steak rested. It’s one of my favorite cuts from Butcher Box and all it needs is some salt and pepper. I definitely try to take the lesson from my cooking queen, Samin Nosrat, to season the steak the night before I cook it. It definitely makes a difference, but their products are so great, it’s delicious even if I forget. The asparagus was leftover, but I added a little drizzle of a vinaigrette to punch up the flavor and healthy fats.
I had most of the components of this dish already ready to go. It took under 15 minutes to get all the bits together and the pasta cooked. The package directions stated 7-9 minutes, but with only one serving, they were a little overcooked at 7. I would check them at 5, if you aren’t making the entire box. The sauce was leftover in the fridge next to the roasted veggies and the sautéed/portioned ground beef that I prepped the day before. The chard was from the freezer, but…I forgot I was going to need some greens….so I used the heat of the pot lid while the pasta was cooking to defrost it just enough to get it out of the Ziploc (I’m working on getting them out of my life) and break it up. Once the pasta was cooked, I killed the heat on the stove, drained the pasta from the pot and then added everything back into the same pot. I put the whole thing back on the still warm, but off burner, took my quick post run shower and when I returned everything had come to a pretty even warm temp. I turned the heat back on for a minute because I am still luxuriating in hot meals and two minutes later…voila! a super quick and easy dinner.
Ingredients: Shrimp, Yellow Onion, Green Beans, Carrot, Mushrooms, Red Bell Pepper, Serrano Pepper, Coconut Curry Sauce (coconut milk, cashews, garlic, curry powder, ground ginger, red pepper flakes, sea salt) For Serving: Arugula, Coconut Buckwheat
I made a recipe that I found on Dr. Mark Hyman’s blog, https://drhyman.com/blog/2016/10/25/coconut-curry-shrimp/, but I used the veggies that I had on hand in my fridge. Apparently, the recipe is actually from a book titled, Always Hungry written by Dr. David Ludwig. I love how recipes do that, don’t you? Travel from person to person and everyone has a chance to make it there own. I didn’t have any cabbage, snow peas, or spinach, so I threw in some mushrooms, green beans, and arugula. Not because I think that mushrooms are a good substitution for cabbage, but because, in this recipe, they aren’t a BAD substitution. Besides, they were on there way to becoming fridge dried mushrooms, so they went in the pot.
It sounds like a lot of coconut, but it’s really not a crazy, over powering flavor, I promise. It does make this dish super creamy and delicious, though. It’s fat on top of fat because you get a lot of healthy fat from the cashews that help make the sauce, as well.
Besides being a ranking contender as a “veggie drawer clean out” dish, I also had some pretty good success freezing two portions of this dish. Meal prepping seafood can be tricky for a single lady because I don’t really like to keep it in the fridge for longer then a day. Next time I make it, I might try prepping the sauce as a separate component. Shrimp is so awesome because you can keep a bag in the freezer and just pull out what you like. Living in Atlantic Beach, FL, I have the luxury of very easy access to amazing locally caught, reasonably priced shrimp. Don’t like shrimp or it’s out of budget right now? Sub chicken, tofu, or just double down on the veggies. You can serve it over quinoa for a plant based protein boost.
Neither one of these doctors are into grains so much, but right or wrong, I love my carbs. I served it with a some buckwheat that I had soaked overnight. Then, after rinsing, I cook it in coconut milk. Never one to miss out on greens, I mixed everything in with my favorite spicy arugula and let the sauce become like a dressing for the greens. This was so delicious!!
