Tag Archives: Healthy Food

Mediterranean Quinoa with Shrimp and Vegetables

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Dec 5 Dinner Blog

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I was unable to shop on Sunday for the week.  I was away and didn’t even get a chance to prepare a menu and master shopping list.  Usually a recipe for disaster.

But my sister saved me.  As we were talking, she mentioned this couscous dish that she loves and reinvents throughout the week.  My curiosity was piqued!  As I pushed the cart through the grocery store, she walked me through the recipe and I gathered all the ingredients.  I could feel the stress of not having a shopping list in hand melt away.

This is a very easy recipe that can be put together quickly and tweaked throughout the week to keep it fresh.

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Mediterranean Quinoa with Shrimp and Vegetables

Serves 2 Adults and 2 Kids for 2 Meals with enough for about 2 lunches

Rating:  10 all around!

3 C Quinoa

1/4 C Olive oil

Juice of one lemon and zest from 1/2 lemon

Salt and pepper

1 Cucumber, diced in small cubes

Feta Cheese

12 Pitted Olives

1 Onion, diced

1 Pint Cherry Tomatoes

3/4 C Black Beans from can or other shelf stable container

1.5 lbs Peeled, deveined Shrimp

1.75 lbs boneless skinless chicken breast, baked, grilled, or somehow cooked and diced. (for the second meal)

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Instructions

1.  Prepare quinoa according to package directions. Set aside.

2.  Juice lemon, zest 1/2 of a lemon and mix in small bowl with olive oil.  Set aside.

3. Dice cucumber, olives, and onion. Slice cherry tomatoes in half lengthwise.  Set aside.

4.  Saute onion until soft and clear.  Set aside. Cook shrimp in same skillet with a bit of olive oil.  If you have any other vegetables you want to finish up, feel free to add.  I added some left over diced bell pepper.

5. Once shrimp turns pink (3-4 minutes), it is time to put dinner together.  Mix lemon-olive oil mixture into quinoa.  Add cucumber, feta, olives, cherry tomatoes and black beans.  Mix well.  Then add shrimp and serve! (If this is the second meal, add the chicken and serve!)

6.  Easy and delicious!  But the best part is that you can reinvent the meal two days later with chicken!  You could even add other vegetables such as squash or broccoli to give it a different taste!

Ratings

Everyone rated this dish a 10!  Now that’s a winner!

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FINAL Nov 28-De…

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FINAL Nov 28-Dec 1 Menu and Master Shopping List

This week worked out well.  I have made a few changes that will make it easier and tastier.   First, I recommend cooking the chicken in the oven rather than the slow cooker.  I think it lost some of its flavor in the slow cooker.  Second, I eliminated the Pastel de Papa.  I had plenty of food without it.  Third, I modified the Orzo with Peas, Saffron and chicken which added a more savory, paella flavor.  Make sure you use the “New and Improved” version.

People have tried some of the recipes and like them, but I really need people to try a menu, shop it and prepare it.  Based on my own experience, getting organized for the week is key, but it takes time that a lot of people don’t have.  I am willing to do the organizing for you.  Try it and see if it doesn’t make meal prep less stressful.  Write to me on this blog!

Final Week’s Menu

Monday:            Orange Garlic Chicken (From Fix it and Forget it), Brown Rice, and Green Beans.

Tuesday:            . New and Improved Orzo with Peas, Saffron and Leftover Orange Garlic Chicken (Modified from “Vegetarian Entertaining”).Dilled Vegetable-Barley Soup (from The Enchanted Broccoli Forest), and Oatmeal Muffins.

Wednesday:            . Dilled Vegetable-Barley Soup (from The Enchanted Broccoli Forest), and Oatmeal Muffins.

Thursday:            New and Improved Orzo with Peas, Saffron and Leftover Orange Garlic Chicken (Modified from “Vegetarian Entertaining”).

 

Shopping List

For 2 Adults and 2 Children

Entrees

3.0 + lbs. Boneless, skinless chicken breasts

Veggies

1/2 C Minced onion

1 Medium carrot

1 Medium stalk celery

1/4 lb. Chopped mushrooms

2 Bell peppers – different colors if not too expensive

4 shallots

 

Fruit – Enough for Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner

1 Pineapple

8 Kiwi

8 Apples

5 Pears

 

Dry Goods

1/2 C Raw Barley

4 C Tomatoes, canned or in shelf stable container

1 T Saffron Threads

4 C Vegetable broth

1 1/2 lbs. Orzo

Brown rice

Muffin mix

Salt

Pepper

1 Bay leaf

6 T Dry White Wine

1.5 t Dried Dill Weed

1 t Tamari sauce

2 T Olive oil

1.5 t Dried Thyme

2 T Balsamic vinegar

1/3 C Dry White Wine

 

Dairy

1 T Butter

Parmesean or manchenga cheese

 

Frozen

1 C Orange Juice Concentrate

1 C Frozen Peas

Frozen green beans

 

Recipes

 

Orange Garlic Chicken

Serves 2 Adults and 2 Kids with a bit of leftovers for lunch

Source:  Modified from Fix-It and Forget It, 5 Ingredient Favorites

Ingredients

1.75 lbs. Boneless, skinless chicken breast

1 ½ t dried thyme

6 Cloves Garlic, Minced

1 C Orange Juice Concentrate

1 T Balsamic Vinegar

1 C Brown rice

Green Vegetable and or side salad

 

Instructions

  1. Measure and put all ingredients, except chicken, in a container large enough to store all the chicken and mix well.
  2. Add chicken, and cover w marinade
  3. Marinate in refrigerator for atleas 2 hours, but up to 24.
  4. Place on a roasting pan, lightly sprayed with olive or canola oil, and bake at 350 for 20 minutes or until meat springs back to the touch.
  5. If making ahead also get rice cooker of brown rice cooking.
  6. When ready, serve chicken over brown rice with a green vegetable on the side.

 

 

Orzo with Chicken, Peas with Saffron and Smoked Paprika

Serves 6-8 ( 2 Adults and 2 Kids for two meals)

Adapted from “Vegetarian Entertaining”

Ingredients

1.5 lbs. Boneless skinless chicken breast, baked or grilled (hopefully this is leftover chicken that you cooked earlier in the week.)

2 T Olive oil

4 Shallots, minced

2 Bell Peppers chopped

3 C Canned Tomatoes or tomatoes in a non-can, shelf-stable container

1 T Saffron threads, soaked in 1/4 C warm water

1 t Smoked Paprika

1/3 C Dry White wine

3/4 lb. Orzo

2 C Frozen Peas

1 t salt

1/4 t pepper

Grated parmesan or manchenga cheese

Optional Additions

1/2 – 1 lb. Shrimp

1/2 – 1 lb. Chorizo (spicy or mild), cooked

Instructions

1.            Prepare the Orzo per package directions. When tender, set aside.

2.            In a large sauce pan, Sauté shallots in olive oil until soft.

3.            Add bell peppers and blend.

4.            Stir in tomatoes, saffron with soaking water, and White wine.

5.            Simmer until most of the liquid evaporates, about 8-10 min.  Be careful not to burn the mixture.

6.            Dice chicken.

7.            Cook peas in microwave for 1 1/2-  2 minutes.

8.            Once liquid is mostly evaporated from tomato mixture, add peas, and chicken and any optional ingredients. Chorizo should be cooked before you add it to the pot.  Shrimp will cook in 3-4 minutes in the mixture. The shrimp will turn pink when it is cooked.

9.            Serve w parmesan or manchenga cheese.

10.            Don’t be surprised if you start thinking about paella and a trip to Spain…  Really!

 

Dilled Vegetable-Barley Soup
Serves 6-8

Ingredients

3/4 C Raw pearl barley

1.5 C Water

1 T Butter

1 Onion chopped

1 t Salt

1 Bay leaf

3 Large carrots, chopped

1/2 Bunch celery, chopped

8 C Vegetable Stock or water (I buy 32 oz of regular vegetable stock and 32 oz of low sodium vegetable stock in shelf-stable containers)

1/2 lb. Mushrooms, chopped (I chop them so they are unrecognizable)

6 T Dry White Wine

1.5 t (2-3 T fresh) Dill Weed

1/4 t Fresh black pepper

1.5 t Tamari Sauce

 

Instructions

1.      Place barley and 1 Cup water together in a saucepan. Bring to a boil, cover and simmer for 25-30 minutes until barley is tender. Set aside.  (You could do this even 2 days before and keep in fridge)

2.      In a soup pot, saute onion, salt and bay leaf in butter until onion is soft and clear.  Add carrots and celery cooking over medium heat for 5 minutes.  Add remaining ingredients including barley.

3.      Cover soup and simmer for 1 1/2 hours.

4.      Try not to eat it right away as it is even better the second day!

5.      Serve with whole grain bread or healthy muffins; Top soup w toasted sunflower seeds, chopped parsley, or parmesean/manchenga cheese.

Orzo with Chicken, Peas and Saffron and a Side Salad

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 11-30-11 Dinner Blog

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Tonight’s meal preparation was a bit crazy.  My daughter was supposed to have a soccer playoff game at 6:30.  I was planning to eat early and then go to the game.  However, as is the case with schedules, things change and the game was moved up 1/2 hour, and I decided we should eat after the game.

 

Yesterday I made the Orzo and the tomato mixture and stored both in the refrigerator.  Earlier in the afternoon, I made the salad.  This was a great stroke of luck because my daughter’s game started late, went to two overtones and was eventually settled in penalty kicks.  (In case you are in suspense, we lost.) But instead of getting home at 7, we got home at 8!

 

Luckily dinner was prepared.  I just had to put it together.  I put the Orzo and tomato mixture in a soup pot with about 3/4 C of water.  As that heated, I cut the chicken and cooked the frozen peas in the microwave for 2 minutes.  Then I mixed everything together and we sat down to eat – somewhere between 5 and 10 minutes!

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The Verdict

Everyone recognised the saffron taste – I use it in the paella I make. This brought up fun stories of when we made paella as well as requests to make more paella soon.  My son and husband rated the meal a 9 and 9.5 respectively.  My daughter liked it but was a bit less enthusiastic and gave it an 8.5, although she loves paella.  I think she may have been missing the shrimp and mussels which you easily could add…  Additionally, it was not an immediate slam dunk because it needed salt.  Not sure if I added it in when I made the tomato mixture yesterday – yesterday’s meal prep was a bit of a whirlwind – but I ended up adding salt to the dish after we had all tasted it.  That really made a huge difference, which makes me think I did not put it in originally.

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I also served a side salad with the seeds from ½ of a pomegranate, which everyone loved.  I also added leftover mushrooms, cherry tomatoes, radishes, and bell peppers to the adult salads.  I sprinkled the no-oil balsamic vinaigrette and it was a most delicious salad!!

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So my next dilemma: do I make the Pastel de Papa tonight or use up what I have? I have enough of tonight’s dinner and I have a bit of lentil soup frozen in the freezer from when I made it in October…

 

…I think I will save the Pastel de Papa for next week and finish off what I have.  The lentil soup will help keep the meal “new”.  I will serve a side salad to the adults and apple slices to the kids.

 

 

 

The Recipe

Orzo with Chicken, Peas and Saffron

Serves 6-8 ( 2 Adults and 2 Kids with leftovers for 2-3 more meals)

Adapted from “Vegetarian Entertaining”

 

Ingredients

1.5 lbs. Boneless skinless chicken breast, baked or grilled (hopefully this is leftover chicken that you cooked earlier in the week.)

2 T Olive oil

4 Shallots, minced

2 Bell Peppers chopped

3 C Canned Tomatoes or tomatoes in a non-can, shelf-stable container

1 T Saffron threads, soaked in 1/4 C warm water

1 t Smoked Paprika

1/3 C Dry White wine

3/4 lb. Orzo

2 C Frozen Peas

1 t salt

1/4 t pepper

Grated parmesan or manchenga cheese

 

Instructions

1. Prepare the Orzo per package directions. When tender, set aside.

2.  In a large sauce pan, Sauté shallots in olive oil until soft.

3. Add bell peppers and blend.

4. Stir in tomatoes, paprika, saffron with soaking water, and White wine.

5. Simmer until most of the liquid evaporates, about 8-10 min.  Be careful not to burn the mixture.

6. Dice chicken.

7. Cook peas in microwave for 1 1/2-  2 minutes.

8. Once liquid is mostly evaporated from tomato mixture, add peas, and chicken.

9. Serve w parmesan or manchenga cheese.

10. Don’t be surprised if you start thinking about paella and a trip to Spain…

 

 

 

Vegetable-Barley Soup

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11-29-11 Dinner Blog

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It’s a 10!

Getting Way Ahead of Schedule

I made tonight’s soup earlier in the day.  I had about an hour and decided to get all the prep done for as much of the week as possible.  This is something I could have done ahead of time on Sunday or even Monday evening.  Getting things done ahead of schedule always feels good, considering that I feel I am forever catching up and running behind…

Pre-Prep for Tonight’s Dinner

I made Dilled Vegetable-Barley Soup, in keeping with my goal of making one vegetarian dish a week. It is not a slow cooker recipe so it is probably a good one to make ahead of time when you can leave it on the stove and busy yourself with something else.  I, for instance, prepared other meals. Starting with what we were eating tonight, I first prepared the barley.  It’s a 1:2 barley water ratio.  I put in ¾ of a cup of barley and 1 ½ cups of water and brought it to a boil.  Then I turned down the heat to simmer and cooked for about 30 minutes.

While this was cooking, I also boiled water for Wednesday’s Orzo dinner and made the orzo. Continuing to multi-task, I prepared the rest of the soup.

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I sautéed the onions, salt and bay leaf.  Then added the carrots and celery. Unfortunately my grocery store was out of the pre-chopped carrot/celery/onion containers – major bummer – so I had to cut everything up.  I highly recommend that if you don’t need “chopping therapy” – and looking at the glass as half full, something good has got to come from chopping vegetables– buy them pre-chopped.  It saves a lot of time!

Finally, I added the vegetable stock, mushrooms, white wine, dill weed, pepper, and tamari sauce and let the mixture simmer for 1 ½ hours.  When the barley was tender I added it to the soup pot. Pre-Prep for Wednesday and Thursday’s Dinner While waiting for the barley to finish, I prepared the tomato-saffron topping for the orzo.  At this point I was drowning in food and felt that I had plenty for the rest of the week.  I wasn’t sure that I needed Wednesday’s Pastel de Papa dish, a ground beef and potato casserole, but I figured that I would make it anyway and if I ended up not needing it, I would freeze it for another week.

While I waited for the potatoes to boil, I quickly made the oatmeal muffins for tonight’s dinner.  Yes, I used a box.  Yes, I am proud of that.  Yes, they are delicious! There are lots of great box mixes out there.  I happen to like Dr. Oetker’s brand, and they are easy to adapt to the vegan requirements I must follow due to my daughter’s allergies.  I use flaxseed meal and water (3:1 ratio) for the egg, and rice milk or coconut milk for regular milk.  Just to be more healthy and less caloric, instead of using oil, I substitute equal amounts of applesauce.

That was another half hour of my time, but now tonight’s dinner is completely ready and I know that the Pastel de Papa will come in handy (twice!) as I made 2 8×8 casseroles.  So all I need to do is pop one in the oven, make a side salad, and sit down to eat!  …I can’t wait to write that blog entry!!!

The Verdict For Dilled-Vegetable-Barley Soup

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It’s a 10 all around!  Everyone, including our special friend who joined us for dinner gave the meal a resounding 10.  The soup, the muffins, everything!  I served the soup with some grated manchenga cheese but you could also add toasted sunflower seeds or parsley.  Everyone had a second portion of soup, including my son, who “detests” mushrooms (which is why I chopped them up really well).  This is a thick soup, almost stew-like.  In “The Enchanted Broccoli Forest” cookbook, the source of this recipe, author Mollie Katzen writes that some people might prefer to approach this barley soup with a knife and fork!  A vegetarian dish, this is a very hearty, healthy, easy, delicious and satisfying soup!

This is one you really must try!!!!!

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The Recipe Dilled Vegetable-Barley Soup

Source: The Enchanted Broccoli Forest Cookbook

Serves 6-8

Ingredients

3/4 C Raw pearl barley

1.5 C Water

1 T Butter

1 Onion chopped

1 t Salt

1 Bay leaf

3 Large carrots, chopped

1/2 Bunch celery, chopped

8 C Vegetable Stock or water (I buy 32 oz of regular vegetable stock and 32 oz of low sodium vegetable stock in shelf-stable containers)

1/2 lb. Mushrooms, chopped (I chop them so they are unrecognizable)

6 T Dry White Wine

1.5 t (2-3 T fresh) Dill Weed

1/4 t Fresh black pepper

1.5 t Tamari Sauce

Instructions

1.  Place barley and 1 Cup water together in a saucepan. Bring to a boil, cover and simmer for 25-30 minutes until barley is tender. Set aside.  (You could do this even 2 days before and keep in fridge)

2.  In a soup pot, saute onion, salt and bay leaf in butter until onion is soft and clear.  Add carrots and celery cooking over medium heat for 5 minutes.  Add remaining ingredients including barley.

3.  Cover soup and simmer for 1 1/2 hours.

4.  Try not to eat it right away as it is even better the second day!

5.  Serve with whole grain bread or healthy muffins. Top w toasted sunflower seeds, chopped parsley, or parmesean/manchenga cheese.