Day 118 - Comfort Food Winter Salad

Comfort Food Winter Salad

Remember my talking about those goodies I got from my friend K?  She also included some spicy honey mustard, which I used for this tasty salad!  While the shelf variety of hot honey mustard won't be as good as hers, this recipe would still make it pretty tasty!

I call this a "comfort food" salad because it has lots of high calorie items - bacon, cheese, chicken, nuts.  I also filed it under healthy recipes, because even though it's higher in fat, the greens are so good for you.  I know our culture around salad is that it should be an exclusively healthy food, but I think the benefits of the vegetables are worth amping up with some higher fat treats on occasion.  And since it was wintry and blustery this weekend, but I desperately needed some vegetables, that's what I did!  Leftovers for lunch today were great.  I only wish this salad had a little more color, but it tasted just fine as is!

Comfort Food Winter Salad

1 chicken breast
1/2 head lettuce, any type (I think I used romaine), chopped
1/2 head radicchio, chopped
3  strips bacon, cooked crisp and chopped
1/2 cup walnuts, chopped
1/2 cup dried cherries
2 oz crumbled goat chevre
1 T hot honey mustard
1 T red wine vinegar
2 t olive oil

Cook chicken breast any way you like and chop into bite sized pieces (I baked mine, drizzled with extra honey mustard, the night before with the rest of my dinner - this is a great thing for chicken leftovers!).

In a small bowl, whisk together mustard, vinegar, and oil - emulsify with an immersion blender if desired.  Set aside.  You may refrigerate and store this overnight if desired.

When ready to eat salad, combine lettuce, raddichio, cherries, cheese, bacon, walnuts, and chicken in a large bowl.  Drizzle with dressing and toss to coat.  Serve immediatley.

If packing for lunch, feel free to pack the salad on the side. Pin It Now!

Day 117 - Pot Roast Soup

Soup!

My grandmother, who grew up during the Depression, saved everything.  E-V-E-R-Y-T-H-I-N-G.  I mean, the woman saved old underwear elastic to use as rubber bands.  Really.  She could look at a bag of trash and find uses for almost anything.  I remember playing with my cousin's 10 year old (first edition, probably priceless) Star Wars toys that she had found behind the couch and saved, because they were perfectly good toys.

Now, I'm thrifty, but I'm not that thrifty.  I came of age in the 90's when consumerism was king, and so I feel no guilt at throwing out (or, more likely donating) things that I can no longer use.  One really smart thing that she did which I copy, though, is a container of vegetable soup starter in the freezer.  By that, I mean that she keep a plastic container in the freezer, and anytime she had leftover vegetables she just added them to the container and let them freeze.  When it starts to get full, then it was time to make vegetable soup!    

Now the wisdom of my mother kicks in.  My mom makes a great pot roast in the oven, and she discovered years ago that if she saved all of the drippings and used them to start a beef vegetable soup broth, it made the best soup ever.

So, I enter the cooking scene, and here's how I combine all that wisdom to make my own soup.  I keep a 2 quart container in my freezer.  Any time I have vegetables OR pot roast leftovers, I add them to the container.  I usually make pot roast in 1 pound quantities, so my drippings aren't a lot.  And I only add vegetables I'd like in soup - tomatoes, corn, peas, beans, carrots, onions, potatoes.  Then, when my container gets full, it's soup time!

I call mine pot roast soup because I usually buy a 1 pound pot roast and cut it up into little bite sized pieces to cook in the soup.  Pot roast is pretty cheap, and you can trim the fat quite easily.  It's also very similar to how I make pot roast in the crock pot.  I usually add a fresh onion and some tomatoes, maybe a potato.  This soup also goes back in the freezer very well.  I let it cook for most of the day and come home to delicious soup.

Which is what I did yesterday, and brought the leftovers today.  The picture is a little hazy because it was still steaming!

Pot Roast Soup

1 lb pot roast, cut into bite sized pieces
1 onion, chopped
1/2 cup baby carrots, chopped
1 cup red wine
1 quart beef stock or wine
1 package Lipton Savory Herb with Garlic Soup Mix
2 quarts vegetable and pot roast leftovers (if this isn't your style, use 4 drained cans of any vegetables you like and 1 additional quart of beef broth or stock)


Place your dry ingredients in a 5-6 quart crock pot.  Pour over liquids.  Cover crock and cook on high for 6 hours, or low for 12 hours.  Serve hot and enjoy!

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Day 116 - Easy Greek Yogurt Parfait

Easy Greek Yogurt Parfait

This is one of the easiest lunches ever - easy to put together, easy to eat.  It's a simple yogurt parfait that I threw together.  A traditional parfait is usually layered in a tall glass.  Actually, a traditional parfait is a French dessert that looks very little like what we eat in America.  But I digress...anyway, this is not a prettily layered parfait.  It has three layers - granola, yogurt, berries.  I added a dusting of granola between the berries and yogurt to keep the strawberries from producing too much juice and drowning the yogurt, but this little beauty is pure function.

If you like, you could put the ingredients in a mason jar (which are soooo trendy right now) and break up the layers for a better look.  As long as your container has a good fitting top - mason jar, plastic bowl, or whatever - these keep well in the fridge for quick breakfasts and snacks.  Or, as in today, lunches!

Easy Parfait

3/4 cup sliced strawberries
1/2 cup plain, vanilla, or honey Greek yogurt, fat free
1/2 cup low fat granola
1 T honey, optional

In a 16 ounce container with a tight fitting lid, pour in granola, reserving about 1 T of granola for later.  Gently spread yogurt over granola, and top with honey if desired.  Sprinkle your reserved granola over the yogurt, and top with berries.  Secure lid and keep refrigerated until ready to serve. Pin It Now!

Day 115 - I Love Dried Fruit

Leftover cheese pizza, broccoli, dried strawberries.

I love dried fruit.  I do.  I love fruit, and I love crunchy things.  Dried fruit is an obvious win for me!

Packed some leftover  pizza, broccoli, and dried strawberries for lunch today.  I bought them in a weak moment when I decided to go to Whole Foods and spend eleventy thousand dollars on five items.  But man were these good!  Tart, sweet, crunchy, light!  Mmmm...

Don't they look like plump little rose petals?!

In other news, I figured out a great way to pack pizza for lunch.  This was a pre-made pizza from the farmer's market that I baked at home.  I got a piece of aluminum foil and folded it so that it fit perfectly in the bottom of my largest container.  When the pizza was ready, I just used the foil as a template for how to cut the pizza perfectly for the container.  I estimated that I could get four perfect slices, plus scraps, per 12 inch pizza.  I actually just cut out two slices and split the leftover "scraps" (which were pretty big) between two people.  Two dinners and two lunches.  Oh, who am I kidding, two dinners, one lunch, and one snack!  But seriously, how cool is that? Pin It Now!

Day 114 - Wholesome and Easy Stir Fry

Veggie and Chicken Stir Fry with Ambrosia Sauce over Brown Rice, Luna Bar.

 My wonderful friend K over at Il Faut Bien Que Tout Le Monde Mange! gave me some delicious homemade goodies for Christmas this year, which I'm just now getting around to using.  She handed me a bag full of mason jars with delicious sauces, which she is great at creating while I'm only so-so.  One of them was labeled "Ambrosia Sauce," which she said was "like teriyaki."  Yeah, teriyaki wishes it was this good!  I've never heard of Ambrosia sauce, but after a quick Google quest I found that it's a thing...a very delicious thing.  I'm not sure what recipe K used, but it was delicious!  While I was tempted to just dip my finger in the jar and eat it as is, I decided to put it to better use and jazz up some veggies for stir fry!

I mostly threw things together from the refrigerator, but I've approximated a recipe below.  I served it over brown rice, and packed the container above for lunch with a Luna Bar.  Crunchy, wholesome, and delicious!

Wholesome and Easy Stir Fry

2 chicken breasts
1 cup Ambrosia or Teriyaki sauce (or whatever bottled sauce you like)
1 red bell pepper
1 cup broccoli florets
1 cup sugar snap peas
2 T toasted sesame seeds
2 T sliced almonds, toasted
1 T minced garlic
1 t sesame oil
brown rice, for serving.

Heat a non-stick pan over medium heat and add in almonds.  Stirring frequently, cook until just browned and fragrant; spoon almonds into a small bowl on the side and allow to cool.  Chop chicken breasts into bite sized pieces. Add oil to non-stick skillet and heat to medium high; add in chicken and allow to brown on each side.  Pour in Ambrosia sauce and bring to a simmer; continue to cook for about 5 minutes, or until chicken is cooked throughout. 

While chicken is cooking, chop bell pepper into bite sized pieces.  Add pepper, broccoli, and peas to a microwave safe bowl.  Add about 1/4 cup water to bowl and cover partially with lid or cling wrap.  Microwave on high for 2-4 minutes, or until vegetables are crisp tender.  Once chicken is cooked, add in steamed vegetables, sesame seeds, and almonds.  Toss well and continue to cook until heated through, about 2 minutes.  Serve hot over brown rice. Pin It Now!

Day 113 - Herb and Mushroom Pot Roast

Herb and Mushroom Pot Roast, Rice, Peas, and a Clementine

Leftovers from Sunday dinner are the best!  Yesterday for dinner I made the classic Sunday pot roast, but of course did it my own way.  Naturally, for me, that means slow cooker!  I also add mushrooms and some herbs, and it's just to die for.  I usually serve it with green peas and either rice or mashed potatoes.  I also safe the leftovers to make Pot Roast Soup, which is basically just my riff on beef vegetable  soup.  Today, though, I took a few of those leftovers to work for lunch, with some rice, peas, and a clementine.  The only thing I regret is that it didn't photograph as well as it tastes!

If you're looking for a trusty pot roast recipe, I recommend this one highly!  And don't forget to freeze your leftovers for soup!  I think I'll make some next weekend...

Herb and Mushroom Pot Roast in the Slow Cooker

2 lb beef pot roast
1 cup baby carrots
1 onion
8 oz whole fresh mushrooms
1/2 cup red wine (or beef broth)
1 package Lipton Golden Mushroom Soup
 1-2 Tablespoons Herbs de Provence

Slice onions into thick rounds.  Place them in the bottom of a lightly greased 4-6 quart crock pot.  Then  place in the carrots and raw beef roast.  Add in mushrooms, and feel free to nudge them down and around the roast.  Sprinkle soup mix and herbs over the top.  Slowly pour in the wine.  Cover and cook on low for 10-12 hours (preferred), or on high for 5-6 hours.  Roast is done when the meat falls apart at a gentle fork-poke.  Serve hot with potatoes or rice to soak up all that good sauce!

If you like to drain your pot roast of the juices before serving, I highly recommend saving these for future use in soups and sauces.  You can even freeze them and scrape off the fat that floats to the top.

If Herbs de Provence aren't your thing, feel free to replace with Italian Herbs or any other mix of your choice!  A little salt won't hurt either, but I find it unnecessary.

Serves around 6, unless you have teenage boys.  Then it could very well only serve 2.  Increase the size of your roast up to 4 lbs without adjusting the cooking time.


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Day 112 - Ham and Asparagus Roll-ups

Ham and Asparagus Roll-ups, string cheese, orange sections, wheat thins.

I'll be honest today....this was not nearly as cool as I had intended it to be.  I made some ham and asparagus pinwheels (faux sushi, really), and they looked like a Pinterest Fail.  On the upside, they tasted a lot better than they looked!  They were roll ups of white sandwich bread, ham, asparagus, almonds, dijon mustard, and mayo.  A pretty tasty combination, but I think it would be a lot more effective with a tortilla or some sort of flat bread.  

Anyway, I added some string cheese, wheat thins, and orange sections.  Pretty tasty, even if it's not pretty attractive.

I'll give you the recipe, but really...I wouldn't repeat this exactly as I did it.  But the flavor combo is great, so feel free to experiment.

Ham and Asparagus Roll-ups

1 slice white sandwich bread
1 thin slice ham
4 stalks raw asparagus
1 T sliced almonds
1/2 t  dijon mustard
1/2 t mayonnaise

Cut crusts off of bread (or whatever you use) and flatten with a rolling pin; spread mustard and mayo over one side of bread.  Sprinkle almonds on top Lay on ham slice, cutting to fit.  Trim asparagus stalks so that they are no longer than the bread, and lay on top of ham.  Gently roll up sandwich, like a cigar, with the asparagus in the middle.  Slice into 1/2 inch sections and serve with asparagus ends facing up. Pin It Now!