What I've Been Eating Lately: Quicky Healthy Meals & Recipes

What I've Been Eating Lately: Quicky Healthy Meals & Recipes

I know you ladies love these quick easy healthy meal posts. If you are anything like me and are in a season where you feel you just don't have enough hours in the day to get everything done that you need to do..then these meals I post are for you! They are quick(er) than most and are still for the most part, healthy. I'll try to post these more often, maybe one every two weeks or once a week, we'll see!

Greek Salad & Lavash Bread: For the above photo I made a quick healthy lunch with this Trader Joe's Whole Wheat Lavash Bread, their pre packaged fresh greek salad, and a side of their organic hummus. Delicious and SOO EASY! This whole wheat lavash bread is seriously amazing, you can do so much with it as you will see below, i used it like pita bread for dipping in hummus (you could dip it in olive oil with herbs), I made wraps with it, and I used it for pizza crust! Its WAY healthier for you than bread, or normal pizza crust!

Healthy QUICK pizzas: These babies cook (Broil at 425 in the oven) in 5 minutes! I used the Lavash bread mentioned above so you don't have to wait for your crust to cook like normal pizza. You just slap on whatever toppings you're in the mood for.  I used Tj's precooked preservative free grilled chicken, their sun dried tomatos, organic spinach, low fat mozerella cheese, Tj's bruchetta and of course some basil tomato pizza sauce! 

 For this pizza I used basil tomato pizza sauce, then lined it with organic baby spinach, then low fat mozerella cheese on top, then layerd it with jalapenos,  onion, TJ's fauntina and roasted garlic chicken sausage with half the pizza drizzled with TJ's tapenade (and olive blend of green and black olives) that i had left over in the fridge. You can really put anything you want on these! They were so delicious, you just have to make sure you don't use too much tomato sauce since the lavash bread is thinner than normal crust. And make sure its crispy!

Serve with a side salad and this meal would take you less than 10-15 minutes including all the prep and slicing!

Quick Curry Chicken and Vegetable Bowl: I use Trader's Red Curry sauce (they also have a green we've tried and loved, and a yellow curry sauce i have yet to try). I could make curry from scratch and it would probably be even yummier but the goal of these meals is to help all of us mamas, or tired people who come home from work and want an easy healthy meal to whip up in less than 20-30 minutes. I used Tj's 3 minute brown rice, their frozen sliced bell peppers and 1 fresh green bell pepper i had left in the fridge, frozen broccoli (takes 6-7 minutes to cook on the stove), fresh chopped onion, 1 raw garlic clove, and organic raw chicken (grilled in olive oil and 1/4 cup or so of the red curry sauce). I layered the rice first on the plate, then the veggies, then the grilled and flavored chicken. I then quickly heated up some of the curry sauce and poured it over the entire bowl (use as much as you'd like). DELICIOUS!

Spinach Kale Turkey Pattys: I used Tj's 99% fat free ground turkey and mushed it up with some chopped organic spinach, 1 tspn garlic powder, a pinch of salt and pepper, and then added in some chopped frozen kale (tj's sells this in the frozen section). I muchsed it all together into 5 or 6 patties and threw them on the george forman grill. SO quick, took 10 minutes all together! This is a perfect example of eating healthy while still being able to enjoy a delicious meal. I threw these on some whole wheat buns with veggies, ketchup, and cheese. My hubs wanted beef so here we have a his and her's meal. 

I hope some of these meals find their way into your home! Enjoy!

I always welcome your ideas and recipes if you'd like to share in the comments below I LOVE that and will possibly even feature one of your recipes!

XO

Quick Healthy Soups: Chicken Tortilla Soup, Jalapeno Turkey Chili, and Tomato Vegetable Soup

Quick Healthy Soups: Chicken Tortilla Soup, Jalapeno Turkey Chili, and Tomato Vegetable Soup

Here in California we barely had a real Winter this past year so when it rained for 3 or 4 days straight last week I took full advantage (knowing Spring and Summer weather is here to stay for months on end).  So I decided to soak up the gray stormy weather and make some delicious warm hearty soups. I made Tortilla soup, a SPICY chili, and a Tomato Vegetable soup.  

Tortilla Soup: The base of this soup is Chicken broth and canned diced organic tomatoes.  Its really simple! My husaband rarely cooks but he actually threw this together for me while I went to a gym class.  I just left him a simple recipe to follow and he did a great job, I love having a warm meal ready for me after a tough late night work out (no one ever wants to pump one out but i have to take those rare opportunities during the week that i get).  

• 4 c. chicken broth
• 3-4. whole chicken breasts
• 1 large can of diced tomatos (i used 1 and a half of trader joe's organic diced tomatos 14.5 ounce cans)
• 1 large onion, chopped 
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1-2 Tbsp. olive oil
• 1 Tbsp. chili powder
• 2 Celery Stalks chopped (optional for added veggies and crunch.)
• 1 Jalapeno' , finely diced (optional for flavor)
• 1 tsp. cumin
• 1 lime
• ¼ tsp. cayenne pepper (more to taste)
• avocado, shredded cheese, sour cream, crushed tortilla chips ( I used trader joe's Veggie Flaxseed Tortilla chips, cilantro (didnt have any but it would be a great topping.
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• 1)Heat olive oil in a large pot over medium-high heat. Add garlic,onions, jalapeno and celery and cook, stirring, until onions begin to become translucent. 
• 2) Grill up some chicken breast in Olive oil, when fully cooked then slice or shred (whichever you prefer).
• 3)Add chicken to pot of onion/garlic. Add in crushed tomatoes, chili powder, cumin, cayenne pepper, and juice of 1/2 lime. Bring to a boil, stir constantly so it doesnt burn. 
• 4)Then add in your chicken broth, reduce the heat to low, simmer soup for 15 minutes.
• 5) Top with toppings (avocado, cheese, sour cream, cilantro, chips).
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*You can add black beans and corn to this recipe if you'd like!

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Spicy Chili: My girlfriend Tori gave me this recipe, and it is soooo yummy! I made it for our couples bible study we host at our home and everyone loved it! The recipe calls for Pumpkin puree' but Tori said because its not in season to sub it out for Trader Joe's Organic Tomato & Roasted Red Pepper Soup. Thats the only way i've made this soup so far and I think its perfect! 

Serves 6-8

Organic Tomato & Roasted Red Pepper Soup

1/2 Cup Water

2 Jalepenos

1 Can of Red Kidney Beans (15 oz) rinse first

1 Can of diced tomatoes w/ liquid (again I used TJ's organic diced tomatoes 14.5 oz can)

1 lb of ground turkey

1 yellow onion chopped

1 green bell, seeded and cored, then chopped

2 garlic cloves diced

1 tbspn EVOO

1 tsp ground cumin

1/2 tspn salt

1 tbspn chili powder

pepper to taste

1)Heat oil in a large pan. Add bell pepper, onion, garlic, and jalapenos. Stir frequently, cook until tender.  

2)Add turkey, cook until browned.

3) Add tomatoes, the red pepper soup mix (i used about 1/2 of the box), water, chili powder, cumin and salt and pepper and bring to boil.

4) Reduce heat to medium and add beans. Cover and simmer for 30 mins stirring occasionally.

Serve!

Its even better the next day!!

Tomato Vegetable Soup: My girlfriend Chelsea had tried Tori's chili recipe and made a quick version but instead of doing chili she just made it into a simple soup. Its healthy, hearty and really yummy! We ate ours with a side of cheese bread (you gotta balance the healthy out with some gooey cheesey bread, right?!? lol). 

1 yellow onion, chopped

1 tsp minced garlic

1 yellow bell pepper seeded, cored, chopped

3 celery stalks chopped

salt & pepper to taste

1 tbspn EVOO

I also added oregeno, cumin, basil to taste (probably 1/2 tspn for each)

1 lb ground turkey (i used TJ's kosher turkey, it has so much additional flavor!)

1 box of Tj's Organic Tomato And Roasted Red Pepper Soup (see bove)

1 can diced tomatoes (14.5 ounce organic traders can, see below)

1)Throw all of your veggies in a pan with EVOO and garlic, cook until tender.

2) Cook turkey in pan until browned.

3) Mix in all spices and add in tomatos and soup mix.

4) Heat until boiling, then simmer for 10 minutes or longer , stirring occasionally.

Serve.

Enjoy!! 

Tell me in the comments what you would like to see more of? What would you like me to cook? Or what are your favorite topics that I write about, ill try to encorporate more. I just want to hear from you! 



All submissions for the Iphone Case GIVEAWAY end tonight at 5pm Pacific time. Winner will be announced this weekend! Thanks all for your participation.  (Instructions to enter HERE if you havent already)

XO