{Food Fix} Leftover Lunches are the Best

Yesterday's lunch was the BEST.  Anytime, I get to eat leftover dinner for lunch it always tastes amazing, and always beats a sandwich.

A few nights ago, the Hubs made asparagus and parm stuffed chicken breasts and the following night he made red beans and cornbread.  I made some cabbage to go with.

I made the cabbage by first sauteing some onion, garlic and carrots in a touch of canola oil with pepper.
After a few minutes I added a whole head of chopped cabbage, seasoning salt to taste, and one can of chicken stock.
covered and simmered, mixing occasionally, until the cabbage was tender and the chicken stock reduced.

The hubs made the beans.  I don't know the step by step directions but I do know, used onions, celery, seasonings, bay leaf and a smoked turkey leg.

Not sure what else, but they were the bomb and even better the next day.

The chicken breast was stuffed with parmesan cheese and asparagus spears.  Seasoned to taste with fresh herbs from our garden and baked. Then topped with toasted pine nuts.

Such a good lunch.  And reasonably healthy.

Wish I had more for today.  

Quick Meal Tip

I few weeks back, a friend and I ordered some Thai take out. We ordered my fave yellow curry chicken. After getting our grub on, there was left-over sauce, so I froze it.




For a quick meal, the other night, I thawed out the sauce and added it to chicken and veggies.

I cut up 2 boneless skinless chicken breasts, sauteed it in some EVOO along with some onions, carrots and green bells. Seasoned with S&P.

Once the chicken was cooked through, I added the curry sauce and let it all simmer together.

Served on a plate of brown rice. So good.

Quick, easy, delish.

~~~

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Chilly and Chili

Cold weather = Warm Chili

I make mine with lean ground beef or turkey, beans and lots of chunky veggies.

A piece of sweet cornbread is the perfect side.


Oh yeah Baby!

Lemon Chicken

I'm not usually a big fan of Lemon Chicken, but the Hubs really likes it. He orders it when we go out for Chinese, but last night he decided to try and make it himself.


He used Rachael Ray's recipe from FoodNetwork.com.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 pounds chicken breast or chicken tenders, cut into chunks
1/4 cup all-purpose unbleached flour
Coarse salt
2 tablespoons wok or vegetable oil, 2 turns of the pan
1 tablespoon (a splash) white or rice wine vinegar
1/2 cup chicken broth or stock
8 ounces (1 cup) prepared lemon curd
1/4 cup hot water
1 lemon, zested
2 scallions, thinly sliced or 20 blades fresh chives, finely chopped

Directions:

Coat the chunked chicken lightly in flour, seasoned with a little salt. Heat a large skillet or a wok-shaped nonstick pan over high heat. Stir fry chicken until golden, 3 or 4 minutes. Remove chicken from the pan and return pan to heat. Reduce heat to medium.
Add a splash of vinegar to the pan and let it evaporate. Add stock or broth to the pan and scrape up any drippings with a whisk. Thin curd by stirring in a little hot water. Add curd to broth and whisk to combine. Add chicken back to the pan and simmer for 1 to 2 minutes to thicken sauce and finish cooking chicken pieces through. Remove the pan from heat, add the scallions or chives and zest, and toss chicken pieces well to combine zest and scallions or chives evenly throughout the sauce. Serve with rice.




This was probably the best Lemon Chicken I've had. It was delish. I even went back for seconds. Naughty girl.

Last Nights Dinner - Ah-Mazing!!

It finally cooled down enough for me to actually turn on the stove and cook a real meal. On the menu last night was Indian Butter Chicken. I've made it before and posted about it here with a quick rundown of how to make it.


This time, I chopped up a bit of dried apricots to sprinkle on top. What a delish addition. And of course I plated it on a bed of brown rice and paired it with green beans.

It was a beautiful night, perfect for eating outside (Jaelyn's idea). So that's where we ate.

(Prego face and big ol' belly)

Grilled Fish Tacos

Summer Time = Grill Time


So grilled fish tacos was the meal of choice for dinner. And family for a little dinnertime company.


While the Hubs hooked up the fish, I thru together a quick bean dip.

Layered from the bottom up:

• refried beans
• salsa
• chopped lettuce
• sour cream mixed with taco seasoning
• mexi mix shredded cheese
• chopped tomatoes
• chopped green onions

Served with tortilla chips and pretzels for dipping

Grilled corn on the cob.

Grilled Fish. Toppings: grilled peppers, grilled onion, shredded cabbage, lime wedges, tomatoes, mango

My first plate was a tostada.

And for seconds, I had a taco. The mango set it off!!!

Yum!!!

Happy (belated) Cinco De Mayo

Instead of going out for mucho cervesas, we decided to have a Cinco De Mayo dinner at our house so we invited over my MIL and niece.

Who am I kidding? Cervesas were out of the question for me anyway, so I was happy about staying home.

We started out with some margaritas.

{virgin strawberry for me and the baby}

I made Chicken Enchiladas and my MIL made tacos.

With all the neccessary toppings, dinner was
Delish.

And to satisfy our sweet teeth, we made strawberry shortcakes.

I was pretty darn stuffed, but it was all so good. And of course I sent the leftovers home with my MIL and niece, all but enough for the Hubs' lunch the next day.

Ole!!

Chicken Enchiladas.

Chicken Enchiladas

Ingredients

1/4 cup chopped onion

2 tbsp butter

1 4oz can diced green chile peppers, drained

1 3oz package ff or lf cream cheese, softened

1 tbsp milk

1/2 tsp ground cumin

2 cups chopped cooked chicken

12 7 in flour tortillas

1 10oz can reduced-sodium condensed cream of mushroom

1 8oz carton rf sour cream

1 cup milk

3/4 cup shredded mexican mix cheese

Directions

1. Cook onions in butter over med heat until onion is tender. Remove from heat and add 1/2 the chiles
2. In med bowl, combine cream cheese, 1 tbsp milk and cumin; add onions and chicken
3. Spoon about 3 tbsp mixture into each tortilla near edge, roll and place in greased 3 quart rectangular glass pan, seam side down. Set aside
4. For sauce, in med bowl combine reserved chile's, soup, sour cream and 1 cup milk. Pour evenly over tortillas in dish. Cover with foil, bake at 350 for about 35 mins.
5. Remove foil, sprinkle evenly with cheese, return to oven, bake until cheese is golden and bubbly

Top with some salsa.

I served mine with sliced avacado, corn and tortilla chips.

They were a hit with the Hubs and MIL.

While at my parents' in BC, my camera battery died and I didn't have my charger so I only managed to get a pic of one meal. Mum made me a sammy and some green tea.
My Mum is a great cook, and even when she just whips up a quick sammy, it always seems to taste so good. I guess it's that mothers touch.

~~~
On Sunday, my Dad was making his delish curry chicken with chick peas and potatoes. This is one of my fav things he makes. He is an amazing cook. He actually managed a restaurant kitchen back in the day, so can make just about anything. But this is one of his original recipes and it is the best.

Jaelyn and I didn't stay for dinner, so Pops hooked me up with some take out to bring home. I couldn't wait to get home and dig in.

This mix of curry chicken can be eaten over rice, but we usually eat it in a wrap; traditionally a roti skin.
I like mine spicy so I add some hot sauce before wrapping.


OMG!

~~~

Big Thanks to the Parentals for hooking it up!!

Indian Butter Chicken

Indian Butter Chicken (Makhani Chicken)

In keeping with my goal to clean out the deep freezer, I made another chicken dish.

This time it was Butter Chicken.

I cut up and browned 2 chicken breasts and a medium onion.

I used 2 tablespoons of a jar of Butter Chicken paste, added it to the chicken with about 1and 1/c2 cups of half and half.

I also had a sweet potato that was on it's last leg so I chopped it up into cubes and added it to the mix.

I let it all simmer until the sauce was thickened and the potatoes were fork tender.

And of course, like most of my dishes I plated it on a bed of brown rice.

Added a side of green beans. (I ate half the beans before I took the picture)

Really, Really Good.

The Hubs took the leftovers to work the next day for lunch and said it was even better.

Perogies with Mushroom Gravy

This is a dish my Mum would make alot when I was younger. I love it.

Perogies are a Ukrainian filled pasta. I think there are a variety of different fillings but I've only had the potato and cheese filled perogies.

I buy them frozen and boil according to the package. About 8 mins until pastas float.

I made the mushroom gravy by first sauteing some onions and mushrooms in a touch of EVOO.

Once they became soft and translucent, I scooted them to the edges of the pan and made a rue in the middle with a small amount of butter and flour. Cooked down the flour a bit and added some reduced sodium chicken broth a few shakes of some soy sauce and seasoning.

Mixed it all well, and let it simmer and thicken.

On my plate went 4 perogies, some gravy and a dollop of rf sour cream.

I'm pretty sure this is not the traditional Ukrainian way to eat them, but it's how we always had them.

OMG, so good. Just like Mum used to make.

Jaelyn was hesitant to try it, but in the end became a fan.

YUM!

Chicken Chili

It's been a clean out the fridge, freezer and cabinets kind of week. I've really been trying to avoid having to shop and use the foods we already have.

The Hubs and I have agreed not to buy any meat until all the meat we already have is used. And since we have a stand-up freezer in our garage, we acquire a lot of meat. Lots of chicken. So I've been trying to get creative with our meals lately.

A few nights ago I made a chicken chili.

*

I boiled two bone-in breast, which I first removed the skin.

In a big pot, I sweat out a few stalks of celery, a few mushrooms, some green bell pepper, a clove of garlic and a medium onion in some EVOO.

Once the chicken was cooked through, I cut it away from the bone into bite size pieces, before adding it to the pot of veggies, with some seasonings.

Following the chicken I added the remainder of the ingredients:

1 can of corn

1 can of kidney beans
2 cans of chicken stock

1 package of reduced sodium chili mix

I let it all cook together at a medium-low simmer.

Served it with some sweet corn bread.

This was my first try at chicken chili and it was so yummy. The Hubs gave me a thumbs up!!

Lazy yet delicious dinner.

For a quick and easy twist on what my family calls Loose Meat and Gravy, I made the meat with cream of mushroom soup.

I took a pound of lean ground turkey seasoned and browned it in a sauce pan. Added some chopped onion and a can of reduced sodium cream of mushroom soup and let it simmer.

I served it on a bed of brown rice with some steamed broccoli and a side salad.

A quick squeeze of some hot sauce and I was ready to eat.

Spanakopita

I love Greek Food.

I wanted to spice dinner up around here, so I tried my hand at making Spanakopita.

If you are not familiar, it is a pastry filled with spinach and feta cheese.

I found the recipe here. I halved the recipe and it still made plenty of pastries.

They turned out delicious!!

With the Spanakopita, I made herb roasted potatoes, grilled chicken, tzatziki sauce and salad with greek dressing.

A delicious meal. The tzatziki sauce made everything so refreshing and cool. Yum!!

Tomato and Basil Pasta

I saw this recipe on an episode of Just Eat This and have been wanting to try it.

My attraction to it was it's simplicity.

I don't remember the exact name or measurement but it was a little something like this.

• Whole Wheat Pasta (I used penne), cooked according to package
• Fresh tomato chunks
• Fresh basil, torn or ribboned
• Fresh garlic, chopped
• Touch of EVOO
• Drain pasta and mix all ingredients together.
• Top with parm and enjoy

It was really good. Light, fresh and tasty. And with this base idea, you could even add some grilled chicken for protein and additional flavor.

I got my thin crust veggie pizza last night. Oh my, it was so good. The crust was really thin and crispy. As you see, along side I had a salad with a drizzle of ranch.

For breakyfast this morning, after my aerobic workout, I had a yogurt mix.
FF vanilla yogurt, apple chunks, a few Honey Bunnies and some Puffins.
Creamy and crunchy, sweet and delish.

As if last night's pizza wasn't enough. I had another one for lunch. This one, I made myself with a mini pizza crust, sauce, mushrooms, turkey pep. and mozzarella cheese.
Yum. I feel like I could eat pizza everyday.
I also finished off my big bowl of salad, but didn't get a pic.

Now, I have a sweet tooth.

Hmm?

Good Eats Today

Breakfast:
1 orange
Thomas' Light english muffin w/ rf PB

Lunch:
Brussel Sprouts
Homemade pizza pocket made with a Flatout Wrap, pizza sauce, turkey pepperoni and mozza.

Dinner:
TJ's veggie samosa's (sweet chili sauce for dipping) and curry couscous with raisins.

Good Eats.

Food Food Food

Who doesn't love a bowl of hot soup on a cold day? I know I do. This tomato soup was more that delish.

Instead of the traditional grilled cheese sandwich, I opted for a slice of cheddar inside a toasted whole wheat pita. Perfect for dipping.

I've been having a lot of quick fix meals lately, havn't done a whole lot of cooking. Here is a Lean Cuisine Pasta Primavera with a side of brussel sprouts.

I've been really craving eggs latley. So for breaky fast one morn I had 1 whole & 1 egg white, over medium, with a toasted pita. Have you ever toasted your pita? It's really good. I keep my pita's in the fridge, but don't like to eat them cold, so I pop them in the toaster. They come out a little crispy around the edges but warm and soft in the middle.

More sprouts. I've been on a serious brussel sprout kick. This time they were paired with a Lean Cuisine chicken and garlic pizza.

I've been trying to avoid a cold lately, and gulping one of these down every other day has been helping.

94%FF POPCORN!!

Thomas' Light English Muffin with PB. One of my fave snacks ever.

I eat a banana just about everyday. Either with breakyfast or on the go.

Juicy Orange. Another fruit I've been having just about everyday.

Of course Oatmeal had to make an appearance. Love my oats, esp. on a cold day.

That was just a quick run down of some of my food choices lately.