Snack - Nuts!

Check out this article from NPR about nuts and a healthy diet. Remember that a serving of nuts is just one ounce.

"Just a handful of nuts may help us keep from packing on the pounds as we age."

Dinner - 1/4 Chicken Crust Pizza

I can't recommend the book called "Fit Men Cook"by Kevin Curry enough! In it he talks about his recipe for Chicken Crust Pizza as being one of his most popular recipes. But his version includes dairy added to the pizza and while I do add a little goat cheese to a pizza, I try to stick to the Food Combining ideology of not combining your proteins. So with some great thought I came up with using nutritional yeast - to add a cheesy flavor, along with hemp seeds - adding a nutty and hearty flavor to this pizza. I know a quarter pound of chicken is not a lot, but if you look at Curry's full recipe and serving sizes you'll see that his recipe calls for 1/4 pound per serving. And if you're still thinking that's not enough I encourage you to re-evaluate your Western diet because you just honestly do not need more! This pizza is filling and delicious and good for you too!

I also have this handy tip for you. I had a few chicken breasts in the freezer. I thawed them out and cut and measured them out to the 1/4 pound size and packaged them individually to make this recipe quicker to prepare. It's working well.

And just because I'm taking these recipes and making them work for me by making them a single serving, don't feel limited! Please learn how to make these recipes work for you and your life! If that means doubling or more, do it!

¼ Chicken Crust Pizza

Adapted From Fit Men Cook

Single serving pizza

¼ pound chicken breast, thawed or fresh

¼ cup nutritional yeast

¼ hemp seeds

1 small zucchini, quartered

¼ teaspoon oregano, dried

¼ teaspoon sage, dried

¼ teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon pepper

Preheat oven to 450ºF. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.

To make the crust add the chicken, nutritional yeast, hemp seeds, zucchini and seasoning to a food processor or high powered blender. Pulse until mixed well and minced.

Put the crust on the baking sheet, mashing it down and shaping into your preference of circle or square, using a spatula or recessed spatula, about 1/4” thick. Bake in the oven for 13-15 minutes or until the edges have browned and the chicken is cooked through.

Remove the pizza from the oven and add the toppings of your choice, such as: pizza sauce, green olives, vegan cheese, goat cheese. You know how to do this. 

Place pizza with toppings in the oven and bake until the cheese has melted, browned and bubbled, about 7-8 minutes.

Remove from the oven and allow to cool slightly and eat it!

Dinner - Kale And Avocado Salad

So when I did my meal planning for July I looked out at the garden and made plans for meals around what was ready in the garden. Which leads me to this amazing recipe for kale and avocado salad! I've reduced it to a single serving version. This looks like such a simple basic salad which might not look appealing, but please give it a try! That's exactly how I felt when it came up in my meal plan. But, the vinaigrette is both vinegary and sweet, and the crunch of the cabbage and flavors of the tomato and avocado make eating kale a breeze! Wink wink!

Kale And Avocado Salad - Single Serving Version

Reboot With Joe

Salad:

2 kale leaves, chopped - about 2 cups

1/2 cup of red cabbage, chopped

1 tomato, chopped

1/2 avocado, diced (or one refrigerator ready to serve pack of avocado)

Vinaigrette:

1/4 cup olive oil

1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar

1 tablespoon honey

1/2 teaspoon dried basil

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

Sea salt and freshly ground pepper 

First prep and chop your veggies (except avocado). Add to bowl

Then make the vinaigrette. Combine all ingredients in a glass or small bowl and whisk. Pour over salad. 

Add the avocado. Enjoy!

Homemade Taco Seasoning

Instead of keeping a constant supply of store bought packets of taco seasoning on hand I have learned to make my own from the seasoning already in my cupboard. Here's another quick and easy substitution!

Homemade Taco Seasoning

1 tablespoon paprika

1 tablespoon salt

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1 teaspoon dried onion

1 teaspoon dried oregano

1 teaspoon black pepper

Add all of the spices together in a small mason jar. Cover tightly and shake!

2 tablespoons = one store bought packet

Dinner - Not Quite Margie's Chili, But Almost

A romaine salad with Not Quite Margie's Chili

Early on in my Food Combining journey I was craving familiar comfort food. And I thought of my mom's chili. It's simple and soul satisfying. But her recipe includes more than one protein. So how  can I make this work and not combine my proteins? Mushrooms. Yep, I substituted the traditional ground beef (or turkey or venison that I had been using) for fresh mushrooms. This enabled me to #megaveg this recipe and make it #healthyaf and also not combine my proteins. 

One other way I can make this recipe healthier is by using my garden dried beans. The last few years I have been growing black beans and kidney beans in my garden. It can be hard to find seeds for these and you may have do some footwork. But these are some of the beans I always kept canned in my cupboard and I wanted to try growing my own. My experiment was so successful I didn't even plant any this year as I had such a great harvest last year! They are as simple as plant em' and leave em' alone until they start drying on the vine, then harvest. You may need to let the beans in pods sit in the house awhile for the pods to get dry enough to pop them open and collect your beans. I have had some that start molding (the last few years have been wet summers here in southwest Minnesota) but you just carefully pick through them and toss the bad beans. I have a small crockpot, about one quart, and when I want beans for a recipe I add a half cup of both black and kidney beans (one cup total), fill the crockpot to the top with water (you don't want them to dry out), put the cover on and walk away for 8-9 hours. Your end product is about three cups of beautiful cooked beans. 

Give this updated classic a try!

Not Quite Margie’s Chili, But Almost

adapted and doubled from Mom’s Chili

Place ½ cup each of dried black and kidney beans to a small crockpot. Fill the crockpot with water and cook on high until beans are tender, about 8-9 hours. This will result in about 3 cups of cooked beans.

To make the chili, lightly sauté 2 pounds of whole mushrooms, diced, in extra virgin olive oil and dried onions.

Add one quart home canned tomatoes and one jar of your favorite marinara.

Add the rinsed beans, 2 small cans of tomato sauce, and chili powder and salt to taste.

Bring to a boil and simmer until it thickens.

Makes 6 servings.

Meal planning and the freezer

Since I started Food Combining earlier this year one of my main tools is meal planning. I started out planning week by week and have progressed to planning for the entire month. Some meals I repeat each week or every other week, such as Friday night Meatza Pizza and having Spaghetti with three tomato sauce in there usually twice a month. The other thing I'm doing is trying not to have the same dish more than three times in a row. I freeze the leftovers and then when I start the meal planning for the next month, I go to the freezer and make a list that gets me a great head start into the next months meals! I try to keep looking ahead at whats coming up in the meal plan in case I need to pick up some fresh produce or plan time to cook something or make a snack. And this makes packing up in the morning for work so much easier because the deciding and the prep (usually!) is already done! Grab your nuts, your lunch--is there a salad today?, and your afternoon snack. And I'm good to go! Here's a few samples for you to peruse. Click on the images and it will open in a viewer and be easier to read.

Versatile - Broccoli Leek Soup

This is a versatile soup, meaning you can choose whether to serve with a protein (dinner) or starch (lunch). If you haven't tried leeks, don't be afraid! They are from the same family as onions but have a milder, gentler flavor. You should rinse them before you chop and probably also after as they tend to hold dirt because of all their layers. You can do this!

Broccoli Leek Soup

adapted from Eat To Lose, Eat To Win

1 teaspoon olive oil

2 leeks, chopped

3 cups vegetable broth

4 cups broccoli florets, chopped

1 zucchini, diced

¼ teaspoon ground black pepper

¼ teaspoon salt

Heat the oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add the leeks, reduce heat to low, cover the pot and sweat for 5 minutes until softened but not brown. Add the broth, broccoli and zucchini. Bring to a boil, then simmer for fifteen minutes or until tender. Season with salt and pepper. Puree with an immersion blender or in a blender and serve. 

Dinner - Tomato And Tofu Soup

Another great soup for dinner! Serve with a salad or vegetable. I have recently talked to several people who don't like tofu. My response is that tofu takes on the flavor of what it's cooked with and if you didn't like it, how was it prepared? This soup is a perfect tofu starter recipe the tofu is completely incorporated into the soup with the blender or immersion blender. I think this is a filling and amazingly good soup!

Tomato And Tofu Soup

From Junk Food to Joy Food

4 Servings

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 medium onion, diced

2 medium carrots, peeled and chopped

1 24-ounce jar marinara

1 can of tomato paste

8 ounces silken tofu, drained and cut into cubes

Salt and pepper to taste

Heat the olive oil in a large pot or Dutch oven over medium heat. Add the onion and carrots saute until vegetables are tender, about 8 minutes. Add the tomato paste and cook, stirring constantly, for one minute.

Add the marinara sauce. Fill the empty jar with water and pour the water into the pot. Bring the soup to a boil, cover the pot, reduce the heat to low and simmer for 15 minutes. 

Puree the soup in small batches in a blender until completely smooth, or use an immersion blender to puree the soup directly in the pot.

Season with salt and pepper.

Dinner - Pork Carnitas and Salsa Verde Cruda

I don't serve these in tortillas anymore, now I serve them over romaine. This recipe makes a HUGE amount of food. When I have leftovers I individually bag up the meat with extra sauce in individual bags, and I successfully used an ice cube tray to freeze my salsa verde so I had control of the portions and could ration them out along with the meat! Delicious! I don't add any other sauces or seasonings, but you could easily add salsa if you think you need it. The meat is seasoned so beautifully that I don't need it or want anything more.

Pork Carnitas and Salsa Verde Cruda

From BHG

1/2 cup coarsely chopped white onion

6 cloves of garlic

1 teaspoon dried oregano

1 teaspoon dried parsley or thyme

Pinch of ground cumin

4 whole cloves, stems removed

1 tablespoon canola oil

4 to 5 pound boneless pork shoulder or butt, cut into 2-inch chunks 

2 bay leaves

1 cup freshly squeezed orange juice

2 tablespoons sweetened condensed milk

1 recipe salsa verde cruda

Sliced radishes

In a blender add 1-1/2 cups water, onion, garlic, oregano, parsley or thyme, cumin, cloves, 1 tablespoon salt, and 1 teaspoon pepper. Blend smooth.

In a Dutch oven heat oil over medium-high heat. Add pork; top with 1/2 teaspoon salt. Brown pork 10 minutes, turn occasionally.

Pour onion mixture over pork. Bring to a simmer, cook 5 to 6 minutes. Stir in bay leaves, juice, and milk. Cover; simmer 1-1/2 to 2 hours or until meat pulls apart easily, stirring occasionally. Uncover; simmer 5 minutes. Transfer to a bowl.

Discard bay leaves. Skim fat from liquid. Shred meat with a fork; toss with cooking liquid to moisten, if desired. Serve meat with romaine and radishes. 

Salsa Verde Cruda

1 pound tomatillos, husks removed, rinsed and halved

1 ripe avocado, halved, seeded, and peeled

2 tablespoons coarsely chopped white onion

1 jalapeno chile pepper, stemmed and seeded

In a blender combine tomatillos, avocado, onion, chile pepper, and 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt. Blend smooth. Makes 2 cups. 

Dinner - Eggplant Bolognese

Wow, I've been making this recipe for a really long time! It originally contained a pasta but I tossed that out long before Food Combining. You can use ground beef or turkey or venison, whatever you like! You can make this anytime of year, but if you plant a garden it is so satisfying to use your own fresh garden produce for this recipe!

Eggplant Bolognese

Every Day Food  2007

Serves 8

Prep time: 20 minutes; Total time: 1 hour

Ingredients

8 tablespoons olive oil

1 large eggplant (about 1 pound), peeled and cut into ½ inch pieces

1 medium onion, finely chopped

1 green bell pepper, finely chopped

1 zucchini (about 8 oz), quartered lengthwise and sliced ¼ inch thick crosswise

1 garlic clove, minced

coarse salt and ground pepper

½ to 1 pound ground beef

1 can (28 oz) crushed tomatoes

1 tablespoon dried oregano

Directions

In a Dutch oven or large (5-quart) saucepan, heat 6 tablespoons oil over medium-high.  Add eggplant; cook, stirring occasionally, until softened, 6 to 8 minutes.  Transfer to a bowl; set aside.

Add remaining 2 tablespoons oil to pan; reduce heat to medium.  Add onion, bell pepper, zucchini, and garlic.  Season with salt and pepper; cook, stirring occasionally, until vegetables have softened, 7 to 10 minutes.

In a frying pan, add beef; cook, stirring and breaking up meat until no longer pink, about 5 minutes.  Add to vegetable mixture.

Add tomatoes, oregano, and eggplant; season with salt and pepper.  Bring to a boil; reduce heat to medium-low.  Simmer, stirring occasionally, until sauce is thick and eggplant is tender, about 25 minutes.  Season with salt and pepper and serve.

Dinner - Curried Cauliflower Soup

Another soup, but this one is a protein containing soup for your dinner. With a side salad or vegetable. I found this soup in the book Volumetrics, but it didn't have a protein so I tried adding a can of beans. I think it works perfectly, making the flavor of the soup much richer!

Curried Cauliflower Soup

From Volumetrics

4 Servings

1 T EVOO

1 1/2 cups halved and sliced onions

1 teaspoon curry powder

4 cups vegetable broth

4 cups chopped cauliflower

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 cups water

1 can Great Northern beans, rinsed

2 cups shredded zucchini, abt 2 small

Heat the oil in a 4-5 quart pot over medium heat. Add the onions and curry powder. Cover and cook 4 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Add the broth, cauliflower, salt, water and beans to the pot. Bring the soup to a simmer, stirring occasionally. Cover the pot and simmer 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Puree the soup with an immersion blender.

Add the zucchini to the soup and heat through.

Lunch - Curried Zucchini Soup

This soup is simple and perfect for lunch with a side salad. If you don't have an immersion blender you could puree blender--just do small batches and cover with a towel as the soup is hot. Immersion blenders are so handy and not expensive.

Curried Zucchini Soup

4 Servings 

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

1 medium onion, chopped

4 cups water

2 teaspoons garlic powder

2 teaspoons curry powder

3 zucchini, cut into 1-inch chunks

1 baking potato, peeled and cut into 1-inch chunks

Salt to taste

Heat the oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add onion; cook, stirring occasionally, until the onion is soft. 4 to 5 minutes. Add the zucchini, potato and garlic and curry powders; stir until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add 4 cups water and bring to a boil; reduce the heat, and simmer until the vegetables are tender, 10 to 15 minutes. Puree the soup in a blender in small batches or in the saucepan using an immersion blender. Add salt to taste.

Lunch - Cauliflower Tacos

I seem to be most excited to share my innovations for lunch time meals! I think I posted earlier stating that this meal has been my hardest meal to figure out and find a comfort level with, so I'm super excited to share this and I get super excited when this recipe comes up in my monthly menu planner!

I wanted to have tacos. But I can no longer have protein and starches together. So what to do? I thought that bag of crumbled cauliflower in the store looked hopeful. The first time I attempted this recipe I cooked the p*ss out the poor cauliflower, treating it like I would if I were browning ground beef. Well, it tasted good all together, but in subsequent attempts at this recipe I take a new approach and just lightly sauté the cauliflower in oil and add homemade taco seasoning to taste. Corn taco shells are my starch in this recipe. I add the cauliflower, some taco sauce, then vegan cheese. I'm usually eating these at work and need to microwave at this point to heat the ingredients. Once the tacos are out of the microwave I add sliced tomatoes, black olives and shredded lettuce. I don't feel like I'm missing out on anything on this plan as these are freakin' delicious!

P.S.: If you don't have taco stands, buy them here: Taco stands

P.S. : Very popular with my grandnieces!

Lunch or Versatile - Veggie Lo Mein

This is an amazing dish that I use for lunches with brown rice crackers for a starch. If you wanted to serve with rice or quinoa that would also work for a lunch. I adapted this by making it #megaveg. When I first read the recipe where it says red, orange OR yellow pepper I went big and added one of each! Tamari is a gluten-free soy sauce, so if you don't have tamari you can use soy sauce instead. Tamari tastes the same as soy sauce nix the gluten, so don't be afraid to try it! Also, the toasted sesame oil may not be in your pantry and if you needed to sub another oil, give it a try. But I must say that toasted sesame oil adds a lovely Asian flavor to this dish!

Veggie Lo Mein

Adapted from Junk Food To Joy Food

4 Servings 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

4 large zucchini

1 onion, sliced

Dash of garlic powder

1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger, or 3/4 teaspoon ground ginger

1 red bell pepper

1 orange bell pepper

1 yellow bell pepper

2 medium carrots, shredded

2 teaspoons toasted sesame oil

4 tablespoons tamari

Ground pepper to taste

Green onion, sliced, for garnish

To make zucchini noodles, cut off the ends of the zucchini and julienne using a spiralizer to create noodle strands. Sauté in a large saucepan in olive oil. Remove zucchini from the pan.

Add more olive oil to the saucepan, add the onion and carrot, sauté until slightly browned.

Add the garlic, ginger and bell peppers. Continue to cook, stirring occasionally for about five minute, or until the peppers are tender. Add the sesame oil and 2 tablespoons of the tamari. Continue to cook for an additional 3 minutes. 

Add in the zucchini to reheat and add the remaining tamari.  OR reheat the zucchini noodles and plate, then add the pepper mixture on top. Serve with scallion on top.