This N That Salad

One of the best ways I've found to use up leftovers is to throw em in a delicious salad. Forgotten about veggies and other small portions of nummys from earlier in the week. Generally speaking an easy dressing of lemons juice, olive oil, salt and pepper seems to go well with almost ANYTHING.  You need a good base of hearty greens, I used a spring mix and some extra kale I had in the fridge. Another bonus about This N That Salads that they come together in minutes! I had this beautiful lunch on the table in about 30 seconds, actually. And it was crazy crazy good! Use this "recipe" as a guideline/inspiration and then go raid that fridge and see what you can come up with. 

This N That Salad

2 packed cups of hearty greens like kale or spinach

2 tbsp beet root hummus

1/2 small avocado sliced

1/2 cup brown rice and veggie casserole

3 precooked falafel

Lemon, olive oil, salt and pepper to taste

Layer your ingredients over the greens and garnish with LOTS of lemon! 

Week Of Leftovers Day Two: Thai Turkey Lettuce Wraps with Peanut Dipping Sauce

Today is day 2 of our Week of Leftovers and we are swooning over these Thai Turkey Lettuce Wraps. They are the exact thing we are craving after a weekend of rich foods. Here's the recipe:


1 head of butter lettuce
1 cup shredded white meat turkey
1/2 cup shredded cabbage
12 cup shredded carrots
1/4 cup each, chopped cilantro & mint

Place 2 lettuce leaves overlapping on your plate, fill with slaw, cilantro and mint. Garnish with lime wedges and serve with peanut dipping sauce.

Peanut Dipping Sauce

3 tbsp crunchy peanut butter
3 tbsp agave nectar
2 tbsp low sodium soy sauce
4 tbsp rice wine vinegar
1/2 inch of fresh ginger (or 1 tsp powdered)
a splash or two of sesame oil

Mix all in a food processor until smooth.

We gobbled up three of these for dinner! They were so addicting and SO light. Our favorite Thai place makes wraps like these with ground turkey and tons of fresh herbs. That's where the inspiration for these came from. You could certainly use other types of large leafed lettuce, but I've found butter lettuce works best and it's so tender! Alternative you chop a ton of lettuce and layer everything salad style, which is what I did for with the leftovers (packed them in the DH's lunch box for the next day!).

They are also phenomenal as a meat free option, you could replace the meat with saute'd tofu or hearty mushrooms.

Welcoming Sumi, our 3rd guest blogger & A delicious goat cheese salad recipe!

When I was searching for guest bloggers, I initially assumed I would only solicit people I knew who were also bloggers. But then I thought...why?

Certainly there are people out there with hidden writing talents and knowledge to share. Then I thought of Sumi and how she has been keeping me on track for the last month. Urging me to work and out and sharing all her exercise tips with me, and I thought she would be the perfect person to write about keeping a healthy routine when you're always on the go. Some weeks Sumi has to work 4 12hr shifts in a row- and every 3 months those shifts are graves, so if she can find the time to work out and prepare healthy meals, so can we! Unfortunately, Sumi doesn't have a blog/site for you to visit YET, but who knows...we might encourage her to give it a try!

Here's Sumi!

Hi All, my name is Sumi. I’m 27 and from Southern California born and raised. I met Eva through my boyfriend, Steve, who happens to be very good friends with Eva’s husband. Eva and I, though we haven’t had much time to hang out with each other yet, hit it off almost instantly and have chatted each other up tons of times by now. I have absolutely loved the fact that she’s a chef. I have enjoyed seeing the meals she has come up with or prepared because I am not even remotely creative or skilled when it comes to cooking. I’m also very flattered that she is letting me be a guest blogger! So here are some real life diet and exercise tips I've used for staying healthy.

Sumi's Diet and Exercise Tips:

*Make realistic weight loss/health goals and stick to them!
*Stop making excuses, you're health should be a top priority.
*Plan a "splurge" day during the week.
*Vary the intensity of your work outs, if you know today is your splurge day, plan a longer/harder workout.
*Last month Eva told you about accountability partners, get one! Nothing keeps you on track better than knowing you'll have to check in with a peer at the end of the week. Also, the encouragement is sometimes all the positive reinforcement you need till that you start shedding pounds.
*You don't need to be a gourmet Chef to make healthy meals. Your meals should look something like this: 50% veggies, 25% lean protein and 25% complex carbohydrates. I am not very good at following recipes so I sometimes get inspiration from recipes I stumble upon on Pintrest!

First off, let’s define healthy. Healthy, for any person, is not based upon a strict set of parameters. This means, just because your best friend is 5’1’’ and 110 pounds, it doesn’t mean you, at 5’6’’, should weigh at 110 pounds as well. You need to figure out what is healthy for your height and body type. According to a Weight Watcher’s support website that calculates the ideal weight for women, a 5’6’’ woman with even a small frame should not weigh less than 120 pounds. 

Click here to find you "ideal" weight. Remember that this is only a tool to aid you in over-all health. You should always consult a physician when it comes to your individual weight loss goals. 

You also need to consider things like cholesterol, vitamin and mineral deficiencies, and overall what you need to make you feel great from the inside out. The healthier you are on the inside, the healthier you will be on the outside. So let’s discuss how to feed yourself foods that make you feel great on the inside and out!

So, I love food. A lot. I also don’t believe in starving or punishing yourself for the sake of health, beauty, fitness, etc. However, being more aware of what you’re putting into yourself really puts things into perspective. So first off, I will sometimes calorie count. Just so I know how many calories I’m putting into my body. Doing this for a week or two really puts things into perspective and causes you to start thinking about how you can change your diet. For example, are you craving chocolate? How about you grab some strawberries instead? One piece of dark chocolate is around 27 calories as opposed to one small strawberry, which is 2 calories.

All of this info I got from www.fatsecret.com which has a lot of nifty calorie counting tools for you. So at 2 calories a piece, you can a ton more strawberries than you can chocolate while satisfying your urge for something sweet. So supplementing one potential unhealthy food choice for a healthy one can do wonders for you. Plus, simply cutting down on portion size a bit can greatly improve your health, inside and out. If you’re feeling too sluggish and heavy from eating too much, you’re not very likely to be active. So eat well, eat just a tiny bit less (no starving yourself), and try to be more active!

Now onto an easy salad that I eat frequently. As a general rule, I try to eat something green every day. Most days, a salad works, but a simple green salad can get very boring. A little lettuce and some dressing does not cut it for me. I also like things to be on a light sweet side. So I figured out how to make a light summer salad that is super easy. I get all of my ingredients from Fresh and Easy, which really is super fresh and easy. Anyway, I always go for the herb salad mix because I like the way the herbs taste. It makes the salad interesting and fresh. I also like to add in some walnuts (instead of croutons) and goat cheese because I’m obsessed with cheese and goat cheese has less fat and more protein that cow's milk cheeses. Plus, goat cheese is plain delicious! Nice and creamy, and won’t overpower the rest of the flavors in your salad. Anyway, I also mentioned I like something sweet. So I add dried cranberries and top it off with a tasty, yet zesty raspberry vinaigrette dressing. This is a super simple salad that is not only tasty, but filling and healthy. 
Variations:

Add grilled lean steak or chicken for added protein, you can eat this as a main meal.

Add fresh fruit like apples, grapes, raspberries, orange segments or strawberries.

Replace the goat cheese for low fat blue cheese, careful with your serving sizes! 

Try herbed goat cheese.

Replace the walnuts with slivered almonds.

I usually throw together salads based upon on what I feel tastes better rather than following a recipe, that being said, here's a super easy raspberry vinaigrette recipe that anyone can make. This recipe yeilds around 2 1/2 cups and keeps in the fridge...well I couldn't really say. We mow through this stuff pretty fast!

Here's the recipe for the raspberry vinaigrette, Enjoy!

1 cup fresh or thawed frozen raspberries

1/2 cup apple cider or red wine vinegar

3/4 cup mild flavored olive oil

1 tbsp Dijon mustard (optional, but it makes a nice smooth emulsion)
Salt and Pepper to taste

Combine all ingredients in your blender until smooth. The contents should reach a nice pale pink color. Taste and correct seasonings, strain to remove seeds and serve with salad greens or use as a marinade for chicken, pork and steak.

Brown Baggin' It

Hello out there!

How are you guys?

Things have been going incredibly well here. This past week we've had some amazing weather. I've been doing a little gardening and Sunday we spent the whole day at the lake with friends, enjoying the water, some refreshments and  of course, BBQ!

So...there is this amazing little tool on my dashboard here on Blogger, and it tells me that there has been a crazy spike in new readers lately. I have to say it took my breath away and I am extremely grateful. I feel that I am falling in love with this blog more and more everyday. I find myself missing it on my days off! And you all are a part of that. Knowing that somehow, I have reached all of you and that *hopefully* you're enjoying what you've found...well, that makes it all worth while.

Today we are going to talk about LUNCH. I used to hate packing my lunch for work. I would always end up with some soggy messy sandwich at the bottom of my bag by lunch time and there is nothing worst than that, is there? Then, once my stomach started revolting against gluten (and bread was no longer an option) I found myself taking packaged foods to lunch because they were so easy. Stuff from the frozen foods section or canned soups that were laden with sodium and not super filling.  Over the years and through much trial and error, I have figured out a way to have healthy, delicious lunches packed and ready to go at all times. All it takes is a little forethought, some prepping and the right tools to create some wonderful lunches that will not go soggy on you. I was posting a lot of my lunches on FB recently and many of my friends starting begging asking me for some tips. So here we are.

Even though I work at a restaurant, I still pack a lunch nearly every night. I really really want to eat at the restaurant every night, but that would be a horrible thing for my waistline, so I don't.

Chopped Salad with Roasted Turkey Breast

Of course, while I am packing my lunch I also pack some for Mike, who is the easiest man to cook for. He will eat nearly anything and he does not need variety like some people (me). I pack him a lot of wraps, salads or whole wheat crackers with tuna, because of my gluten sensitivity we don't keep bread in the house so we almost never do sandwiches. This is good news for you, my dear readers, because if you've come here to get some ideas for non-sammichy lunches, you have come to the right place!

Here's what we are going to do...I am going to give you a little shopping list for the beginning of the week. Then I am going to give you some ideas (with photos) of how we do it at the H.N.E home. And here's the most important part...I want you to report back. Yes, some homework! Tell me how it is going and what you're packin.'

Deal? Alrighty, here we go...

Utilizing Leftovers, Chickpea Patty Parmesan. Veggies and Fruit.  

I start off "our week" with a trip to the grocery store that is solely dedicated to lunches. And I say "our week" because we work, respectively, in Law Enforcement and Food Service...so our work week is not the typical Mon-Fri schedule. I assume that some of you also have unconventional work weeks, just go out the day before you go back to work and fill up that fridge. Make sure that you have an hour or two to dedicate to packing all this stuff too. And double check that you have all the little helpers you will need to pack effectively.

Things like, multi compartment plastic containers, dip holders, plastic baggies, foil, cello-wrap, even cupcake liners are SO helpful in packing the perfect lunch. Some other things to take into consideration is how many people you're packing for. If you have 2 children, your shopping list will be much larger than the one I am giving you! What are your families favorite snacks? How well will the foods you're choosing hold up in a sack lunch? Does the person taking the lunch have access to a fridge or a microwave? It would be a super lousy idea to give Mike potato salad, for instance, because some days he doesn't have access to a fridge. His lunch just sits in his back pack all day.

Shopping list:
(remember, this is the one I use. Take this as a guide and make the necessarily changes to suit your family)

1 lb low fat deli meat (turkey, usually, or turkey pastrami or roast beef)
1 package single serving cheese snacks (baby bell, mozzarella cheese, laughing cow)
1 package of whole wheat crackers (we love Ak-Mak crackers, or anything from Trader Joes!)
A bunch of veggies (avacados,cherry tomatoes, cucumbers, celery, carrots- pre cut is nice)
Salad greens- rinsed and chopped
A bunch of fruit (strawberries are my favorite, blueberries, cherries, grapes, apples etc. I never do chopped bananas though! Ick!)
Tuna fish- if the recipient of this magnificent lunch has access to a fridge (or if you're brave enough to just go with an ice pack)
Whole wheat or Gluten free pasta
Pasta Sauces
Canned Beans (black beans are our favorite)
Ground Turkey- pre cooked w/ salt and pepper only!
Chicken Breasts- pre cooked w/salt and pepper only!
Bacon- pre cooked
Sweet Snacks (chocolate covered raisins, sugar free cookies, 100 calories brownie bars, sweetened dried fruit, yogurt with jam)

Salad Snack Packs with cheese and berries. 

The idea here is to do all your prep ahead of time. Before the groceries even hit your fridge, you want to rinse all the produce and get it chopped up and ready to go. Then when you are ready to pack lunches, it's all about assembly. Most weeks my fridge looks like my walk in at work- with all my veggies cleaned, cut and ready to cook.

The first thing I do is check to see how many days Mike and I work that week. Mike and I both work 4 days this week and I also have class on 2 of those days. Now that I know how many lunches I need to prep, Then I check my cabinets to make sure I have enough clean plastic lunch containers. If I don't I buy more find them and clean them up.

 Then I take a look into the fridge, all my prep is there, but I make sure there aren't any left overs I can use up. Peeking in the fridge now I see some chili beans and smashed potatoes (made yesterday for our BBQ) that I can use as sides. I also see some chicken and broccoli pasta I can use as a main or a side, knowing I made that day before yesterday I will remind myself to take that lunch first!

Now I move on to the new lunches. I make a smallish batch of pasta and leave it undressed. Throughout the week I use that in our lunches with some pasta sauce as a side or toss it with oil, vinegar and veggies for a cold pasta salad.

Chicken Taco Salad with Sour Cream & Guacamole

 With the precooked ground beef, I make 2 taco salads using a little less than a cup of meat per lunch, a bunch of salad greens, tomatoes, olives and some chopped avocado. I pack us some sour cream in little dip containers and put a baggie of flax seed chips from TJ's into each of our lunches.

With the sliced deli meat, I make clubs with lettuce, tomato, pickles, bacon, spicy mayo and meat, no cheese. If I had pesto sauce or hummus made I would use that instead of mayo. I make 2 of these for Mikes lunches, slice them in half and, wrap 'em.

I make two giant salads with the prepared tuna fish, for me, since I have a fridge at work. I make a large green salad with all the fixins (lettuce, tomato, olives, pickles, carrots, radishes!) and scoop about 1/4c to a 1/2c of prepared tuna on top.

Now we each have the minimum amount of 4 lunches per person. However, I need a little variety and I have 2 extra lunches that need to be packed for my school days. So I take the cooked chicken breast and make 2 large chicken salads with greens and lots of chopped veg. I pack some dressing into my dip cups and keep the chicken wrapped separate from the greens so Mike can warm it up- he hates cold chicken!

Sandwich wraps all ready to go! HEY- Did you know if you click on
this photo, it will get bigger? I JUST found that out!

In each plastic lunch container I give us a healthy side- black beans for the taco salad, chopped fruit for the wraps and salads. I also give us each a cheese snack and a sweet snack. If I am feeling particularly energetic I might throw together a few small snack packs that have cheese, cracker, meat and fruit in them. On really busy days these little guys have saved my life (and probably the lives of a few innocent bystanders).

Variations:

Chop the cooked chicken breast and mix with mayo to taste. Add salt and pepper, a tbsp of curry seasonings and a splash of hot sauce. Use as filling for a wrap, with salad greens or with whole wheat crackers.

Use the cooked ground turkey and black beans to make a yummy low fat burrito, add cheese and avocado and wrap tight with a paper towel and cello-wrap.

Mix a cup of the prepared pasta and sauce with a cup of ground turkey meat and some cheese as a nice filling main course.

Wrap 1 slice of deli meat around a mozzarella cheese stick, pack some marinara dipping sauce and crackers for a delicious high protein snack.

Try and have fun with it. I love cutting my veggies into cute shapes and using my brightly colored cupcake liners, remember we eat with our eyes first!

Now that you are armed with all the basic know how, I hope you will start brown bagging it! Now more soggy ham sandwiches in your future kids, get packing!!

Thanksgiving Leftovers!

Ah, it is here...the occasion we wait all year long for. No, it is not Christmas or Thanksgiving...it is the week following Thanksgiving. Sure we love all the delicious fixings that go along with the main course (Turkey, duh). We love visiting friends and family, watching the game and drinking too much. But what we really REALLY love is all the amazing things that get done with turkey leftovers AFTER Thanksgiving.

Here is a short list of ideas on how to use up those turkey scraps. This year I was fortunate enough to be able to take home the turkey...carcass...to make turkey stock. It was SO easy I couldn't believe I didn't try this before. From now on I will make a point of sneaking the carcass out and into my car before anyone realizes what I've done. It was that good. What sorts of things would you do with turkey stock you ask? Soups, gravies, sauces...what can't you do? Well...don't bath with it. Don't wash your car with it, or use it to lube your slip and slide. Don't. I'll slap you.

Turkey Left Over Ideas

Turkey and Sweet Pea "Risotto":

1 cup of left over cook white rice, frozen sweet peas, shredded white and dark turkey meat, 1/2 cup cream and 1/4 cup turkey broth all warmed up in a small sauce pan. That's right, just dump it all into a pan, it is so simple. Once the rice and turkey mixture is warm and at the end mix in some shredded Parmesan cheese, season with salt and pepper.

Turkey and Sweet Potato Hash:

1/2 cup chopped turkey, 1/2 cup cubed (cooked) sweet potatoes, 2 green onions, 1 yellow bell pepper all get sauteed in a greased heavy bottomed pan. Add the potatoes first, then the other vegetables and the turkey last. Season liberally with salt, pepper and garlic powder. The hash is best when all the ingredients take a little browning and get nice and crusty! Eat with some over easy eggs and toast!

Curried Turkey Salad:

In a medium sized bowl mix: 1 cup chopped/shredded turkey, 1/4 cup mayo, 1 tbsp low fat sour cream or plain nonfat yogurt, 1 celery rib chopped finely, 2 green onions, 1tbsp curry powder and 1 tsp garlic powder. Let this sit in the refrigerator for at least an hour (or dig in with a fork while standing over the kitchen counter...). Scoop onto a plate of leafy greens and some diced green apples and craisins. Obviously this makes one damn good sandwich as well!!

Turkey Mole:

You'll want to pour this over some steamed white rice so make sure you get that out of the way before you start. There are many authentic mole recipes available online, but a quick short cut is to pick up jarred mole paste from the grocery store and mix with chicken broth. Add 2 cups of the prepared mole sauce, 1 can of chopped tomatoes, and 3 cups of shredded turkey and warm through on the stove or in a crockpot (I'd go for the crock pot because it wont likely overcook the turkey). Serve over white rice, garnish with cilantro leaves and salsa.

That's what I got so far for you. My advice is get creative, but don't ignore the obvious choices either. Leftovers make GREAT turkey soup (replace egg noodles with orzo or stuffed pasta like tortellini). Have a great casserole you'd normally use chicken for? Use turkey! The possibilities are endless.