WIAW: Recipe Dump Edition

Despite the fact that I’ve been cooking a lot of awesome shit lately (and even photographing it afterwards), it’s been ages since I did a What I Ate Wednesday post. So here are some cool new recipes I’ve tried over the last few months.

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Thanks to Jenn @ Peas and Crayons for hosting.

Gluten-Free Quinoa Salad with Creamy Tahini Dressing

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I added some grilled chicken strips to this one to increase the calories and make it more filling. With lentils, quinoa, chicken and lots of healthy fats, this was really satisfying and yummy.

Creamy Chicken and Spinach Pasta

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This recipe is really the best of both worlds – comfort food with lots of vegetables, which I don’t always get enough of.

Swiss Chard Lasagna

I’m using the Food Network’s picture of this lasagna because mine was so ugly, I couldn’t bear to have it mar an otherwise pretty post. Given that this recipe is like 80% cheese, it’s not surprising that it tasted heavenly. I need more asiago cheese in my world.

Lamb with Fennel and Tomatoes

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I’m not crazy about lamb but Josh loves it so we make it occasionally. With this recipe, I prepared the lamb a little differently; first, I breaded it and then I baked it instead of grilling it (I have a grill but it’s tiny so it’s a pain in the ass to cook multiple servings of meat on it).

African Chicken Peanut Stew

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This might be my favourite recipe ever. It’s supposed to make 6-8 servings but Josh and I crushed, like, half the pot the first night we made it – it’s just that good.

Mascarpone and Strawberry Tarts

And, finally, a dessert recipe that is dirt easy but will make you super popular when you bring these bad boys to potlucks:

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Ingredients:
- 36 mini Tenderflake tarts
- 1 package of strawberries, sliced
- 475 grams mascarpone cheese
- 1/2 cup brown sugar

Directions:
- Bake tarts according to package directions
- Mix sugar and cheese in a bowl. Let sit for a few minutes
-  Once tarts have cooled, fill each with a tablespoon of cheese and top with strawberry slices

Until next time (which could very well be three months from now) – Happy WIAW!

Cook Once, Eat for Days

It’s What I Ate Wednesday and for once I actually have an original recipe to share.

Well, it’s not my recipe – I got it from Josh’s sister-in-law, who got it from a Portuguese friend of hers. Not sure what it should be called ($10 for anyone who names it) but for now let’s just call it “big ass serving of chicken and rice.”

This kind of meal is great for when you’re too busy/lazy to cook dinner during the week. Josh and I prepared it on Sunday night and have been living off the leftovers since. Here’s what you’ll need to make it:

2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken thighs
750 g Italian rice
2 hot house tomatoes
1 bunch parsley
500 mL white cooking wine
1 tall can of Hunt’s tomato sauce
1 onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste
1 tsp garlic powder
2 cubes chicken boullion
Frank’s red hot sauce

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. In a large pot, heat oil over medium-high and sautee onions and garlic until soft

3. Add tomatoes and parsley

4. Pour in bottle of cooking wine and can of tomato sauce; fill about half of the empty can with water and add to pot

5. Mix in chicken boullion, salt and pepper, to taste, garlic powder and splashes of hot sauce

6. Add chicken thighs, reduce heat to medium and let simmer for 7 minutes

7. Meanwhile, layer rice at the bottom of a large greased basting pan (you’ll need one that has a lid). After seven minutes, pour a layer of sauce over the rice using a ladle. Place chicken thighs on top of rice and top with remaining sauce. Cover and bake for 45 minutes.

8. Add hot sauce, to taste (the more the better, as far as I’m concerned), and get out your tupperware! This is what was leftover after we ate dinner:

Makes 10 servings (390 calories per serving)

While I love this recipe, I don’t want to eat it at every single meal so I make sure to mix it up by alternating my leftovers with quick, easy meals. Using that strategy, here’s what I ate on Monday:

Breakfast

I got my morning started with a P28 bagel topped with almond butter and strawberries and a cup of green ginger tea.

Lunch

For lunch, I ate leftovers with a handful of spinach thrown in for good measure (gotta sneak in those extra veggies somewhere).

Pre-Workout

My pre-workout snack was Greek yogurt with blueberries and granola. The workout of the day was a BodyStep class at the gym near my work.

Dinner

For dinner, I didn’t feel like eating chicken and rice again so I whipped up an omelette and salad.

To make the salad, I mixed spinach, grape tomatoes, yellow pepper, avocado, couscous, olive oil and lemon juice – one of my favourite throw-it-together-in-minutes meals.  For dessert, I had a mini Crispy Crunch bar (from my Halloween candy stash).

Snack

VitaTops have been on sale for the past couple of weeks so, as you can imagine, I’ve been hoarding them like crazy. My bedtime snack was a VitaTop with raspberries.

So there you have it – as always, thanks to Jenn @ Peas and Crayons for hosting this little party! Have a fantastic Wednesday!

Have any recipes that could feed a small village? Share them!

WIAW: Home Alone Edition

Happy What I Ate Wednesday!

I’m working from home this week, which means I have way more time to cook. Yesterday, I had the usual for breakfast (almond butter and strawberries on P28) and morning snack (Greek yogurt with blueberries and granola) so I won’t bore you with pictures ;)

For lunch, I made turkey meatloaf muffins and a kale salad with carrots, yellow peppers, peanuts, oil and brown sugar (which, I discovered, is the only thing that will get me to chew and swallow raw kale; I’ll stick to my usual spinach salad from now on).

In the afternoon, I dropped in on my sister. I was going bonkers at home by myself so I brought some work to her house. While there, I tried these amazing Flamous Falafel Chips from Whole Foods.

I usually stay away from what I consider organic junk food but these are actually pretty decent. They aren’t too high in calories (123 calories for 10 chips), I recognized all of the ingredients and they have some decent nutritional value. Pair them with hummus for a yummy afternoon snack.

For dinner, I cooked walnut and paprika shrimp with soba noodles.

After dinner, I went to kickboxing. Remember that class I really didn’t want to go to last Thursday? Well, I forced myself to go and ended up having a really great time. So much so that I was actually excited to go again last night. When I got home, I had a banana with peanut butter for my post-workout snack.

This was probably one of my better days of eating in a long time. My diet hasn’t been terrible but after two long weekends in a row (I took Monday off and went to Wonderland), I definitely feel like I’ve been indulging at a slightly higher rate than usual. It was nice to have a full day of healthy, unprocessed eats.

Happy WIAW and thanks to Jenn @ Peas and Crayons for hosting.

What’s your favourite organic/healthy junk food? 

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