Go-To Chicken Soup

Last weekend was our first weekend of rain, which meant it was time to make my fist pot of soup for the season! Over the years I have developed my "go-to" soup recipe for whenever it is cold out, someone is sick, or when we just need a bowl of comfort. It is healthy yet filling and satisfying. And, there is one secret ingredient that gives it a ton of flavor and creamy texture without adding in any cream, butter or dairy :) 

I love setting the table for dinner, even if it is just my husband and I on what would otherwise be an "ordinary" weeknight meal of soup. I pulled out my favorite mix of napkins and my favorite serving trays.

The best part about this recipe is that you can add any veggies to it that you'd like, or any protein. I also like to cute corners a bit and use a store bought rotisserie chicken when I can. I have served the soup on its own, in a bread bowl (my husbands favorite), with corn bread or with a crusty loaf of bread on the side. I have also served it with grilled cheese. Yum!

I hope the next time you're in need of a bowl of comfort, you give this recipe a try! I would love to know what you think of it it so be sure to comment below or on my Instagram. 

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Go-To Chicken Soup Recipe

Ingredients:

• 2 Tbs. olive oil
• 5 stalks celery, chopped
• 4 large carrots, sliced
• 1 large onion, diced
• 64 oz. chicken broth
• 5 medium yukon gold potatoes or 7-10 small red potatoes, scrubbed and cut into 1 inch cubes
• 2 cups cooked rice or quinoa (optional)
• 4 medium chicken breasts, cooked and shredded
• 2 Tbs. Dijon mustard (this is what makes it creamy!)
• salt and black pepper
• season salt to taste, Lawry's (optional)
• 1/2 cup parsley, chopped

Directions:

1. Heat oil in a large pot over medium heat. Saute onion, celery and carrots until softened, about 5 minutes. 
2. Stir in chicken broth and potatoes. Increase heat to high just until broth starts to boil.  Reduce to medium high and cook potatoes for 10 minutes or until fork tender. 
3. Reduce heat to low and stir in rice or quinoa, chicken, and dijon mustard. Season to taste with salt, pepper and season salt.  Stir in fresh parsley and simmer. Serve and enjoy!

Easy Weeknight Dinner: Loaded Salmon Salad

Whenever I ask my readers what kind of recipes they want to see more of, there is always an overwhelming request for easy weeknight dinner recipes. I get it. Dinner can be a struggle to get on the table at the end of the day, and not to mention the dishes that follow. As much as I love spending time in the kitchen, I am always challenging myself to come up with healthy meal ideas that can be made ahead of time, and that require very few dishes. Now, before you roll your eyes at a salad recipe, hear me out on this one. This salad is so versatile, pretty much any type of veggies and protein work. And the best part is that you can make the dressing, assemble the salad and even cook the protein ahead of time. This recipe definitely checks all the boxes which makes for the perfect weeknight (or any night) dinner solution!

I used fresh salmon in this recipe, but chicken, steak or any other kind of protein would be great. You could even pick up a rotisserie chicken from the store to make things even easier!

To make this salad ahead of time, I made the dressing (recipe below) and put it in a jar in the fridge. I then washed and cut up the lettuce and veggies, and assembled them on a platter. You could either cook the protein ahead of time or wait until right before you are going to serve it. I put plastic wrap on it and stuck it in the fridge and when I got home from a long day, dinner was done and ready to eat! 

I hope you give this recipe a try on a weeknight when you're in need of an easy dinner! Also let me know what your go-to weeknight dinner recipes are :)

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Salmon Salad Recipe 

Ingredients:

• 2, 6 ounce center cut salmon filets 
• 1 head red leaf lettuce, washed and cut 
• 1 ear white corn, kernels removed
• 1/2 cup cherry tomatoes, halved
• 1/2 cup cauliflower florets
• 1/2 cup green olives (natural green olives, not "martini" olives)
• 1/2 cup hearts of palm, cut on the diagonal
• 2 medium carrots, cut on the diagonal
• 1 ripe avocado, diced
• Optional: 1/2 cup feta cheese and pecans

Vinaigrette Dressing Ingredients:

• 1 small shallot, minced
• 1 tsp. honey
• 2 tsp. Dijon mustard
• 1/4 cup red wine vinegar
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• salt and pepper 

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Drizzle olive oil and salt and pepper on salmon filets. On a prepared baking sheet, place the salmon into the oven for 15-20 minutes or until flakey. 
2. Arrange the greens on a large serving platter. Arrange the other veggies around the platter. 
3. Mix all of the dressing ingredients until well combined.
4. Place the salmon on top of the salad. Drizzle the salad with vinaigrette dressing, and enjoy!

*The vinaigrette recipe was adapted from this source.

Avocado Pesto "Pasta" with Blistered Tomatoes

There is nothing quite like a warm Spring day! We have been having a few of them lately here in California (don't worry- we have rain in the forecast all week), so we have been soaking it up. The warmer weather makes me want to swap out soups and stews for some lighter meals. That's what lead me to create this amazing avocado pesto "pasta" with blistered tomatoes. It is so light yet creamy and it's perfect on its own or next to some grilled chicken or salmon. It also comes together in minutes making it the perfect weeknight meal. I hope you make this one of your go-to dishes this Spring and throughout the Summer months ahead. 

Have you ever spiralized zucchini to create zucchini "noodles"? That's probably a silly question since it's been a food craze for a while. But, I have to admit this was my first time trying it. And now, I get all the hype! They were the perfect "noodle" for this dish since the avocado pesto perfectly coats them. You could certainly use regular pasta noodles in this dish (I won't judge)! 

I used my Vitamix blender to make the pesto sauce and it worked great! You could also use a food processor as well. If you find that your sauce is too thick for your taste, you can always add an extra drizzle of olive oil and/or lemon juice to thin it out a bit. Or, if you are using regular pasta noodles, you could add some of the cooking water to the sauce. 

The blistered tomatoes not only give this dish a nice color, but they also add a slight sweetness! 

To plate this dish, I simply tossed the zucchini noodles with the sauce and piled it on the plate with the blistered tomatoes. To finish it off, I grated some fresh parmesan cheese on top and it is perfection! You could also add some fresh cracked pepper and salt to taste.

I hope you give this recipe a try and love it as much as we do! As always, feel free to leave any questions or comments below or on my Instagram :)

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Avocado Pesto "Pasta" with Blistered Tomatoes Recipe

Ingredients:

• 2-4 zucchini, spiralized (2 large or 4 small)
• 3 cups red and yellow mini tomatoes
• Freshly grated parmesan cheese for topping

Avocado Pesto:

• 1 large bunch basil, washed
• 2 ripe avocados
• 3 green onions (green parts)
• ½ cup unsalted walnuts
• 2 Tbs. lemon juice
• 1 clove garlic
• ½ tsp. sea salt
• ½ cup extra virgin olive oil
• Freshly ground pepper to taste 

Directions:

1. Put all of the pesto ingredients into a blender or food processor and pulse until smooth. Set aside.

2. Heat the cherry tomatoes with a drizzle of olive oil in a large skillet over medium high heat. Gently shake the pan to get them moving. Continue cooking until the tomatoes are roasty and the skins are split or loosened. Remove from heat and set aside.

3. Bring a separate pan to medium high heat with a drizzle of olive oil. Add the spiralized zucchini. Toss for 1-2 minutes, until tender-crisp. Remove the pan from the heat and combine the zucchini with the pesto sauce. Toss until combined. Season with salt and pepper, top with tomatoes and sprinkle with parmesan cheese. Serve immediately.

Note: I am on the conservative side with garlic, so if you like your garlic flavor strong, add an extra clove or two.

Kale & Mint Salad with Golden Raisins and Almonds

Sunday evenings in our house means one of two things: making a home cooked meal together or ordering pizza. My husband usually pulls for the latter (shocker!). Since I try not to eat pizza all the time, I always order a salad to go with it. Thankfully our favorite local pizza spot has this amazing kale and mint salad with golden raisins, almonds, parmesan cheese and a lemon vinaigrette that I fell in love with. I found myself craving it throughout the week, so I decided to recreate it at home. 

I started by shredding a large bundle of lacinato kale that I picked up from the farmers market. I prefer lacinato kale to curly kale since it is slightly sweeter and less bitter but you could certainly use whatever you have on hand. 

Have you ever added fresh mint to your salad? It adds an amazing depth of flavor and is very complimentary to the kale. It also adds an element of freshness, and kind of makes you feel like you should be eating it at a spa ;)

The golden raisins add a slight sweetness while the almonds add a nice crunch. In the past whenever I had almonds on a salad, I always had toasted sliced almonds but I had never had raw almonds. To my surprise, leaving the almonds in their almost natural state adds a lot to the overall dish. 

The lemon vinaigrette on the salad from the pizza joint has a slight sweetness and creaminess so I wanted to mirror those flavors. I played around a bit and came up with a slightly sweetened lemon vinaigrette using all natural honey and dijon mustard and it is amazing! 

Definitely don't skimp on the dressing! The kale absorbs the dressing well, so you can either dress the salad ahead of time or drizzle it on top before serving. To top off the salad, I added freshly grated parmesan cheese because let's be honest- you can never have enough cheese! 

Having this amazing kale salad recipe reminiscent of our favorite pizza spot might not stop my husband from ordering pizza on Sunday nights, but at least I have found a better alternative! 

You can enjoy this as a side salad with your meal, or you can add chicken or steak to make it a complete meal. Whatever you choose, I hope you love it as much as I do! 

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Kale & Mint Salad Recipe

Ingredients For The Salad:

• 1 bunch lacinato kale, thinly sliced 
• 2 Tbs. fresh mint, thinly sliced 
• 2 Tbs. raw unsalted almonds, cut in half
• A handful of golden raisins (about a 1/4 cup)
• Freshly grated or shaved parmesan cheese
• Optional: shredded chicken or steak 

Ingredients For The Dressing: 

• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 1/2 cup champagne vinegar 
• 2 Tbs. Dijon mustard 
• 2 Tbs. honey
• 2 Tbs. lemon juice 
• 1/2 tsp. salt 
• 1/2 tsp. freshly ground black pepper 

Directions:

1. Combine all of the dressing ingredients and set aside. 
2. Wash and shred the kale and mint into thin strips. Add to a bowl and top with the almonds and golden raisins.
3. Toss the salad with the dressing and top with freshly grated parmesan cheese.

*Salad dressing recipe adapted from this recipe.

3 Ingredient Healthy Snacks →

I am the type of person who needs to snack in between meals otherwise I become what I call “hangry” (hungry-angry). To avoid that from happening, I have some go-to snacks that I am sharing with you today. These three 3 ingredient no fuss snacks are great for taking to the office, in your kids lunch box, a road trip or if you’re out running errands. 

Yogurt with Berries and Chia seeds

Take your favorite yogurt, top with some sliced berries (or any other fruit) and sprinkle with chia seeds.

Turkey, Cucumber and Cheese Stackers

Remove the skin from half a cucumber and slice diagonally into half inch pieces. Take 1 piece of cumber and layer on a slice of cheese and slice of turkey and top with another cucumber slice.  

Peanut Butter Banana Stackers

Peel 1 whole banana and cut up into 1 inch pieces. Take 1 banana slice and smear on your favorite peanut butter (or any other nut butter) and top with another slice of banana. Sprinkle the tops with cinnamon.

I hope you enjoy these three 3 ingredient snacks and they help you from getting "hangry"! I would love to know what your favorite snacks are so comment below or tag me on Instagram. 

Turkey and Quinoa Lettuce Wraps

It was close to 90 degrees this weekend in Southern California! Between all the ice cream eating to stay cool, it has me wanting to cook lighter meals. I love mixing up our week night meals from the ordinary lean protein, vegetables and healthy carbs on the plate. Although this recipe contains those main food groups, let's face it, they are way more fun to eat!

I have made a lot of variations of lettuce wraps over the years but this recipe is currently our favorite. It is loaded with protein and has a ton of flavor! The best part about this recipe, is that it is extremely versatile and honestly anything goes! It also makes for great leftovers to have for lunch the next day :)

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Turkey Quinoa Lettuce Wraps 

• 1 Tbsp. olive oil for cooking
• 1 shallot 
• 1 clove crush garlic (I omitted this since my husband is allergic)
• 1 lb. ground turkey (I use 99% Lean but you can use any ground meat)
• 1 cup sliced mushrooms
• 2 red bell peppers (can also use yellow)
• 2 cups cooked quinoa (1 cup dried yields 4 cups cooked) 
• 1 8 oz. can sliced water chestnuts 
• 1 small bunch green onions, thinly sliced 
• 1 head of lettuce, washed and drained with the leaves pulled off (ice berg, bib or butter lettuce)
• sesame seeds for garnish

The Sauce:

• 2 Tbsp. hoison sauce 
• 3 Tbsp. soy sauce (I use tamari lite gluten free) 
• 3 Tbsp. rice vinegar
• 1 tsp. sesame oil
• freshly grated ginger (1 in. piece of ginger)

Additional toppings might include: chopped roasted peanuts, crispy rice noodles, cilantro, etc.

1. In a medium skillet on medium-high, warm the olive oil. Add the crushed garlic and shallot. Cook until translucent but not burnt. Add the ground turkey meat and cook until it is cooked through. Using a spatula, break up the pieces as it cooks to resemble ground beef. 

2. Add the mushrooms and bell peppers and cook through. Turn to low and fold in the cooked quinoa.

3. In the meantime, combine all of the sauce ingredients in a bowl with the freshly grated ginger. Add the sauce to the cooked mixture once all ingredients have cooked through. 

4. Fold in the water chestnuts and green onions. 

5. Serve in lettuce cups garnished with sesame seeds and additional green onions sprinkled on top

Greek Kale Salad

The end of Winter has me craving a warm, breezy day where I can kick off my flip flops and enjoy the sunshine. To cure that craving, I made a light yet filling greek kale salad. It is full of nutrients and protein and the dressing takes this kale salad to the next level. 

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Greek Kale Salad 

Salad:

• 1-2 bunches of Kale
• Cheery tomatoes
•  1 ripe avocado
•  Feta Cheese (full fat)

Dressing:

• 1/3 C. Red Wine Vinegar (white wine, red wine or champagne vinegar would work)
• ¼ C. Olive oil
• Juice of Half a Lemon
• 1 shallot (small to medium in size)
• 1 T Dijon Mustard
• Sea Salt
• Fresh Ground Pepper

Remove ribs from kale and chop in 1-2” squares and put into a non-reactive bowl. Combine all dressing ingredients in a jar and shake. Pour dressing onto kale and massage with hands for 1-2 minutes. Cover the bowel and put it in the refrigerator for 2-3 hours, or overnight. Add the tomatoes, avocado and feta cheese (and any other toppings of your choice). Toss and enjoy!