The Perfect Salad

I'm always looking for a great salad, one that has a good balance of healthy, leafy vegetables and a little something you can sink your teeth into. Cesar salads are good, but there are about a zillion calories in the dressing alone, not to mention all those buttery croutons. This Thai Beef Salad, from the Bonaventure Brewing Company, has it all: chopped cabbage, lettuce, carrots, scallions, tomatoes and bean sprouts, topped with tender marinated beef and creamy avocado slices and all dressed with a light Thai lime dressing.

Now this is a salad I can feel good about eating!

Sunday Cooking: Lemon Chicken; Roasted Brussel Sprouts

As most of you already know, I try to spend my Sundays cooking for the week. Though I work near about a million fast-food restaurants and cafes in downtown Los Angeles, I'd rather bring my lunch and use my mid-day break for something more meaningful like buying the face wash I keep forgetting to get during the weekend. OK, maybe it's not meaningful, but the extra time allows me to not squeeze all my errands into the weekend.

Since I've been eating fish for lunch for the past several weeks (much to the chagrin of one co-worker, who actually took a survey at my office in an effort to try to ban fish from the office - it didn't work!), I decided my lunch this week would be chicken. But don't worry, the fish will be back, I promise you - and the complainer! I made a simple marinade of lemon zest, lemon juice, garlic, olive oil, dill, salt and pepper, and let the chicken soak for a good few hours before tossing it with some red bell peppers and Texas sweet onions and baking it for 20 minutes. For my veg, I roasted some gigantic brussel sprouts with just a touch of baby carrots.

Simple, healthy and delicious.

The Burrito Dilemma

I don't crave a lot of foods, but the two that I long for, lust for, at least once a week is sushi and Mexican food. Luckily for me, sushi is rather healthy, so it's a guiltless indulgence, but Mexican...well, that's a whole different taco all together.

When I do crave Mexican, I usually want a burrito. The chewiness of a gigantic flour tortilla, the creaminess of the slightly spicy refried beans, the juicy shredded chicken and melty, glorious cheese - I wantitwantitwantit now. But if I ran out and got this meaty cheesy goodness every time I had a craving, I'd be looking like a stocky stuffed burrito (more than I already do - ha!).

So I have found a solution. Make a healthy version of the food I crave. In this case, I start off with one, Trader Joe's brown-rice-flour tortilla (gluten and wheat free for those of you with celiac) and a slice of jalapeno Veggie Slices cheese.

The start of healthy burrito greatness

Put those in the micro for a sec, to let the "cheese" melt. Then add one, heated (micro for one minute) Dr. Praeger's Tex Mex veggie burger and a few pieces of chicken - in my case, it's the already-cooked "Just Chicken" from Trader Joe's - to the tortilla/soy cheese. The Tex Mex veggie burger has a very bean-y texture, and the spices are just perfect for Mexican food. Nuke for another minute to heat up the chicken.

I then add some red onions and salsa, plus a good amount of Tapatio, then roll up the tortilla and secure with a toothpick. I eat it with some Mary's Gone gluten-free crackers and more salsa. You can eat it with baked tortilla chips, which I would have preferred, but I only had these crackers in the pantry.

Needless to say, my burrito craving was satiated. No, it's not authentic by any stretch, but it got me through one dinner and it saved me about a zillion calories. So it's all good.

My Quinoa Obsession Continues...

I have a quinoa obsession. Ever since I discovered this grain about 4 years ago, I use it in place of rice, couscous, lentils...everything. And it's not just because I have several boxes in my pantry (sometimes I forget what I already have in my pantry, and with quinoa, this has been a problem for unknown reasons).

Quinoa is so easy to make, so versatile and so very satisfying - and it's HEALTHY! For me, it's like a super healthy version of pasta; something I love, but try to stay away from since it makes me blow up like a balloon. It's also a grain that I've learned to create with. I cook with it so much, I just make up recipes based on what flavors I feel like tasting and somehow it always works out with quinoa.

Golden delicious grains of goodness

Last weekend I made up a curried quinoa dish, and it's been a staple of my lunch every day this week. I simply used curry powder in the chicken stock I used to cook the quinoa in, so it came out with a light but flavorful curry essence. I added some diced red onions, toasted pine nuts and lots of sweet basil for a fantastic salad that can be served hot or cold or room temperature. I'll try to recreate the recipe below.

Curried couscous with Opah, broccoli and snap peas

Curried Quinoa

1 cup quinoa, washed and drained

2 cups chicken or vegetable stock

1 tablespoon curry powder

4 tablespoons chopped sweet basil

1/2 red onion, chopped

1/4 cup of toasted pine nuts

Pour chicken or vegetable stock in a saucepan and add curry powder to the cold stock and whisk until powder is full dissolved. Pour in quinoa and cook following package directions. After quinoa is cooked, put the basil and onions into a large bowl, and add cooked quinoa and toss together. Add pine nuts. Serve hot, cold or at room temperature.

Healthy Taco Salad

I've been consuming way too much bready and carby things lately, so I'm sticking to mostly meat and veg for the next couple of weeks. I find that I feel lighter and just better overall when I eat little or no bread, but I'm realistic. Bread is and will always be an integral part of my life, but I can cut back here and there.

The key is finding non-carby foods that elicit the same mouthwatering cravings that bready food does. One of my favorites is my low-carb (as in bread, not vegetables) Taco Salad. It's simple to make and absolutely delicious and it's a healthy meal I can get excited about. Saying no to bread is easy when you know this is waiting for you at home! Recipe after the pic :).

The sun setting on my delicious taco salad

Healthy Taco Salad

1 lb. ground lean turkey

1 red bell pepper

1 medium yellow onion

1.5 packets of taco seasoning

2/3 cup water

1 15oz. can of pinto beans

Salad greens (I prefer romaine as it stands up nicely to the hot meat/bean mixture)

1 avocado

Low-fat jalapeno cheese, or jalapeno flavored Veggie Slices

2 cups grape tomatoes

Cook turkey, onion and bell peppers in a large saute pan until the meat is mostly cooked and onions are translucent. Add in the 1 and 1/2 packets of taco seasoning, plus 2/3 cups of water and 1 can of pinto beans. Stir to incorporate all the seasoning, and let simmer, uncovered for 15 minutes.

For family style: Make the salad with greens, sliced avocado, cheese and tomatoes and put onto a platter. Top with the hot taco mixture. There's no need for dressing as the spices and juices from the taco mixture will dress the salad quite nicely. Serve immediately.

For single style: Make the salad with greens, sliced avocado, cheese and tomatoes and put into a large Ziploc bag. Put the taco mixture into a Tupperware. Create individual taco salads using a portion of the greens, and a portion of the taco mixture (heat taco mixture first). This recipe makes enough for me to make 4 meal-sized salads for the week.