Keeping It Simple in the Get Fit NH Kitchen

I love being in the kitchen. If I could I would make everything from scratch. My kids love to help me but I just don’t have time to do as much as I would like. So I’ve cut down the prep time by buying some items that need little to no work.

Since veggies are a big part of PPW (Protein, Produce and Water) that is where I started because that is also where lots of peeling, slicing, dicing, cutting, cleaning etc…. Came in.

Here’s my helpful food prep cheats list to buy at the grocery store.

Frozen Veggies

Frozen chopped onion

Frozen chopped onion and pepper combination

Frozen stir fry veggies. (Don’t buy the ones with the sauce already added to them)

Frozen veggies

Frozen blends of veggies (the California blend is very yummy with a little olive oil sprinkled on top, salt and pepper then roasted in the oven at 375 for 45 minutes)

Fresh Veggies

Cherry tomatoes (no need to cut these up to throw on a salad, plus they make a great grab and go snack)

Baby carrots

Pre cut celery

Spinach (I’ve made Spinach Honey Moon Salad many times. (LETT- UCE Alone) But it can be thrown in with eggs for a delicious omelet, added to stir fries, rolled around a slice of chicken or turkey, or sauté with shrimp and garlic)

Precut mushrooms

Coleslaw mixes can be bought. (Use these in stir fries not loaded with mayo.)

Canned or in a jar:

Tomato sauce

Petite tomatoes

Plum tomatoes

Tomato tomatoes 🙂

There are so many tomato products that are canned or in a jar for use in soups, sauces, stir fries, added to your favorite protein dish.

While there are days when I spend a long time fixing just the perfect dinner but more often than not I’m making things happen, double time. I don’t have to miss out on good food I just have to make that good food as quickly as I can. Keeping things simple have helped cut down my time in the kitchen. If you have time, spend it on cooking and let your kids help. Otherwise, let them help while you keep on smiling.

Go simple this week. Very simple.

Coach Nancy

Willoughby Farm CSA

As you probably know we are a huge fans of CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) and have written on the topic quite a few times, so when Get Fit NH Superstar Ruth Finch told me about the  Willoughby Farm CSA I was excited to pass it on.

There is nothing fresher, tastier, and yes even more friendly to the environment than having local produce grown by local farmers. For those of us who don’t have the time or talent to grow our own veggies, getting involved in a CSA is like gold!

Ruth told me this morning they have shares left, but don’t delay, I am sure they will not last long.

Steve and Ruth are sponsoring the pickup at their home in Concord, which is really close to Get Fit NH Concord, and since the pickup time is between 3:30pm and 6:00pm I would say that’s perfect for those who train later in the day!

You can get more information and get contact info for Willoughby Farm here: Willoughby Farm CSA Brochure 2012

To learn more about community supported agriculture and find more CSA near you visit LocalHarvest.org

Thanks Ruth!

Late-for-Dinner-Winner

Jayne created this recipe on the fly. Here is what she wrote when she sent in the recipe. Tell me this scenario isn’t true of many of us? While planning our menu before will help us avoid this scene, there are times when all the great plans fail. Jayne had ‘one of those days’.

 “Work has been crazy and I was very late making dinner yesterday, so I ended up just quickly chopping and sautéing a bunch of things I had in the fridge.  I do this a lot – but as it turns out last night IT TASTED GREAT and was really simple.  So…thought I would share for all my Get Fit NH family who also start cooking dinner right when everyone is starving.  Start to finish, this took me about 20 minutes.  Enjoy!”

Late-for-Dinner-Winner

• 1 medium sized eggplant (unpeeled)
• 2 small green summer squash (unpeeled)
• 2 9-oz packages of Perdue Short Cuts Carved Chicken Breast, Grilled
• 15 oz can of Cannelloni beans (drained and rinsed)
• Salt/pepper to taste
• Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Start by chopping the eggplant (skin on) and summer squash into similarly sized pieces (1 inch cubes).  Sauté in olive oil on medium heat.  After a few minutes, add about 1/4 cup of water and cover to get them to break down and soften up.  Continue cooking until soft, about 5-6 minutes. Add pre-cooked sliced chicken breast, cannelloni beans and cook until heated through.

Jayne is a member of  our FLAG accountability group. After sharing this recipe, others have used this recipe as a base idea and added their own twists. Helen used broccoli and chicken sausage to make this recipe her own. While Hester had broccoli and leftover chicken for her dinner. The point of all this is, dinner can be made quickly with what you have on hand and it can taste good!

Saks’ Southwest Salad

Deb Saks from Concord sent me this recipe. She knows I love a Mexican blend of foods. The colors are rich and taste are delightfully fresh. I can’t wait to try this one with fresh summer tomatoes!

Salad:

• Romaine lettuce, chopped
• 3 Grilled chicken breasts, cut up into bite size pieces
• ½  Avocado sliced
• ½  cup cherry tomatoes
• ¼ cup grated cheddar cheese

Salsa Dressing:

• 1 can of black beans, drained
• ½ cup salsa
• ½ cup cherry tomatoes, cut in half
• ½ avocado, sliced
• ¼ cup red onion, chopped, optional
• 1 fresh jalapeno, deseeded and chopped, optional
• ¼ cup frozen corn
• Juice of 1 lime
• Salt/Pepper to taste

Mix all the salsa ingredients. The avocado will get cut into smaller pieces while you stir.

Line the bottom of large bowl or plate with lettuce greens. Add the chicken, avocado slices, tomatoes, cheese, and salsa dressing on top. Enjoy!

Thank you Deb for the delicious recipe. This fed my family of 5. I had some salsa dressing leftover but everything they devoured. My kids all asked for seconds.

Melissa’s Mean Green

No, Melissa is not Mean or Green!

Melissa from the early morning Epsom crew has created this delicious shake recipe to help her recovery from training. She is truly creative when it comes to recipes in her kitchen.

She’s kept in mind that her body needs healthy fats (avocado and flax seed). Her choice of  berries are the best to add high nutritional value by way of vitamins and minerals but also a very high in fiber content.  Melissa amped up the protein by adding UMP vanilla to it. You just have got to try this one!

Melissa’s Mean Green

• 1/2 avocado
• 1/2 c strawberries
• 1/2 c blueberries
• 1/2 c plain Greek yogurt
• 1 scoop of vanilla UMP
• 1 c water
• 1 Tablespoon of ground flax seed

Blend and enjoy!  Melissa has also tried this recipe using Mangos and peaches instead of strawberries and blueberries. I love how versatile this type of recipe can be.

Your Ingredient Journal

In Wednesday’s daily nutrition email (You are getting it, right? – if not check your Spam folder and then email me if you still can’t find it) we talked about increasing awareness with an ingredient journal (I’ve included an excerpt below).

But lets get down to brass tacks.

Are you willing to actually do it?

Liz started one, and here’s what she wrote me:

“Hey Dean,

I liked the idea of listing the ingredients until I started doing it– 3 pages later…. it’s gross to see what is in food…Xanthum Gum, Palmitate and Sulfites…

and I think I eat pretty well compared to others.

Thanks for the idea, see you in the AM,
Liz”

I applaud Liz for taking action and discovering for herself what is in her food. By the way Liz does eat a lot better than most people. How do I know? Because as part of the FLAG she journal her food every day.

Making change is hard, that’s just the way it is. Keeping a food log and writing down ingredients is not easy. It DOES get easier, but you have to be willing to DO hard for a while. What steps are you taking today to move from difficult to easier?

Coach Dean

Here’s that article, as promised:

Your Ingredient Journal

You’ve probably heard the importance of keeping a food journal for increasing eating awareness and weight loss.  But what about keeping one of all the ingredients you eat.

What you ask?  Why would you do that?

To increase awareness of what you’re actually putting in your body.  If you eat an apple and natural (unroasted or salted) almonds for a snack, you’d simply write:

1. Apple
2. Almonds

A total of  2 ingredients

On the other hand, if you eat a Krispy Kreme doughnut, you’d write (better make sure your pencil is extra sharp):

1. Enriched white flour contains 2. bleached white flour, 3. Niacin, 4. Reduced Iron, 5. Thiamine Mononitrate, 6. Riboflavin, 7. Folic Acid, 8. Dextrose, 9.Vegetable Shortening (Partially Hydrogenated Soybean and/or Cottonseed Oil)10. Water, 11. Sugar, 12. Soy 13. Flour, 14. Egg Yolks,15. Vital Wheat Gluten, 16. Yeast, 17. Nonfat Milk, 18. Yeast Nutrients, 19. Calcium Sulfate, 20. Ammonium Sulfate, 21. Dough Conditioners, 22. Calcium Dioxide, 23. Monocalcium Phosphate, 24. Dicalcium Phosphate, 25. Diammonium Phosphate, 26. Sodium Stearoyl-2-Lactylate, 27. Whey, 28. Starch, 29. Ascorbic Acid, 30. Sodium Bicarbonate, 31. Calcium Carbonate 32. Salt, 33. Monoglycerides 34.  Diglycerides, 35. Lecithin, 36. Calcium Propionate (Preservative) 37. Cellulose Gum, 38. Malted Barley Flour 39. Natural Flavors 40. Artificial Flavrs 41. Enzymes, 42. Sodium, 43. Caseinate, 44. Corn Maltodextrin, 45. Corn Syrup Solids and 46. BHT (to Help Protect Flavor).  Glaze Contains: 47. Sugar, 48. Water, 49. Corn Starch, 50. Calcium Carbonate, 51. Calcium Sulfate, 52. Agar, 53. Dextrose, 54.Locust Bean Gum, 55. Disodium Phosphate, 56. Sorbitan 57. Monostearate, 58. Mono- and 59. Diglycerides, 60. Artificial Flavor and 61 Salt.

A total of 61 ingredients.  Which do you think is better for you?

Makes you think twice about the Krispy Kreme doughnut, huh?

Of course few people eat JUST a doughnut, so you’d have to then add in everything else you eat/drink during that meal too.

Aim to eat foods with 5 or less ingredients.

While we don’t know what most additives do to us in the long run at this time, the less junk we can put in our body, especially of ingredients we can’t pronounce, the better.

What if you went to the MD for surgery and they said “well, I don’t really know if this is going to work in the long run, but heck, why not give it a whirl…”

Kind of the same idea.  We don’t really know if this is going to have an effect on your body in the long run…
So give it a try.

Take a look at all you’re eating and drinking and write it down daily!  If your hand starts to cramp from too much writing by lunchtime, maybe it’s time to switch up your foods!

Nutrition Seminar Audio and Video is Up

We just finished processing the audio and video from our seminar from Dr. Laura Jones “A Naturopathic Approach to Nutrition”.

If you were unable to attend, you do not want to miss the opportunity to learn from one of the best!

Clients can view the videos at TheOther165.com in the Video Library, and the audio links are below. You can save them or just listen by clicking the links.

Thanks Dr. Laura!

Audio Part 1

Audio Part 2

Helen and Melissa Eat Pizza, What!?

No, they didn’t go “off the wagon”, what they did do is come up with a couple of really great options to cut down the starches and make a great tasting pizza that doesn’t have to be loaded down with a bunch of junk!

After all there’s a lot of great things to be said about a Pizza topped with fresh tomato sauce, loaded with veggies and topped with some fresh mozzarella cheese. The magic of these two recipes is they go a step further and add some unusual (and tasty) crust options.

Now don’t be fooled into thinking you can eat all you want, because calories still count, but put away your skepticism and give them a try – in fact we have had a number of clients who made Helen’s recipe and they could not believe there was no bread, and neither could their family – it’s that good!

Helen’s Pizza Crust

Helen, one of Get Fit NH’s finest, talked up this recipe so much we had her send it to us to make. Its a hit with our family too.

Helen said, “Here’s a pizza recipe with 1.7 grams of carbs! Well, that’s if it serves 8…. In our house, it doesn’t but you can do the math. And, the kids couldn’t even tell the difference! This is the only pizza in our house and I don’t miss the “regular” at all.”

Crust Ingredients:

• 3 cups shredded mozzarella
• 1 cup shredded Colby and Monterey jack cheese
• 4 eggs
• 1 tsp. garlic powder
• 1 tsp. basil

Combine above  – this is the crust. Honest! Use a 13 x 9 pan.

Bake this ‘crust’ at 450 degrees until browned to desired crispness/doneness, about 25 minutes.

It does not stick to the pan.

Then top with ¼ cup pizza sauce, more or less to your taste or your carbohydrate load. Add any mix of toppings that you like. You can also add additional cheese on top. Place under the broiler until the cheese is melted to desired point.

Cauliflower Crust Pizza

Melissa, a superstar in Epsom, found this recipe and tweaked it a bit to make it her own. Amy and I made this for our family at  lunch. A hit enjoyed by all.

Ingredients:

• 1- 1/2 cup cooked, riced cauliflower
• 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1 tsp dried oregano
• 6-8 crushed garlic cloves
• pizza sauce, shredded cheese and your choice of toppings

To “Rice” the Cauliflower:
Take 1 large head of fresh cauliflower, remove stems and leaves, and chop the florets into chunks. Add to food processor and pulse until it looks like grain. Do not over-do pulse or you will puree it. (If you don’t have a food processor, you can grate the whole head with a cheese grater). I used a Vitamix blender and placed the cauliflower in three small batches to achieve the desired grain appearance.

Place the riced cauliflower into a microwave safe bowl and microwave for 8 minutes. There is no need to add water, as the natural moisture in the cauliflower is enough to cook itself.

One large head should produce approximately 3 cups of riced cauliflower. The remainder can be stored in the refrigerator for up to one week.

To Make the Pizza Crust:

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Spray a cookie sheet with cooking spray. I used peanut oil in a spray bottle and spread it around with my finger tips.

In a medium bowl, stir together 1 to 1/2 cup cauliflower, egg and mozzarella. Add oregano, and crushed garlic, stir. Transfer to the cookie sheet, and using your hands, pat out into a 9″ round. I made three pizzas with 1 cup cauliflower in each. It was a bit too thin to hold the crust like a pizza without folding it over. Next time I am going to use the larger amount of cauliflower.

Bake at 450 degrees for 15 minutes.

Remove from oven. To the crust, add sauce, toppings and cheese. Place under a broiler at high heat just until cheese is melted (approximately 3-4 minutes).

Melissa said she added spinach and mushrooms to her pizzas while we added a mix of peppers, mushrooms, olives, and red onions. The toppings are endless. next time I’d love to make tomato slices and fresh basil or spinach, garlic and feta.

Can anyone come up with other topping ideas?

Coach Nancy

Stuffed Cabbage Casserole

Deb Saks of 5:00am Concord fame sent in the original recipe for Stuffed Cabbage Casserole. I revised it a bit to fit into PPW eating plan. (protein, produce, and water (a tall glass of water served with the meal is not included below))  Thanks Deb for another hit with our family! Drew said he loved this (and that’s saying something!)

Ingredients:

• 2 pounds lean ground beef
• 1 large onion, chopped fine
• 1 Tablespoon paprika
• ½ teaspoon thyme
• 8 garlic cloves, chopped
• 1 head green cabbage, coarsely chopped
• 1 can (14.5 ounce) petite diced tomatoes with juice
• 1 can (28 ounce) crushed tomatoes
• 2 cups low fat mozzarella cheese

To Prepare:

Preheat oven to 350. Spray a large glass casserole dish (I used an 11 x 13).

Heat a frying pan on medium heat; add the ground beef and the onion. Cook until it is brown. Once done add the garlic, thyme, and paprika and cook about 2 minutes more. Then add both cans of tomatoes. Simmer until it is hot.

While it is cooking, cut the cabbage into coarse pieces roughly 1 inch.

Remove the tomatoes mixture from frying pan and set aside. In the same frying pan add the cabbage and cook until it starts to wilt. It will finish cooking in the oven.

Layer half the cabbage in the casserole dish, top with half the meat/tomato mixture, then repeat. Cover with tin foil and bake for 40 minutes until the mixture starts to bubble.

Remove foil and top with cheese. Bake uncovered for an additional 20 minutes or until the cheese is melted. Serve hot, and keep in mind leftovers can be frozen.

Chicken Enchilada Crockpot Soup

I love how easy this recipe is to make (Thanks Deb!). Most of the prep work was opening a few cans. The rest was easy to quickly chop and assemble. The variations of the toppings make this soup something for everyone in your family.

Ingredients:

• 1 onion, chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 4 cups chicken broth
• 1 8 ounce can of tomato sauce
• 1 – 2 teaspoons of Chipotle chili in adobo sauce (you can add more if you like the heat)
• ¼ cup cilantro, chopped
• 1 15 ounce can of black beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 14.5 ounce can of petite diced tomatoes
• 1 cup frozen corn
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• ½ teaspoon oregano
• 3 skinless chicken breast

Pick your favorite for garnish:

scallions, chopped cilantro, cheddar cheese, jalepenos, avocado slices, black bean dip, or salsa

To make the soup:

Sauté onion in a pan over medium heat until translucent and browned. Add the ingredients, except the garnish, to a crock pot in the order listed after with the onion. Cover and cook on low for 6 hours. Using two forks, shred the chicken. Adjust the seasonings. Serve in bowls and top with your favorite garnish. Serves 6.