Not the greatest picture quality I agree but its a great dish. Its a cell phone picture. Simple, easy, healthy. Whole grain cous cous, if you haven't made it, try it! Its so easy and fun. Simply baked salmon. I sprinkled it with some lemon zest, minced garlic, salt and lots of pepper. Made a simple vinaigrette of red wine vinegar, salt pep, and olive oil tossed with the lettuce I had and quick grilled some zuccini. Such a quick easy meal.

RANDOM RANDOM RANDOM. I'm so behind on food blogging but I try to take random pics of my quick and easy food. FRENCH TOAST: this is a blueberry puree with a bit of syrup and smidge of lemon zest added. Much healthier than butter and straight syrup, lets me honest, thats just eating cake for breakfast. (not that i haven't done that) SALMON SALAD: this is so simple it took two seconds, mainly leftovers and I was starving. Never underestimate the power of transformation in leftovers. I had an awesome sweet balsamic dressing for a salad from the day before and I used that to marinate the salmon for a bit and just sauteed it. Grilled some onions the day before with some roasted garlic (cut garlic head in tin foil with a bit of oil and salt, right on the grill til tender... magnificent!) and through those in there with some goat cheese. Spinach with a simple vinaigrette. I'm surprised I even stopped to take a picture I was so hungry but even then its good to make personal meals a little special. SIMPLE BAKED SALMON WITH PINEAPPLE JALAPENO SALSA (a la carte): I was trying something new and it was worth it... grilled pineapple, red pepper, red onion (grilled or raw would work), roasted jalapeno, cilantro, I had some kiwi so i threw some in, then I tossed it all together with a bit of honey, olive oil, lime juice, paprika, cumin, cayenne, and of course salt and pep. SO GOOD. Just quickly baked the salmon. (350 oven, 10-14 minutes) CHICKEN SALAD: too simple to explain but it was marvelous. CHICKEN PASTA WITH VEGGIES: also couldn't be simpler, you can do tons of variations of this and I do all the time cause its healthy and yummy. Whole grain pasta, grilled chicken, sauteed veggies, tossed in my balsamic vinaigrette. I use honey for sweet dressings so its tasty but natural. BISCUIT SOMETHING: So first day of baking class we made biscuits and I had a bunch. Well I'm obviously obsessed with balsamic vinegar and I love goat cheese. Sounds strange but I had some fruit and put it all together. I reduced the balsamic, mixed it with some honey and oil and it was a tart drizzly glaze for the fruit and it goes so well with the goat cheese. It was kinda like a fruit tart. I would so make it again if I was a biscuit lover.

Plan ahead... make soup!

A couple Sunday nights a month I make a few batches of healthy food for the week. This is my new awesome vegetarian kale and bean soup. I know that sounds like too much healthy but add a bit of cheese and it tastes like an enchilada. Saute a few veggies (red onions, carrots) in oil and then add some seasoning ( cumin, cayenne, white pepper, salt, bay leaf) and cook til you can really smell it. Then I add the stock or water and flavor it with some salt and add all the rest of the canned stuff. I used corn, kidney beans, and diced tomatoes (obviously if you can make any of this fresh, thats much better). Oh and don't forget a small can of spicey v8. Or just use tomato juice. (i once bought a 6 pack of spicey v8 and couldn't find any other use for them) Then once its all boiling I add zucchini and lots and lots of chopped up kale. Mmm so hearty! Let it boil a bit and its done. Soup is a great leftover, it keeps well and when you're crunched for time you have something healthy right there ready for you. These other prep-ahead meals are just my classic veggie and chicken stir fry, and something new I learned in school that is surprisingly good and simple as can be, gazpacho!

No time to describe but these are all thrown together in 15 minutes or less. Pitas and hummus, pitas and pesto, chicken, broiled bread and veggies and cheese. Its all there and its all yummy!

EASY AND LIGHT SNACKS

--HERB GRILLED CHIICKEN AND STUFF... I'm in the early weeks of culinary school and one night we recieved like 15 different fresh herbs to take home and smell and try and use. If you haven't done this, try it. I had so many I wanted to use them so I simply chopped up a bunch that smelled like they would work together and added some garlic, salt n pep and lots of olive oil with a bit of lemon zest and juice for acidity. This made one of the best marinades. Anyway grilled chicken is a great leftover and I love hummus and pita (set under broiler to crisp) and I had some tomato so this made a great quick afternoon meal. Nothing to it, just thought I'd share. This little cup of joy is also a quick go-to snack/breakfast/dessert. Seriously nothing new but if you haven't tried frozed blueberries with yogurt and granola you're missing out. I think fresh blueberries are kinda rubbery and hard to come by and expensive, so this obvioulsy helps with all that. I like to use vanilla lowfat yogurt and adding a bit of lemon zest wouldn't hurt either. Its quick and tasty and also satisfies a sweet tooth.

Ironically since I've started culinary school I have had no time to cook or even blog but don't you worry, I will have MANY new ideas and things to post as soon as I can get a few extra days in the kitchen, I'm missing it!

Pasta de provence?

Not sure what to call this, and no its not the healthiest thing. BUT it could be IF I had used whole wheat past and skipped the bread stick. (this is linguini) There are lots of colorful veggies and grilled chicken in there. No white sauce, just some olive oil, lemon zest, parmesan and basil. The veggies were roasted with garlic and herbs de provence, an awesome dried herb mix, and of course kosher salt and pep. The tomatoes (cherrubs) are lightly roasted in a balsamic dressings and then topped with some more, mmm mmm. (this was my first catering job)

GRILLED VEGGIE SALAD!!!

I cannot say enough about grilled veggie salad. Its like getting the satisfaction of a nice hot flavorful dinner but having the lightness of a salad. You can eat a giant plate of food and feel great. It may sound weird to combine the hot with the cold but it is one of my favorite meals ever.
I swear its so simple and easy and pretty self explanatory. I always just take whatever veggies I have (I used asparagus, zuccini, yellow bell pepper) and olive oil, salt and pepper them and grill em, outside or on a grill pan. While they grill I take any vinaigrette and toss any lettuce with it, maybe cut a few fresh veggies. (Here I used balsamic, a spring mix, tomatoes) I put the warm veggies on the bottom and top it with the lettuce and tomatoes and used a peeler to add some shreds of parmesan. Don't forget the cheese, I LOVE me some goat cheese or mozzeralla balls with this as well. You can always add chicken but the reason I love this is because it doesn't need much and its so tasty.

SIMPLE ORANGE ROUGHY WITH SAUTEED ASPARAGUS

This literally took 15 minutes to put together. I am not very familiar with white fish but I do know most are healthy and light so I decided to go for some orange roughy and it was worth it. WAY better than tilapia. I simply salt and peppered and seasoned the fish with some lemon pepper seasoning and a slice of real lemon, drizzled a little olive oil and a smidge of butter, cooked it in a 350 oven for about 10-11 minutes. While it cooked I cut up a few pieces of asparagus, red bell pepper and garlic and sauteed. Nothing to it! Simiple, healthy, yum and quick.

--SALMON AND RICE NEVER GETS OLD-- Okay so maybe it does but that doesn't mean I'll ever stop making and eating it. Its too easy and yummy and I change it up a bit each time. So I usually take my salmon and marinate it in anything, dressings, vinaigrettes, a mix of something salty and sweet, the list is endless. The easiest way to cook it in my opinion is broiling it. Takes two seconds to turn it on, put it on the pan and put it right under for about 6 to 8 minutes. Thats the easiest. Or sometimes I fry it in the pan real high for a minute, flip it over and put it in a really hot oven for 5 or 6 minutes. But then theres the best... GRILL IT. Oh the flavor... I have no words. Takes only a couple minutes on each side and it just melts in your mouth. So thats my low down on cooking sweet salmon, I could be way off on the proper techniques but thats what works for me. Anyway both of these meals I made in literally ten minutes, no joke. I was starving one day, didn't have any food I thought. I defrosted my salmon (okay that took an extra 10 minutes) chopped up some onions and mushrooms along with some garlic which I mashed up really well and poored on a bit of honey and S and P and made kind of a paste for the salmon. I just spread it on the salmon, filled the pan with olive oil and started frying. While it fried I poored in just enough balsamic v to kind of marinate it. I didn't have time for marinating so this was my way of getting around it. I flipped it and threw it in the oven at 450 for a bit. Sauteed my onions and mushrooms and cooked some brown rice in the... wait for it... microwave. Thanks you Uncle Bens 90 second healthy rices! Threw it all together and poored on a bit more balsamic and olive oil. Pretty good for 10 minutes. This other more colorful picture of salmon took on a more asian flavor, again simple simple. I had this piece marinating (in some asain sesame dressing) for no longer than an hour and I broiled it. Again the uncle ben's brown rice and I decided to thinly sliced the veggies just to change it up and it took less time to cook so it worked out. Just sauteed them in a pan with the usual olive oil and S and P. Again I put it all together and poored a little sesame oil and soy sauce over the top with a sprinkle of toasted sesame seeds.

--JUST A GREEK SALAD-- Oh how much I love me veggies and balsamic goodness. So I was sick of paying $13 for a dang Greek salad when I was craving one. I stocked up on veggies and maybe a little feta (I seem to be one of the few inlove with that cheese. Hey, less calories so take that haters) and made an extremely simple vinaigrette. In a tupperware I put a smidge of dijon, honey, and balsamic vinegar. (least to most in that order, like just a little more each ingredient) salt and cracked pepper and as much olive oil as ya like. Close the lid, shake it up and poor it on the spring mix lettuce or whatever lettuce you like. I added everything I could think of but there are only a few ingredients I feel totally necessary: tomatoes, red onions, feta and either some kind of olive or artichoke hearts, which is what I used because thats what I had. Yum yummedy yum. I added a grilled chicken breast (simply on a grill pan with a bit of S and P) the second time I ate it. I know, overload, but it was so healthful and filling!

--MY FAVORITE HEALTHY FAT SNACK!--This has definitely been done before (like most of my food) but I had to post it cause its so dang good. Sliced avacadoes and tomatoes, salt and fresh cracked pepper, balsamic vinegar and lots of olive oil, basil, a few diced red onions, and a smidge of lemon zest and/or juice! Nothing to it, makes a great appetizer or in-between meal snack. You could easily leave out the basil, onion and lemon but I just had it and thought it gave it a bold extra something.

--PITA PIZZA--I'm telling you, I have no secrets, just regular food for regular people. This is just whole wheat pitas with sauca, cheese and toppings. Boston and I make it together, he prefers the plain cheese and I pile on the veggies. I broil the pita for a minute first just to get it a bit crisp to avoid soggy bread from the sauce. Then I pile on the stuff and bake it at 450 for like 10 or 12 minutes. So good and feels so much better than take out pizza. If you keep the cheese at a minimum you avoid lots of calories especially compared to take out.

GRILL IT? ROAST IT? WHATEVAH--Think I'm a big fan of chicken? Once, sometimes twice a week I thaw out a ton of chicken and bust out my favorite marinade of all time... italian dressing!! Any kind, even light, is such a great flavor for chicken and can morph into any dish for leftovers. So for this dish I grilled some of that marinaded chicken. For the veggies I grabbed whatever I had in the fridge, including portabello mushrooms, and tossed it all in a little olive oil. (turned the oven to 425) Spread it all out on a cookie sheet and salt and peppered everything, I added a smidge of this dry herb "herbs de provence", topped it all with some minced garlic and freshly grated parmesan. Roasted in a really hot oven for about 16 to 20 minutes. Easy, simple, yum.

CLASSIC STIR FRY--Love it love it. I think I have this a couple times a week. Its so easy and yum and I think I'm obsessed with stir fry with all the random veggies I have. I thought I had nothing to eat and I made this in like 20 minutes. The costco individually wrapped frozen chicken makes it so easy. Carrot and broccoli seems to last in my fridge the longest and I always have some barilla plus angel hair pasta. Cut it all up, throw it in a wok with some oil, add a bit of soy and/or teriyaki sauce, and for me the key is adding minced garlic during the last few minutes AND at the very end when the veggies are just about right drizzle a bit of sesame oil on everything. But can't forget throwing in some cooked pasta to fry it all up together. I topped it with some toasted sesame seeds, yum. I ALWAYS eat this with chop sticks just to make it more special.

Leftover chicken seems to be the key to a lot of my foods, its like its better the second time around.
-LETTUCE CUPS-- I just cut up some leftover grilled chicken, made a balsamic garlic dressing and chopped up some bell peps and tomatoes. These are butter lettuce peices, so delish!
-EASY TACO SALAD--Slow cooking a few breasts of chicken with a bunch of salsa in a crock pot is probably the oldest trick in the book but it is one of my favorites. I just sauteed some bell peppers, onions and zuccini before I put it all together. Cut up some lettuce, throw on the chicken, some cheese, the veggies and I happen to have some avacadoes so of course that was the best part. Salsa and a few chips completed it. No biggy, no secrets, just pretty and healthy food. -PF CHANGS INSPIRED LETTUCE CUPS--I finally tried this hoisin sauce the food network is always talking about. Thats pretty much the key to what I did there. I chopped up some chicken, onions, and red bell peps and fried it up with soy sauce and chile pepper flakes while toasting some peanuts in another pan. I added just a bit of the hoisin sauce, cooked it long enough to make it sticky, put it in the lettuce cups and topped it with green onions, orange zest and the peanuts. Mmm mm

HOBO DINNER... SALMON STYLE -I'm inlove with salmon and there's no question I love my veggies. And I'm pretty sure no one will tell you its unhealthy. Since I always have my basic veggies and my frozon salmon, this is my fall back meal. I love love love it. But I HAVE to include a lemon or its not worth making. Its really simple, takes maybe 10 minutes to prepare and 22 minutes in the oven at about 425 degrees. Once you've got everything cut up, lay out a couple pieces of tin foil on top of each other and lay down the salmon, salt and pepper it and put a slice or two of lemon on it. Just throw on your veggies. I always like to use either a shallot or thinly cut red onions, put that on first, the deeper into the pile the more it cooks. Anything else is good but normally I use thinly sliced carrots, chopped red bell peppers, larger cut zuccini and sometimes broccoli. I'm sure any other veggies would do as well. Once you've piled it all together add a couple more slices of lemon. Now for the best part... (simple ingredients we all have, no secrets here) a little S&P, big drizzle of EVOO, a couple splashes of red wine vinegar and white wine. The more of these liquids you add, the more yummy juice you have to poor on once its all done. Fold it all up in the tin foil so its closed up tight and put it in a hot oven on a cookie sheet so it won't spill out. 22 minutes is just good enough to cook the salmon all the way but keep it very tender. Simple and healthy.

Since I'm obviously obsessed with veggies this is one of the things I do to stay prepared. Just take an hour of two a week and chop chop chop and ziplock. All the color and cutting makes me feel good and ready for a healthy week. It really helps.

Whats food without the people you make and eat it with? -Thats my Boston and his cuz Shareen helping me make Ellie Krieger's healthy chocolate cookies. They were so sweet and funny about it. Good little helpers. -Boston loves breakfast for dinner so thats him eatin some of that strawberry french toast. -Carl doesn't cook much but once in a while he'll make some awesome blueberry pancakes. He doesn't like chunks of berry so he blends them in the magic bullet with a little water and just adds it to the batter. Purple pancakes are gooood.

-This tostada-looking thing is one of my favorites if I have a few extra minutes. Just let my egg cook in its pan while in another I let a tortilla toast up a bit on both sides so its nice and crisp. I smeared on the refried beans and then sprinkled on some cheese before adding the egg to heat it up. I had some lettuce and tomato so I added that to make it more restaurantee. Of course I had it with salsa and man oh man, this is a great post work out meal in the morning. -The oatmeal is not one of my favorites but if I add some good fruit I am good to go, some beautiful cherries helped me out that day.

-Strawberry french toast is pretty self explanatory... I had some pretty crusty french toast waiting to be used. I soaked them a bit longer than normal in the eggs and went on with the usual. We use lots of syrup when in comes to these kinds of breakfasts so I decided to go with a bit of powdered sugar and strawberries instead, yum yum.

Most of my food is thrown together last second and taken with my camera phone (cause I'm too hungry to get formal) so its not gorgeous but its fun to take pics to remember what I've made.

-EGG AND VEGGIES--Leftover cooked potatoes are one of my favorites to have around because you can grab some veggies and eggs and in 5 minutes on a frying pan, you have a yummy omelette. Butter flavored cooking spray and salt and pepper make in all possible... And of course a little cheese.

-CHICKEN ASPARAGUS PASTA--Had some leftover grilled chicken so I cut up some random veggies and put it on the grill pan with some olive oil and S&P, as soon as they were almost done I cut cut up the chicken and mixed it in with the veggies to heat it up a bit.(some chile pepper flakes added a great kick as well) While it was all going I just cooked a little angel hair (barilla plus-tastier than whole wheat pasta) and added some alfredo sauce(I know, not so healthy, eh). A smidge of lemon zest, parmesan and cracked pepper did the trick. A bit of parsley would've been great but it was good.

-PITA CRISP--The pita bread there was just a random thing I threw together one hungry afternoon when it seemed I had NOTHING to eat. Sauteed the last of my bell peps and onions and a little leftover chicken, broiled the (wheat)pita bread on both sides and ate it with hummus. Might sound weird but it went together quite well.

Grapefruit Goatcheese Salad

I'M OBSESSED WITH VEGGIES!

I love veggies, especially bell peppers.