I am entering into a month where I will be away from my home on work travel for a solid week and a half total. In addition to the travel, my boyfriend turns 30, we will celebrate our one year anniversary, I’m running a ten-miler and a half marathon (whose bright idea was that?!?!), I have my mid-year evaluation at work and my church is hosting one of our largest events of the year. Whew. I’m exhausted just typing all that. I’m not trying to complain, merely illustrating the fact that I don’t think I’ll win the queen of creativity award this month when it comes to cooking. What I need to get me through are delicious, healthy meals that I know will fuel me for what is coming. What I need is my own personal “best of” list of meals that are Courtney tested and approved. Here’s my list:
- Buttermilk Kale Chicken Caesar Salad. This takes about five minutes to put together and is delicious. It actually improves in flavor as it sits in the fridge, so it’s perfect for lunch at work.
- Lentil Soup. Duh. I’ve been eating this steadily since I first made it. I make a big huge pot and I have lunch for two weeks. It’s delicious, healthy and I can easily add meat if I so choose.
- Roasted Chicken via Smitten Kitchen. With the proper kitchen shears, this recipe is actually quite easy. And you can never go wrong with chicken.
- Homemade pizza. Making the dough ahead of time makes this incredibly easy to pull off. And so, so tasty.
What are your “best of” meals?
I have a few go-to’s. One is curry–I can use just about what ever veggies and meat I happen to have, and I usually have all the spices on hand. When you don’t follow a strict recipe, it’s a little different every time, which is nice.
Another is pasta. I know you can’t have pasta all the time, but I like it because, like curry, it’s versatile. I always use whole wheat pasta, and I’ll add in what ever veggies and meat I have. I usually add either spinach or kale to make sure I have greenage.
The other most common go-to is black beans with cumin, brown rice, zucchini, and stewed tomatoes (cook the zucchini and tomatoes together). It’s delicious by itself, or you can add hot sauce, a little bit of cheddar, or any other veggies.
I love whole wheat pasta and actually had to slowly back away from eating it everyday. I agree, it’s one of those things you can easily just make a big batch of. I usually do wwpasta, olive oil, mozzarella cheese, and whatever green veggie I have on hand (spinach, kale, broccoli, asparagus, etc). Sometimes I add meat, sometimes I don’t. It’s always so good!
Good ideas! Have you ever tried putting an apple in a chicken while roasting it? Something I saw the other day said it keeps it really moist.
My go-tos are anything in the crockpot, because I’m lazy, and a coconut curry chicken/pork/shrimp too depending on the meat I have on hand. I made individual salads with grilled chicken last week (so I could take them for lunches at the hospital) and that worked out really well for me. I’ll probably start doing that more for work too.