Dill Pickle Soup -My Version!

Ingredients:

-6 cups of chicken or vegetable broth

-3 medium sized potatoes -cubed

-2-3 cups of chopped carrots

-1 cup chopped celery

-1 ½ cups of chopped dill pickles

- 2 tbsp butter

-1/2 cup flour

-1 cup plain Greek yogurt

-2 cups pickle juice

-1/2 tsp pepper

-1/2 tsp cayenne pepper

Directions:

1. Add broth, carrots, celery, potatoes and butter to a pot. Let boil until the potatoes are cooked through.

2. Add pickles and boil a few more minutes.

3. In a bowl, mix greek yogurt and flour. Add mixture to pot 1/4 cup at a time whisking into soup.

4. Add pickle juice, pepper and cayenne. Cook a few more minutes.

5. Serve topped with sliced pickles, dill and pepper as desired!

I’ve made this recipe a few times and tweaked it each time to get it how I like it -a little more health conscience!

Quick Meal with a Costco Card

It was a rainy day in September and I was – jk I hate when people put their whole life story in front of a freaking recipe. Here’s a quick and healthy Stir-fry hack.

Ingredients:

·  Pre-made Chicken Chow Mein from Costco

·  any extra veggies you want/are starting to look questionable in your fridge and need to use up.

·  dash of sriracha and pepper to taste

Directions:

1.  Empty Costco tray into wok, add extra veggies, pepper and sriracha. That’s it, you’re done.

Now the life story…

The first time we tried the chicken chow mien from Costco it was good but didn’t have the amount of vegetables we like to have with our meals.  We will usually use up whatever is in the fridge like broccoli, peppers, celery, carrots, etc. This time I decided to add 3 peppers, chopped spinach, shredded carrots and a cup of frozen peas for some added nutrients. I enjoy having this option on a busy week, so I don’t have to worry about prepping the chicken.

Not really a recipe and more of a meal hack.

Enjoy!

Basil Pesto Bruschetta Pizza

Vegetarian version

Ingredients

·        Naan bread

·        Basil pesto

·        Spinach (I prefer finely chopped)

·        Mushrooms -chopped

·        1 can diced tomatoes (drain and dry as much as possible)

·        Balsamic drizzle

·        Parmesan cheese

·        onion (chopped or sliced)

·        Optional: chicken or shrimp & fresh basil

Directions

·        Set oven to 425°C

·        Place naan bread on a pan and use the basil pesto as the base sauce -I use about a tbsp on each.  Add all ingredients minus balsamic drizzle and fresh basil.

·        Bake for 6-8 minutes

·        Remove and add balsamic drizzle and fresh basil

Additional Tips

·        I bake the naan bread first for 3 minutes to crisp up before adding the toppings.

·        You can use fresh tomatoes I just always have diced tomatoes on hand

·        I put a tsp of parm on before baking and then top with more right out of the oven.

·        Everything in this recipe can be purchased from Costco

Sausage Rice (adapted from the Gordon Ramsay recipe)

Sausage rice

Ingredients

• 1 tbsp olive oil

• 1 onion chopped (I use whatever we have on hand)

• 3 peppers (any color) chopped

• 2 garlic cloves -minced

• 4 mild sausages -or spicy

• 2 tsp of smoked paprika

• 200g long grain rice

• 1/2 glass of white wine

• 2 cups chicken stock

• 4 spring onions chopped

• 1 can diced tomatoes

• 2 cups chopped spinach (fresh or frozen)

• optional -sriracha to taste

Directions

• Add 1 tbsp of Olive oil to a cast iron pot and fry the onion for 5 minutes until soft but not coloured. Add the garlic.

• Slit the sausage skins and crumble the sausage meat. Turn the heat to high (otherwise, the sausage will steam rather than brown). Cook while moving it around every so often in the pan for about 4–5 minutes until coloured.  Add the smoked paprika and mix. Season to taste.

• Add the rice and stir well to mix thoroughly and absorb the flavour.

• Now deglaze the pan by pouring in the white wine and scraping any bits stuck to the bottom. Add the stock and peppers and bring to a boil and then turn to simmer.

• Cook gently for 15–20 minutes until the rice is tender and the liquid almost entirely absorbed. Stir every few minutes.

• Add tomatoes, chopped spinach and spring onions. Mix and remove from heat.

• Divide up portions and top with sriracha for an extra kick.

This recipe is from Gordon Ramsay however, i’ve adapted it over the years adding more/different veggies, a little less meat and different spices to create our now favorite dish. The original recipe calls for spicy sausage but we’ve opted for the mild so Rowyn can eat it and we top ours with sriracha to get the extra spice!

I’ll link Gordon’s video version here!

Bon appetit!

'Small Batch' Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

• 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened

• 1/4 cup dark brown sugar

• 3 tablespoons granulated sugar

• 1 large egg yolk only

• 3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour

• 1/4 cup rolled oats

• 1/8 teaspoon fine salt

• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda

• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder

• 1/4 cup chocolate chips

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 375. Line a baking sheet with a silicone mat or aluminum foil.

2. In a medium bowl, beat the butter with an electric mixer on medium speed until fluffy -about 20 seconds.

3. Add the sugars, and beat for about 30 seconds.

4. Next, add the egg yolk and vanilla and beat another 20 seconds.

5. Whisk together the flour, oats, salt, baking soda and baking powder in a separate bowl.

6. Sprinkle the flour on top of the butter mixture, and beat just until combined. I will add a little more oats here if it feels too moist.

7. Stir in the chocolate chips.

8. Scoop the dough into 6-8 dough balls, and space them evenly on the baking sheet.

9. Bake for 10 minutes, removing the cookies from the oven when the edges just start to turn golden brown.

10. Let the cookies rest on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before removing.

These have been fun to make with Rowyn as it makes for a fun activity but we’re not stuck with a tonne of cookies afterwards.

Salsa Chicken

Ingredients:

• 2-3 chicken breasts

• 1L of salsa

• 1 can of corn

• 1 can black beans

• 3 cups spinach (frozen or fresh)

• 4 oz cream cheese or feta

Directions:

Place chicken in crockpot and cover with salsa, corn, black beans and spinach. Mix and cook on high for 4 hrs or low for 6 hrs. In the last half hour add in cream cheese and shred chicken. Yes, it’s that easy!

Serving Ideas:

• Serve over rice

• Serve as a dip with multigrain chips

• Serve in a lettuce wrap

• Mix with rice and use as burrito filling

Vegetarian option:

• add an additional can of black beans and 1/2 cup of uncooked quinoa.

Honey Balsamic Salmon

I usually make brussels sprouts for this meal but tried zucchini fries -total fail #soggy. Should’ve stuck with the sprouts!

Ingredients:

·        4 fillets of salmon (6ish oz each) we get ours from Costco. Whatever is leftover after the 4 pieces we freeze.

Sauce:

·        ¼ cup soy sauce

·        1/3 cup honey

·        2 tbsp water

·        2-3 tbsp balsamic vinegar

·        1 tsp minced garlic

·        ½ tsp ginger powder

·        1 tbsp olive oil or avocado oil

Directions:

Place fish filets in Ziploc bag.  Whisk together sauce ingredients and pour half into bag and marinate anywhere from 20 minutes -overnight in the fridge.  (If you’re tight on time I find it handy to do it the night before then all you must do is throw it in the pan right before supper).  Heat a skillet to medium with a tbsp of oil.  Sear each side 2-3 minutes depending on thickness of fillet. Remove from pan and poor extra sauce into the pan and heat for 2-3 minutes until thickened.  Top with sauce as desired.

Serve It With:

I like to serve this with a long grain rice and baked brussels sprouts. 

Rice Tips: chop up a full bundle of green onion ahead of time and throw it in the freezer.  Then when you need it just remove the desired amount and mix into the rice 3 minutes before it is finished cooking.

Brussels Sprouts: keep it simple and cut each one in half and place in a bowl.  Drizzle with 1 tbsp of olive oil a dash of salt & pepper and garlic powder to taste. Mix well and place on lightly oiled baking sheet.  Bake for 15-20 minutes at 450 until desired crispiness and shake pan half way through cooking to avoid sticking.

Freezer Meals -Quick, Easy & CHEAP

For all the recipes below they all start with the base of carrots, celery, potatoes and onion. We chop all of these up and divvy them up into freezer bags.  For every bag we chop finely (except for stews chop chunky) and add roughly:

·        4 carrots

·        6 celery stalks

·        2 ½ - 3 potatoes

·        1 small onion

We go to Costco and grab the big bag of carrots, onions, potatoes and 2 bags of celery. This costs roughly $30 for a tonne of food and makes 6 big freezer meals.

Now with all these ingredients you can make such a variety of things, so we are constantly switching it up and we never get sick of these meals. 

Meal #1 Mexican Tortellini Soup

·        1 premade freezer bag

·        1 can corn

·        1 can diced tomatoes

·        6-7 cups of soup broth (I use no salt added chicken or vegetable)

·        3 tbsp tomato paste

·        1 tsp oregano, thyme, paprika, pepper

·        1 bay leaf

·        ½ packet (or to taste) low sodium taco seasoning  

·        ½ package of Costco’s tortellini pasta

·        Optional- top with Mrs. Dash Southwest Chipotle if you’re feeling extra spicy

Directions:

·        Thaw freezer bag on the counter overnight

·        Add all ingredients to a crockpot (minus the tortellini)

·        Cook on low for 8 hours

·        In the last 30 minutes add the tortellini and cook until desired tenderness

Viola, that’s it! This meal is delicious and so easy to make. Would easily serve 8 people. This lasts the two of us for 2 nights of supper as well as our lunch the next day and costs roughly $10-$12 to make the entire thing.

Vegetable Barely Soup

·        1 premade freezer bag

·        1 can cut green beans

·        1 can diced tomatoes

·        8 cups vegetable broth

·        ¾ cup pearl barely

·        2 bay leaves

·        1.5-2 tsp of each spice -oregano, thyme, paprika

·        3 tbsp tomato paste

·        2 tbsp cornstarch

Directions:

Add all ingredients (minus the cornstarch) to a crockpot and set on high for 4 hours or low for 8 hours.

In the last hour mix cornstarch with 1 cup of the broth and return to crockpot.

Add S&P to taste

Beef Stew

Now for this one I make sure we make a few freezer bags with the veggies cut in larger chunks and mark them “Stew”. 

·        1 premade freezer bag

·        1 lb of beef cut into 1 inch chunks ( Costco da bomb)

·        3 cups beef broth

·        3 tbsp tomato paste

·        2 bay leaves

·        1.5-2 tsp each of paprika, thyme, rosemary

·        Salt & Pepper to taste

·        1 cup Peas

·        ¼ cup flour

Directions:

Add all ingredients into crockpot (minus peas and flour) set on low for 8 hours. In the last 30 minutes add peas (I use frozen) and flour to thicken.

Boom! Three easy and quick meals for a busy week.

Like most people we are busy with all of life’s ups, downs and daily hustles so we like to have a bunch of freezer meals on hand for the days we don’t have time to cook and don’t want to waste money on takeout. Disclaimer: I love to eat out and the initial meal prep push was encouraged by my hubby who is always the voice of reason and now I love it! The recipes above has saved us so much time and money. Bon Appetit!