This one is for Houda!
So this is a collection of 7 of my main meals. I thought about assigning days but I don't really work on a schedule like that since some meals last me more than one day. Rather, I just reach for, by now, well established meal recipes in my repertoire. Sometimes I'll improvise. So here are some ideas!
1. Steak with Roasted Cauliflower
At least once a week I'll have a couple of no frills rare steaks. All I add is salt and a tiny bit of olive oil. Then place them almost a minute on each side on the very hot grill/pan before they make it to a plate to rest for around 5-10 minutes.
Today I had roasted cauliflowers and other vegetables with the steak. It's a rare day when I say this, but the steak wasn't the tastiest thing I had today. The crispy sweet crunchiness was so good!
Roasted Vegetables (serves 2-3): Mix a whole head of cauliflowers, 3-4 halved carrots and 4 halved radishes with around 2 Tbs of olive oil, oregano, salt, and black pepper to taste. Place on a roasting pan. Now I roasted them for 60 minutes at 350F (or 180C). I then saw some other recipes online which used a higher temperature and less time, and I suspect they may turn out even better that way. Try 450F (230C) for around 30min.
2. Fish with Tahini sauce and vegetables
Sunday is fish day. Saturdays are grocery days and that includes buying fresh fish for Sunday. I like mine oven baked. An alternative to fresh fish would be getting a fish fillet, seasoning it in a similar way with salt, black pepper, thyme or oregano, cumin, and olive oil, wrapping it in parchment paper and baking it for 20 minutes. Don't be skimpy with the amount of fish, as the idea is to fill up on it. Alongside the fish we always have a lot of Tahini sauce and steamed or boiled vegetables like broccoli, baby zucchinis, and carrots.
Tahini Sauce:
3 Tbs Tahini (1 Tbs = 15ml)
1/2 cup Yogurt
1 Tbs Orange juice
1 Tbs Lemon juice
3. Minestrone Soup
Or at least the paleo version of minestrone soup sans the pasta or beans. I made a really big pot that lasted me 3 days. I got the recipe from here. I highly recommend adding 1/2 tsp of turmeric and some cayenne pepper.
Just use up from your fridge any vegetables you need to eat up soon. I used in mine: purple cabbage, carrots, broccoli, arugula or rocket leaves (added last), tomatoes, radishes and onions. Cucumbers, zucchini, and squash would also work very well. Really, just throw any vegetable in there. I also used beef bone stock I had to boil the chicken and make the stock for the soup. Talk about rich!
Finally, a nice handful of grated Gouda or Brie on top make this truly amazing.
4. Not really a Fatteh
200g of minced lamb or beef
1/2 cup of chopped red bell pepper (I like mine as 1.5cm squares)
1/2 cup of quartered radishes
3/4-1 cup of yogurt
1 clove garlic
1/2 to 1 tsp of seven spices
1 Tbs of blanched and halved almonds
1 Tbs of pine nuts
1 Tbs Olive oil
Salt
Paprika
- Heat a pan and add the olive oil and minced meat. Saute for a few minutes then add the seven spices. Add the bell pepper and radishes and a pinch of salt. Leave them until the vegetables start to get soft and the meat is browned.
- Meanwhile, mash the clove of garlic with some salt in a bowl. Add the yogurt and whisk with a fork until it's smooth.
- Combine the meat and vegetables with the yogurt. Return the pan to the heat and add the almonds, sauté for 1min then add the pine nuts. Saute until golden.
- Add on top of the Fatteh and finish with a sprinkling of paprika.
5. Tuna wraps (makes about 3 wraps)
1 can of tuna
1 medium ripe avocado
1/4 cup of chopped makdous or your favorite pickles
Optional if using pickles: 1/4 cup of coarsely chopped walnuts
pinch of salt
1 tomato
Whole lettuce leaves
Halve the avocado, remove the seed and empty into a bowl using a spoon. Mash the avocado using a fork.
Add the tuna, the pickles, salt, and if using them, the walnuts. Mix well.
Halve and slice the tomato into 1/2" thick pieces.
Arrange a nice big portion of the tuna mix in a lettuce along with some tomato slices and wrap.
Enjoy.
6. Roasted Chicken with Onions and Potatoes
Delicious, subtly sweet and sour. Recipe here.
7. Chicken with vegetables and rice (serves 1-2)
Sometimes, especially recently with all the exercising, I just need calories. So a little white rice won't do harm, especially when it's an equal rather than dominant participant in the dish and mixed with a whole lot of butter and cooked in stock.
2 chicken legs
1 quartered onion
1 bay leaf
1 cardamom seed
2-3 black pepper kernels (or a pinch of black pepper)
1 cinnamon stick
salt
1/2 cup carrots chopped into 1/2" cubes (quarter lengthwise, and chop)
1/2 cup green beans (frozen or fresh) chopped also into 1/2" cubes
1/2 cup coarsely chopped fresh mushrooms.
1/4 cup short grain white rice, soaked for a minute or two in water, rinsed, and drained.
2 Tbs of butter
1/4 tsp of ginger
- Add the first 6 ingredients with some salt to a pot and cover with water. Bring to a boil and remove the foam as it forms. Let it simmer for 40 minutes.
- After the chicken is done. Allow to cool before removing the meat from the bone. Drain the stock through a mesh sieve into a bowl. Put aside 1/4 cup of the stock, and freeze the rest for some other use.
- In a pan, melt the 2 Tbs of butter and add the carrots, green beans, and mushroom. Let them sauté for a good 5 minutes.
- Add the chicken, the 1/4 cup of stock, and the ginger and when it comes to the boil, add the rice. Let it return to a strong boil for around 1 minute, then cover and put over low heat for 15 minutes.
- Remove from heat and let it rest for 10 minutes before serving.
Optional: You get extra points if you've got the energy to brown the chicken before boiling to make the stock. Then you wouldn't have to get rid of the skin.
Alternative: Instead of chicken, you could use instead 2 cups of tail free shrimp. 1/4 cup of water instead of stock added with the shrimp. Somewhat different taste and easier to make.
These are seven meals currently on rotation. Eventually I'll get bored of one or two of them and replace with something else. Some previous meals I haven't been doing a lot lately are the Shrimp with butter and feta cheese thing, shrimp soup, sautéed chicken breast with veggies in cream (although I suspect once I'm busier this'll be returning pretty fast to the menu). I keep experimenting with new recipes, so once I have 7 new meals, maybe I'll do another post :)
So this is a collection of 7 of my main meals. I thought about assigning days but I don't really work on a schedule like that since some meals last me more than one day. Rather, I just reach for, by now, well established meal recipes in my repertoire. Sometimes I'll improvise. So here are some ideas!
1. Steak with Roasted Cauliflower
At least once a week I'll have a couple of no frills rare steaks. All I add is salt and a tiny bit of olive oil. Then place them almost a minute on each side on the very hot grill/pan before they make it to a plate to rest for around 5-10 minutes.
Today I had roasted cauliflowers and other vegetables with the steak. It's a rare day when I say this, but the steak wasn't the tastiest thing I had today. The crispy sweet crunchiness was so good!
Roasted Vegetables (serves 2-3): Mix a whole head of cauliflowers, 3-4 halved carrots and 4 halved radishes with around 2 Tbs of olive oil, oregano, salt, and black pepper to taste. Place on a roasting pan. Now I roasted them for 60 minutes at 350F (or 180C). I then saw some other recipes online which used a higher temperature and less time, and I suspect they may turn out even better that way. Try 450F (230C) for around 30min.
2. Fish with Tahini sauce and vegetables
Sunday is fish day. Saturdays are grocery days and that includes buying fresh fish for Sunday. I like mine oven baked. An alternative to fresh fish would be getting a fish fillet, seasoning it in a similar way with salt, black pepper, thyme or oregano, cumin, and olive oil, wrapping it in parchment paper and baking it for 20 minutes. Don't be skimpy with the amount of fish, as the idea is to fill up on it. Alongside the fish we always have a lot of Tahini sauce and steamed or boiled vegetables like broccoli, baby zucchinis, and carrots.
Tahini Sauce:
3 Tbs Tahini (1 Tbs = 15ml)
1/2 cup Yogurt
1 Tbs Orange juice
1 Tbs Lemon juice
3. Minestrone Soup
Or at least the paleo version of minestrone soup sans the pasta or beans. I made a really big pot that lasted me 3 days. I got the recipe from here. I highly recommend adding 1/2 tsp of turmeric and some cayenne pepper.
Just use up from your fridge any vegetables you need to eat up soon. I used in mine: purple cabbage, carrots, broccoli, arugula or rocket leaves (added last), tomatoes, radishes and onions. Cucumbers, zucchini, and squash would also work very well. Really, just throw any vegetable in there. I also used beef bone stock I had to boil the chicken and make the stock for the soup. Talk about rich!
Finally, a nice handful of grated Gouda or Brie on top make this truly amazing.
4. Not really a Fatteh
200g of minced lamb or beef
1/2 cup of chopped red bell pepper (I like mine as 1.5cm squares)
1/2 cup of quartered radishes
3/4-1 cup of yogurt
1 clove garlic
1/2 to 1 tsp of seven spices
1 Tbs of blanched and halved almonds
1 Tbs of pine nuts
1 Tbs Olive oil
Salt
Paprika
- Heat a pan and add the olive oil and minced meat. Saute for a few minutes then add the seven spices. Add the bell pepper and radishes and a pinch of salt. Leave them until the vegetables start to get soft and the meat is browned.
- Meanwhile, mash the clove of garlic with some salt in a bowl. Add the yogurt and whisk with a fork until it's smooth.
- Combine the meat and vegetables with the yogurt. Return the pan to the heat and add the almonds, sauté for 1min then add the pine nuts. Saute until golden.
- Add on top of the Fatteh and finish with a sprinkling of paprika.
5. Tuna wraps (makes about 3 wraps)
1 can of tuna
1 medium ripe avocado
1/4 cup of chopped makdous or your favorite pickles
Optional if using pickles: 1/4 cup of coarsely chopped walnuts
pinch of salt
1 tomato
Whole lettuce leaves
Halve the avocado, remove the seed and empty into a bowl using a spoon. Mash the avocado using a fork.
Add the tuna, the pickles, salt, and if using them, the walnuts. Mix well.
Halve and slice the tomato into 1/2" thick pieces.
Arrange a nice big portion of the tuna mix in a lettuce along with some tomato slices and wrap.
Enjoy.
6. Roasted Chicken with Onions and Potatoes
Delicious, subtly sweet and sour. Recipe here.
7. Chicken with vegetables and rice (serves 1-2)
Sometimes, especially recently with all the exercising, I just need calories. So a little white rice won't do harm, especially when it's an equal rather than dominant participant in the dish and mixed with a whole lot of butter and cooked in stock.
2 chicken legs
1 quartered onion
1 bay leaf
1 cardamom seed
2-3 black pepper kernels (or a pinch of black pepper)
1 cinnamon stick
salt
1/2 cup carrots chopped into 1/2" cubes (quarter lengthwise, and chop)
1/2 cup green beans (frozen or fresh) chopped also into 1/2" cubes
1/2 cup coarsely chopped fresh mushrooms.
1/4 cup short grain white rice, soaked for a minute or two in water, rinsed, and drained.
2 Tbs of butter
1/4 tsp of ginger
- Add the first 6 ingredients with some salt to a pot and cover with water. Bring to a boil and remove the foam as it forms. Let it simmer for 40 minutes.
- After the chicken is done. Allow to cool before removing the meat from the bone. Drain the stock through a mesh sieve into a bowl. Put aside 1/4 cup of the stock, and freeze the rest for some other use.
- In a pan, melt the 2 Tbs of butter and add the carrots, green beans, and mushroom. Let them sauté for a good 5 minutes.
- Add the chicken, the 1/4 cup of stock, and the ginger and when it comes to the boil, add the rice. Let it return to a strong boil for around 1 minute, then cover and put over low heat for 15 minutes.
- Remove from heat and let it rest for 10 minutes before serving.
Optional: You get extra points if you've got the energy to brown the chicken before boiling to make the stock. Then you wouldn't have to get rid of the skin.
Alternative: Instead of chicken, you could use instead 2 cups of tail free shrimp. 1/4 cup of water instead of stock added with the shrimp. Somewhat different taste and easier to make.
These are seven meals currently on rotation. Eventually I'll get bored of one or two of them and replace with something else. Some previous meals I haven't been doing a lot lately are the Shrimp with butter and feta cheese thing, shrimp soup, sautéed chicken breast with veggies in cream (although I suspect once I'm busier this'll be returning pretty fast to the menu). I keep experimenting with new recipes, so once I have 7 new meals, maybe I'll do another post :)
No comments:
Post a Comment