It’s been a bit of a hectic week the past few days Chez Mac. Those darn work deadlines can be so pesky at
times. That being said, I thought I
would share three super-fast, easy recipes which I made this past Sunday.
1.
Creamy
tomato soup (GF, vegan)
I make this soup all of the time. It’s fast, like five minutes fast. It’s made with pantry ingredients. It’s filling. You get two vegetables in almost an instant.
Here’s the link: http://www.averiecooks.com/2012/12/creamy-tomato-soup.html
Notes: No worries if you don’t have stewed tomatoes. I use cans of regular whole tomatoes. Using baby carrots takes away all of the vegetable preparation. I have used both cream and almond milk. Both taste fine.
2.
Citrus Orange Roughy
I just found this one last week, courtesy of my local Heinen’s. Makes 3-4 servings.
Ingredients:
1 orange, sliced in half
1 lemon, sliced in half
1 lb. orange roughy
1 Tbl olive oil
½ tsp lemon pepper seasoning
Directions: Heat oil in large skillet over medium high heat. Arrange fish in skillet. Squeeze lemon and orange halves over the fish. (Watch for rogue seeds popping out). Sprinkle with lemon pepper seasoning. Cook for five minutes until the fish is easily flaked with a fork. Voila! Add a salad trough, some steamed or grilled veggies and dinner is served.
Notes: I didn’t have any lemon pepper seasoning in the cupboard so I successfully substituted Pampered Chef’s citrus and basil rub. This is supposed to be a four serving recipe but JMac and I only got three. Maybe we were just hungry but if cooking for four, I would recommend picking up an extra fish fillet.
Bonus
recipe: Marsita’s Grilled Veggies
You can make delicious cooked vegetables in less than ten minutes. Keep a stash of frozen veggies in your freezer. My favorite vegetable to do this with is Trader Joe’s French green beans. I don’t know why, but they are the best.
Directions: Dump your desired amount of veggies into a large 2-3” deep skillet with a lid. Add enough water (1/2”?) to get them steaming and cover. Cook on medium/high heat until they are just barely tender—you don’t want mushy veggies. Pour out the water. Crank up the heat to high. Return the veggies to the stove, drizzle with a little olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Cook the veggies for a just a minute or two until they start to brown, turning them over so they don’t burn. If you want to kick them up a notch, add a little Cajun or other spicy seasoning while they are cooking.
3.
Simple Bread
You too can be a hero in your home. Make your own gluten free bread. I like all of the bread recipes I have tried from this site but this one is my new favorite. It only requires three eggs, which seems to be the magic number that I have on hand whenever I go to bake. Don’t be intimidated that this is “bread.” It’s more of a quick bread. There is no yeast, no kneading and no worrying about it rising. JMac was about to deliver our toaster to the same fate as our VCR, a lonely shelf in the basement, when I first baked this. Simple bread saved the toaster. Here’s the link: http://www.elanaspantry.com/simple-bread/ You don't need a magic line loaf pan but you do need a smaller than normal but not mini loaf pan. Since there isn't any yeast, these recipes don't fill your normal, larger bread pans.
Finally, did you catch this in the national media this week? http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2014/03/31/295719579/rethinking-fat-the-case-for-adding-some-into-your-diet Turns out you might want to add some (good) fat back in your diet and get off those processed carbohydrates. What? This sounds an awful lot like eat real food. Hopefully, these recipes will give you a few more options. Take care and have a great week.