Diet day 2: Need a fast, healthy dinner....

So day 1 was a success -- big deal, I know. But at least it's a start. I was "good girl:" no indulgences, kept the food diary as vowed and ended up with about 1250 calories and the scales showing me a pound lighter this morning.
It's ridiculously cold outside and on top of that, I've developed some kind of illness, a virus I assume. Those factors make it harder not to just keep storing up the fuel. But, I resist!
Meanwhile, this is one of my longer days at work and I don't have the energy or motivation to cook a meal from scratch tonight for my husband and me.

The solution? Frozen food! Here's one of the few such things I can recommend: multi-grain roasted vegetable lasagna from Trader Joe's. I'll steam a vegetable to go with it and give my husband some bread & olive oil (he has a big appetite, never gains weight though). About 1/3 of the lasagna package and the veggies makes about a 400-calorie meal.
But mostly I just want to pack up, walk through the cold to my garage and go home to bed!

"Convenience products for gourmets"

That's what I recall as a description of Trader Joe's mission, from a New York Times article a couple of years back. I almost blush to admit how many of their products show up in my cooking, but if you can have convenience and healthy, tasty food, what's not to like?

The above photo of a mid-week supper includes butternut squash pureed with spices (cinnamon, cumin, ginger, a dash each of nutmeg and cayenne)-- the squash already peeled and cut into cubes at TJs. The veggies consist of leftover steamed Brussels sprouts mixed with a frozen TJ vegetable mix called "soycotash." And the fish--grouper from Luken's at Findlay Market--is topped with Joe's artichoke and red pepper bruschetta sauce.

If you want to convert to a more healthy diet but don't want to take up cooking as a vocation, you could do worse than to spend a half hour or so looking closely at TJ's produce, pantry, and frozen food aisles. And no, I am not on their payroll!
Anyone who has a favorite grocery store, or particular products, that healthy foodies should know about, please weigh in. Leave a comment, or email me at pamamitchell@cinci.rr.com.

Dinner in 15 minutes -- healthy and tasty, too

On one of my long work days, I don't have time for cooking "from scratch," but we also don't bring cooked food home very often. What's a healthy foodie to do?

Here is one reason why Trader Joe's is my favorite grocery store: their specialty in what a NY Times article once reported as "convenience foods for gourmets."

The first photo shows the products that made our dinner: two grocery shelf Indian dishes (both vegetarian) and frozen brown rice. I added some fresh broccoli.

Steam the broccoli while you microwave the three other dishes, and voila! Photo #2. I topped the brocccoli with one of the Indian dishes (a spicy eggplant and tomato mixture) and put the second dish (less spicy-vegetables in a creamy sauce) atop the rice. Seriously, it was 15 minutes from photo #1 to photo #2. For a heartier appetite, add some nan bread--also sold at my favorite food store. Enjoy!

Figs!!

Yes, it's that time of the summer when you actually can get fresh figs in Cincinnati. I don't know of any local sources--the ones I see all come from California--but I'll be looking at Findlay Market this weekend and hoping to see the fruits of some intrepid area farmer's fig tree.

However, I scored my first carton of these precious gems at Trader Joe's this week.

[Thursday, I saw three varieties of fresh figs at Whole Foods, on sale for $2.99 a carton]

I used about half of the TJ carton to make the salad pictured above.

Recipe: Fig and Chicken Salad on Arugula (Serves 2 as an entree, 4 as a side)

Ingredients:

1 skinless, boneless chicken breast (preferably free range, organic)

Chicken stock or broth

1 large garlic clove

1 bay leaf

Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

6 cups arugula (or other mixed greens)

1 cup cooked green beans, and an equivalent amount of any other leftover cooked veggies on hand

6-8 fresh figs

Salad dressing of your choice

Shredded mozzarella cheese or crumbled goat cheese (optional)

Instructions:

1. Place the chicken in a saucepan and cover with chicken stock, or a mixture of chicken stock and water. Add garlic, bay leaf and seasonings. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low, cover and cook gently until chicken is just done (about 5 minutes, depending on thickness of breast).

2. Remove pan from heat, take chicken out and let rest on a cutting board. Save broth for another use, or discard (if saving, put through a strainer and discard garlic and bay leaf).

3. When chicken is slight cool, slice into bite-size pieces and cover with some of the salad dressing you are using.

4. (Optional) Spray a shallow frying pan with cooking spray, add figs and cook on medium heat, turning often, to heat and slightly cook (caramelize) the figs.

5. Cut the figs (warm or uncooked) into quarters.

6. In a large mixing bowl, toss together arugula, figs, chicken in its salad dressing, vegetables and figs.

7. Drizzle more salad dressing over all, season with salt and pepper, if desired.

8. Divide into large, shallow bowls and serve. Pass cheese at the table.