My "go-to" quick dinner ideas (what are yours?)

Do you often feel like you're bored with cooking the same meals week after week? Would you like some fresh ideas of things you can cook?

Do you have lots of cookbooks, cooking magazines, and recipes but still feel like you want new ideas of things to prepare. Cookbooks are often overwhelming with so many recipes to choose from, and the recipes are often complicated and time-consuming.

When I feel like I need new ideas, I ask friends and family what they cooked this week. Or if I'm at someone's house for dinner and enjoyed what they made, I will ask for the recipe. To me, this is more helpful than flipping through a cookbook.

I am going to share with you 3 of my quick and healthy "go-to" dinner ideas.

In exchange for sharing my ideas with you, I invite you to share just one of your favorite dinner ideas. Think of something you made this past week of two that you enjoyed, was healthy, and were able to make quickly and easily. I am looking forward to all the wonderful ideas we're going to have!

To share your recipe, simply post it as a comment to this blog post.



And here are my dinner ideas....


Recipe #1: Chicken with Broccoli, Bok Choy and Brown Rice

Ingredients:
1 lb of chicken tenders
1 bunch of broccoli
1 head of bok choy
2 chopped onions
1 cup of uncooked brown rice
1 TBS Sesame Oil
Toasted Sesame Oil
Soy Sauce

Cooking Instructions:
1. Put brown rice and 1 ¾ cup water in a pot and bring to a boil. Then cover the pot and simmer for 45 minutes. Don’t forget to set a timer. (See the note below for a time saving tip.)
2. Heat sesame oil in a large pan over medium-high heat and add onions.
3. While onions are cooking, chop the broccoli, bok choy and chicken.
4. Add chicken to the pan with the onions and cook for 10 minutes.
5. While chicken is cooking, add broccoli to a separate pan with ¼ cup of water and cover the pan to let the broccoli steam/water sauté. After 5 minutes, add the bok choy to the pan and cook for another 5 minutes. Add additional water if necessary.
6. Add broccoli and bok choy to the chicken and onions and add soy sauce and toasted sesame oil to taste.
7. Serve over brown rice.

Note: To save time, cook your brown rice the day before - while you’re eating, watching tv, or reading. There’s no need to watch the rice cook, simply set a timer!


Recipe #2: Black Beans and Brown Rice with Salsa and Chard

Ingredients:
1 cup dry brown rice
2 cans black beans, drained and rinsed
Jar of Salsa
1-2 bunches chard, rinsed and chopped
Sesame oil

Instructions:
1. Bring 2 cups of water to a boil. Add brown rice, lower heat, and simmer for 35-45 minutes.
2. Heat sesame oil over medium heat. Saute chard for 5 minutes. Add black beans and salsa. Once the rice is done cooking, add it to the beans and chard.

Notes:
- For a super fast version of this recipe, cook the rice the night before.
- Feel free to add in other greens or veggies such as mushrooms, onions, and bell peppers.


Recipe #3: Garlic Shrimp, Peppers, and Brown Rice Pasta

Ingredients:
Bag of frozen, shelled and deveined shrimp
4 bell peppers, sliced (any colors) - may be frozen
Package of brown rice pasta
6 cloves Garlic
Olive oil
Sea salt

Cooking Instructions:
1. Start cooking the brown rice pasta (or other whole grain pasta) following the directions on the package. This usually takes about 20 minutes.
2. Cook shrimp following directions on the package. I find boiling to be quick and easy.
3. Saute garlic and bell peppers in 2 TBS olive oil over medium heat for 5 minutes. Add shrimp and pasta to the pan and toss with sea salt and olive oil to taste.

Notes:
- For extra flavor, toss with pesto (store bought is fine).
- For extra nutrition, add spinach and saute with the peppers and garlic.



Now it's your turn to share one of your favorite dinner ideas. To share your recipe, simply post it as a comment to this blog post. You may post a comment by clicking here.

One way to avoid overeating

Do you sometimes go a little overboard when eating out or eating in on special occasions with friends or family? Perhaps you find it easy to overeat on a regular basis when snacking or during regular weeknight dinners.

I have a healthy appetite, but I don't typically find myself eating past the point of being full. But a few days ago I caught myself. I was in Miami visiting my family and we ordered takeout from a healthy-ish Asian restaurant. In the middle of dinner, Sydney (my 7 month old daughter) woke up. As I left the dinner table, I asked my family to leave my plate because I wasn't done eating. I then went to get Sydney back to sleep. It took a while to get her back to sleep and in the process, I realized that I wasn't hungry.

I've often heard that it takes 20-30 minutes for our brain to receive the message from our stomach that we're full, but experiencing this was much more powerful.

One way to avoid overeating: Once you've eaten a portion of food, go do something else (even if you feel a little hungry). You can check email, go for a walk, make a phone call, play with your children, clean the dishes, etc. If you're still hungry, give yourself permission to have a bit more to eat. If you're not still hungry, do something fun an relaxing other than eating.

Is all oatmeal created equal?

I get lots of questions about the various forms of oatmeal, so I thought I'd clear up the confusion so you can make sense out of the different forms of oats.

Oat Groats: Whole grain of the oat, with only the outer hard husks removed, then toasted.

Steel Cut Oats or Scottish Oats or Irish Oats: These are groats which have been cut into two or three pieces. Cooking time is considerably longer than for rolled oats.


Old Fashioned Rolled Oats: These are made by steaming the groats and flattening them with a roller. The Quaker Old Fashioned Rolled Oats are very thinly rolled, as are the store varieties by the same title. If you look hard, however, you can often find rolled oats that are twice as thick as the Quaker variety, and these make a lovely, less creamy version of oatmeal than the Quaker ones do. Quaker sets the industry standard, so theirs is considered REGULAR Old Fashioned Rolled Oats. If they are thicker, they are called THICK Old Fashioned Rolled Oats. The easiest place to find these is in the bulk bins at health food stores.

Quick-cooking rolled oats: These are made by flattening pre-cut groats. They cook in about 5 minutes.

Instant Oats: are usually packaged with salt and sugar. Don't indulge in the empty calories!

Which types have you tried? Which ones do you enjoy and find keep you satisfied, while giving you good energy?

10 Foods to Add to Your Kitchen

Clients are often very curious what foods I keep in my kitchen, so I’ve decided to share ten of my “must-have” foods.

1. Food for Life Sprouted Grain English Muffins and Tortillas
I feel good about eating these products because they’re made from 100% whole grains. I use the tortillas to make quesadillas and the English muffins are great to have as part of a snack or breakfast.

2. Almond Butter
I find the taste of almond butter more decadent than peanut butter. I enjoy eating it with apple slices or on whole grain crackers.

3. Dark Chocolate Dreams
This company makes several varieties. My favorite is peanut butter with rich dark chocolate. I enjoy eating this on the sprouted grain English muffin (mentioned above), as an evening snack. It tastes like desert, but I feel good about it because it has very little sugar.

4. Wasa or Kavli Crackers
These crackers are made from whole grains and though they don’t have a ton of flavor by themselves, they’re great with some cheese, nut butter, tuna salad, or egg salad.

5. Canned Tuna
I buy the “chunk light” in water, because it’s lower in mercury than albacore tuna. It’s a great thing to have in the pantry because it’s a great source of protein. You can quickly whip up a meal – tuna on a green salad, tuna salad sandwich, tuna on crackers (as I mentioned above), add the tuna to some tomato sauce and serve on whole grain pasta.

6. Dried Cranberries
I always have dried cranberries in my pantry and love adding them to salad, oatmeal, and leafy greens (especially kale).

7. Canned Diced Tomatoes
We cook with tomatoes a lot, so in the winter we rely on canned tomatoes. We love Muir Glen canned tomatoes. Try their fire roasted ones for some extra flavor.

8. Eggs
Eggs are incredibly healthy – especially if you buy free-range eggs. I use them to make egg salad for sandwiches or to have as a snack with crackers. I make hard-boiled eggs to add to salad or I’ll have them scrambled for a hearty breakfast with a sprouted grain English muffin.

9. Paul Newman’s Light Microwave Popcorn
I keep microwave popcorn around as a special treat to munch on while watching a movie. It makes it feel more like an “event.”

10. Baby Lettuce
Almost every week we buy a clamshell box of organic baby lettuce. It keeps well in the box and I find it’s good to have around when I don’t have the energy to cook a vegetable, or use to create a meal with tuna, hard-boiled eggs, beans, or leftover chicken.

Stevia, the "new" zero calorie sweetener

You may have heard about Stevia in the news lately. Or, perhaps you've seen TV ads for "Truvia," a product made from Stevia. Stevia is being described as the "new" zero calorie sweetener, but it's actually been around in health food stores for a long time.

It is exciting to see Stevia being used in mainstream products and being sold in mainstream grocery stores, because it is a much healthier option than sugar or artificial sweeteners such as Equal or Splenda.

Stevia is an herb and it is 100% natural. It has zero calories and does not affect blood sugar levels. It is 100x sweeter than sugar, so a little goes a long way. I haven't big a huge fan of the taste, as I found it to have an aftertaste similar to that of artificial sweeteners. I have found that clients who use artificial sweeteners transition very well to using Stevia.

Be on the lookout for Truvia in your grocery store.

How to add iron to babies' (or anyone's) diet

I recently learned that babies start to lose their iron stores after about 6 months of age. This is why baby rice cereal is usually fortified with iron. The problem with this is that the iron is not easily absorbed by babies bodies. Our bodies absorb nutrients much more effectively when they are consumed in their natural state.

Here are some foods rich in iron that are good for babies and adults:

• apples
• apricots
• asparagus
• bananas
• broccoli
• egg yolks
• leafy greens
• peas
• plums
• prunes
• whole grains
• yams

We're planning to introduce egg yolk to Sydney in the next couple of days. I feel good about this because of all the nutrients that are packed into the yolk, plus fat and protein which will hopefully fill her up (so she'll sleep better at night).

Recall of products containing peanut butter

Today the FDA announced a huge recall on products containing peanut butter, due to an outbreak of illnesses caused by Salmonella Typhimurium.

This recall affects more than jars of peanut butter.

What you should do:

• Check the FDA’s web site to determine which products have been recalled
  
• Dispose of products on the recall list ssafely manner and wash your hands if you come in contact with any of these products
  
• Better safe than sorry. If you're unsure whether a peanut-containing product is potentially contaminated, stop consuming it.
  
• If you think you may have become ill from eating peanut products, consult your health care providers.