Liquid Salad

What the heck is a liquid salad? 

Some might prefer to call it a green smoothie.

Lately, my brother and baby sister have been all gung ho about juicing – and they are feeling healthier and losing weight.  But it can be a difficult lifestyle to maintain indefinitely.  My brother let me borrow his Vitamix and I did some experimenting with that (and then he took it back!)  Then, my mom hopped on the bandwagon and got a Nutribullet – and now the family is crazy about smoothies.  This weekend us gals went together to WalMart and my other sister and I both got Nutribullets.  Then, we all went to Whole Foods and loaded up on some good stuff to use in them.  Instead of lasagna, I think we’ll do smoothies for my birthday party in May…

On Easter when the family was together, I remembered that my mom hadn’t seen the movie Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead, so I brought it up on my Netflix and we all watched it together.  My niece thought juicing/green smoothies were gross but I told her ‘would you rather sit and eat that giant salad on the TV, or turn it into juice and drink it down?’ – and that made sense to her.  And it really does.  Not all of us stay awake at night dreaming of greens and veggies and how much we really really really love them. 

So there’s no law that says you have to drink the green smoothies 24/7 – some people do if they are desperate to kick off a weight loss or detox (like the guys in the movie).  So how about ONE A DAY?  Just one.  And you can choose which meal as well.  Baby steps – and you will see a difference!

My mom is 66 and she has her normal breakfast and then uses her Nutribullet to make a green smoothie for lunch each day.  And she can feel the difference already – and her doctor can see it.  And it shows on her scale too (and it hadn’t budged much for a while).  Can you sit down and think about doing a green smoothie once a day?  

I love breakfast, it’s my favorite meal of the day and I like a nice warm filling breakfast so I’ll go ahead and keep that one.  I had a green smoothie for dinner tonight.

You could blend up a smoothie and

• take it to work in a travel mug for later; or
• make extra, pour them into bags and freeze them for later use; or
• take the frozen smoothies to work and remember to defrost one each day for lunch;

It tastes better than it looks.  You use greens, some fruit and some boost along with some liquid and there you go.  And you can make the combinations yourself and use what you like best.  You can either blend it all up and drink it down or sit there with a plate of greens and fruit and take your sweet time chowing it all down.

Blender – You’re going to need something powerful enough to blend up the greens, chunks of apple, etc.  If you don’t have something you could use, check on Amazon to see what’s within your budget and has the power to handle the job.  Also, if your credit cards have ‘points’, use them on Amazon to purchase the blender or check the card’s points program to see if they have a blender you could get for free.  I’m using the Nutribullet right now and it’s easy to operate and clean and works great. 

Greens – start with spinach, it’s milder and blends up easily.  You can work your way up to kale and collard greens and such.  Or you can add some kale in with the spinach gradually.

Fruit – on P10 we not supposed to go overboard with the fruit so keep it to a single banana or around a cup of berries or about a dozen grapes.  If you wash, cut up the fruit and then freeze them in pieces you can get a colder creamier smoothie.   Bananas end up being kind of bland so you’ll want to use something with a kick to it once you start drinking more smoothies.  

Boost – now is the time to toss in some of those ‘superfoods’ we hear so much about.  I’m partial to chia gel.  You could also use goji berries, maca powder, raw almonds, cacao nibs, acai berries, etc.  More on those later.  I need to have some info for future posts!

Liquid – in the past I’ve been a big fan of almond milk and you could use that if you’d like.  Nothing wrong with trying some nice clean water or even some coconut water if you’d like to have that extra ‘oomph’.  I’m guessing about 1 1/2 to 2 cups of liquid, less for thicker, more for thinner – you choose.

Basic Beginner’s Smoothie

1 banana

2 cups spinach

1/4 cup chia gel

1 1/2 cups water

Combine until smooth and enjoy.

Makes one very large serving or two regular servings

Chicken Tandoori

Let's wrap up our week of Indian food with this easy version of tandoori.  In traditional tandoori, the meat is marinated in yogurt and carefully selected spices and baked in a special oven.  But really, how many of us have a tandoori oven?  Okay, I think at least one of my readers has one so I hope she won't roll her eyes at this delicious knockoff of an old WW recipe.  Plus, with only FIVE ingredients you can feel like you made a gourmet meal with hardly any effort.

I used Greek yogurt to give this dish more tang and I used regular curry but those of you who like it hotter should try Madras curry, which is made with more cayenne pepper.  Also, I should have taken my own advice and pounded the chicken flat before I cooked it, so don't be like me.

We enjoyed this dish with a side of Spring-Green Saag.

Print this recipe:  Chicken Tandoori

Chicken Tandoori
makes 4 servings

1 cup plain or greek yogurt

1 tablespoon curry powder

4 boneless skinless chicken breasts (pounded flat)

1 large onion, cut into wedges

juice of 1 lemon (about 3 tablespoons)


Mix the yogurt and curry in a container or large ziplock bag, add the chicken and coat well.  Marinate the chicken at least one hour but all day would be fine.  Remove the container from the fridge about 20 minutes before cooking to let the meat warm up.

Move the top oven rack to the second space from the top (about 5 inches from the broiler) and preheat the broiler to high heat.

Line a baking sheet with foil (you'll be glad later) and scrape the excess marinade from the chicken.  Broil the chicken for about 8 minutes (keep an eye on it).

Turn the chicken and add the onion wedges to the pan and return to broil for another 8 minutes.  Turn the onions if they start to burn. 

To serve, squeeze the lemon juice over the chicken and onions, transfer the chicken to a cutting board and slice, serve with the onions.

Spring Green Saag

Continuing on our 'Indian food' theme this week, one of my favorite veggies cooked Indian style is spinach.  If Popeye was my husband he would be thrilled at how much we have spinach at our house.  Bubba certainly doesn't mind but the Kid does....so pooey on her!

I borrowed this recipe from Chocolate Covered Katie.  She has a great blog with healthy dessert recipes and once in a while, a non-dessert recipe.  This side dish was quick and delicious and to be honest, I could have eaten the entire dish it all by myself and called it dinner.  I used Greek yogurt and it gave the dish a great tangy flavor.

I served this along with Chicken Tandoori (will post Friday), and although they have very similar ingredients, the dishes complemented each other rather than copied each other.

Print this recipe:  Spring-Green Saag

Spring-Green Saag

Spring-Green Saag

serves four as a side dish

1 package frozen spinach, thawed (10-12 oz.)

1 medium onion or 1/2 large onion, chopped

2 teaspoons curry powder

2 tablespoons minced garlic

1/2 teaspoon salt (or more if desired)

1/4 teaspoon dry ginger (or 1 teaspoon fresh)

1 teaspoon olive oil (or more if desired)

1/4 cup to 1/2 cup yogurt, depending on desired creaminess

Wring out the spinach in a (preferably green) dishcloth until dry.

Add onion and oil to a hot pan. Sauté 3 minutes, or until it begins to brown.

Stir in the garlic, curry, and ginger, and sauté for another minute. Then add the spinach, as well as 2 tablespoons water. Cook another minute, or until most of the water has absorbed.

Remove from heat and stir in yogurt, as well as 1/4 cup water (or non-dairy milk). You can also add a little coriander and turmeric, if desired, for more flavor.

Spring-Green Saag and Chicken Tandoori

Butter Chicken

P10 has created a monster - an Indian food monster...people at work and the waiters at Bollywood must think I'm a junkie for this stuff (they're right).  It's embarrassing when the waiter knows what you want before you even sit down.... oh yeah, but still can't do spicy... 

But, I have to realize that I can only go when I have some willpower in my pocket...because I can't resist the naan bread and will end up eating the whole thing - TAKEOUT is good for when you don't want to be tempted by other things.

This was really really really good.  And it was very creamy, rich and filling.  I served this by itself but I bet it would be great with Cauliflower Rice made with a touch of curry powder.

Please be careful going down the list of ingredients.  I accidentally put in too much garam masala (because I was going 1/2 tsp all the way down the line and oops...) and that seasoning is STRONG.   I even went to brag to my Indian co-worker about making this dish and she said 'dang we don't even use garam masala-it's too strong!'   So if you don't have any, don't feel like to you have to run out and buy some for this recipe.

TIP - tomato paste:  I hate opening a can and having so much leftover.  So, I measure it out in tablespoons and plop them on a paper plate (not touching) and put in the freezer, then when they're frozen, toss them together in a baggie and keep frozen until you need some.  No waste and tomato paste is so good in many dishes.

Butter Chicken

makes 4 servings

2 tbsp butter

1 onion, finely diced

3 cloves garlic, crushed

1/2 tsp chili powder (use less if you don't like it too hot)

1/2 tsp ground ginger

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp turmeric

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp garam masala

14 oz uncooked chicken, cut into cubes (2 large chicken breasts)

3 1/2 oz tomato paste

3/4 cup of cream

parsley, fresh or dried

Mix all of spices together, then the add spices to the chicken cubes, mix and set aside.  I did this all in a baggie and it was easy.

Melt the butter and fry the onion and garlic gently for 2 minutes. Add the spiced chicken and continue to fry gently for a further 5 minutes.

Add the tomato paste and cream and simmer gently for 5 minutes.

Sprinkle with parsley before serving to make it pretty.

Print the recipe:  Butter Chicken

Black Bean Soup

Let's end our week of warm veggie soups with this lovely easy recipe...

This warm thick hearty soup was just perfect on a cold day.  It was really easy to make and very filling and it makes a lot.  I loved coming in the door and having dinner all set to go!

It’s a crockpot recipe but I think you could just put this together and simmer on the back of the stove all day and still have a great meal. 

Black Bean Soup

makes several servings

3 cans black beans (undrained)

1 can diced tomatoes (undrained)

2 cups chicken or vegetable broth

16 oz frozen vegetables

1 cup salsa

1 teaspoon lime juice

garlic salt

toppings: sour cream/Greek yogurt, cheddar cheese, additional salsa

Empty the beans and tomatoes into the crockpot - do not rinse or drain the beans.

Mix in the vegetables and broth.

Cook on low for 8 hours or on high for 5 hours, the longer it cooks the better it tastes.

Before serving, use an immersion blender (or carefully pour small batches into blender) and puree until smooth.

Stir in salsa and lime juice.  Season to taste with garlic salt.

Serve hot with toppings of your choice.

Cream of Broccoli Soup

Let's continue warming ourselves up with lovely veggie soups this week.  Best of all, you can put the soup into a freezer bag, seal tightly and freeze for future use.  Just zap and sip!

Every single time I make Cream of Broccoli soup I look at it and say ‘I’m not gonna like this’ – but I always do!  I guess it’s not so purty as you’re making it but it turns out great.

So yes, you suppose correctly.  Pretty much any kind of vegetable can be made into soup, there is more or less a basic pattern to it but they all taste great.  And to make really great soup you do need some way to puree it; either with an immersion blender (also called a stick blender) or a regular blender, but the regular blender is more of a hassle.

For those of you who are a certain age group, you will be required to sing along with Dana Carvey - …choppin’ broccoleeeeeee…choppin’ broccoliiiiiii, -  during the cutting of the vegetables.

I also secretly chopped up some zucchini and threw it in with the onions because I needed to cook it soon and because the Kid doesn’t like it – what she doesn’t know won’t hurt her.  Since you’re going to puree it, you could sneak all kinds of stuff in there.

Cream of Broccoli Soup

serves 4-6

1 tbsp butter and 1 tbsp olive oil

1 onion, chopped

1 clove of garlic, chopped

16 oz broccoli florets, fresh (or frozen and thawed)

1/2 cup sharp cheddar cheese

4 cups chicken or veggie broth

1/2 cup milk or cream or half & half

2 tbsp sour cream

salt and pepper

In a large soup pot, melt butter and olive oil over medium-high heat.  Add onion and cook three minutes until soft, add the garlic.

While onions are cooking, roughly chop up the broccoli and throw into the pot, and sauté in the onions and butter for a few minutes.

Add the broth, cover and simmer.  For fresh broccoli, cook about 10-15 minutes and for thawed broccoli, cook about 3-5 minutes.

Stir in the milk, cheese and sour cream into the pot and puree until smooth.  If you like your soup a bit thicker, combine 2 tablespoons of water and 1 tablespoon of cornstarch in a separate dish and mix into the soup until thickened.

Season to taste with salt and pepper.  Serve with a little dollop of sour cream and a sprinkling of cheddar cheese if you’d like to appear all fancy and gourmet.

1/2 cup of soup = 1 vegetable serving and 1/4 fat serving, don't you think?

Print the recipe:  Cream of Broccoli Soup

Butternut Squash Soup

Is it just me or do you HATE eating salads when it's freezing outside?  Losing weight has made me cold all the time so this week, let's review some WARM COZY VEGGIE SOUPS....aaaaahhhhh that sounds so warm and filling....

This soup was so delicious that the three of us ended up eating it all in one sitting.

I have labeled this as 'easy' but the peeling and cutting up of the butternut squash was a pain.  If you are in a hurry you might want to buy it frozen, (as long as it doesn't have preservatives and stuff added to it) or find it already cut up in the produce section.

Next time I make it I might experiment with roasting it or putting it in the crockpot to soften it up.  Has anyone else tried that?

This soup would be great on all Stages of P10.

Simple Butternut Squash Soup

serves 4-6

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

2 tablespoons butter

1 onion, peeled and chopped

1 clove garlic, crushed

2 lbs butternut squash, peeled and diced

3 cups vegetable or chicken stock or broth

salt and freshly ground pepper

parsley for garnishing

Heat the oil and butter in a large saucepan and gently saute the onion and garlic for about 5 minutes.

Add the squash and stock and stir well, bring to a boil.  Lower the heat, cover and simmer for about 25 minutes or until the squash is soft.

Blend the soup with an immersion blender or carefully transfer to a blender and puree until smooth.   If soup is too thick, thin with more broth or add a splash of cream or milk.

Season to taste and serve hot.

We enjoyed this garnished with Parmesan cheese and toasted hulled sunflower seeds.

1/2 cup of soup = 1 veggie serving

Print this recipe:  Butternut Squash Soup