When two sides make a meal: Green Teriyaki Chicken Salad and Roasted Broccoli/Honey Carrot Salad

Welcome/welcome back!

If you are a new visitor, I hope you enjoy my blog and my food! If you are a returning visitor, I hope you continue to enjoy my blog and my food! It is with your support that I am spurred to continue cooking...so thank you :)

When you hear "salad", most people think of a less-filling, low calorie substitute for a real meal. These salads definitely break that mold, and taste phenomenal together!

The Recipe: Roasted Broccoli and Honey Carrot Salad

• 1 cup broccoli
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• Salt
• Pepper
• 1 tbsp honey
• 1/2 tsp brown sugar
• 1 cup frozen baby carrots

The Process:

• Set the oven to broil on High
• Put the broccoli in a small, oven-safe pan
• Drizzle 1 tbsp olive oil on the broccoli
• Sprinkle Salt and Pepper onto the broccoli
• Using a spatula, mix the broccoli so that all pieces become coated in a light layer of the oil/salt/pepper mixture
• Broil for about 8 minutes, or until broccoli tips brown (depends on your oven)
• Put the carrots in a small, oven-safe pan
• Drizzle 1 tbsp olive oil on the carrots
• Sprinkle Salt and Pepper onto the carrots
• Using a spatula, mix the carrots so that all pieces become coated in a light layer of the oil/salt/pepper mixture
• Broil for about 4 minutes
• Remove the carrots from the oven
• Drizzle honey and sprinkle brown sugar on the carrots
• Mix the carrots into the honey and brown sugar
• Broil for another few minutes, or until carrots develop a small skin
• Mix the finished carrots and broccoli

The Calories:

Broccoli: 30 calories
Carrots: 60 calories
Olive Oil: 120 calories (technically 240, although much of the oil ends up still on the pan after cooking, so not consumed)
Honey: 64 calories
Brown Sugar: 6 calories
_______________________
TOTAL: 280 calories

Not bad! This salad alone is very filling and again, the oil content is still probably less than 120 calories after cooking.

What went right:
          Everything :) The carrots especially taste like candy. So delicious!

What went wrong:
         Nothing. I've done roasted vegetables many times, so I didn't expect any problems.

What would I do next time:
         I might try an olive oil substitute that contains less calories, but I don't really see that as a need. When you're having veggies for dinner, guilt is not on the menu.

Would I make this in college:
         Absolutely! I make this quite frequently, and am glad to have found a new partner salad to go with it.


The Recipe: Green Teriyaki Chicken Salad

• 2 cups chopped Romaine Lettuce
• 1/2 cup halved Cucumber slices
• 1/2 cup shredded Chicken breast (leftovers)
• 1 tbsp Teriyaki sauce
• 10 whole, dry Cashews

The Process:

• Preheat oven to 375
• Put your shredded chicken in a small, oven-safe pan
• Drizzle with teriyaki sauce and mix until all chicken is as saturated as possible
• Bake at 375 for about 5 minutes to heat the chicken and allow sauce to sink in
• If your lettuce comes from a bag, you will not need to chop it. If you buy whole heads of lettuce: Wash the leaves. Rip off about 4, depending on the size of the leaves. stack them on top of one another and compress the pile so that you can chop them all the way down the stem. The "leafier" part should be chopped larger than the part with more stem. Put these at the base of salad platter.
• Lay your cucumber slices around the edges of the lettuce. 
• Spread shredded chicken in the center of the cucumber ring. 
• Chop your cashews. 
• Bake at 375 for about 2 minutes. 
• Sprinkle across the entire salad. 

The Calories:

Lettuce: 12 calories

Cucumber: 8 calories

Chicken: 116 calories

Sauce: 15 calories

Cashews: 50 calories

_______________________________

TOTAL: 196 calories

Pretty awesome for a salad :) If you must add dressing, be wary of what you add...not only could you screw up the teriyaki flavor, but you also run a risk of nearly doubling your calorie and fat content! 

What went right: 

         Everything. I love this salad. I'm very glad I decided to roast the cashews and use teriyaki. They definitely make fridge dump salad taste like so much more. 

What went wrong:

         Nothing. 

What I would do next time: 

         If we had multiple types of greens such as kale or spinach I would add those too. 

Will I do this in college?:

         Yeah this is definitely the kind of leftovers dish I can see making in college :) It was fast, easy, healthy, and definitely delicious. 

Overall, these two dishes make an attractive, addictive, less calorie, more filling pair!

Lean Salad Sandwich

 Hey food fans!

This is somewhat of a late night leftover sandwich, as we had chicken a few nights prior, only a few slices of ham left, and part of a loaf of french bread. Simple, no cooking needed, and delicious :)

The Recipe: Lean Salad Sandwich

• 2 oz low sodium Ham
• 1/4 grilled chicken breast
• 3 slices of tomato
• 5 slices of cucumber
• 4 leaves of Romaine lettuce, chopped
• 6 inches of french bread

The Process:

• Slice your french bread in half
• Lay down the ham across both sides
• Slice the chicken and lay it across one side
• Lay cucumber across the non-chicken side
• Slice the tomato and lay it across the chicken side
• Wash and chop the lettuce and toss it on the cucumber side
• Close your sandwich, and enjoy!

The Calories:

French Bread: 200 calories

Ham: 60 calories

Chicken: 100 calories

Tomato: 11 calories

Cucumber: 6 calories

Lettuce: 8 calories

________________________

TOTAL: 385 calories

That's awesome for a very filling sandwich, with rich bread and fresh, all natural ingredients. This recipe works well because it has a strong balance of crunch, meat, vegetable, juicy, and dry ingredients. It is most notably healthy because it does not have mayo, mustard, dressing, or any other kind of high-sodium, low nutrient value condiments. It is these additions and other chemical additives that make what could be a healthy sandwich into a problem. 

What went right:

          Everything...it's kinda hard to screw up...

What went wrong: 

          Nothing :)

What would I do next time: 

          To make this more salad-like, I might try hollowing out the bread; making croutons from the insides; loading it with lettuce first and then chopped tomato, cucumber, and chicken; using ham cubes or bacon pieces; and finally adding the croutons on "top", closing the sandwich, and eating it that way. It would become somewhat of an inverted sandwich, with all the meat at the center, surrounded by lettuce. This might also make the sandwich easier to close and eat. 

Will I do this in college:

        I think a late night leftover sandwich sounds like a very collegiate thing to do, don't you agree?

You may be asking,  'Who really needs a recipe to make a sandwich?' I don't, necessarily, when I'm tired and have nothing else that needs my immediate attention. But in college, at 2am, when I have papers to write and about zero brain cells left to focus on what I want to eat? I'd rather be able to scroll through my blog, see a nice and easy healthy sandwich, and make that than turn to whatever other snacking I can get my hands on in the same amount of time. 

Deceptively Healthy Dessert: Banana Oatmeal Cookies

Hello health food fan!

My house is pretty empty as of late. We really only have some remnants of old meals, bread, cereal, drinks; nothing really that would be enough to make a dish. Or so I thought! I came across a recipe for cookies that included only bananas and dry oats, which were coincidentally two of the few edible products in the kitchen.

The  Recipe:  Banana Oatmeal Cookies

• 2 large old bananas 
• 1 cup dry oats
• 1 tbsp Wheat Germ (personal health addition)
• Preferred toppings/mix-ins (I tested toppings of chocolate chips, coconut,  almond slices, and honey)

The Process:

• Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees
• Mash the bananas into a medium sized bowl 
• Mix in the oats and wheat germ using a spoon
• Mix in any other desired mix-ins (I didn't mix in anything this time, but I got some ideas for next time!)
• Use a spoon to make small cookies on a pan, spaced out enough to be separate, but they don't expand, so no worries on that one. (They could be made in a muffin tin, or as larger cookies as well. My batter made 20, 1.5-2 inch diameter cookies.)
• Apply toppings as desired 
• Bake for 15 minutes

The Calories: 

The two bananas were each about 105 calories, so 210 total. 1 cup of oats is 150 calories. 1 tbsp of wheat germ is 25 calories. The base mixture has a total of 385 calories. Divided by 20, that makes each cookie about 19 calories. The amount of each topping I added was trivial enough to not matter, such as a single chocolate chip, or a drop of honey. 

What went right: 

              The cookies are really good, and very healthy. I can see this batter being a very useful base for even a type of cake, or muffins! My family enjoys them very much; even my brother ate two. Within minutes, they were all gone. The coconut and the chocolate chip went over best. From start to finish, the whole process took about 30 minutes. Well worth it! 

What went wrong: 

               The honey isn't the most fulfilling topping. It tastes good, but only in the one small spot. Oh well! Other than that, the cookies are way too addicting!!

What I would try next time:

                This base batter comes with a world of possibilities! I would like to do it with fruit, peanut butter, pecans mixed in, mini chocolate chips mixed in, cocoa powder mixed in, toasted coconut mixed in, granola mixed in, butterscotch chips, or even pretzel pieces. I might also try a variety of extracts. Other than toppings, I might try baking the cookies in muffin sleeves for slightly less time, or making larger cookies. I might even use it as a pie crust, or bake a thinly spread pan into chips. Another possibility would be to freeze it in small truffles, and dip it in chocolate, butterscotch, or anything really that would harden around the batter. 

Would I do this in college?: 

               100% Yes. The batter is super easy, very healthy, and has a high potential for variety. I think it would freeze and keep well, so I could make a large batch, and only bake as needed. It also tastes amazing. This is being added to the top of my no-guilt snack list! 

Overall, the recipe was a HUGE success! I'm making another batch after dinner tonight.

 

Easy Vegetable Medley

Happy Tuesday!

While I've been cooking almost daily for a while, I don't really count things like canned soup or ham and salami sandwiches, although I will for sure be making things of this nature in college. I'm now on vacation, which generally means a lot of eating out at whatever restaurant we can find...night one included +Applebees, which I was happy to discover now has a grilled chicken with mushrooms and mixed vegetables!

Last night, while shopping for food with my dad, I decided I wanted a veggie medley that I could make in about as much time as the pasta I was making for my brother. Rather than buying a head of cauliflower, a head of broccoli, raw carrots, and raw green beans and sweet peas, my dad suggested that I choose from the massive mixes of frozen vegetables that were already cut, steamed, and ready to roast. This sounded very college-practical, so I decided it was worth doing.

The Recipe: Easy Vegetable Medley

• One package of frozen cauliflower, broccoli, and carrot chunk medley
• 1/2 package of frozen green beans, yellow green beans, sweet peas, and baby carrot medley
• 1/3 package of frozen green peas
• About three teaspoons of extra virgin olive oil
• Salt
• Pepper

The Process: 

• Break apart frozen ingredients while they're in the bag and allow them to sit and thaw briefly
• Set the broiler on your oven to high
• Put the grate on a high shelf, depending on the depth of your pan, so the vegetables can be close to the flame
• Pour your ingredients into a bowl and mix 
• Pour the mix into a baking pan
• Drizzle olive oil over the vegetables in the baking pan
• Sprinkle salt and pepper to taste over the vegetables in the baking pan
• Use a spatula to mix the vegetables  around so they all become coated in the oil-salt-pepper mix
• Put the pan in the oven for 10-15 minutes, watching closely because all ovens differ 
• They are done when the broccoli and green beans develop brown edges, and the carrots appear to have a skin 
• Take out the vegetables and enjoy!

The Calories: 

The mix made about 4 cups of vegetables, which is 473 calories! I was full after about 2.5 cups. Health gets a score of 10/10. 

What went right:  

               The vegetables came out wonderfully. They are simple and filling with high fiber; very nutritious. 

What went wrong: 

               Nothing really...this is a relatively fool-proof method of making vegetables. I might leave them in for another minute or so to make them softer, but that is the difference between using freshly steamed and frozen vegetables I suppose. 

What I would try next time: 

               Other than cooking a little bit longer, I would like to try adding some teriyaki sauce or maybe some sesame seeds for a totally different taste. I would also like to try a honey glaze, or adding garlic or onion to the mix. 

Would I do this in college: 

               Oh yes. I will be doing this many, many times in college! I love the not having to steam or deal with whole heads of cauliflower and broccoli. 

Overall a very successful dinner!!