Perfect Vegetable Soup for any Diet!

As of Monday, my parents decided to get back on the diet train to slim down some. So since then they’ve been nixing carbohydrates, fats, and mostly every beverage out there. With their diet, they end up running out vegetables to enjoy for their meal this means I am keeping an open eye on other meals that will spice up their lives. I’ve found a lovely shepherd’s pie with cauliflower mash instead of potato mash with the normal ground beef as one interesting meal.

However for this evening’s meal I thought I’d try to keep a normal dish but keeping it super healthy to follow their diet.

I went for a vegetable soup with a tuna salad sandwich. Except without the bread, but with lettuce. Making it into a wrap.

That way mom got to have all her vegetables for her dinner AND her protein. So going into detail abuot their diet, for lunch and dinner they enjoy any veggies and a protein with whatever dressing for their veg.

Meal	Food	Beverage
Breakfast	2 eggs, 2 rashers bacon	1 cup grapefruit juice
Lunch	Any vegetable and protein	1 cup grapefruit juice
Dinner	Any vegetable and protein	1 cup grapefruit juice
Before bed	—	1 cup tomato juice OR low fat milk

If you do not want to have a cup of grapefruit juice, you can avoid it and have a half a grapefruit instead, though most people find it easier to pour juice out of a carton rather than halve a giant citrus fruit and cut out piece by piece. Also, when you are not drinking the above beverages you will be drinking water.

Anyway, I got the recipe from Cooking Classy, though as for the tuna wrap I didn’t follow a single recipe and just used my imagination and created! The direct link for the soup recipe can be found here.

Ingredients:

• 1 Tablespoon olive oil
• ½ cup (75g) yellow onion, chopped
• 3 cloves (25g) garlic, crushed and chopped
• ¾ bag (525g) mixed vegetables
• 1 can (475ml) diced tomatoes, in juices
• 1 ½ teaspoon dried parsley
• 1 ½ teaspoon dried thyme
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 3 cups (750ml) vegetable broth
• 1 bay leaf
• Chopped parsley as garnish

Instructions:

1. In a medium pot, heat olive oil on medium heat and sauté onion and garlic until fragrant.

2. Pour in vegetables and sauté until soft, then when ready pour in can of diced tomatoes and stir until it begins to simmer.

3. Mix in parsley and thyme as well as salt and pepper before pouring in vegetable broth. Place bay leaf in contents and bring to a boil. Allow to simmer for 20-30 minutes or until vegetables are soft.

4. Once ready, remove that single bay leaf and add any additional herbs to perfect the taste before you pour it into your bowl.

5. Garnish with chopped parsley and enjoy!

Now I didn’t really follow the recipe I linked above, but I did get the idea to make it a tomato based soup from it! Plus I didn’t want to overdo it on vegetables if I already had a bag of pre-packed vegetables!

Pre-Packed Soup Vegetables

The wraps were literally leaves of lettuce with a tablespoon of tuna salad in the piece of lettuce. I made it with only 1 tablespoon of mayonnaise making it as healthy as possible but still a source of protein for mom!

At any rate, this is a fabulous soup! Dad even had a small bowl-full before he went out for supper with his work colleagues! He thoroughly enjoyed it too.

If you are interested in slimming down and need a good meal for that diet, this may be perfect for you! Just follow the diet I’ve written out above and you’ll be losing kilos as quickly as a day into the diet! Though remember, men lose weight quicker than women. It sucks, but it is a fact.

Anyway, happy eating!

One-Meal Bowl with Quinoa, Cilantro, and Chicken

What is your favourite herb? And do you pronounce the H in the word herb or pronounce it as “erb”? I guess because I was raised by my Canadian mother and speaking her English I tend to pronounce the H in herb. But although I speak Canadian English, there are a lot of American things I tend to do in English. Like I spell color without the U yet I spell a lot of other things with an RE at the end. Or I add the U to certain words like “neighbourhood”.

Anyway, what was I asking? Oh yeah, what is your favourite herb?

Mine is definitely cilantro (or coriander). The fresh stuff. Yum yum yum. Though I can tell you that it is difficult to grow. I’ve failed in Holland and in South Africa. Have any of you successfully grown cilantro?

So cilantro did feature in this evenings meal.

I made a fantastic quinoa and chicken bowls. Bowls being a meal combined in a bowl.

I got the recipe from Eat. Drink. Love. – what a lovely name for a blog! The direct link for the recipe can be found here. I didn’t really make the bowl like the photos on Eat. Drink. Love., but it all tasted grand!

Ingredients:

• 2 large chicken breasts, halved lengthwise
• 2 Tablespoons lime juice
• 2 Tablespoons honey
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 1 cup (170g) quinoa
• 2 cups (470ml) chicken broth
• 1 ½ Tablespoons lime juice
• ¼ cup (15g) cilantro, chopped
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 1 can (425g) black beans
• ¼ cup (59ml) water
• 1 teaspoon cumin powder
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 ½ teaspoon cayenne powder
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ¾ cup (40g) cilantro, chopped
• ¾ cup (115g) green peas
• 1 large tomato, chopped

Instructions:

1. In a small bowl, combine lime juice, honey, garlic, and salt and pepper then add chicken breasts to honey lime mixture and allow to marinade for 30 minutes.

2. Meanwhile bring a pot of chicken broth to boil. Once boiling, add quinoa to bubbling chicken broth and cover pot. Remember to turn down heat to low to allow quinoa to simmer. Simmer for 20 minutes and do NOT remove lid until quinoa has fully absorbed broth. Then turn heat off.

3. Mix in ¼ cup of cilantro and 1 ½ tablespoons into the quinoa. Add salt and pepper to quinoa for additional flavour.

4. In a small frying pan on medium heat, add can of black beans WITH liquid. Mix in spices and mix well. Fill ¼ cup water to can of beans and then place in bean mixture. Turn heat down to low and allow black beans to simmer for 15 minutes.

5. Then take chicken breasts from marinade and place in a frying pan at medium heat and begin to fry. Watch out that honey from marinade can cause chicken to burn easily.

6. Once chicken is cooked set aside. Once cooled begin to shred chicken for bowls.

7. When everything is ready begin setting up your bowls. Fill bowls in following order:

   1. Quinoa
   2. Chopped tomato
   3. Green peas
   4. Chopped cilantro
   5. Black beans
   6. Shredded chicken

8. Serve immediately and enjoy!

Now you do not need to fill your bowls as I have, but my mom isn’t all too keen on black beans so I wanted to remove the bean flavour from mixing in with the quinoa for her. Just to ensure it isn’t all too black bean-y. And if you want you could also add some dairy to your dish (cheese or sour cream), but I kept it simple.

Quinoa, Tomato, and Green Peas

Although it was simple without cheese or sour cream it came out great! I have to say cilantro is definitely the key ingredient in this masterpiece. It just adds so much flavour to the meal!

God, I love cilantro!

Well this meal turned out fantastically. Mom and I even went for seconds after setting up a plate for our housekeeper for lunch tomorrow. It was wonderful! The beans made the dish more Mexican, but the honey and lime made think of a more Asian meal. Which I find weird, but whatever.

If you end up making this I hope you love it as much as we did!

Happy eating!

Simple Eating with a Toasted Tomato Sandwich

Do you ever have those extremely lazy days where you really don’t want to cook? I never have, not until today. I thought of making porridge like my mother does when she is alone and lazy, I also thought of just eating salad with my wonderful salad dressing, but instead of all of that I went for a toasted tomato sandwich!

I don’t know where this sandwich comes from originally, but I do know that only a few people have heard of it and eat it. Only one other person at the hotel in Canada ate it with me. That’s two out of nearly two hundred staff members.

Well in my family I am known for my expertise on making this sandwich. In 2011 the family and I went to Western Canada to visit family and friends (as we used to live in Alberta). We spent a couple of weeks at Grammy’s house in British Columbia and one afternoon mom raved about the fact that I am known for making these sandwiches. So we decided to make a whole bunch. Someone was at the toaster toasting the bread, someone was slicing the tomatoes, and someone was swiping mayonnaise on the toast until I made five of these sandwiches, as my dad dislikes tomatoes it was an experience for Grammy, Gramps, mom, my sister, and I.

Needless to say, everyone loved it.

So how does one make a toasted tomato sandwich? With love of course!

Actually, the steps are really easy.

Ingredients:

• 2 slices of bread (I prefer brown)
• ½ – 1 tomato, sliced (depends on how much tomato you like)
• 1 ½ Tablespoons Mayonnaise (depending on your preferences) 
• salt and pepper to taste 

Instructions:

1. Place both slices of bread into the toaster and allow to become brown.

2. Meanwhile as bread toasts, slice your tomato into thin slices (half a centimetre thick)

3. Once toaster handle lifts toast, remove from toaster and layer one half of the toast with mayonnaise. Lay slices of tomato evenly on mayo and coat with salt and pepper.

4. Smooth mayonnaise on the other piece of toast and cover the tomatoes. 

5. Press down and slice in half and enjoy!

As you can tell I like my pepper!

What about mayonnaise? What brand of mayo do you prefer?

Personally for me, I can’t have any other brand but Hellmann’s! Although the Netherlands is known for its mayonnaise, I can’t stand it. Not unless it is fritessaus for your french fries. Fritessaus (french fry sauce when translated) is a mayonnaise mixed with what I think is curry. Or relish. Whatever it is, it is amazing.

Here is a typical brand of Dutch mayonnaise. To me it has a very sweet taste which frankly should not be paired with things such as tomatoes… or even french fries. Calvé is the perfect brand for making salad dressings though.

Hellmann’s on the other hand is not sweet. I can’t even describe its taste, but it is good. Maybe it is all the chemicals? Are there chemicals? Probably! But it is oh so good!

When I finally finished my sandwich I had to have something else. As a dessert per sé and as an extra way to fill my belly and leave a great taste in my mouth.

I finished my dinner with these sliced mangoes. Delicious.

If you are thinking of making this sandwich, I truly hope you enjoy it as much as my family and I do!

Buen provecho!

Spelt Bread Sandwich

What’s a great lunch to have on the go? Certainly not what I had for lunch, that’s for sure. My lunch, although very delicious, is something you can’t quite bring to work unless you are good at eating neatly. I am not. Not unless a fork and knife are in my hands.

By the time I was done eating this, I was told I had avocado on my face. So yes, I am a very messy eater when it comes to such things.

Ingredients:

• 1 bun of any choice (I used a spelt bun)
• 2 slices of Avocado
• 3 slices of Tomato
• 4 slices of Cucumber
• 2 pinches alfalfa sprouts
• 1 Tablespoon hummus (I used another Tahini mix)

Directions:

1. Cut all vegetables into appropriate sizes and set aside

2. Cut bun of choice in half. (You can toast your bun if you wish)

3. Smear hummus on each side of your bun and layer your vegetables on top. (I allowed the alfalfa sprouts to stick to one half of the bun with the hummus)

4. Then enjoy!

Depending on the size of your bun, you can increase the amount of vegetables needed inside.

This has got to me one of the most delicious sandwiches I’ve made. Although I really like the weird Lebanese Tahini-like spread I used.

So… I am thinking of doing the vegan diet that had Beyoncé lose so much of her body mass. I of course won’t be losing all that weight as I am the most laziest of people ever. The only exercise I do is walking to places and inner and outer leg exercises while in bed. But I try to eat healthily. So removing all meat products from my diet may benefit me quite a lot.

The diet that I will think of following can be seen here. If you are also interested then please join me! I already eat very vegetarian, so whats a diet without animal products? Should be easy!

Anyway, if you make this sandwich I hope you enjoy it as I have!

Eet smakelijk!

Chickpea, Tomato, and Basil Salad

Chickpeas

How did the chickpea get its name? In Dutch they are called kikkererwten (direct translation: frog peas), which to me is even weirder than being called a chickpea.

I decided to look it up and unfortunately only found a true definition of it on yahoo answers and that answer was in fact linked to Wikipedia. Now I know Wikipedia is the one source you should never trust when looking up information but here is the bit I read about chickpeas:

The name “chickpea” traces back through the French chiche to Latin cicer (from which the Roman cognomen Cicero was taken). 

The Oxford English Dictionary lists a 1548 citation that reads, “Cicer may be named in English Cich, or ciche pease, after the Frenche tonge.” 

The dictionary cites “Chick-pea” in the mid-18th century; the original word in English was chich, found in print in English in 1388, and taken directly from French.

Now that we know where the name comes from I should tell you that I made a fabulous chickpea salad last night for dinner. My sister liked the idea of this salad, so I made this salad to go with chicken, asparagus, and endive which mom made. Even though it is obviously winter, this salad and honestly the entire meal would be an idea summer meal.

The recipe I followed can be found here.

Ingredients:

• 2 cans chickpeas, drained and rinsed
• 500g cherry tomatoes, halved
• 1 box fresh basil, chopped
• 6 cloves garlic, grated
• 2 Tablespoons red wine vinegar
• 2 Tablespoons rice vinegar
• 4 Tablespoons olive oil
• 1 teaspoon honey
• ½ teaspoon salt

Directions:

1. In a large bowl, add drained and rinsed chickpeas, halved cherry tomatoes, chopped basil, and grated garlic. Then add all liquid ingredients and salt.

2. Cover and refrigerate for 20 minutes to allow flavours to blend.

3. Uncover and enjoy!

Extremely easy and absolutely wonderful. In my opinion it tasted much like bruschetta while my mom thought it tasted like a caprese salad. At any rate we all enjoyed it immensely!

It is honestly these kinds of meals that make me wish I were in the Caribbean with my loves. The beautiful hot weather would go perfectly with this sort of meal, don’t you think? I know my vegetarian best friend would love this salad as would my carnivorous boyfriend who is on his way to Tobago.

If you make this salad, I am sure you will enjoy it just as we did!

Buon appetito!