A week of holiday eating with family in town. Back to healthy eating this week, thank goodness!!
Keep in mind with my meal plan, that my husband and I eat salad for lunch about 3 days/week. We also don't count calories on salad dressing... we love the good stuff, and usually add dried cranberries, feta cheese and nuts as well.
Sunday: Spicy Greens and Red Lentil Soup and salad
This soup is delicious- give it a try! We also added cooked elbow pasta to the soup, to make a more hearty meal.
Ingredients:
1 tsp olive oil
1 cup dried, red lentils
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground cumin
6 cups vegetable stock
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 tsp dried chili flakes
1/8 tsp salt
1 medium carrot, diced
1 medium onion, diced
1 1/2 pounds spicy greens (I used a mix of arugula and spinach — if you can find some mustard greens, those would work great too)
1 tsp low-sodium soy sauce
1/2 cup dry white wine
1 medium tomato, diced
lemon wedges
Sort the lentils — there may be tiny little non-lentils or pebbles in with the bunch. Place in a bowl and add cool water, stir with your fingers and pour out the starchy water. Repeat a few times.
Add the onions and carrots to a large stock pot with the olive oil. Sauté until soft and slightly golden in color.
Meanwhile, place drained lentils in another pan (I know — two pans — sorry!) and stir over medium heat until they are fairly dry. Sprinkle the cinnamon and cumin on the lentils and continue to roast for about five minutes. The lentils and spices will smell really good!
Carefully add water, garlic, chili flakes and salt to the carrots & onions, then add the roasted lentils and spices. Bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce to medium-low and simmer for 20 minutes.
Wash greens and tear leaves into bite-sized pieces.
After the 20 minutes of simmering is up, stir in soy sauce, wine and tomato. Pile washed greens on top of soup and cover with a lid, cooking five more minutes. After cooking time stir wilted greens into soup and serve very hot with the lemon wedges.
Monday: Vegetable Stir Fry with Basmati rice or multi grain rice
Saute onion and garlic in 2 Tablespoons canola oil or sesame oil (or combination of the oils), first. Add other vegetables until cooked but still crisp. Last, add greens on top, and cover to wilt. Vegetable from this week's box incude, but not limited to:
Onion, Broccoli, Carrots, spinach leaves or other greens.
•1/2 cup of frozen edamame: peeled is easier
•Also add pinch of sea salt (optional)
Tuesday: Pasta with broccoli rape Boil brocccoli rape (cut into bitesize pieces prior to sauteing with olive oil and garlic. Put greens over pasta.
Wednesday: Grilled Asparagus and Salmon (Could also be baked/broiled)
Thursday: Leftover soup with salad
Friday: Pizza Night Homemade pizza with any leftover vegetables
