Super Quick Eggplant Curry

Budget Tip
Raid other people's gardens!   Eggplant is HUGE right now and they are bound to have leftovers.  Otherwise, pick some up at the farmer's market.

Suggested Ingredients
Eggplant - however much you want - I used 3 medium
Mushrooms - about half of a package (or whatever you have laying around) sliced
Tiny bit of sesame or olive oil
curry powder (I like my own homemade version)
cayanne
garlic-based seasoning

Cooking Instructions
Cut the eggplant longways in half
Cube the halfs into bitesize pieces
Toss mushrooms, eggplant and seasoning with the oil in a microwavable bowl with a cover.  You can use a saran wrap with a small vent, but really a cover works best.
Put in microwave for 6-8 minutes depending on your microwave.  Be sure to stir half way through.

This dish is all about the seasoning of the eggplant.  If it's not enough adjust it for next time!  You can serve it over a noodle or rice, but for me, I just ate it straight up.

Calories: 160 (with 120 of that from the sesame oil if you use a full tablespoon)
Fat: Depends on how much oil you use: 1TBSP = 14, but you could get away with way less
Protein: 3 grams
Carbs: 10 - these are all from the eggplant

Strawberry & Blueberry Smoothie

Budget Tip

Skip the fancy coffee flavoring syrup and go for plain vanilla or some other low-calorie sweetner.    Catch the fruit when it's onsale and then stock up!  This smoothie is just as good with frozen strawberries and blueberries.  Use whatever fruit you have on-hand. 

Suggested Ingredients

1/2 cup non-fat greek yogurt
1/2 cup fat free milk
4-5 oz strawberries
2 oz blueberries
a dash of sweetner or no-sugar coffee flavoring
2 Tbsp Flax (optional)
some ice

Suggested Cooking Method

Throw it in a blender, poor it in a tall glass with a straw and enjoy!

Nutritional Information

"Christmas" Quinoa

Ok, so this isn't really only for Christmas, but I've been told it's reminiscent of Christmas flavors, and I guess it is.

Budget Tip
Quinoa (said Keen-wah) can be found in the bulk section of natural food stores or buy online.  It's usually around $4.00/lb but, if you have a Costco near you, you can get it for $2.00/lb: http://gluten-free-blog.blogspot.com/2009/08/quinoa-bargain-at-costco-gluten-free.html And, let me tell you, one cup of this stuff will last you a full week!

Suggested Ingredients

1/3 cup slivered or sliced almonds

1/3 cup craisens - or slice up an apple and throw it in there if you find craisens are too expensive or sweet

1 cup Quinoa

1 1/4 cup water

1/4 cup Orange Juice

1 cinnamon stick

Cooking Method

Toast the almonds in a sauce pan.  When you start to smell the toasty nutty smell, add in the Quinoa and toast that as well until a good bit of it is light brown.  Add in the rest of the ingredients and bring to a boil.  Turn down to a low temperature, cover and let cook for about 20 minutes.  Take off the heat and let sit for 5 minutes, then fluff with fork.  Done!

I served this as a side dish with a Caribbean Jerk Talapia fillet, however I bet it would be good with turkey breast too.  Then, I ate it as lunch that week..I still have some left!  A little goes a loooong way :)

Cajun Shrimp & Pasta

 

Budget Tip

All in all, this is a pretty inexpensive recipe.  Feel free to switch it up with whatever is on sale for filler.  I chose portabello mushrooms because they looked awesome and were on sale.  The original recipe called for 2 cups of heavy cream, which I substituted with light milk and fat free cream cheese.  It also called for scallops, which I used mushrooms instead.  I forgot to get fresh parsley so I just used a bit of dried, but originally it asked for 1 cup of fresh parsley. 

Ingredients

Angel Hair Pasta
1 small tub of fat free cream cheese
2 cups lowfat milk
2 large portabello mushroom caps (or about 4-6 oz pkg)
white parts of a scallions bunch
1/2 lb of peeled, deveined shrimp
some fresh chopped basil
some fresh thyme
dried parsley to taste
1 1/2 tsp crushed red pepper
1 tsp ground white pepper
1/2 cup grated Parmesean cheese
1/2 cup of some other chesse like Swiss, or an italian mixture

Cooking Suggestion

Cook the pasta to al dente while you are cooking the rest of the dish.

Combine the milk and cream cheese in a large cast iron skillet (or whatever you have with surface area).  Cook on medium heat to keep it from burning until it's just boiling, stiring pretty much constantly.  You want to make sure that the cream cheese has been worked into the milk without any left over blobs. 

Turn down the heat to a simmer and add in herbs and spices.  Meanwhile, in a seperate smaller pan saute the mushrooms and onions in a bit of olive oil until they are just a bit soft - mostly you don't want them to be raw any longer.  While your mushrooms and onions are cooking, go ahead and add your cheeses to the sauce and stir them until they are completely melted.  If you use a type of mozzerella, but be sure to cook it for a bit because it'll tend to be stringy.  I think it makes the dish more fun anyway.  The way to know when it's done is when you can't feel the parmesean in the sauce any longer - taste it and you'll know what I mean.

Ok, now that the cheese is cooked, go ahead and add the mushrooms and onions.  Stir it around a bit and then at the end, add the shrimp.  Since these don't need to cook very long, just stir them around so that they are completely covered by the sauce.  Cook a couple of minutes and just check to make sure they aren't translucent any longer.  For this I cooked the sauce for a couple of minutes and then turned off the burner and let them sit for another couple of minutes while I poured up a glass of white wine and set the table.

Serve over angel hair pasta.  If you aren't a fan of the carbs pasta can pack, searve it over asparagus or some other type of veggie.

Some notes here..the sauce is pretty dang spicy, so if you aren't a fan of the spice, tone down the red pepper flakes and white pepper.  Other than that, this was a REAL hit. 

Asian Miracle Soup

Ok, so I got the original recipe from All Recipes, but what ended up happening is me just using the base of the soup to get the flavor right and pretty much changing everything else.

Budget Tip

Leave out the shrimp and add more veggies.  Use olive oil instead of sesame oil.  Use frozen BOGO veggies and add them at the end before the shrimp and spinach.  This makes ALOT, so you can make it ahead of time, freeze half and use the rest for lunches through the week.

Suggested Ingredients

1 tsp sesame oil
64fl oz of chicken stock
1/4 cup of fresh minced ginger (honestly, I think it's too much because I'm not over-the-top for ginger, so be sure to adjust to your ginger likeness)
1/4 cup of fresh minced garlic
couple of stalks of celery
a couple of baby videlia onions
(if you don't have these, use regular sweet onion or scallions)









1 bokchoy, stems and leaves, chopped
1 pkg of your favorite fresh mushrooms (I used a variety pack of gourmet ones)
1 can of bamboo shoots
1/2 cup of soy sauce (Ok, I like to control my salt, so I only did 1/4)
1/4 rice wine vinegar
1/2 cup of cornstarch
1lb of uncooked shrimp
1/4 cup of fresh cilantro
a bag of baby spinach
1 or more tsp of crushed red pepper

Cooking Instructions

Heat up a large pasta or soup pot with the oil.  Saute celery and onion for a few minutes until they start to get just a bit soft.  Add ginger and garlic and let cook for another 3 minutes or so. 

Stir one cup of your chicken stock with the cornstarch until well blended.  Pour in the cornstarch mixture, and the rest of the stock into the pot - stir it good to blend up all of the cornstarch.  Add mushrooms, bamboo, soy and crushed red pepper to the pot.  Bring to a boil and then let simmer 20 or 30 minutes to meld the flavors.

When you are ready for serving, add in the cilantro and spinach.  Once it's mixed in go ahead and plop in the shrimp.  Turn off the pot immediately.  The soup is hot enough to cook the shrimp, I promise!

Serve this hot with some Srirasha chili sauce.  It's AWESOME!

Low Carb Minestrone Soup

Budget Tip

If you purchase Qunioa in bulk at Costco, you can get it for about 10 bucks and I swear it'll last you at least a year!  Even if you can't get it in bulk for a cheaper price, Quinoa bulks up alot when you cook it so one cup uncooked will easily last you a week if not more.

Suggested Ingredients

1 stalk celery (sliced)
1 good size zucchini (sliced)
1 carrot or slice up some baby carrots, which I generally have around for snacking anyway
1 15oz can no-salt added cannelloni beans (white beans)
1 14oz can no-salt added crushed tomatoes
2 14oz cans no-salt added diced tomatoes
1 large onion
4 minced cloves of fresh garlic
4 cups of lower sodium chicken stock (or make your own - see recipe on my blog!)
Herbs: oregano, parsley, thyme (really anything in the Italian herb family that you like), salt and pepper to taste
1/2 cup quinoa

Suggested Cooking Method

Saute celery and onion in a bit of olive oil in a good size soup pot until the onion is soft.  Add garlic and saute a bit more.  Rinse and drain the beans.  Add everything else except quinoa and let it cook for about 20 minutes or until the beans are almost as soft as you like them.  This will cook for another 20 minutes, so keep that in mind.  Season it to taste.  Since we used alot of no-salt added, you will probably want to salt it some.  The reason I generally get no salt added is so that I can control how much salt goes into my food - otherwise I end up with it being too salty and yucky after a few days.  Add quinoa and let it cook for another 20 minutes or until you see the little white quinoa spirals pop out.  Depending on consistency you might want to add some more liquid.

So, I actually doubled this recipe and it made a boat-load.  I filled a gallon ziplock bag with it and put it in the freezer and STILL had enough to give 4 cups away plus had enough for myself for 4 days of lunch and 3 dinners.  I probably had about a cup and a half every time.  It's very filling!  If you want vegetarian soup, just substitute vegetable stock for the chicken stock.  YUM.

Personally, I'm thinking of adding miniature turkey meatballs to it next time.