soup

How To Use The Whole Thing

/ ktbuchs87

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We throw away a lot of stuff.  It’s such a simple thing, if we don’t want then just throw it in the garbage and it magically goes away.  Except that it’s really not magic at all.  That garbage has to go somewhere and the outlook isn’t so good.  I’m not here to lecture you on landfills and dumps and saving the environment, but I do think we can all do our part to help.  One of the larger components of our trash is food.  We throw away a ton of food and some of it is still edible.  No, this post isn’t about eating trash.  I just want to offer a few tips on how to use all of your food so that you get the most bang for your buck AND lower the amount of waste you throw away.

 

Make Stock

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This is a really easy way to use up leftover scraps of vegetables and bones.  Things like vegetables peels from carrots, potatoes, cabbage, or turnips can be turned into a homemade vegetable stock.  After you’re done prepping your vegetables for dinner or whatever meal you’re making, gather all the scraps.  Place all the scraps into a large stockpot, add in water, a little salt and pepper, and bring to a boil.  Once it’s boiling, simmer for at least an hour, longer for a stronger flavor.  Turn off the heat and let the stock cool.  Using a strainer, pour the stock over a container and strain out the vegetable pieces and voila, you have homemade stock.  You can also make your own chicken or meat stock using the leftover bones.  Follow the same process, just add in whatever bones you have on hand.  Make sure to strain well so there are no leftover bones in your stock.  Now you have your own healthy stock on hand whenever you need it!  You can also freeze your stock and make it in big batches.

Use Up Your Greens

Many vegetables come with leafy greens attached to them.  I like to think of this as a two for one deal because you can use the vegetables AND the greens.  Turnips, beets, and carrots have greens that can be used for salads or added to soups and stews.  You can also use them for juices and smoothies.  Or you can dry out the greens and use them as seasonings for any dish that you can think of.  Just make sure to wash your leafy greens really well to get rid of dirt or bugs that might be hiding.

Eat the Stalk

Most of us don’t think twice about throwing away the stalks of vegetables like broccoli or cauliflower, but those parts are edible too.  You can chop them up and eat them prepared the same way you use the flowered parts.  My favorite way is to eat them is to cut up the broccoli florets and stems, saute them with olive oil and season them with garlic, turmeric, pepper, and a little bit of my “Parmesan” topping.  You can also grate the stalks and use them as a salad topping or as a way to add extra vegetables to soups, stews, and sauces.

Keep the Pulp

If you like to make your own fruit and vegetable juices, you might be left with a bunch of pulp afterwards.  Don’t throw that pulp away!  You can use it to make crackers or add it into baked goods, such as bread or muffins, or add it into sauces.  The pulp from homemade juice contains a lot of the fiber and nutrients from the fruit or vegetable and is super good for you.  If you make your own nut milk, like almond milk, you can save the pulp from the nuts and use as nut meal in baked recipes.  Just make sure you dry it out well first before you bake with it.

Help Your Garden Grow

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Peels from fruits or vegetables that you don’t want to eat, like banana peels, orange peels, or potato peels, can be used as compost for your garden.  Rather than just throwing those peels away, put them to good use helping your own fruits and vegetables grow strong and delicious.

 

These are just a few easy ways that you can use to help lower the amount of food that you throw away each week.  It’s also a great way to stretch your dollar and get the most use out of your food.  So before you toss that piece of food away, see if there is another use you can get out of it!

 

How To Repurpose Leftovers

/ ktbuchs87

FoodStorage_tip

I am a big believer in leftovers.  I think that they play a big role in eating good, healthy meals all week long, as well as helping keep food costs down.  I only cook for two people, but I tend to cook like there are four of us and make extras to have for lunches throughout the week.  One thing that I have noticed though is that people tend to get bored of eating the same thing over and over again.  If you get bored with having the same food, you might be more likely to switch back to your unhealthy eating habits.  Because we don’t want that, I wanted to share just a few ways that you can repurpose your leftovers and make a whole different meal with just a few minor adjustments.

 

 

Meats 

This might be one of the easiest things to turn into a different meal.  Summer time is the perfect time to pull out the grill and BBQ some meat.  When you do this, make sure to throw a few extra pieces of whatever you’re making onto the grill.  Now you have some extra meat to turn into lunches or dinners for the week.

  • Shred chicken or pork and make a stir fry by adding it to some vegetables, brown rice, and soy sauce.
  • Slice up steak or chicken and add to a salad
  • Use fish to make some simple fish tacos.  Just add some salsa or corn, cilantro, and squeeze a little lime juice over everything
  • Make a chicken salad with shredded chicken, celery, avocado and mustard
  • Add any kind of meat to a frittata

Vegetables

If you do your meal prep over the weekend, make sure that you cook up some extra vegetables however you like.  Grill, roast, or saute them and you can use them for meals throughout the week.  Summer time also means the garden is full and your farmers market is in full swing, so you might be loaded up with extra vegetables.  Here are some ways you can repurpose your vegetables for leftovers.

  • Roasted root vegetables, like sweet potatoes or parsnips, can be added to salads or cooked grains for a simple lunch
  • Root vegetables are also really good pureed into soup or a sauce for pasta.  Add almond milk (or whatever milk you like) for an extra creamy texture
  • Grilled eggplant can be made into a simple baba ganush
  • Grilled zucchini or summer squash can be added to tomato sauce for extra texture and flavor
  • Cooked vegetables can be added to stir frys, soups, frittatas, or sandwiches
  • If you have an overabundance of cooked vegetables, you can also freeze them to be used later

 

Grains

Grains are a great thing to cook in big batches and then just add to meals throughout the week.

  • Grains make a really good bed for stir fry, vegetables with sauce, or cooked meat
  • Add your favorite grain to a leafy salad for a new variation
  • Leftover pasta?  Use it up by making cold pasta salad.  Toss your favorite pasta with some olive oil, seasonings, and vegetables like cherry tomatoes or avocados for a delicious summer meal
  • Try adding cooked grains to your lettuce wrap for extra texture and oomph

 

Fruit

Fruit is also pretty abundant this time of year and you can make it into a few different meals throughout the week.

  • Use leftover fruit salad as a cereal, granola, or yogurt topper for breakfast
  • Freeze leftover fruit and use in smoothies or added to water for extra flavor
  • Make a quick toast topping by mashing up leftover berries and adding a little honey/cinnamon
  • Turn frozen leftover fruit into sorbets by blending them in a high powered blender or food processor

 

There are a ton of ways that you can vary your leftovers so that you don’t eat the exact same meal every single day of the week.  With just a little bit of prep work, you can have the makings of a healthy and new meal each day.  Get creative and see what you can make out of the meals in your fridge!

How To Eat More Vegetables

/ ktbuchs87

Fruit-vegetables

I can bet that you have been told that you need to eat more vegetables.  It seems to be the first thing that comes out of peoples mouths when anything remotely close to eating healthier is mentioned.  Eat more fruits and vegetables!  In all honesty, it’s good advice even if it tends to be overstated.  The problem is that the advice stops there.  We’re told to eat more vegetables but not necessarily how to do it.  A lot of people have bad associations with vegetables.  Some were forced to eat them as kids or were served mushy tasteless dishes that made them believe all vegetables taste the same, gross.  Maybe you want to eat more vegetables but you have no clue how to go about doing that.  My post today is going to focus on simple ways  to incorporate more vegetables into your meals.  It doesn’t have to be complicated, tasteless, or boring and the more that you eat vegetables the more you will come to love them as much as I do!

Roast Them Up

This is my absolute favorite way to prepare vegetables.  It’s an amazing way to add great flavor to your vegetables and it works on virtually any vegetable.  I roast everything from sweet potatoes to zucchini, cabbage and beets.  If I can slice it up and add a little olive oil to it, I can roast it.  If you have a hard time enjoying the taste of vegetables, this cooking method is for you.  Simply preheat your oven to 400-425 and prepare a baking pan with a piece of parchment paper or a Silpat.  Then take your vegetable and cut it up into bite size chunks and place them in a large bowl.  Add a few tablespoons of oil (I alternate between olive oil and coconut oil) and whatever seasonings you like (try Italian blends, curry powder, garlic, cumin, smoked paprika, or even just salt and pepper) and mix everything together.  Arrange the vegetables in a single layer on the pan and roast for 20-45 minutes depending on the vegetable you are using.  I usually rotate the pan halfway through the cooking process.  Once you start to get a nice brown edge, your vegetables are done!  You can eat them as is, add to salads, or stir fry’s.  Roasted vegetables also keep really well in the fridge and make great leftovers.

Make Soup or Stew

Soup is another easy way to get in more vegetables as well as large quantities of vegetables.  You can add vegetables to any soup you’re making and bulk it up with extra nutrition and flavor.  You could puree a variety of root vegetables, like sweet potatoes or parsnips, and after you have roasted them, add either broth or water or even almond milk to make a creamy soup.  Or you could blend up a variety of vegetables from your garden like tomatoes, cucumbers, and zucchini and make a refreshing gazpacho on a hot summer day.

Sauces and Dips

This is another favorite way to add more vegetables to my meals.  Make sauces and dips out of them!  You can make a simple homemade salsa with tomatoes, onions, garlic, and cilantro.  Or maybe you’re a guacamole fan.  Try making your own homemade spaghetti sauce and besides the tomatoes, add in zucchini and carrots.  You can even make creamy sauces with cauliflower or try a vegetable based spread like baba ghanoush.  Kids especially like dipping things in sauces and this is a really good way to get a little extra nutrition into their meal without fighting over broccoli.

Drink Them

While I think that juicing is a great thing, I am also a big fan of eating my meals.  But I know that for some people juicing their vegetables is what works best for them due to time constraints or they really can’t handle the taste of eating vegetables.  If this sounds like you, try juicing your vegetables or adding them to smoothies.  Leafy greens are very easy to add into your drinks and as long as you add some fruits like apples or pears, you don’t have to feel like you’re drinking grass.  If you have a juicer, you can juice pretty much any vegetable quickly.  I like the combination of carrots, beets, spinach, apples, and a little bit of ginger, but get creative and see what flavors you like.  Remember though, if you can, it’s better to eat your vegetables so that you can get all the fiber and nutrients that fruit and vegetables have to offer.  Sometimes, just drinking juice can leave you feeling hungrier sooner than eating those same foods would have.

Salads

I know this one sounds obvious and is probable one of the least favorite ways for people to get their vegetables in but salads don’t have to be boring or taste yucky.  There are so many ways to spruce up a salad, like adding more vegetables, dried fruits, nuts or seeds, herbs, and topping it all with homemade dressing.  Salads are a great way to get in a TON of vegetables into one meal as well as a great way to use up all the odd leftovers you have in your fridge.  Start with a base of some type of leafy green (think outside the romaine and iceberg box and try kale, arugala, collard, watercress, or spinach), and add whatever you want.  Try leftover cooked chicken or fish, roasted sweet potatoes or cauliflower, raw almonds or pistachios, dried (and unsweetened) cranberries or goji berries, add pumpkin or sunflower seeds for a little extra crunch.  And the dressing options are endless and just as simple to make.  Give salads a chance and you might just fall in love with them.

Eating more vegetables shouldn’t make you want to run screaming to your nearest bakery and shove as many donuts as you can into your mouth.  Incorporating these healthy foods into your meals is simple and only takes a little bit of effort and creativity.  So now that you know what to do, go eat your vegetables!

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Avocado and Corn Gazpacho

/ ktbuchs87

I’m going to be honest with you, I haven’t been the biggest fan of gazpacho in the past.  The idea of cold soup isn’t super appealing to me but this gazpacho has made me rethink my tastes.  The avocado adds a really nice creaminess and this dish is super refreshing on a hot summer night.  If you don’t like gazpacho, try this one out before you swear them off forever.

 

Avocado and Corn Gazpacho

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  • 1 ripe avocado
  • 2 tbsp lemon juice
  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • 1/2 cup corn kernels (if using frozen let them thaw first)
  • 2 cups diced tomatoes
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1 bunch scallions chopped
  • 1 3/4 vegetable broth or water
  • 2/3 cup almond milk
  • salt and pepper

 

1.  Peel and mash avocado with the lime juice, set aside

2.  Saute the corn, garlic, and half the chopped scallions for about 5 minutes.  The corn should have a little bit of char on it.

3.  Place the corn saute, and avocado into a blender and blend until smooth.  Add in the broth or water and almond milk and blend together.  Top with rest of scallions and salsa if desired.

You can serve this at room temperature or let it chill in the fridge for a few hours before serving.  The gazpacho improves with time so the next day it will taste even better!  Just a word of warning though, this soup will only last about a week before the avocado starts to turn brown.  So eat it as fast as possible, which shouldn’t be a problem!

Slow Cooker Minestrone Soup

/ ktbuchs87

Another slow cooker recipe for you today! I have been on a soup kick lately, probably because of the colder weather.  I have been craving warm and hearty and delicious soup. Plus the house smells amazing all day as the soup simmers in the slow cooker!  Slow Cooker Minestrone Soup | Life Healthfully Lived Continue reading →