ESCAPE FROM TUNA SALAD

Poached Chicken Pesto Salad

I made this for lunch at work this week. It was pretty great. For the recipe below I’ve stayed true to the quantities in the original recipe from Taste For Adventure, but when I made it I almost halved the oil in the pesto, and have added in a big squeeze of fresh lemon juice when I’m making the salad to compensate for it being a bit dry with less oil. I add in more salad ingredients, too.

Ingredients

• 600g chicken breast
• 6 cups baby spinach, divided
• 1/4 cup sliced almonds
• 1/4 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 2 ribs celery, chopped
• 1 can cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
• 1/2 cup cherry tomatoes, sliced in half
• 2 pinches coarse salt and freshly ground pepper

Method

1. Bring a pot of salted water to a boil. Add the chicken and boil until cooked all the way through. Transfer to a plate and let cool. Once cooled, shred with your a fork.
2. In the meantime, place 2 cups spinach in a food processor. Add the almonds, cheese, garlic, salt and pepper. Pulse a few times. With the motor running, add the oil in a thin stream.
3. Toss pesto with shredded chicken. Add the celery, beans and tomatoes. Give another toss.
4. Serve chicken pesto mixture over the remaining 4 cups of spinach, equally divided onto 4 plates.

Super Lean Turkey and Brown Rice Meatballs with Tomato Sauce

Alright, I will be the first to admit that these don’t look too sexy, but OMG THEY ARE AMAZING. I usually eat clean, so I munch through a lot of salad and really light food - it’s tremendously satisfying to dig into something that’s clean and lean, but also has that warm heart song of Italian food. 

The meatball recipe comes unedited from iFOODreal (worth a visit!), and my boyfriend made me the tomato sauce. I have done my best to transcribe it as he tells it, I get the distinct feeling that it’s not too precious and you can tweak it as suits you best.

Meatballs

Ingredients (makes 10)

• 500g extra lean ground turkey
• 1/2 cup brown long grain rice, uncooked
• 1 egg
• 1 medium onion, finely chopped
• 1.5 cups low salt chicken stock
• salt and pepper to taste

Method

1. Wash rice really well under cold water
2. FInely chop your onion, or run it through a food processor if you have one handy
3. Add all ingredients except the stock to a bowl and mix. Form 10 meatballs Pour your chicken stock into a crock pot, lay the meatballs in the stock
4. Cover and cook on low for about 3 hours

Tomato Sauce

Ingredients

• 5 x very ripe tomatoes
• 1 x carrot
• 1 x brown onion
• 2 cloves garlic
• Chili flakes to taste
• Generous handful of basil
• Olive oil
• Red or white wine (your choice!)

Method

1. Finely chop your carrot, onion and garlic
2. Chop your tomatoes into eights, season with salt and pepper
3. Pop your carrot, onion, garlic and chili in a saucepan at a medium-high heat, with a splash of olive oil. Cook until these ingredients have softened
4. Add a big splash of wine and about 1/3 of your basil, stir through, then add your tomatoes
5. Put a lid on your saucepan, turn the heat down to low, and simmer for about an hour, until everything is very squishy
6. Take it off the heat, let it cool down, then wazz it in a blender until it’s as smooth as you like it
7. Stir through the rest of your basil

Cous Cous Alla Panzanella

Lately I’ve been really bored with everything I can cook, so spent much of my weekend (spent sick at home on the couch) doing some food research. Here’s the first of my new summer recipes.

It’s lifted with few changes from Nooschi (have only amended quantities a bit), and to make it a complete dinner I added some poached shredded chicken - about 150g per serve. I reckon some toasted almonds would be really great in it too, for a spot of extra crunch, with bonus protein.

It’s cool that the cous cous is just cooked at room temp in the vege juice, nice and low fuss. It all came together really easily, and was a great light summer meal. 

Ingredients (serves four)

• 1 cup cous cous
• 1.5 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 1/2 red onion, chopped
• 1/2 red pepper, chopped
• 1 yellow or orange pepper, chopped
• 10 grape tomatoes, halved
• 1 (400ml) can chopped tomatoes with juices
• juice of one lemon
• 40g basil leaves, torn
• salt and pepper to season

Method

1. Place olive oil, 1/2 tsp salt, and canned tomatoes in a large mixing bowl. Add cous cous and mix thoroughly.
2. Add red onions, peppers, and grape tomatoes to the bowl. Mix well.
3. Add in lemon juice, and torn basil leaves. Mix well. Add pepper to taste (and more salt if needed).
4. You can serve immediately or wait a few hours for the flavours to intermingle.

Pear and Walnut Plus

I’ve been thinking about a really healthy take on a pear/walnut/rocket/cheese salad for a while, and last week I took the basics as above, and improvised a bit. The result was surprisingly excellent. Lots of different colours and textures.

 I haven’t specified quantities below, I just made a serving for one a few days in a row. Adjust the quantities to reflect your tastes/the contents of your fridge.

Ingredients

• Rocket (or arugula, if you are in the Americas)
• Beurre bosc pear (or whatever you can get ripe)
• Red capsicum
• Red radish
• Avocado
• Walnuts
• Grilled chicken breast
• Seeded mustard vinegarette, or whatever dressing you’re feeling

Method

• Slice, combine and serve. Boom!

Chickpea Wrap with Basil Yoghurt

Hi internets. Sorry I have been so slack with new recipes lately! This guy comes almost unedited from Whole Living Daily, just simplified a bit for a work lunch, and it’s made such a brilliant fresh lunch this week. I give it about eighty thumbs up.

In the ingredients below, I’ve gone along with the quantities originally specified - but you know - it’s a wrap - you don’t need to be a slave to a recipe here. Use more or less where you feel it needs it.

Ingredients (makes 4)

Wrap

• 1 ½ cups cooked chickpeas
• 1 large raw beet, grated
• 1 apple, sliced
• A few handfuls of baby spinach
• 4 whole grain wraps (I use Wattle Valley wheat and rye wraps, they’re AWESOME)

• 1 ½ cups natural yoghurt (I use Barambah Organics Low Fat Natural Yoghurt, it’s brilliant)
• juice of ½ lemon
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 4 Tbsp. chopped basil leaves (or mint, or tarragon. Whatever you have fresh on hand will do the job)

Method

1. Make your yoghurt by adding all of the ingredients together and shaking in a lidded container. You can store it this way for up to a week.
2. Lay down your wrap. Layer on baby spinach, chickpeas, grated beetroot, then apples. Top with a big dollop of your yoghurt sauce. Roll her up!

Chicken and Barley Soup

This recipe comes (almost) unedited from Elizabeth at Guilty Kitchen.

This soup is incredible. INCREDIBLE. I know it’s ugly, but take a leap of faith with me. It has nothing naughty in it at all, and it tastes like a huge warm hug. I like it so much, I’m eating it every day this week for my lunch at work. My #boyfriend loves it too, which is always a strong recommendation for healthy foods not tasting tooooo healthy.

Ingredients

• 8 boneless chicken thighs
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 2 carrots, peeled
• 2 celery stalks
• 1 onion
• 2 small bay leaves
• 1 tsp each marjoram, basil, ground sage, thyme, oregano, rosemary
• 1500 ml low sodium chicken stock + 1-2 cups water
• salt & pepper
• 2/3 cup barley (optional)

Method

1. Dice onions, celery and carrots into desired sized chunks. Cut your chicken into smallish chunks.
2. Sauté veggies in large stock pot with vegetable oil on medium high heat until they begin to soften.
3. Add seasonings to vegetables and then place thighs into pot. Allow to cook and brown a bit, about 15 minutes.
4. Add stock and water (Add extra cup of water if using barley), bring to boil, lower and simmer for 2 1/2 hours. (Add barley in last 40-60 minutes if using.)
5. Serve with crusty bread or on it’s own.

Honey Lime Chicken Skewers

I don’t count calories - I just eat clean food in sensible portions. But if I did count calories, I feel like this recipe might be a spot naughtier than most of the recipes on here. It’s the honey that feels like the culprit. Looking at the bigger picture though, I don’t think the odd tablespoon of honey is a diet killer. : )

I invented a salad to go under the chicken (the chicken recipe is unchanged from where I found it on Kitchen Meets Girl), and it was pretty not great. I do not recommend that you try to replicate it. It’s purple cabbage and blackbeans and pickles and tomato and cucumber and a lime vinaigrette. It was weird. Anyway. On with the show.

Ingredients

• 3 tablespoons soy sauce
• 2 tablespoons honey
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• juice of one lime
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1-2 teaspoon Siracha
• chili flakes, to taste
• 2 tablespoon rocket
• 500g skinless, boneless chicken breasts

Method

1. In a small bowl, combine your ingredients. Mix thoroughly.
2. Pour marinade over chicken breasts and turn to coat. Cover and allow to marinate for at least 1 hour.
3. Grill on medium high heat for 6 to 8 minutes per side, until juices run clear.

Asian Style Chicken Soup

Sometimes, when I go to the gym after work, #boyfriend will do the prep for our dinner, and I’ll put it all together when I get home. This is a brilliant recipe to get someone else to chop up for you, because the cooking time is so quick, but even if you have to do your own knife-work it’s impressively fast - definitely a good one for a work night.

Ingredients (serves 4)

• 4 cups salt-reduced chicken stock
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce
• 2 small red chillies, thinly sliced
• 2 carrots, peeled, cut into short, thin sticks
• 100g fresh shiitake mushrooms, sliced
• 150g snow peas, shredded lengthways
• 2 chicken breasts
• 1/2 Chinese cabbage, finely shredded 
• 1 bunch coriander, leaves picked

Method

• Poach your chicken breasts, let them cool a bit, and then shred with a fork. Put aside for now.
• Combine stock, 2 cups water, soy sauce and chillies in a large saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a simmer.
• Add carrots, mushrooms, snow peas and chicken to pan. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer for 2 minutes. Add cabbage and cook for 1 minute or until cabbage wilts.
• Stir half the coriander into soup. Divide soup between bowls. Top with remaining coriander and serve.

This recipe is from Taste originally, and the only modification I’ve made is subbing in poached chicken for BBQ chicken. If you weren’t being terribly strict about your calorie consumption, using a BBQ chicken would probably speed up your process a bit. Also, sometimes I top it with some chili flakes, because that’s how I roll : )