Sopa de Lima and Quesedillas

Sopa de Lima is kind of like tortilla soup. I had it in Mexico and fell in love with it. This is a somewhat modified version, but it is very easy to make and healthy.

Ingredients:
5 long green chiles (You can use any kind of pepper you want depending on how spicy you like to eat: poblano, Anaheim, jalapeno, or even bell peppers. This version is pretty spicy. If you don't like spicy, use only 1 or 2 poblano peppers or bell peppers.)
1/2 large onion
1 can diced tomatoes
1 can black beans (drained and rinsed)
36 ounces of chicken broth
lime juice (3 or 4 limes or about 1/3 cup of juice)
2 cloves of garlic chopped (only 1 clove if you aren't crazy about garlic)
Ground cumin (about 1 teaspoon)
Cilantro
Tortillas
Shredded Mexican blend cheese
Garlic salt
Chili powder

Dice the onion and chiles. Heat a soup pot over medium heat, add a little oil, and saute the onion and chiles until cooked. Add the tomatoes, black beans, and ground cumin. Stir to combine. Then add the chicken broth. Bring to a boil and let cook for 5 to 10 minutes. Remove from heat and add the garlic and lime juice. Let sit about 5 minutes (this will cook but not burn the garlic). Top soup with chopped cilantro.

While the soup is sitting, fill some tortillas with cheese. Add some garlic salt and chile powder to taste. Fold over and warm in a pan until the cheese melts.

Serves 4

Pasta with Brocoli and Pesto

This is a great really simple but healthy meal for when you are strapped for time. If you need some protein, add some canned chicken, tuna, salmon, or rotisserie chicken, or even a can of cannelini beans.

Ingredients:
1 box of pasta (I use the Smart Taste brand for extra fiber and calcium)
1 large head of broccoli, cut into florets
1/2 jar of pesto sauce
Red pepper flakes

Bring salted water to a boil and add pasta. Cook according to package directions, but in the last 2 minutes add the broccoli. Cook until the pasta is done and the broccoli has just turned bright green. Drain. Combine with pesto sauce and add red pepper flakes to taste. This recipe will make enough for great leftovers.

Green Smoothie Recipe

In the world of extreme health, juicing is becoming really popular. My problem is that juicing is expensive. In addition to buying a juicer (which is several hundred dollars), the amount of fruit and vegetables you have to put in to get one glass of juice is expensive. Also, juices have no fiber. For that reason, I have settled on green smoothies as a more budget friendly and filling substitute. Now, I know you're thinking this sounds really gross, but just try it. Even my husband really likes these. I always feel great starting my morning with a cup of vegetables and a cup to two cups of fruit.

Ingredients:
1 to 2 hand-fulls of baby spinach (According to taste. Start with one hand full and then add more gradually. After a couple months, I shove as much spinach into there as my blender will hold.)
6 ounces of orange juice
1/2 to 1 banana (according to taste)
Optional: a teaspoon of honey, 1/2 cup of your favorite frozen fruit, 1/2 cup of yogurt

Usually, I use one whole banana if I am not adding other fruit and only 1/2 a banana if I am adding other fruit.

Combine the orange juice and spinach in a blender and blend until the smooth. Add banana and any optional ingredients (yogurt, other fruit, honey) and blend again until smooth. Drink up!

Week 5 Food Costs: $50

I'm back! I had lots of craziness in my life with family illnesses that prevented me from blogging. I did come up with some great strategies to get through those times on a budget and I will post about that later. Meanwhile, here is our menu and grocery list for this week:

Breakfast: Green Smoothie (tasty, quick, fruit AND vegetables in the morning!)
Lunch (about 3 days): Mediterranean Salad with Chicken
Lunch (about 2 days): Bacon, Tomato, Avocado Sandwich with Sweet Potato Fries
Other 2 days of lunches will be leftovers from dinner

Dinner: Pasta with Broccoli and Pesto
Dinner: Sopa de Lima with Quesedillas
Dinner: Chicken Stir Fry (2 days)
Dinner: Chicken Broccoli Parmesean
Dinner: Salmon Cakes with Brussel Sprouts and Spring Veggetables
Dinner: Tamales with Refried Beans

I am doing a low-carb crash diet for three days this week (salad for lunch, chicken stir fry, chicken broccoli parmesean, and salmon cakes for dinner). If you don't want to do low-carb, simply add rice and pasta to these meals, for an extra week's cost of about $2 to $3.

Grocery list:
Cilantro
5 tomatoes
1 avocado
ginger
Romaine lettuce (I bought the bagged because the store was out of the heads, but the heads are MUCH cheaper)
1 cucumber
6 bananas
1 bag spinach
3 to 5 long green chile peppers or poblano peppers
1 jalapeno
2 large heads of broccoli
1 red bell pepper
1 package of snow peas
a few oranges (for snacks)
1 pound of chicken breasts
frozen brussel sprouts
frozen "spring vegetables" (get whatever kind of frozen vegetables you like)
frozen bag of sweet potato fries
Can of black beans
Can of pinto beans
Can of diced tomatoes
Box of chicken broth
Orange juice
Shredded cheddar cheese
1 rotisserie chicken

From my pantry: parmesean cheese, 1 box pasta, 1/2 jar pesto sauce, 1/2 package bacon, sandwich bread, tortillas, olive oil, lemon juice, lime juice, soy sauce, 1/2 jar spaghetti sauce, 1 can salmon, 1 onion, garlic salt, crushed red pepper flakes, mayonnaise, mustard, tamales (my mom makes tamales for me!)

Thanksgiving Leftovers: Turkey Chili

I love Thanksgiving leftovers. We ate them all day yesterday. But, I needed to add something besides leftovers today. I had turkey leftover, so I decided to make turkey chili.

Ingredients:
Leftover turkey meat, diced
1 can diced tomatoes
1 can kidney beans, drained and rinsed
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
1/2 onion, diced
1 jalapeno, diced
Garlic salt, to taste
Ground cumin, to taste
Chili powder, to taste
Shredded cheese for topping (optional)

Combine all the ingredients except the cheese in a crock pot and cook on high for four hours. Serve with cheese on top.

Moroccan Spiced Lentils and Couscous

This is a great meal for when I want to feel kind of exotic and want a healthy, vegetarian, cheap meal. Lentils are a great bean to make when you don't have as much time since they don't have to be soaked before you cook with them. The secret is to toast the lentils in the oil before you add liquid and bring them to a boil. This keeps the lentils from getting too mushy.

Ingredients:
1 cup of dry lentils, rinsed
1/2 onion, diced
2 1/2 cups cooking liquid (could be vegetable or chicken broth or water)
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground coriander (if you don't have coriander, just add extra ground cumin)
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes (optional if you like things spicy) 
1 box of couscous

Serves 4

Prepare couscous according to package directions.

Add some oil to a pot over medium high heat. Add the onion and spices and cook until the onion starts to soften. Add the lentils and cook, stirring often, until the lentils start to toast and smell fragrant, about 4 minutes. Don't walk away from the stove while you do this. They burn easily and stick to the bottom of the pan. Add your cooking liquid and bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer over medium heat and cook until all of the liquid is absorbed, about 30 minutes. Serve over couscous.

Pasta with Tomatoes and Pesto Sauce

I make this for dinner when I am at a loss for what to make. It's rare that I don't have pasta in the pantry and tomatoes in the fridge that I need to use. If I don't have pesto, sometimes I make a lemon butter sauce by melting some butter and adding some lemon juice to go with it. If you want to make it healthier, you could also add some frozen spinach when you cook the tomatoes.

Ingredients:
1 pound of pasta
2 to 4 tomatoes, diced
1 jar of pesto sauce
1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
Salt and pepper

Serves 4

Set a pot of water on high heat to boil. Add your pasta and cook according to package directions.

In a pan, add some olive oil, the diced tomatoes, salt, and crushed red pepper flakes and cook until the tomatoes release their aroma and get soft.

Top pasta with tomatoes and some jarred pesto sauce. It doesn't get any easier!