Hot Tips for the New Year

12 Easy Food Choices and Tips plus a Few Recipes to boot!
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*An incredibly cheap and delicious vegan recipe:

1) Cut up several sweet potatoes, yams, onions, carrots, and regular potatoes into bite-size chunks. Use more of the ones you like best.

2) Stir them in a little bit of olive oil and a few shakes of rosemary, thyme, black pepper and oregano ("italian seasoning" will do).

3) Insert several peeled galic cloves here and there (smashing them makes peeling easy and releases more flavor).

4) Put in a casserole dish or foil-covered pan and bake at 400 degrees for 35-45 minutes.

5) When everything's golden brown and soft, drizzle some honey and sprinkle a little soy sauce on top.

Stir. Devour. Keeps well. It takes around 45 minutes to bake but the prep is really easy and the ingredients will keep for a few days until you have time to get to them. Make a ton at a time and eat hearty for a week.

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*Peanut butter(natural,organic, of course) and banana sandwich on whole wheat bread.

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*Bake up a 6-8 chicken breasts at a time (plain or in some sort of natural salt-free marinade), freeze each breast separately. They can be defrosted quickly and can make up the main part of your meal easily. I like to chop them up into a salad.

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* Almonds or nut of choice for sure. Dried fruit as well.

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*Get an oversized thermal lunchbag. Freeze a couple of water bottles every night, then drop them in your lunchbag to keep the contents cold. As they thaw, you have fresh water to drink. It's like having a little fridge and water dispenser on the go:)

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*I can't recommend the George Foreman grill highly enough for blazingly fast, no-brainer cooking. You can make a turkey burger (or any kind) in there in less than 5 minutes. You can throw a salmon filet on there and it's ready in about 4. A chicken breast maybe takes 6 minutes.

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*Tilapia fillets - rub with whatever spices you like and cook them up fast in the GF Grill. It takes about six minutes. In the meantime, you can cook up couscous in some boiling vegetable broth with a little garlic and olive oil. Cover tightly, turn off heat and ignore until you're ready to eat. Reheats well.
Have some prepackaged greens (I like wilted spinach - just in a skillet w/ garlic and olive oil on low heat while the fish is cooking ). If you want to be fancy, melt two tablespoons of Earth Balance or olive oil w/ a teaspoon or so of paprika and some finely chopped cilantro to go on the fish. Viola! Pretty and edible. We have something similar to this probably once a week at least. Whatever meat you want to use is fine, I just chose Tilapia because it cooks fast!

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*Hummus, shredded carrots, and baby spinach on a whole-wheat tortilla

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*All you do is put the fresh veggies in Zip 'n' Steam bag, seal, and microwave. They come out crisp and delicious. I usually make a mixture of roughly 1 tablespoon olive oil, 1 teaspoon each chilli powder and garlic powder mixed together. Pour the mixture over veggies to coat. Even my kids love them.

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*Not quick, but very EASY and healthy: Lentil/Rice Casserole.
In the casserole, pour 3 cups of chicken or veggie broth. Add 3/4 cup of lentils, 1/2 cup uncooked brown rice, 3/4 cup chopped onion, 1/2 teaspoon basil, 1/4 teaspoon oregano, 1/4 teaspoon thyme, and 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder. Stir it all up and bake covered at 300 degrees for an hour and a half. I like to put 1/2 cup of cheddar on top for the last 20 minutes of cooking.

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*LARABAR

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*Chocolate Almond Smoothie (antioxidant-rich)

Simply blend all the ingredients together in a blender. Smoothies can be kept refrigerated for up to 3 days, thought they’re best when fresh.

1 banana
2 fresh or soaked dried dates
2 cups cold water (or 1 ½ cups water plus 1 cup ice)
¼ cup almonds (or 2 tbsp raw almond butter)
1 tbsp ground flaxseed
1 tbsp hemp protein
1 tbsp roasted carob powder (or cacao nibs to make smoothie 100% raw)

Makes about 3 ½ cups, or 2 large servings

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* Vega Naturals Whole Foods

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*Roasted Yam Fries
Serves 6

2 large yams, washed and dried
3 Tb. extra virgin olive oil
2 tsp. sea salt
1 tsp. cayenne pepper
½ tsp. fresh ground black pepper

Preheat oven to 350.
Cut the yams into 1/2” fries.
Toss with olive oil, salt, pepper and cayenne.
Place on a lightly oiled cookie sheet and bake for 30-45 minutes, when fries are tender and beginning to brown.

Serve hot.

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*Black Bean Mango Salsa

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups black beans, drained
1 ripe mango, peeled and diced
1/2 cup diced red bell pepper
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
1 tablespoon chopped fresh cilantro
1 seeded and minced fresh green chile
1 garlic clove, pressed
1/3 cup orange juice
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
salt to taste

Directions:
In a large bowl combine all ingredients. Mix thoroughly.

Servings:
Yields 4 cups