Really Fast Chicken & "Dumplings"

You know me, I love one pot easy, nutritious meals. This one is super simple, comes together fast and is delicious. You can mix it up with other veggies if you want or keep it traditional with carrots, onions and celery. The secret to the recipe's speed is using store bought rotisserie chicken and gnocchi. If you are not familiar with gnocchi, you are in for a treat. They are round dumplings made out of mashed potato and flour. Simmered in this delicious broth, they are heavenly. Using bone broth ups the protein content. Recipe adapted from the New York Times Cooking. This recipe makes enough for 2 with a little left over for lunch the next day.

Lemon Chicken and Kale

I started getting Full Belly again. They agreed on a trial basis to delivery to my house. So wonderful. If you have it available where you live--getting veggies delivered from an organic farm is so amazing. It gives me a chance to eat seasonally and use my creative cooking skills. This past week it was plenty of greens, including kale. This recipe is a really nice way to use preserved lemon and kale. Plus it is a one pan meal. I love those. The chicken, lemon and almonds really balance out the robust flavor of kale. This is a recipe I definitely want to incorporate into my monthly rotation. Recipe adapted from one by Donna Hay.

Lemon-Rosemary Chicken Orzo

Once again a delicious pasta meal. This one has chicken, but you could make some adjustments for a vegetarian dish by leaving out the chicken and upping the veggies, perhaps add some squash or green beans. This recipe helped me use up more of my lemons and is a one pot meal. One pot meals are my favorite. Less to clean up. It is enough for two and can easily be doubled. Adapted from a recipe by Ellie Krieger. 

Veggie Bowl

Here is a nutritious and easy meal for when you have left over veggies, protein and fruit. Some might call it a salad, but lettuce is not the main event here.

Start with something green and leafy, like bok choy, chard, kale (if you use kale, cut it fine then rub it for a few minutes with some lemon or oil to help it breakdown and it will be easier to eat), spinach, or lettuce. Then add toppings. 

Toppings will generally fall into these categories: roasted, raw and pickled vegetables, protein, fruit, grains, seeds, nuts and anything else hanging out in the refrigerator. Then top it with a nice dressing, I like to make a rice vinegar, garlic, mustard and olive oil dressing. 

Here is a bowl I made recently.

Collard Greens and Grilled Chicken

It is summer today in Sacramento - triple digit temperature. We pruned roses. Those roses. There are so many bushes here and while just dead heading is not such a chore - it is when there are so many of them. So we got up early and pruned for about an hour got the front yard done - we'll finish the back yard next weekend.

Afterward we had muesli with plain yogurt and fruit - strawberries, apricots, blackberries and apples - and just a touch of honey. Hit the spot on such a warm morning.