Meal Prep Ideas - Salads

I love salads but I hate getting the premade ones at the grocery.  Half the time I find lettuce that isn't good.  Then I'm disappointed. So I make my own. Our salads are not boring either.  I think that's one of the reason why people dislike salads.  They just picture a pile of lettuce.  (That's how my sister in law is)

Power Greens Salad

I also love salads because they are so easy to make.  It makes meal prep day go by a lot faster.  This week we had two different salads for lunch. First one, I'll call the Power Greens Salad.  The greens are baby spinach, baby red and green chards, and baby kale. I sliced red onions and a red bell pepper for added taste and color. I also add chicken.  You can bake, grill, slow cook the chicken. Whatever is your preference.  The salad dressing is the most difficult part.  It can turn a seemingly healthy meal into an unhealthy one.  So watch what you get.  For me, a tablespoon of dressing is enough. That helps keep my calorie count down.

Chickpea and Broccoli Slaw

For this Chickpea and Broccoli Slaw, I bought a bag of broccoli slaw, already cut up and added with other ingredients.  I added red onions and chickpeas to it.  It also has a side of cucumbers, chicken, and hummus. Hummus can be a great subistute for salad dressing.

Two simple salads that are not boring.

Enjoy,
Sothea

Meal Prep Ideas - Pancake Muffins

I love pancakes but hate to make them in the morning.  I'm not a morning person.  I'm rather grumpy until I have my morning coffee.  Since I love pancakes and I hate making them in the morning, I've tried baking them with my weekly meal prep.  They are actually pretty good.  

I use Birch Benders Gluten Free Pancake Mix.  We buy ours at Sprouts Market but you can order from Birch Bender's website as well. We've tried other gluten free mixes and we've found that this is the best one.  Their regular pancake mixes are also excellent.

To start off, preheat the oven to 325 degrees.  Line a muffin tin with cupcake liners.  Mix the ingredients according to your pancake mix.  I found that whatever it has to make 6-7 pancakes will make 6 pancake muffins.  Put in liners and back for 20 minutes.

Also you can add other things to the muffins.  For the picture to the right, I added peanut butter chips after I put the mix in the liners.


For the Strawberry Pancakes Muffins, I cut the top off a strawberry and put one in the center of each pancake muffin.

The Bacon Pancake Muffins were inspired by Adventure Time.  Our niece and nephew used to sing the bacon pancake song all the time.  For this one, I cut and cooked the bacon.  I only cooked it for a couple minutes.  I didn't want it to get crispy.   I added the bacon and chopped green onions to the mix.  

For the Almond Butter Pancake Muffins, I melted almond butter in a bowl in the microwave.  Then I added it to the mix.  This one was a more subtle taste. So when you serve it, spread a little almond butter on top for a little added flavor.

Enjoy,

Sothea

Meal Prep Ideas - Turkey Chili with Great Northern Beans

I cook all the time.  I've enjoyed turning recipes into a healthier version and trying to perfect it. One of my favorite recipes is for Turkey Chili.  I love chili and because of health issues I no longer eat red meat.  This has become a staple at our house. Usually I don't follow a recipe but for the blog, I am starting to write down what I use.

Turkey Chili with Great Northern Beans

Ingredients

2 tablespoon olive oil

1 medium onion, diced

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 pound ground turkey

1 Serrano pepper, diced

2 tablespoons chili powder

2 teaspoon cayenne pepper

½ cup less sodium chicken broth

2 cans of tomatoes – no salt added

2 can Great Northern Beans, drained and rinsed

Sea salt and pepper to taste

Avocado or Cheese (optional)

Directions

1. Heat oil in a large, heavy pot over medium-high heat. Add onions and garlic, stirring, until soft, about 3 minutes.
2. Add the turkey and brown it, breaking it apart as you go, for about 4 minutes
3. Add serrano pepper. Chili powder, cayenne pepper and stir.
4. Add chicken broth, canned tomatoes, and beans; bring to a low boil
5. Cover and simmer for 20 minutes, stir occasionally
6. Remove from heat, season with black pepper to taste.  Top with avocados or cheese.

Printable Recipe

Enjoy,

Sothea

What’s Happening in Salt Lake City – Week of 3/8/15

Hands-On: Mozzarella and Burrata Making

Learn and practice making your own mozzarella & burrata. If you've had our in-house fresh cheese, you know this will be quite the experience.

DATES and TIMES: March 10, 2015 | 7:15 PM

VENUE: Tony Caputo’s

314 West 300 South

Salt Lake City, UT 84101

Register

FINCA & Raventós i Blanc Sparkling Wine Dinner

Executive Chef Phelix Gardner, Chef de Cuisine Dallas Olson and Sous Chef Carter Light and their team are offering a special multi-course menu to pair perfectly with sparkling wines from one of the original Cava producers in Spain, Raventós i Blanc winery.  The tasting menu is $40 for food and $45 for wine pairings + gratuity

DATES and TIMES: March 12, 2015 | 6:30 PM

VENUE: Finca

327 West 200 South

Salt Lake City, UT 84101

Register

Utah Jazz vs. Houston Rockets

Have you seen a Jazz game at home yet? If not, catch them when they go against the Houston Rockets

DATES and TIMES: March 12, 2015 | 7 PM

VENUE: EnergySolutions Arena

301 W South Temple

Salt Lake City, UT 84101

Tickets

Richard Vission

Grammy nominated remixer & producer RICHARD VISSION blasts speakers with heavy hitting beats while rocking dance floors and festivals around the world.

DATES and TIMES: March 13, 2015 | 8 PM

VENUE: Park City Live

427 Main St

Park City, UT 84098

Tickets

Mamma Mia

More than 54 million people around the world have fallen in love with the characters, the story, and the music that make Mamma Mia! The storytelling magic of ABBA’s timeless songs propels tales of love, laughter, and friendship, and every night everyone’s having the time of their lives!

DATES: March 13-15, 2015

VENUE: Kingsbury Hall

1395 E Presidents Cir.

Salt Lake City, UT 84112

Tickets

Pi Day 3.14

It's 3.14! Celebrate Pi Day and learn to make delicious pies at the Salt Lake Culinary Center. In this class, students will make two kinds of pie dough - pizza and pastry.  Students will also learn other culinary skills, tips and techniques such as properly rolling pastry, filling and baking pies, using a chefs knife, decorating and finishing pies, and more! From appetizer to meal to dessert, this class will spark your creativity - and there's (almost) no math involved!

DATES and TIMES: March 14, 2015 | Door 4 PM

VENUE: Salt Lake Culinary Center

2233 South 300 East

Salt Lake City, UT 84115

Register

Utah Opera Presents Così fan Tutte

Two sisters are surprised when their Fiancés are suddenly called to war, but are the men really gone or did they simply hatch an elaborate plot to challenge the women’s faithfulness? The men’s return tests the limits of friendship, fidelity and fortitude. Mozart’s tale of flirtatious seduction combines silly disguises, mistaken identities and sublime music to see if love can indeed conquer all.

DATES and TIMES: March 14-22, 2015 | 7:30 PM and 2 PM

VENUE: JQ Lawson Capitol Theatre

50 West 200 South

Salt Lake City, UT 84101

Tickets

Date Nights

We think that going on dates is extremely important to maintain a healthy relationship.  We know a couple that makes it a priority to have dates every week.  Many years and many grown children later, they are still together and happy.  We have this box that has a different date idea on each card.  This week, we drew a bar date.  We went to different bars, had a cocktail and small bites. Next week, we have a movie night.  We don't always use the box.  Sometimes there is something that we know we want to do already.  The box is for when we don't have something planned. Also it helps us to try a variety of things rather then just dinner and a movie.  

Back to our bar date, we started off at Bourbon House.  You have to go to the Walker Center Building and walk down a few sets of stairs.  It has a speakeasy vibe to it which Som loves and says that's where an old classic gentleman would go.  

Sothea got the French 75.  It has Prosecco, Gin, Lemon Juice and Simple Syrup.  This cocktail was light and refreshing.  Som got the Brooklyn which had rye whiskey, dry vermouth, carpano antica, and orange bitters. We also ordered a couple of small bites.  We ordered the Cracklins which is pork skin with chili lime salt and a side of serano fondue. Who can say no to pork skin? Definitely not us.  We also got a side of fries.  

Next we went to The Vault at the Hotel Monaco.  The Vault is an extension of Bambara which we love. You can order any food off of Bambara's menu.  First, we stared off with two glasses of Caymus Conundrum.  Som is in love with this wine.  We also ordered a couple of small plates at the The Vault.  We ordered the duck toast which had a mushroom duck confit, goat cheese smear with a fried egg on top.  It was very good.  We also ordered the calamari which had an amazing candied ginger aioli. 

We encourage all couples to have date night.  And if you are friends with us, we are willing to babysit so that you can have those date nights!

Som and Sothea

Health Tips - Fooducate

We are huge fans of the Fooducate app.   It is great for those who want to live a healthier lifestyle or just trying to improve their diets a little bit  The app lets you scan barcodes at the grocery store and it will give a letter grade for the products.  It will give a summary that will include things like is it gluten free?  Is it GMO?  How processed it is?  How much sugar is in it?  It will also list alternatives for a product.

It makes our decisions while grocery shopping easier.  The other day Sothea couldn't decide what canned salmon to get.  So using the Fooducate app, she scanned three choices, looked at the grade and summary and was able to pick which one she liked best.

It does have its flaws though.  If you were to search for Talenti Blood Orange Gelato, it would list blood oranges as one of its alternatives.  Talenti Gelato, blood oranges are not quite the same. Regardless it's worth the try.

If you see us at the grocery store, scanning products that is what we are using.  We aren't trying to be super strange!