Spicy Roasted Red Pepper and Tomato Soup

Sunday was a meal prep party for myself. My roommate Lindsay and I were shuffling back and forth, taking turns over the oven and in the stove, accidentally bumping into each other all afternoon. "Meal Prep" is such a muscle-y meat head sounding term to me and when I hear it I envision rows of tupperware lined up with boring chicken breasts and broccoli.  You know what I'm talking about...My meal prep is much different. It's really just about putting in a little time on Sunday, so I can then shovel food in my mouth the second I'm ready for lunch and dinner during the week. Cause I'm actually just lazy. 

On Whole 30 they preach meal prep. Simply trying to eat healthy is also about meal prep. Having healthy food prepared and ready at a moments notice saves you from caving on unhealthy options. This last week I prepped my Crock-Pot Curry Chicken and Cauliflower Rice for dinners and this Roasted Red Pepper and Tomato Soup for lunches. I love soup for lunch. It's so much more fulfilling than a blah salad. The recipe is simple and comes together in under 30 minutes.

Spicy Roasted Red Pepper and Tomato Soup
yields 6 cups, about 4 servings

Ingredients:
1, 14-16 oz jar roasted red peppers, drained
1, 28 oz can fire roasted diced tomatoes
1 Tbsp. oil
1/2 yellow onion chopped
3 cloves of garlic minced
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
1 Tbsp. dried basil
1 Tbsp. dried thyme
1/4 tsp. red pepper flakes (optional)
1 cup water

Directions:
Heat a large stock pot with a tablespoon of oil over medium heat. Add onion and garlic. Cook until the onions are translucent and the garlic is fragrant. Drain your red peppers and roughly chop them. Add to the pot with your diced tomatoes (not drained). Add salt, pepper, basil, thyme and red pepper flakes. Stir in water. Bring to a boil then reduce to low and let simmer for 10 minutes. 

If you have an immersion blender, put it straight into the pot and begin to puree the soup. If you don't, add the soup mixture into a food processor or blender. I like to keep my soup slightly chunky, but just blend until you get the consistency you like. You may have to do this in batches, depending on the size of your food processor. Once blended, add it back into the pot and continue to cook for about 5 minutes then serve!

Preferred method of serving is eating it out of a coffee mug! The perfect vessel to hold onto while you curl up and eat this soup on your couch:)

Annie

Crock-Pot Chicken Curry over Cauliflower Rice

I did a little poll to see what kind of recipes you all were wanting. What I got back were things like easy, crock-pot, one dish, dinner, healthy, Super Bowl and Valentine's recipes. Minus the Super Bowl and Valentine's treats, I think I was able to combine all the other wants and needs into one dish! I mean you could totally make this and eat it during the Super Bowl or with your lovie on Vday, but we will come up with more "themed" recipes for those later.. 

With some inspo from The Food Charlaltan, I bring you my version of Crock-Pot Chicken Curry over Cauliflower Rice. It's comforting but still healthy and even Whole 30 approved. This was also my first time to make cauliflower rice, and I'm sold. I used this method.

You can definitely buy the pre-packaged cauliflower rice they sell in the stores, but the size and shape and look of it kind of weirds me out, so I made my own. You get a ton more and it's a lot cheaper to make your own. Hint, I use a box grater to achieve the rice look! But again, here is the how-to.

Do you guys ever use those crock-pot liners? If you don't, you're welcome for informing you. My good friend Sarah Beth showed them to me when we lived together our senior year of college. They are basically a big ziploc baggy that fits your crock-pot, but has magical powers to withstand the heat and not melt during the cooking process. So once your crock-pot has done all the work, and you get to enjoy a delicious meal, you simply lift the bag out of the pot and there is legit no clean up. Because how many times have you scraped and soaked and scraped and soaked crusted on velveta queso off your crock-pot?? Buy them and you'll never not line your crock-pot again. 

Crock-Pot Chicken Curry over Cauliflower Rice adapted from The Food Charlatan
makes 3-4 servings

1 1/2 lb. boneless, skinless chicken thighs
salt and pepper
1 tsp. oil
1 (13.5 ounce) cans coconut milk (full fat or light will work)
1 Tbsp. dried basil leaves
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
1 Tbsp. yellow curry powder
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 red onion (large, or 1 small), chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 jalapeno, seeded and finely chopped
1 Tbsp. cornstarch (almond meal, coconut flour, tapioca starch & arrowroot powder will work to make it Whole 30 approved)
1 Tbsp. water
1 tsp. fresh ginger, grated or minced
1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
*4 cups homemade or store bought cauliflower rice

Toppings:
chopped cilantro, red onion, cashews

Directions:
Heat a large skillet to medium-high heat. Add 1 teaspoon oil. Salt and pepper your chicken thighs.

When the oil is hot, add your chicken thighs. Don't put them too close together. Depending on the size of your pan you may have to sear them in batches.

Cook for about 3 minutes until just browned on the bottom. Then flip the chicken over to brown the other side for about 2-3 minutes. You are not cooking them completely, you just want to get a good sear on them. They will finish cooking in the crock-pot. Remove the chicken to a plate.

In your crock-pot combine coconut milk, basil, 1 tsp. salt, 1/2 tsp. pepper, yellow curry, and chili powder. Stir to combine. Add the chopped red onion, garlic, and jalapeno. Place the browned chicken into the curry mixture. 

Place the lid on and set your crock-pot to high for 4-5 hours, or on low for 6-8 hours.

Remove the chicken from the crock-pot and place on a cutting board. Using two forks, shred the chicken, it should be falling apart and so yummy.

Add the ginger to the slow cooker. Then a small bowl, combine cornstarch and 1 tablespoon water. Stir until it's not lumpy. Add this to the crock pot and stir. This will help thicken the curry. You may need to add more for your desired thickness, but give the cornstarch a little bit of time, it won't thicken immediately but will with time. 

Add the shredded chicken back to the crock-pot. Return the lid and cook for another 10 minutes. Season with salt and pepper to taste and stir in the cilantro.

For each serving I steam about 3/4 cup of homemade cauliflower rice in the microwave for a 1 minute and sprinkle a little bit of salt over it. Then spoon a generous amount of curry over the rice and top with more cilantro, red onion and my fav-chopped cashews! (This would be great with plain white or jasmine rice and some naan bread).

*If you have questions about making the cauliflower rice, comment below and I'd love to help you out!

Annie

Bites About Town: Best Salads in OKC

updated June 2019

Build your own at Coolgreens

Back again for another installment of Bites About Town. You can see my first post about the best Matcha Latte in OKC here. I love my city and the bites it has to offer.  Today's spotlight bite is, salad. Salads can get a bad rap or get overlooked on a menu, but they can also be a showstopper. To correlate with everyone's efforts to eat healthy in the new year I'm rolling out my Top 5 salads in OKC. I can't rank them individually because they all reign supreme. I will share my #1 fav of the moment, but you have to keep reading to find out.

Grilled Chicken Chop Salad at Mary Eddy's
Ingredients: heirloom tomato, cucumber, avocado, danish bleu, house bacon, chopped egg, green goddess vinaigrette and chicken.  
Notes: I've dined at Mary Eddy's, the restaurant in the new 21C Museum hotel, a few times for dinner, and was left a little underwhelmed. Little did I know I was ordering the wrong thing. Skip the rest of the menu and head straight for the salads. The Chop salad at Mary Eddy's is insanely flavorful, perfectly filling and includes everything you want in an entree salad. I highly suggest adding chicken. They pack some amazing flavor into that little chicken breast. {they have since added chicken to the salad on the lunch menu and changed the portion to a side salad on the dinner menu}. Best part is, the whole salad is sprinkled with flakey Maldon salt. Lucky for me, my company often has lunch meetings at Mary Eddy's meaning the more chop salad the better. 

BB Salad at The Jones Assembly
Ingredients: grilled chicken, lardon, avocado, gruyére, spiced hazelnut, red onion, sourdough crouton, green goddess
Notes: I’m bias here because I work for The Jones, but when we were developing the menu back in 2017 we knew we had to have just a good ole basic salad that you can eat anytime of day and never get tired of it. Enter the BB Salad aka the Basic Bitch Salad. Yes that really is what BB stands for. I love the sweet and crunchy hazelnuts combined with the soft avocado. I love the bite from the red onion and the flavor on the grilled chicken. I am also a sucker for bibb or romaine lettuce in a salad, so it wins in the greens department. And the lardons, gahhh I could eat these plain as a snack. I usually ask for mine without the cheese and croutons and with dressing on the side to save my carb and dairy intake, but I’m also just annoying like that.

Image via Yelp

Farmer's Market Salad at Upper Crust
Ingredients: Boston bibb & arugula, fuji apples, candied walnuts, gorgonzola, white balsamic vinaigrette.
Notes: Any pizza place has to include a few salads on their menu. Usually you get a boring house or caesar option, but sometimes they can blow you away with a salad better than the pizza. This is the case with the farmer's market salad at Upper Crust. It's perfect to share if you are getting a pizza, but also great as an entree if you want to skip the carbs. The white balsamic vinaigrette is incredible. I actually went and bought white balsamic after first having this salad. Try it, you won't regret it. 

Falafel Salad at Saturn Grill
Ingredients: mixed greens, house vinaigrette, fresh tomato, persian cucumber, red onion, yogurt tahini & spicy red pepper sauces, & crispy house made falafel
Verdict: I have a mad love for falafel and all greek food for that matter. This is my sister and I's favorite, we even tried to recreate it at home (read these tragic old school posts for our recreation). If you've ever tried to make falafel at home, you know it is probably a fail. No need to try when you should just go to Saturn and order yourself the falafel salad. The crispiest falafel and best tahini and red pepper sauce. Highly recommend.

Texas "Chop House" Rotisserie Chicken Salad at Red Rock
Ingredients: Iceberg (sub romaine), black beans, tomatoes, jicama, sweet corn, corn tortilla strips, Monterey Jack cheese, chipotle bleu cheese dressing (sub for balsamic), avocado and barbecue sauce. Perk, it comes with cornbread!
Notes: My parents and I got into a bit of a routine of going to Red Rock this summer and sitting on their patio enjoying the live music and lakeside view. That is when I discovered the deliciousness that is their rotisserie chicken salad. With fun ingredients like jimica, tortilla strips, barbecue sauce and a whole avocado it keeps me coming back for more. Pro tip-swap the blue cheese for balsamic and the iceberg for romaine. Also get your dressing on the side because this salad is HUGE and filling. Can easily be taken home for leftovers.

Grilled Shrimp Salad at Republic
Ingredients: grilled shrimp, brussels sprouts, spaghetti squash, spinach, red onion, crispy salami, smoked gouda, horseradish vinaigrette
Notes: If you have never had this salad, I urge you to run to Republic and try it. It's loaded with (honestly) a weird assortment of ingredients, but it totally works. The shrimp is grilled perfectly and has so much flavor and I can't get enough of the crispy salami. One of my favorites by a landslide. 

Image via Facebook

Gusto Chopped Salad at Pizzaria Gusto
Ingredients: Romaine, radicchio, tomato, red onion, pepperoncini, kalamata olives, chickpeas, provolone, salami, croutons, vinaigrette.
Notes: Another chop salad made the list, but rightfully so. Similar to Upper Crust, I could go to Pizzaria Gusto and skip the pizza all together just so I could enjoy every last bit of their chopped salad. The big pieces of provolone are a home run. It's full of Italian flavors, which I love. Gusto also makes all of their dressing in house, so they are free of scary additives-win!

Brussels Sprout, Napa Cabbage, Kale and Burrata Salad at Cafe 501

So now that I've given you the run down on my five favorite salads in OKC, I'll unveil my favorite. Drumroooolllllllllll please.

Favorite salad in OKC (as of now) is...the Grilled Chicken Chop Salad from Mary Eddy's!! Mary Eddy's has me craving this salad weekly. I will happily go eat at Mary Eddy's with you just so I can share this amazing salad with you.

Update: The Jones BB Salad places just under the chop salad. With all of the new spots popping up around town, I don’t eat at ME quite as frequent as I used to. However, you can fined me at the bar enjoying a BB Salad most Friday’s during the week.

I asked for some of y'alls favorite salads when creating this post. Fan favorites included the Rotisserie Chicken salad from Republic, the Caprese and Southwest Spicy from Cool Greens, the Salmon Caesar at Saturn Grill, Simply Falafel's Greek Salad and the BLT salad from The Drake were popular choices. What are some of your favorite salads in the city?

Annie 

January Whole 30

Whole 30. A healthy whole foods eating craze that has been swirling around the past few years. 30 days of unprocessed clean eats to recharge your body and get it loving you again. It's also more than just a reset, it's a lesson on how to get to eating more whole foods and see how easy it can be. It's a way to influence your eating habits to show you how great you feel when you eat foods your body enjoys. 

I did my first Whole 30 back in August and loved it. Reflecting back on that experience I've compiled all of my tips, ideas, feedbacks and thoughts about Whole 30 for anyone who is interested in giving it a go. I'm doing January Whole 30, join me! 

Let's start from the beginning and get out there what you can and can't eat.
*this is a simplified list created by me, get the official program rules here.

What you can eat:
Fruits: apples, bananas, berries, citrus
Vegetables: lettuce, tomatoes, avocado, potatoes (white and sweet)
Vegetable chips (no additives): sweet potato chips, plantain chips
Protein: beef, chicken, sausage, bacon, salami, nuts, nut butter, eggs
Fish, shellfish
Non-dairy milk (no sugar added)
Oils and clarified butter or ghee
Vinegars: white, apple cider, balsamic (no sugar added) 
LeCroix, Green tea and coffee (black, bulletproof or with non-dairy milk)

What you can't eat:
Grains: bread, oats, quinoa, rice, crackers, chips
Legumes: beans, chickpeas, lentils, peanuts (no pb either), soy, soy sauce, tofu, corn :(
Dairy: milk, yogurt, cheese, creamer
Sweets and added sugar: cookies, cakes, ice cream, sugar, brown sugar
Sugar: honey, agave, maple syrup

Don't think of it as an elimination diet or something where you can't eat anything fun. Look how much longer that list of CANS is than can'ts!! Click here for a list of Whole30 approved brands. Great products for mayo, salad dressings and snacks.

The experience is different for everyone. Each week is also different. I found some weeks to be really easy and some weeks to be more challenging. For me, the first two weeks were the easiest. I was so gung-ho and committed I never wanted to cheat. My energy was a little down with the lack of grains and dairy, but I took that as an excuse to sneak in a few extra naps. The third week was fine as far as eating and my energy was normal. The last week was the hardest. This is a little backward for most, because typically things are supposed to get easier. But by week 4 all I wanted to do was bake and eat ice cream. I admit I cheated a bit. I'm only human.

On that note, I have another thing to admit. Alcohol is off limits during Whole 30. Not drinking alcohol is hard. So I didn't follow that rule. I restricted alcohol to just a couple drinks and only on the weekend. Fair warning, being social while on Whole 30 hard. I found myself wanting to stay in more so I wasn't tempted by treats at friend's houses or parties, or dealing with the struggle of ordering off menus. If you are eating out, cut yourself some slack because their is no way you can be for sure what someone is putting in your food unless you are making it. Just order a protein and veggies if you can, a bunless burger or salad and you should be fine. In a pinch, the hot bar and salad bar at Whole Foods are a great option if you are out of food or not wanting to cook. Chipotle is also compliant if you stick with carnitas, guac and salsa. Here are more eating out tips.

My first round I didn't notice a huge change in the number on the scale, but that's not the point. The way I felt on the inside was very noticeable. I felt comfortable in my skin, I felt healthy, I felt like my body loved me back. I felt like everything was moving and grooving the right way in there. Not like the way I feel after I gorge on chips and queso...

Tips:
Meal prep
Have a buddy do it with you
Include protein in every meal so you stay fuller longer
Keep small baggies of raw nuts or a larabar in your purse for those hangry moments!

Some of my go to meals from Round 1 Whole 30:

Breakfast:
Smoothies: using my basic combo of almond milk, greens, berries or fruit, almond butter and cinnamon
Chia Pudding (but it never filled me up, so not again)
Banana with almond butter
Eggs with fruit
Larabar (for something quick)

Lunch: 
Lunch board
Cobb style salad
Taco Salad no chips or cheese
Prosciutto wrapped apples & veggies with guacamole 

Dinner:
Breakfast for dinner (eggs, sausage, fruit)
Loaded salad with protein
Roast chicken with roasted veggies
Spaghetti Squash

Snacks: (Whole 30 doesn't advice snacking, they want you to stick to 3 whole meals, but sometimes you need a little something something mid day)
Veggies and homemade guacamole
Veggie chips and salsa (check ingredients)
Apple and almond butter
Larabars

Meals I'm excited to make for Round 2:
Butternut Squash Soup (minus the granola)
Potato Soup
Tomato soup
Veggie Chili
Slow-Cooker Basil Chicken in Coconut Curry Sauce (AMAZING!!!)
Spiralized veggies with meat sauce (I got a spiralizer for Christmas!!)
Sweet Potato Crust Quiche
Egg Baked in Avocado (good for breakfast or lunch)
Sweet Potato Toast
Cauliflower Rice

Take a Bite recipes that are Whole 30 compliant:
Roasted Sweet Potatoes & Figs
Baked Egg Sweet Potato
Acorn Squash Salad Bowls (minus the feta)
Carnitas (serve in lettuce wrap instead of tortilla)
Perfect Green Smoothie
Lunch Board
Easy Butternut Squash Soup

Whole 30 Inspiration:

Instagrammers:
@emilyeatsrealfood (my fav) Known for #emilysbreakfastbowls and #emilyschiapudding
@cleaneats_cleantreats
@oliveyouwhole

Blog Posts:
The Lazy Girl's Guide to Whole 30 
Every Last Detail

30 Trader Joe's Approved Foods

My Whole 30 Pinterest Board

Comment below if you are doing January Whole 30. We are in this together!

Annie

My Go To Work Week Lunch

Work week lunches are hard. It's the point in the day when you are starving and have to have something that will satisfy you all the way through dinner. It needs to give you energy to power the rest of the day without making you want to take a nap afterward. Lunch is asking for a lot and usually falls short. 

I used to be a basic salad girl. If I loaded it up with enough goods it would usually fit the bill. It's a good filler meal for when I need to clean out the fridge, but nothing excites me for lunch when I know I just have a salad packed. 

When I was doing Whole30 back in August, lunch was hard. A salad would definitely not cut it. I came up with this easy work week lunch that has stuck with me for the months to follow. It's easy to prep the night before and so filling/satisfying. I eat it about 3 times a week and with a few ingredient tweaks here and there I'm not getting sick of it. 

It's a healthy take on a charcuterie/crudite/cheese board. My "lunch board" as I like to call it! 

Basic components include:

2 hard boiled eggs
1/2 granny smith apple
3-4 pieces of charcuterie (prosciutto, salami, chorizo, pepperoni etc)

Items that change depending on taste and what is in season:

4 figs
stem of grapes
handful of snap peas, tomatoes carrots or bell peppers
crackers if you need the carbs
veggie dip or almond butter if you need the extra protein
 

Pictured above is how I take it to work. Hardboiled eggs unpeeled (I make a bunch at the beginning of the week), 1/2 apple uncut to avoid overly browning, meat, veggies and a side of veggie dip. I pack a little baggie of salt and pepper for the eggs and a small knife to cut the apple and eggs when I put it together at lunch. 

Give this lunch a try. It's well balanced and hits on all the taste buds. Tart apple, salty meat, sweet fruit, bright veggie, and filling eggs! It's just the thing to get me through the day and I get weirdly excited for lunch when I know I have this packed.

Get creative and make your own version of my lunch board! Share your lunch board pics with me via snapchat or tagging me on insta and using the #takeabite hashtag!

Annie