Sunday Reading: The Perfect Portion Cookbook

A couple weeks ago, I was approached to take a look at a new cookbook that was being released, The Perfect Portion Cookbook by Anson Williams, Bob Warden and Mona Dolgov. Initially, I was hesitant. Whenever I hear something about portions or 100-calories, I think of portion control and diets within a specific calorie count.

But, you know what they say, "Never judge a book by its cover" (--er, its title, its cover looks delicious). And I have to say, I'm glad I gave it a go. The cookbook is very informative on what qualifies as a 'portion' when you're cooking food at home and there isn't a handy nutrition label to tell you. It also educates you on how much 100-calories looks like but as a guideline for determining serving size or 'perfect portion' (I see what they did there).

The 150 recipes are divided into ten sections for different types of food: casseroles, snacks, breakfast food, sides, pretty much anything you could want. The recipes focus on your good old fashioned homegrown dishes like meatloaf and mac 'n cheese with new and easy things to add to your meal rotation like ratatouille and honey mustard salmon (yes please!).

I also love how they include behind-the-scenes photos showing the authors preparing some of the recipes. When trying something new, I appreciate the photos so I know how it's meant to look as a final product.

I gave the Honey Mustard Salmon recipe a whirl. An easy marinade of Dijon mustard, honey, lemon juice and dill gave a nice tangy flavor to a fish I prepare the same way over and over.

You can purchase The Perfect Portion Cookbook on QVC's website or through Amazon.

Recipe
from The Perfect Portion Cookbook

• 2 Tablespoons Dijon mustard
• 2 Tablespoons honey
• Juice of 1 lemon
• 2 teaspoons chopped dill
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• 4 4oz. salmon fillets

1. In a mixing bowl, stir the mustard, honey, lemon juice, dill and spices together to make a glaze.
2. Place the salmon fillets in the glaze, fish-side down (skin-up). Toss until evenly coated.
3. Cover the marinaded fish and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
4. Preheat the oven to 400. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. The skin will stick to the parchment paper as the fish cooks, making it easier to get the fish off the pan.
5. Place the marinated salmon fillets on the pan, drizzling any remaining glaze on top. 
6. Bake for 15-20 minutes until the thickest fillet is cooked through. 

Chicken Butternut Squash Stew

I'm doing this thing, no big deal, but this healthy eating thing. In case you're a regular, you may have noticed fewer baked goods on this blog of late. Don't panic, my sweet tooth is very much still intact but my desire to be healthy has muted it a bit.

Along these lines, I've tried to make balanced meals each week that have a good helping of protein and vegetables while not neglecting the grains. To the crockpot!

Butternut squash is a favorite for me, especially if it's soup. But I'm lazy when it comes to prep will sometimes cave and get the pre-peeled, pre-diced version. But those chunks always look a bit dry seeing as they've been exposed to air for awhile. So I decided to get clever. Although squash rinds look pretty thick, it's actually fairly easy to use a vegetable peeler! Amazing.

This soup came out more of a stew for me since I used 4 cups of broth instead of the recommended 5 cups. If you prefer soup to stew, you can add more liquid (either broth or water). The chicken, kidney beans, diced tomatoes, garlic, quinoa and squash all go in the crockpot and are covered with the broth.

Set to high for 3-4 hours (or low for twice that long), the liquid cooks a nice and tender chicken. Similar to the chicken tortilla soup, you can shred the chicken with a couple of fork. I used hefty sized garlic cloves so this had a strong garlic flavor (sorry, office mates) but you can season with pepper or paprika for a little more kick if you prefer.

Recipe

• 1-1.5 lbs. boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• 1 can kidney beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 can diced tomatoes
• 1 cup quinoa, uncooked but rinsed
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 medium butternut squash, peeled and cubed
• 4-5 cups chicken broth (or vegetable broth)

1. In a crockpot, place the chicken breasts on the bottom. Pour the beans, tomatoes, squash, quinoa and garlic over the chicken. 
2. Stir carefully to mix ingredients.
3. Pour broth over ingredients. For more of a stew, use 4 cups. For a soup consistency, use closer to 5 cups.
4. Set the crockpot to high for 3-4 hours until chicken is cooked through and squash is tender (alternatively, cook on low for 6-8 hours).
5. Serve hot!

Crockpot Chicken Tortilla Soup

I'm taking my New Year's resolutions/goals to heart. At least when it comes to using my crockpot more. I've even rearranged some of my kitchen cabinets to make the crockpot more accessible. That's like giving it its own drawer in a relationship, I'm in it for the long haul.

I made a similar tortilla soup last year but on the stove top instead. This year, I don't have a giant soup pot anymore (#moving) and the crockpot is the largest bowl I have to seemed worth some Googling to find a good recipe. I'm learning that it's really easy to make things up to cook in the crockpot, especially with soup where as long as you have enough liquid, you're good. Also, I know this is called chicken tortilla soup but I didn't add tortilla this time and chicken soup is already a thing so it's just chicken tortilla soup, sans tortilla.

This recipe comes from The Pioneer Woman, Ree Drummond. Her recipe came up at the top of my Google search and I used to watch her show back when I had serious cable and the Food Network. Now I just follow her on Instagram and check for recipes.

As always, all of the ingredients go into the pot: chicken, black beans (drained), diced tomatoes, bell peppers, corn, onion, jalapeno, garlic, tomato paste, spices and all of the broth. The chicken came out so tender, I was in awe. Even trying to spear a piece with a fork to shred, it literally just fell right off. If there were bones to chicken breasts, I would say the meat fell right off the bone (in this case, it fell right off the fork).

 

You can garnish this any which way you choose: crispy tortilla chips, cheese, sour cream, avocado. I stuck with just avocado, another kitchen love affair in the making.

Recipe
adapted from The Pioneer Woman

• 1 1/2-2 lbs. chicken breasts
• 1 14.5oz can black beans (drained and rinsed)
• 1 14.5 oz can diced tomatoes
• 1 cup corn (I used frozen but you can use canned if you drain it first)
• 2 bell peppers, chopped
• 1/2 onion, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 jalapeno, chopped
• 4 cups chicken broth
• 6 oz. tomato paste
• 1 teaspoon paprika
• 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon cumin

1. Add all ingredients to the crockpot, making sure everything is covered with broth. You can use more broth if you want more of a soup, less if you want more of a stew.
2. Stir to combine the spices and tomato paste.
3. Set to high and cook for 3-4 hours (or low for 7-8). Cook until the chicken is cooked through and tender.
4. Using two forks, shred the chicken.
5. Serve hot with avocado (or cheese or sour cream or tortilla chips).

Banana Oatmeal Breakfast Bars

Let me tell you a story about bananas. It's bananas. When I was a kid, I ate a banana and it turned my front teeth grey. And then I didn't want to eat bananas for a really long time. This was like preschool age, very impressionable. I eventually accepted that bananas aren't too bad and I buy them now but wouldn't say I really enjoy them. Deep down I know I only buy bananas and hope they aren't eaten in time so I can make banana bread.

 

But really, there must be more than just banana bread and smoothies for mushy bananas to be good for. And so we make breakfast bars with bananas as the glue to hold all the oaty goodness together. This also requires very little prep or cleanup--perfect.

 

In a food processor, combine bananas, oats,nuts, honey, vegetable (or coconut) oil, protein powder and spices. All of this will get blended together until smooth. My food processor had to woooork so it might take a few minutes and a few stirs to get it all blended.

 

The mix is then poured into a prepared 9x9 (or 8x8, let's be real) pan lined and greased with parchment paper. This will make it super easy to remove the final bars from the pan. While the base is cooking, more oats, nuts and spices are mixed together with almond milk and blueberries (or whatever fruit you prefer). This will be the topping.

 

Once the base has cooked for 10 minutes, remove the pan from the oven and add the topping. Gently press the topping into the base so everything sticks together. I forgot this step and it was still tasty but a little messy. Bake for another 15 minutes.

 

I cut these into squares and wrapped them up as a quick grab and go snack or breakfast during the week. So simple, so tasty.

Recipe

Bar Ingredients

• 2 cups old fashioned oats
• 2 ripened bananas
• 1 cup pecans
• 1 Tablespoon vegetable oil
• 4 Tablespoons honey
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
• 1 scoop chocolate protein powder (vanilla works too)

Topping Ingredients

• 1/2 cup old fashioned oats
• 1/4 cup slivered almonds
• 1 cup blueberries
• 1/4 cup almond milk
• 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

1. Preheat the oven to 350.
2. Line a square pan with parchment paper, leaving some overhang on the edges. Lightly grease the parchment paper (the side where the batter will go).
3. In a food processor, blend together all of the ingredients for the bar. 
4. Pour mix into the prepared pan and smooth to fill all corners.
5. Bake for 8-10 minutes.
6. Meanwhile, in a small bowl, mix together the topping ingredients.
7. Add the topping to the pan with the bars. Gently press topping into the solid mixture.
8. Bake for another 15 minutes.
9. Remove from pan by lifting on the sides of parchment paper. Cut into individual squares for a snack on the go!

Chicken and Chickpea Curry with Cauliflower Rice

In my humble opinion, I was a good eater as a child. I ate my vegetables but only certain ones like broccoli and carrots. That was pretty much it, actually, but my tastes have evolved to include most vegetables like peppers and zucchini. Some things, however, never change. I still despise brussel sprouts, I don't care how much bacon you waste on them, and asparagus. Cauliflower is also not a favorite but I've been able to hide cauliflower in other foods instead.

I heard someone at the gym discussing cauliflower rice which is basically just ground and toasted cauliflower. Since rice is typically paired with other more delicious things, I thought it wouldn't be too bad to give it a try with a spicy curry recipe.

I've made fish curry before but this recipe seemed more up my ally, very simple with few ingredients but enough flavor to overpower the cauliflower rice. Originally this recipe was vegan but I added some chicken. You can go either way!

Onion, garlic and peppers are cooked in a skillet until almost soft. Doused in coconut milk and mixed with curry paste (the more the spicier) to finish cooking. Chickpeas and cooked chicken are added to soak up the curry flavors.

Meanwhile, the cauliflower is ground in a food processor. It took me a few rounds in the food processor to get all of the florets to be crumbly. Lightly toast with some olive oil before serving with the curry.

I honestly couldn't taste the cauliflower flavor but boy did my apartment smell like it. I managed to convince some friends that we should get together and watch Bollywood films together. Granted we ordered real Indian food for the occassion but reheating this curry afterwards got me pretending I could bangra--but only in the serious privacy of my apartment with only my cat as my witness.

Recipe

• 1 small onion, chopped (about 1 cup)
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 bell pepper, diced
• 1 15oz can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
• 1/2 cup canned coconut milk
• 2 Tablespoons red curry paste
• 1 head of cauliflower, chopped in food processor
• 8-10oz chicken, chopped

1. Preheat the oven to 350. Bake the chicken until almost cooked through.
2. In a medium skillet, heat 1 tablespoon vegetable oil. Add the onion and garlic to the oil and cook until the onion is translucent.
3. Add the chopped pepper to the pan. Cook for 3-4 minutes more.
4. Add the drained chickpeas and coconut milk to the skillet. Mix in the curry paste until the coconut milk turns an orange color. 
5. Simmer over medium heat and add the chicken. Allow everything to simmer for another 5-10 minutes.
6. Meanwhile, process the cauliflower in a food processor until course. 
7. Toast the cauliflower in a large skillet with olive oil until fragrant. Some of the cauliflower will toast and turn brown but it's not necessary to get all of it to brown.
8. Serve the chicken and chickpea curry over the cauliflower rice.