Calm In The Kitchen

Broccoli Cheddar Soup 💕

With my 30th birthday approaching, all year I’ve been trying to take my health more seriously. Health is weath & although I may never be rich with money, I can be rich with my health and wellness.

I’ve been working out frequently ever since I moved to California in October, but I wasn’t very strict with my protein goals or food intake. I was intermittent fasting and honestly, I was so tired and irritable all the time. I wasn’t getting enough nutrients! I was pushing my brain all day at work and my body at the gym and running off nothing but despair, caffeine & the idea of being skinny.

My goal is no longer to be skinny, but to be healthy, to be strong, to be grateful I am able to norish my body properly. Food is meant to be shared and made with love. Here one of high protein meals I will be enjoying this week.

Turkey Meatballs:
1LB of ground turkey 93% Lean / 7% Fat
Two small red peppers, finely diced
Medium shallot, finely diced
Handful of Italian parsley, finely chopped
1/4 cup of feta cheese
One garlic glove
Salt, Pepper, Paprika, Thyme
Tiny squeeze of lemon, quick zest of lemon
One egg
1/4 cup of breadcrumbs

Mix all ingredients together, bake at 350 degrees for about 30 minuets.

Tzatziki:
1/2 cup of whole fat plain Greek yogurt
Use the big grate of a box grater and shred about 1/4 cup of cucumber, wrap in cheese cloth or paper towels and squeeze all the cucumber juice.
Handful of dill, finely chopped
Juice of 1/2 a lemon
Garlic to taste / pinch of salt
Mix together & top with a little olive oil

Saffron Basmati Rice:
1 cup of basmati rice, 2 cups water - bloom the saffron in the water for a few minuets and add the water and rice to a rice cooker
Add a little olive oil
Mine cooks for 12 minutes, but yours may vary. You can make the rice of the stove top as well, but I’m a terrible rice maker!

The Tabbouleh & Pita are from Trader Joe’s!

Calories: ~480–500
Protein: ~38g
Carbs: ~43g
Fat: ~15g

Stay CalmInTheKitchen! ☀️

Bruschetta - Risottos Style Pasta

Red Wine Braised Short Ribs
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Heat up a neutral oil and a little butter in a Dutch oven, salt and pepper all sides of your short ribs, then add a little flour to all sides (this helps get a good sear). Add short ribs to oil, searing in all sides until you get a good color. This can take a little bit, don’t rush, it’s with the wait.

After you have a good sear in your ribs, add a little more butter to the pan, add in chopped onion, celery, carrot and stir until soften. Once softened snd fragrant, add a some tomatoe late and cook down again. Once that is cooked down and fragrant, add 2-3 cups of red wine - use the cheapest dryest wine, something with nutty flavors is nice as well, and additionally add some beef broth. I only had about a cup of beef broth so I subbed in some bone broth, perfectly fine! I then added a few springs of thyme, sage and rosemary, along with half a head of garlic and some bay leaves. Add back in your short ribs.

Cover the Dutch oven and let cook in the oven at 275 for about 2-2.5 hours. The meat should be falling off the bone and your house should smell incredible at this point. For the gravy, I strained the aromatics out of the braising liquid and added a little butter and flour to make a roux in the pot, then added the braising liquid back in a little at a time, keeping it at a high simmer until the gravy thickened up.

I served over mashed potatoes, and garnished with some fresh parsley!

Red Wine Braised Short Ribs

*recipe to come*

White Chicken Chilli

Sauté a large yellow onion, jalapeño, ideally garlic in some butter. My garlic had mold on it, so I had to sub in some garlic powder.
Don’t be like me tho - use really garlic. After the veggie mixture softens, 2-3 minuets add a little flower and stir. I added a probably 6 cups of chicken broth and maybe a 1/3 cup of half and half and stirred it together, seasoning with cumin, cayenne, oregano, mustard powder, some red pepper flakes and salt. I blended half a can of cannoli beans and added it to the pot, and the remaining beans whole. I rinsed the beans, do you have to I don’t know do what feels right. After the beans, I added two chicken breasts to the pot and let it simmer but like a high simmmer, but not really a boil for like 15 minutes until the chicken was cooked, too out the chicken shredded it and added it back. I seasoned again, added some Worcestershire sauce and some hot sauce, I used chalula and the juice of one lime.

Garnish with tortilla strips, cilantro, greens onions of course some more lime and pepper jack cheese.

Break Fast