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Nourishing Frugal Recipes

15 Unrecipes for Healthy Busy Day Meals

February 27, 2019 by KimiHarris 2 Comments

These easy methods can produce yummy healthy meals with what you have on hand - and without a formal recipe!

There is a certain lovely rhythm you can fall into in the kitchen that lends itself to creating simple meals and snacks with what you have on hand. A pinch of this, a handful of that, some leftovers, and a pot of beans, and dinner is served.

While I continue to experiment with some new recipes to bring to you at The Nourishing Gourmet, I wanted to share some of my “un-recipes,” or methods that are so simple, and pliable to what you have on hand, that an exact recipe is not needed.

I will link to some easy recipes as well, to get your thought process going. But I find that a well-stocked kitchen can often supply delicious meals without a recipe and just a dash of creativity.

You will notice that some of these snacks and easy meals are inspired by the books I read as well.

Bed of Greens + random bits and pieces
Cover a plate with fresh greens of choice (I use the baby salad greens), and top with leftovers such as shredded meats, cooked grains, chilled vegetables, leftover (or canned) beans, fresh vegetables, and top with dressing of your choice (here are 8 of my favorite dairy-free salad dressings). Other options: Canned fish, fried egg, boiled eggs, diced, homemade croutons (fry diced older bread cubes in a pan with melted butter and olive oil and salt and pepper).

I’m amazed at the delicious meals I am often able to make using just the little bits and pieces of leftovers used over salad greens.

Nutritious Smoothies
If you keep frozen fruit in the freezer, it’s easy to whip up a last minute meal or snack. Add salad greens for vegetables, or cucumber or zucchini. Use banana or some juice to sweeten it. Add protein by using white beans, collagen powder, or a spoonful of nut butter (like in this recipe )

Easiest soups ever
If you have broth, you can make a soup with leftovers or pantry items. For example, many soups can be created with a few vegetables, and some eggs (egg drop soup [PDF file]is one of my favorites!).

Or heat broth and add leftover vegetables, rice, and diced meat. Or saute vegetables, add broth, and then add some leftover pasta and meat. There are as many variations as you can imagine! If your broth is homemade and flavorful (just salt it well!), you can get away with adding less to it, and it still being delicious.

Apples and Cheese or Apples and Nut/Seed Butters
This makes a light meal or a snack. Slice apples and cheese, and enjoy. Or slice apples and serve with your choice of nut, peanut, or seed butter. (We love this DIY Maple Pumpkin Seed Butter too).

Celery Stick and Peanut butter or nut/seed butter
You know the drill, slather celery sticks with nut butter of choice, and top with raisins, if desired. If you want to get even fancier, there are other versions as well according to Google.

Swedish Rye Bread and Cheese
Weston A Price noted that Swedish villagers used dark rye bread and a large slab of grass-fed cheese (about the size of your hand) for meals. When both the bread and the cheese are using nutrient-dense ingredients, you get a surprising amount of nutrients in such a simple meal. It’s important to remember that people in the past didn’t have time to make elaborate meals, but their bread and cheese were often more nutrient dense because of the ingredients and methods they used to produce them. (Grilled cheese is also delicious, and to make it more “grown-up” you can always add grilled onions or vegetables, or serve with a soup or salad on the side). Our kids also love quesadillas!

Stuffed Avocados
Slice an avocado in half and fill with egg salad, top with sliced boiled eggs, or tuna or chicken salad. Yum!

Japanese Avocados
This is a favorite from my husband’s childhood. Follow the recipe once, and never need it again!

Open-faced sandwiches
I love this Norwegian tradition. Use hearty sliced bread (I use gluten-free) and serve with leftover sliced meats, hard-boiled eggs, butter, sliced cucumbers, and radishes, baby greens, leftover cooked fish + whatever you have on hand, or want to use! People can make their sandwiches as they like it. You can even put out lettuce cups for those not eating grains or use a paleo bread.

This easy dish makes a wonderful and flavorful frugal main dish that is paleo and AIP friendly too! Serve it over desired carbohydrate (AIP - think cauli-rice or sweet potato). -- The Nourishing Gourmet

Skillet Meals
Again, using leftovers, you can create excellent meals. Fry up leftover rice or quinoa into fried rice/quinoa. Use diced meats, frozen peas or corn, or saute up some vegetables and then add pre-cooked ingredients to the pan. Read, The Art of Skillet Dinners, for more ideas, including some grain free options.

Fried Bread (inspired by James Herriot)
James Herriot, in one of his beautiful books, talks about his wife making him fried bread to bring along when he was driving to visit a farm in his veterinarian duties. It makes a delicious snack! Basically, you pan-fry a slice of bread in butter, olive oil, or bacon grease, and serve nicely browned, while warm. Top with sandwich makings, if desired, or enjoy as is! This is like toast, but better.

Eggs in a Million Ways
Eggs are the perfect fast food. Scrambled, fried, boiled, soft-boiled, and on. Serve it for dinner along with sausage and toast, and everyone is happy. One easy recipe – Simple Deviled Eggs.

Grain “Puddings”
This makes an easy and delicious snack (or dessert!). Use leftover cooked and chilled grains such as rice, quinoa, buckwheat, or oats. Cover with milk of choice, lightly sweeten with sweetener of your choice (pure maple syrup is delicious), dust with cinnamon, and then serve cold or warm.

Sliced leftover meats with veggies, cucumbers, or baked goods
Put out a platter of leftover sliced meats (like pot roast, which is delicious cold), serve with cucumber slices and carrots and red bell pepper slices, and toast, muffins, or biscuits (biscuits are easy to make last minute!).

Leftover Baked Potatoes or Sweet Potatoes
I always try to make extra when we have these for dinner (see how to make sweet potatoes in a slow cooker here), and then I can quickly reheat them and serve with butter and salt and pepper, or stuffed with cheese or sour cream, or diced meats or leftover shredded beef. I also make roasted sweet potatoes rounds on a regular basis (another recipe where you really only need to use the “recipe” once or twice, before you have the method down).

Filed Under: 52 ways to save money on a healthy diet, For the Love of Food and Books, Nourishing Frugal Recipes, The Low Energy Guide to Healthy Cooking

Instant Pot Ginger and Garlic Broth

October 31, 2017 by KimiHarris 6 Comments

“Flavorful Ginger and Garlic Instant Pot Broth is so simple and easy to make! It also makes a wonderful full meal soup when poured over rice and shredded cooked chicken. Yum! Paleo, AIP, and grain free friendly soup! -- The Nourishing Gourmet

I love this gingery broth with hints of garlic. It’s perfect to sip on as a sipping broth (like this turmeric one!), but also makes a lovely simple soup. This easy broth is a cinch to make in the Instant Pot, and results in a flavorful broth full of good-for-you-ingredients. To dress it up, sometimes I add coconut milk or coconut cream, and squeeze fresh lime juice into my bowl or cup. Yum!

To make it into a main dish soup, you can serve over cooked rice and shredded cooked chicken. Top with chopped cilantro and fresh lime juice. Yum!

I make this with a leftover chicken bones from when I roast a whole chicken, but I’ve also use 3- 5 pounds of chicken legs (another inexpensive option).

I love to add ginger and garlic into my food any time of the year, but they are especially soothing in this broth during the cold and flu season (and I love their immune building properties too!).

This is the Instant Pot that I own, Instant Pot 6 Quart, (if you are buying one and are making food for a family, I’d recommend going even bigger to this model, Instant Pot 8 Quart).

For those who don’t have an Instant Pot, yes, you can make this on the stove! I’d gently simmer it on the stove top for 6-12 hours to get close to the same richness as the Instant Pot recipe. I’m sure that you could make this in the slow cooker as well (I’d try low for 12 hours).

This recipe works great for those on a paleo or AIP diet too.

Flavorful Ginger and Garlic Instant Pot Broth is so simple and easy to make! It also makes a wonderful full meal soup when poured over rice and shredded cooked chicken. Yum! Paleo, AIP, and grain free friendly soup! -- The Nourishing Gourmet

Equipment and Ingredients:

  • Skimmer Ladle: These are PERFECT for removing the bones and vegetable remnants with little hassle. (We also use it to get noodles out of the pot once they are done cooking). We’ve been using this Asian Spider Strainer. If you want an even clearer broth, using a skimmer ladle like this Super Fine Mesh Strainer Ladle.
  • Instant Pot 8 Quart or Instant Pot 6 Quart
  • I love this guar gum-free coconut milk (you can also use this coconut cream).

Instant Pot Ginger and Garlic Broth

Variation: You can also add some fresh turmeric root (or 2 teaspoons powder).

Ingredients:

  • Bones leftover from one roasted chicken or 3-5 pounds of chicken legs or drumsticks
  • 2-3 inches of fresh ginger root, rinsed and thinly sliced
  • 3-5 garlic cloves, peeled
  • 1 medium onion, peeled and the roots cut off, cut into quartered
  • Salt and pepper
  • Filtered Water
  • 1 cup of Coconut milk and fresh limes for serving, optional

Directions:

1.Place the chicken, sliced ginger, and garlic in instant pot insert. Add a scant tablespoon of unrefined salt and a couple large pinches of freshly ground pepper (leave pepper out if AIP).

2. Fill water to slightly under the fill line.

Edit:While most Instant Pot Recipes online fill the pot high for broth making, it’s recently come to my attention (through an article) that filling your Instant Pot to the Max fill line is NOT recommended. According to the manual,  “For all pressure cooking programs, do not fill the unit over 2/3 full. When cooking foods that expand during cooking such as grains, beans, and dried vegetables, do not fill the unit over 1/2 full. Overfilling may cause a risk of clogging the pressure release valve and developing excess pressure. Please see “Cooking Preparation”.” So I would only fill your pot 2/3s full of water for this recipe.

3. Press manual, and set time to 2 hours on high.

4. Let get to pressure and let it run through the pressure cycle.

5. Allow broth to naturally release pressure for 20-30 minutes.

5. Carefully release pressure. Carefully pour through a fine sieve into a heat safe bowl or pot, OR, my favorite, use a skimmer ladle to remove the bones and vegetables and place in compost. If you used fresh drumsticks, then you can also remove the meat from the bones once they are cool enough to handle, and use the meat in the broth or another recipe.

6. Adjust salt to taste.

7. To finish: Optional: Pour in about 1 cup of coconut cream or coconut milk and serve with quartered limes for squeezing into individual bowls.

Variation: Serve over cooked rice and shredded cooked chicken, and top with chopped cilantro and fresh lime juice. Yum!

Printable Version:

Instant Pot Ginger and Garlic Broth
 
Print
 
Instant Pot Ginger and Garlic Broth Bones leftover from one roasted chicken or 3-5 pounds of chicken legs or drumsticks 2-3 inches of fresh ginger root, rinsed and thinly sliced 3-5 garlic cloves, peeled 1 medium onion, peeled and the roots cut off, cut into quartered Salt and pepper Filtered Water 1 cup of Coconut milk and fresh limes for serving, optional
Instructions
  1. Place the chicken, sliced ginger, and garlic in instant pot insert. Add a scant tablespoon of unrefined salt and a couple large pinches of freshly ground pepper (leave pepper out if AIP).
  2. Add water until the pot is about ⅔'s full.
  3. Press manual, and set time to 2 hours on high.
  4. Let get to pressure and let it run through the pressure cycle.
  5. Allow broth to naturally release pressure for 20-30 minutes
  6. Release pressure. Carefully pour through a fine sieve into a heat safe bowl or pot, OR, my favorite, use a skimmer ladle to remove the bones and vegetables and place in compost. If you used fresh drumsticks, then you can also remove the meat from the bones once they are cool enough to handle, and use the meat in the broth or another recipe.
  7. Adjust salt to taste.
  8. To finish: Optional: Pour in about 1 cup of coconut cream or coconut milk and serve with quartered limes for squeezing into individual bowls.
  9. Variation: Serve over cooked rice and shredded cooked chicken, and top with chopped cilantro and fresh lime juice. Yum!
3.3.3077

Some links may be affiliate links. I may earn a small commission on items purchased through my links. 

Filed Under: $10 Main, AIP, Dairy Free, Egg Free, Gluten Free, Grain Free, Soups, The Low Energy Guide to Healthy Cooking

The Best Back to School Recipes

September 4, 2017 by KimiHarris 2 Comments

Some of the best recipes for the back to school season! Including snacks, easy dinners, freezer meals, and slow cooker recipes. -- The Nourishing Gourmet

Today is the day school starts in our household, and we are excited! We are doing a fusion of a Classical Half Day School for my fifth grader, and homeschool for my 1st grader. Our schedule is going to involve a lot more driving time, and meal planning will have to happen at more regular times now.

I’m organizing recipes for meal plans, and thought I’d share a list of some of my most popular and used recipes on my website with you all. Sometimes the oldies are the goodies!

Packed Lunches

GF Lettuce Wrap Bento Box, plus 4 other great gluten free bento box ideas

  • 5 Gluten Free Bento Box Lunches 
  • Freezing Homemade Lunch Meat and Other Easy Lunches
  • Paleo Energy Bites
  • Dark Chocolate Cookie Dough
  • Tart Cherry Fruit Snacks

Easy Dinner Recipes

Need dinner on the table fast? Make healthy and delicious meals using just a skillet! Read more about this method by reading this article at The Nourishing Gourmet.

  • 14 Easy Dinner Recipes 
  • The Art of Skillet Dinners
  • Vegetable Pork Skillet Dinner
  • Roasted Brats with Peppers and Onions
  • Keema Matar (Beef or Lamb Curry)
  • Lemon Garlic Drumsticks
  • Easy Flattened Pan-Fried Chicken
  • 3 Ingredient Pan-Fried Teriyaki Chicken

Food Prep

8 amazing gluten free freezer meals that are family friendly, healthy and so delicious! I love how easy all of the recipes are too. -- The Nourishing Gourmet
8 Healthy Gluten Free Freezer Meals
The Pemmican Principle of Food Prep
How Buying Prepped Vegetables is Saving Our Dinner

Slow Cooker Recipes

Whole Chicken in the Slow Cooker, Shawarma Style
Garlic Honey Drumsticks in a Slow Cooker
Shawarma Whole Chicken in a Slow Cooker
Chicken and Quinoa Stew
Slow Cooker Spaghetti Sauce
Slow Cooker Pot Roast with Winter Vegetables
Cook Once, Eat Thrice Slow Cooker Pot Roast
Slow Cooker Sweet Potatoes

Do you have a favorite recipe? Let me know in the comment section!

Filed Under: For the Kids, Nourishing Frugal Recipes, Nourishing Frugal Tips

Easy Dinner: Brats with Peppers and Onions (Toaster Oven Friendly)

August 23, 2017 by KimiHarris 6 Comments

Easy meal:Brats with Peppers and Onions (that can be made in a toaster oven!). Flavored with basil and garlic. Yum!

This easy dinner recipe gives you juicy brats with lightly browned onions and peppers that are lovely served in a bun or over rice. The brats (or sausage and hot dogs of your choice) get lightly browned and stay juicy, while the peppers and onions add a lot of flavor, color, and nutrition to the dish. I especially like it served with sauerkraut on the side.

When the weather is hot I throw this into our toaster oven, so it doesn’t heat up our house, and uses little electricity too. It does give out some heat (although not half as much as a regular oven), so we also cook this in our laundry room to prevent our kitchen and living space from getting any warmer. (Just make sure you keep it away from kids as the toaster oven gets very hot).

A Word on Equipment:

We choose to buy an inexpensive toaster oven that doesn’t have nonstick in it. You can read about it here. We are still very happy with it! (Here is a direct Amazon link: Waring Pro Digital Convection Oven).

If you are making a rice bowl, you can also use an Instant Pot or clay rice cooker – this is also a great way to prevent your kitchen from getting too hot on a warm day.

Are Sausage/Hot Dogs Good for You?

Finally, there have been some studies linking eating hot dogs to higher rates of certain childhood cancers, as well as possible cancer causing effects on adults. (This article has a good overview of some of them.) While there could be other explanations for some of the results (that is, people who ate more processed meats also could be more likely to be eating an unbalanced diet), the statistics are still compelling. For that reason, we try to avoid or limit sausage and processed meats that contain nitrates and are heavily processed. The brats pictured above are from a local grocery store that grinds their own meat and stuffs their sausage themselves. It’s no different from eating ground meat, so I feel they are a good choice.

Feeding your family vitamin C containing fruits and vegetables (including lacto-fermented sauerkraut) could also help prevent toxic components of processed or grilled meats from affecting your health. I find it fascinating how previously unknown benefits to well-balanced diets are still being discovered! As always, we choose not to worry too much about every single discovery but buy the best quality we can afford and serve well-balanced meals. I was also amused to learn that marinades with herbs and garlic (like this recipe) help prevent carcinogens from forming when cooking meat at high heat. Sometimes what tastes best also is better for you!

Easy meal:Brats with Peppers and Onions (that can be made in a toaster oven!). Flavored with basil and garlic. Yum!

Brats with Peppers and Onions

PDF for Printing

Serves 5

  • 5 brats (or sausage/hot dog of choice)
  • 2 bell peppers (red and yellow are nice), seeded, stemmed, and thinly sliced
  • 1 onion (sweet or yellow), peeled and thinly sliced
  • 1 teaspoon dried basil
  • Unrefined Salt and Freshly Ground Pepper
  • 3 garlic cloves, peeled and finely minced or put through a garlic press
  • 2 tablespoons of fat (melted) or oil of your choice, heat safe.

1:Preheat oven or toaster oven to 400F.

2. Place all of the ingredients on a sheet pan, drizzle oil or melted fat over everything, and then toss to coat vegetables and meat evenly.

3: Place in oven or toaster oven and roast until the vegetables are soft and the sausage is completely cooked through (about 20 minutes – but it depends on the thickness of the sausage. A toaster oven will cook them faster). Ground meat products such as sausage should reach the temperature of 160F internally. I also like to see a little bit of browning on the sausage and vegetables.

4:Serve as desired, and enjoy!

 

_________

Some links may be affiliate links. I may earn a small commission on items purchased through my links. 

Filed Under: $10 Main, Dairy Free, Egg Free, Gluten Free, Grain Free, Main Dishes, The Low Energy Guide to Healthy Cooking

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The information you find here at The Nourishing Gourmet is meant to help you become a better cook! This site is primarily for sharing family friendly recipes. It's not meant to give medical advice or to make any health claims on the prevention or curing of diseases.This site is only for informational and educational purposes. Please discuss with your own, qualified health care provider before adding in supplements or making any changes in your diet. Also, any links to sponsors or affiliates (including Amazon) may give me a percentage of the sale or a pay per click. Thank you for supporting this site.

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