Veggie-packed, Paleo Chicken “Noodle” (Zoodle) Soup

I finally got a chance to make my chicken “noodle” soup! I know it’s the summer, but every now and then I like to ignore the season. Now, my camera is decent but nothing fancy, so the photos are good, but again nothing fancy.

Chicken noodle soup is one of my favorite foods. It’s my ultimate comfort food. It gives me an upside to dreary weather, it’s nourishing and satisfying and just delicious. And it’s my absolute favorite food when I’m feeling under the weather. But since I’ve started trying to eat better, I’ve wanted to figure out a way to make chicken noodle soup with some sort of veggie replacement for the noodles. Up until a few months ago I didn’t know what to use. But then it hit me: zucchini noodles! I’ve used them before as a spaghetti replacement for your standard spaghetti and tomato/meat sauce, and it was great. So I chopped them into smaller pieces and it worked out great! It’s the perfect way to maximize the nutrients in the soup without compromising its taste/texture.

This is a great soup to freeze for when you’re sick, or like me, if you have a migraine and have to sleep for 6 hours and ignore your stomach, then try to scrounge up food! Allow the soup to cool a bit so that it’s no longer hot, and ladle into quart size Ziploc bags or glass containers, and freeze. I advise bags or glass because heating a soup up in a plastic container might result in a very bubbly container.

Paleo Chicken Noodle Soup

Ingredients:

• 1 rotisserie chicken
• 3 zucchini
• 5 celery stalks
• 3 large carrots
• 1 shallot
• 2 cups or more of kale leaves
• 3 cloves garlic (I used 5 because mine were the super tiny inside cloves)
• 1/2 tsp dried thyme
• 1/4 tsp dried rosemary
• 5-6 cups chicken broth or stock, or bouillon mixed into water
• 1 and 1/4 tbsps olive oil
• salt and pepper
• fresh parsley, chopped

Assemble your veggies!

1. Clean and prep your veggies. Dice the celery, carrots, and shallots, and mince the garlic. Tear the kale into bite-size pieces. Use a julienne peeler on the zucchini, and cut them into two-inch pieces. *I’m including the vegetable prep in the instructions so that if you’ve just bought your chicken, you can give it a chance to cool down so it won’t burn your fingers. If you did buy it just before cooking, take off the lid to allow it to cool down faster.*

Tons of veggies.

Dat kale.

2. Pull off the chicken skin and discard (or it eat if you like it), and pull all the meat off the bones, but don’t discard the bones. Shred the chicken by hand, and set aside. Keep the carcass in the freezer to use for stock in the future.

The chicken carcass, and the unshredded meat. I have the worst luck with rotisserie chickens, I always manage to get the ones that are still fairly pink. If this happens to you, add the chicken in a little sooner and make sure it’s completely cooked before eating.

I did my prep the day before cooking, so I put all my stuff into big bags to keep in the fridge.

3. In a large stock pot, heat the olive oil on medium-low heat. Add the celery, carrots, shallots, and herbs and cook until softened, but just slightly more crunchy than you’ll want it. Add the zucchini, garlic, salt and pepper. Cook for two more minutes.

Carrots, celery, shallots and herbs, moments after adding them to the pot!

4. Add the chicken stock to the pot, and increase the temperature to high. Add the chicken and kale to the soup. Cook until it reaches a soft boil, then lower to a simmer, and cook for a couple minutes longer, until the kale is tender.

Broth, chicken, and kale have just been added in. If you’re anything like me, you will have chosen a pot that’s too small because nonstick is just that much easier to work with.

The finished soup!

5. Ladle into individual bowls, top with fresh parsley, and enjoy!

So there you have it! My first recipe, and my proudest creation, chicken zoodle soup.

Healthy Food Substitutions

Oof. It’s been a long time since I’ve posted, I’ve been slacking. Well, not entirely slacking, just in this category. I’ve been trying to improve my social life, go to the gym more often, and cook at home even more. Which basically equals me being way too exhausted to make coherent blog posts. But I’m trying to incorporate posting into the whole improvement thing! Anyways, onto the post!

There are some things that are just really difficult to give up entirely when you’re trying to eat healthier. For some people it’s peanut butter, for others pasta; you can struggle with giving up any type of food. So I thought I’d make a big ol’ list of foods like these that have healthier alternatives.  It’s always nice knowing you can get the satisfaction of the food you want, with the relief of a food that is way better for you.

PB2

PB2 is awesome. It’s a powder that you mix with water to make peanut butter. The only difference (other than the rehydration) between this and regular peanut butter is that the peanuts are pressed to remove the oil/fat, so it has WAY fewer calories than regular peanut butter. It tastes a little different – it’s less smooth and a bit less satisfying, but two tablespoons only has 45 calories.  Two tablespoon of regular peanut butter has about 190. My solution to the taste issue? Don’t eat it on its own. At the very least, dip celery or apples into it. You could also mix it into your oatmeal, blend it into a smoothie, or make a dip with some Greek yogurt, PB2 and sweetener (more on that further down).

Greek yogurt instead of regular yogurt, sour cream, and mayo

I’m sure mos tpeople have tried Greek yogurt at this point. It has more protein and (typically) less sugar than standard American yogurt. And it’s delicious! But it has more uses than you’ve probably realized. You can use plain, unsweetened Greek yogurt as a replacement for sour cream or mayo. The consistency and taste are similar for both. If you really want to go all-out in your efforts, try skyr, a yogurt-like Icelandic dairy product. The brand siggi’s, which I’ve used before, has 17 grams of protein per cup. Way more than most Greek yogurt out there.

As for Greek yogurt on its own, I’m a fan of Liberté, Oikos, Greek Gods, and certain flavors of Zoi. I’ve heard good things about Fage, but have yet to try it. I’ve noticed that Chobani is really popular, but it just tastes too sour for me, and the smell is a bit too reminiscent of vomit

Stevia

My preferred brand!

Oh god, I am so in love with stevia. I have finally found a no-calorie sweetener that doesn’t upset my stomach (no artificial sweeteners for me, ever). It tastes more like an artificial sweetener than it does sugar, but I don’t mind the taste. If you buy stevia, make sure to check the ingredients list on the product you buy, as some products list sugar as their first ingredient (sugar, really!?). My favorite is the bulk brand that I get at my local Town & Country Market – it has the least bitter aftertaste, which is a common complaint about stevia.

Since it’s a relatively new product, not a whole lot of studies have been conducted (relatively speaking, of course). Taking a look at this Wikipedia page suggests that there are very few, if any negative side effects. Most studies have found none, but because no one can say with absolute certainty that it’s 100% safe, I try not to consume it too regularly.

Zucchini noodles, spaghetti squash

Here’s a link to Nom Nom Paleo’s Zoodles and Meatballs recipe.

Oh. My. God. Zucchini noodles are just amazing. You get the nutrients and low calories of a vegetable, but the same pasta feel. I use a julienne peeler and saute them in a little bit of olive oil until they are tender, but still slightly crunchy. I’ve used them as a replacement for spaghetti (spaghetti and tomato/meat sauce), and as the “noodles” in chicken noodle soup (I’ve got the recipe all typed up, I just need to make it again and take pictures along the way!).

I haven’t personally tried spaghetti squash, but I’ve heard great things about it. It also works as a pasta replacement (hence the name), but I’ve also seen it used in a macaroni and cheese recipe. You can just microwave it for several minutes and pull out the flesh using a fork – from there it resembles a spaghetti texture.

Ground turkey instead of ground beef/pork

I recently started using ground turkey in place of ground beef and ground pork. It’s much lower in calories and fats (nothing wrong with fat, but there is such a thing as too much, and it’s high in calories), and if it’s in the right dish, there’s little difference. My personal favorite is making turkey burgers instead of regular burgers. It’s great, because if you just put the right seasonings in it, you won’t even notice.

Avocado instead of mayo

A recipe for “The Queen’s Chicken Salad”, a Venezuelan dish!

Avocado makes a great substitute for mayo, particularly in chicken salad. It has way more nutrients, and the fats in an avocado are much better for you than the store-bought mayo fats. It’s still pretty high in calories, but luckily it can go a long way.

Mashed cauliflower/parsnips

Here’s a lovely picture of/recipe for mashed cauliflower with cheese and dill (but for the love of all that is holy, don’t use margarine. Bad fats, remember?).

Potatoes aren’t particularly nutritious. Tons of simple carbohydrates – which means if you’re keeping track of your macros, one potato will be almost all your carbs for the day – and high in calories. Try making your mashed potatoes with steamed cauliflower or roasted parsnips instead – more nutrients, and fewer calories and carbohydrates.

Soda water instead of tonic water or soda

For the most part, I’ve stopped drinking soda entirely. The only time I have it now is when I’m at a party, a bar, or at a family function. I used to be so jealous of my cousin when we were younger because they would have soda at their house, and my parents would never buy it. I had always wished we’d had something other than milk or water at our house, but now I’m so glad they didn’t buy sugary drinks when I was little.

Sometimes you just want some carbonation, or a flavored drink, but you don’t want to drink your body weight in empty calories.  My solution is to drink flavored soda water. Not the kind that has aspartame or sucralose in it, because I don’t think it’s necessary, and because I just can’t drink them. Some of my favorite flavors right now are the Talking Rain Peach Nectarine and Cascade Raspberry Lemon. I also love the Hint flavored water. It isn’t sparkling, but the flavor is really intense and delicious. [Edit: they do have carbonated flavors! They’re harder to find, but they are wonderful.] I’ve tried watermelon, blackberry, and mango grapefruit and they’ve all been incredible. It’s been somewhat harder to find, so when I do find some, I buy like 10 bottles at a time.

Protein powder recipes to replace sweets

Protein Pumpkin Brownies from Derek Howes Fitness. Instructional video, recipe and nutrition breakdown via the picture. [122 CAL, 9.5G PROTEIN]

Something I’ve recently found is protein powder dessert recipes. The idea is that you can still have your sweets, but with much healthier, nutrient-richer recipes! I’ve seen brownies, cakes (including tiramisu), protein fluff, peanut butter cup sludge (no really, it actually tastes great), souffle and icing, just to name a few. My only warning is that you’ll want to take a look at the nutritional breakdowns, as some of them can be high in calories to help the people who are bulking.  Here’s some resources for recipes:

• Derek Howes Fitness – DHFTNS
• Protein POW
• Muffin Topless
• Here’s my Pinterest board for protein recipes I’ve found that don’t sound too hard, have relatively low calories/high protein, and use ingredients that I either have or can buy easily

As I find new healthy substitutions, I’ll add more to the list. Hopefully these can get you the fixes you want without compromising your diet plan!

Healthy eating on a budget

Most overweight or unhealthy people can come up with a reason for why they can’t better their health. “I don’t have enough time.” “I don’t like vegetables.” “It’s too hard.” With the economic recession, one of the biggest excuses is “It’s too expensive to eat well.” And now for the big news:

Eating healthy on a budget is doable.

It may take more time and effort, but eating good, healthy food (and food that isn’t boring, at that) is not hard even if you have a tight budget. In this post, I’m going to give you some guidelines to help you get the best bang for your buck, and the best food for your body. So let’s get started!

Cut the Junk

If you haven’t yet, you need to cut back on the amount of sugars and refined carbohydrates you eat. That means fewer cookies, candy, chips, bread, fried foods, and crackers. Soda should be eliminated entirely. If you’ve got a tight budget, you need to make sure the food you are buying is nourishing your body. It’s better to spend $5 on a couple crowns of broccoli than $3 on a bag of chips.

Limit How Often You Go Out to Eat

Restaurant food can be very expensive. Sure, there are some places that provide great food at a low price, but you can stretch one night’s cooking into 3 or 4 meals depending on what you make. Last night I made sautéed chicken breast with wild rice/quinoa veggie pilaf and green beans, and it fed me and my boyfriend, gave me today’s lunch, and extra chicken and pilaf.

Fast food may be cheap and quick, but you’ll pay for it in the long run with your health. It’s fine for the occasional, and I really do mean occasional, meal, but it’s full of additives, bad fats, unnecessary calories and non-nutritous food. As for typical restaurant food, you ultimately have very little control over what goes into your body when you eat out. You might not know how your chicken breast was prepared, or how many calories are packed into that quarter cup of salad dressing. When you do eat out, take measures that will cut back on calories (grilled meat over fried, balsamic dressings instead of creamy ones, etc).

Planning ahead

Planning ahead is the most important thing you can do to eat healthier. With weekly meal plans, you will seldom end up having to scrounge around in the freezer for those burritos you bought four months ago, or resorting to McDonald’s out of convenience.

If you’re going to a grocery store, see if you can find a weekly ad either in your paper or on their website, and plan meals for the week around what is on sale. Right now, Draper Valley chicken breasts are buy one get one free – I could get one for this week, and freeze one for later use, or use them both this week. I tend to adjust the food I eat to what is cheap that week – when broccoli is on sale, I’ll buy a few crowns and roast it, or use it in stir-fry.

Plan out your meals so that they incorporate these discounted items, and stock up on non-perishables that are on sale, if you can afford it. I love flavored, unsweetened sparkling water, so when they’re on sale at 50% off I’ll get a couple and store them in my garage. It only saves me about $.50 per bottle, but it’s better than nothing.

If you’re able to, spend a couple hours one day of the week prepping and cooking food for the rest of the week. You don’t have to cook every meal ahead of time, but if you can get some of the prep work out of the way, and even some of the cooking, it can give you more free time during the week. I stayed with some family friends for a few days in Ireland in 2011, and since the mother and father both worked, and the kids had school and after-school activities every day, they would cook all the dinners for the week on Sunday. The food that would be eaten Monday-Wednesday would stay in the fridge, and the Thursday and Friday meals went in the freezer. If you can figure out a way to incorporate at least a little bit of food preparation for the week, and it will make your week go smoother, and you’ll be less likely to resort to something unhealthy but convenient.

Whenever you go grocery shopping, you should always have a list. Try as hard as you can to stick to your list, and don’t give in to impulse buys.

Stick to the Perimeter of the Store

When you go grocery shopping, stay primarily on the perimeter of the store. It’s where you’ll find fresh fruits and vegetables, meat, eggs and dairy. The inner part of the store is where you’ll find junk food, condiments, and basically all the sugar and empty calories. There are only a few things you should get from the inside of the store – oils for cooking (but never vegetable oils), spices, dried herbs, tea, coffee, healthy bulk foods like nuts, canned/frozen fruits/vegetables (these are fine as long as there’s very few additives – they are frozen/canned at peak ripeness and nutritional value). Okay, so that’s more than a few. But all of those things together probably won’t make up the majority of your diet.

Eating in Season

One factor that you might not have considered is buying produce in season, especially locally. Doing this can drive your food bill down a lot, since the foods that are in season are going to be less expensive because the grocery store  has an abundance of food that they don’t need to reach out 5 states away for it.

Your location will determine what’s in season. In Seattle right now, asparagus, rhubarb, and lots of greens are in season. Up here, avocados aren’t cheap until the summer, and a few months ago you could buy tons of kale for five bucks. Keep in mind though that different fruits and veggies will be in season in different regions, so find an online resource that tells you what’s in season in your area.

Farmers Markets

I love farmers markets. I think it’s because I went to the market with my family when I was young and lived in France. They’re full of beautiful food grown and made by people who actually care about food quality. Farmer’s markets are a fantastic way to get produce that is local, (usually) organic, and tastes better. It is also one of the easiest ways to eat food that’s in season. If you’ve never been to a farmers market, keep in mind that a lot of the food there will look very different from its grocery store counterpart. Apples won’t be as pretty, potatoes will be dirtier, radishes will be smaller, and everything will come in more colors (hello purple carrots!).  Big farms grow food to last as long as possible, and look as traditionally pretty as possible, but it’s usually at the cost of taste. Your pears from the market will most likely taste better than the ones from the grocery store. Buying food from the market is also cheaper.*

Another benefit from markets is the community. You’re supporting local farmers, and get a chance to build a relationship with the people who grow your food. Sometimes you can even get better deals by establishing rapport with the people working the stands, but don’t try to low-ball them for their awesome products – they’ve put in a lot of hard work.

*In Seattle, the farmers markets are more expensive than buying from grocery stores. I looked it up to find out why this is the case, and it seems like it’s a combination of very little illegal labor being used, and high real estate prices. The best alternative I’ve found is an awesome place called Top Banana, where their produce is super cheap ($.069 for a red bell pepper instead of $2.00), there’s tons of it, it’s all really good quality, and more local than a grocery store.

Buy the Right Things in Bulk

When I say buy in bulk, I don’t mean go to Costco or Sam’s Club and get all the flour you could hope to use in your lifetime, and 40 pounds of coffee that’ll go stale before you get through the first pound. But if you love chicken breast, then buy a big Costco pack! Keep one or two portions in the fridge, and put the rest in the freezer with the date purchased marked on them. Here’s a list of things that work well in bulk, and how to use them properly:

• Raw meats – chicken breast/thighs, pork shoulder, ground beef/turkey/pork etc.  Put what you’ll use that week in the fridge, and store the rest in the freezer. For ground meats, you can portion them into specific sizes, like quarter-or half-pounds, and store them in separate containers.  
• Fruits and vegetables – only buy what you can use. If you’ll eat two pounds of broccoli before it goes bad, then go for it! If you have a hobby like canning, you can make jams, jellies, pickles, fruit butters and conserves with what you have leftover.
• Oils – if you buy olive oil, funnel it into a smaller, easier to use bottle, since their jug is about a gallon. You can now get coconut oil at Costco too, but make sure you can use it before it goes rancid (not sure how long this is, but heat may be a factor).
• Dried goods, like beans and brown rice or quinoa.
• Canned goods – look for low sodium and minimal additive options.
• Packaged frozen foods – one of my favorite new finds is the frozen mackerel that Costco carries. They come in a big bag of individually sealed half-fish portions, and they’re a breeze to make. I bake them when I have a side, but no protein for dinner. Other things you can get include frozen chicken breast, sausage patties/breakfast sausages, etc.

Grow your own food!

A great way to save money on seasonal food is to grow it yourself. You should take a look at what grows well in your region this time of year. Don’t forget to check for herbs – whenever I buy a bunch of parsley or cilantro from the store, I can never use all of it. So having a plant you can just pick what you need from can help reduce food waste as well as save you some money. I prefer plants that don’t just give you one harvest – think pepper and tomato plants, pea vines, and berry bushes/fruit trees. However you can plant every week or so over the planting period, so you can have a harvest once a week, as opposed to more food than you can eat, all at once.

You should also look into the produce that tends to be pricier in your area. Red, yellow, and orange bell peppers tend to be on the pricier side, so those would be a good choice for me in the Seattle area.

Recipe Resources

• Poor Girl Eats Well – an awesome blog with lots of cheap meals, which have per recipe/ serving/ingredient cost breakdowns.
• Budget Bytes – similar setup to PGEW, but different recipes from a different lady!
• reddit.com/r/fitmeals – a great resource for healthy meals. Users post blog recipes or their own creations, and you can search by using various tags, such as “low cal”, “high protein”, and “cheap.” They sometimes have tips on there as well.

Eating healthy on a budget isn’t impossible. It may be harder, since you need to plan things out ahead of time and cook at home, but it is doable. Taking just an hour or two out of your week to shop, prep, and cook can spare you from making poor last-minute food choices.