Toasted Ravioli with Fresh Basil



Quick, tasty, nutritious.  My favorite type of meal.  Here is another simple, easy lunch or dinner option that we really enjoy.

 

Typically the most difficult part of quick meals is having the ingredients on-hand.  Thus it is essential that you do a meal plan each week before you go grocery shopping until you become proficient at cooking from scratch.    

 

Ingredients:

 

Homemade tomato sauce (I keep extras in freezer)

A good quality ravioli (the organic spinach cheese ravioli in photo is from Costco)

Fresh basil (very easy to grow in garden or a pot)

Organic olive oil

 

In a glass or good quality pot (not one with a non-stick coating), place frozen homemade tomato sauce to thaw and heat while cooking ravioli. 

 

 

 

Heat a heavy skillet (don't use one with a non-stick coating) over medium heat.  Oil lightly with olive oil.  Place ravioli (stored in refrigerator, not frozen) in skillet and lightly brown each side.  I flip them a few times until they puff up like a pillow.  Remove and continue cooking rest of ravioli.  Dice up about 10 fresh basil leaves.  Place ravioli on plate, top with homemade spaghetti sauce and fresh basil.  Serve immediately.



Quick and Simple Meals

 

Are you busier than ever now that school has started back up?  This seems to be the case for just about everyone.  Even if you don't work or have kids in school, you are still probably affected because of the extra traffic on the roads or the extra projects in your life as the lazy days of summer come to an end. 

 

We live in a world of information and activity overload.  It is hard to escape this so you must plan your meals with your busy schedule in mind.

 

My favorite recipes are the ones that are simple and quick.  My dinner, shown in the photo, took about 30 minutes of my time to fix.  (I do not include the slow cook time for the roast in this number - but the roast time is so flexible you can work that around your schedule.)  

 

The roast takes some advanced planning and 5 minutes of your 30 minute prep time in the morning.  I used a 100 % grass-fed roast - a large one so that I would have extra meat for another meal of BBQ brisket and beef drippings/juice for beef barley soup.  So my 30 minute prep time for this dinner helps to make two more meals later in the week. 

 

25 minutes before dinner -

   I took the roast out of oven and let it sit covered while I made the rest of dinner

   I then started the quinoa on the stove top (watching it as I cut veggies)

   I next prepared the ingredients for the squash dish

   Then I placed lettuce for salads on our plates

   Finally I stir-fried the squash with sage and pulled the roast meat apart.

 

In less than 30 minutes, a delicious meal was on the table. 

 

Simple Roast:  5 minutes to prepare in morning (multi-hour to cook - very flexible to accommodate your schedule).

 

Place lid tightly on top and put in oven at a low temperature (use 225 to 275 °F) and bake for 5 to 10 hours depending upon roast size and temperature chosen.  You can also use a crock pot.  When done (this cooking method is very forgiving - I cook it until I'm ready the make the rest of dinner), remove from oven and allow about 30 minutes to rest.  The meat was so tender it pulled apart without needing a knife to cut it.  Less than a minute needed to pull the meat apart and place it on a dish for dinner. 

 

Quinoa:  5 minutes to prepare

 

I made a simple, quick version for this meal (I did not add the celery and almonds, just some sea salt and turmeric to the water).  Start this first and then let sit at least 15 minutes while preparing the squash.  Fluff with fork with ready to dish.

 

Summer Squash and Sage:  15 minutes to prepare

 

This take the longest time to prepare but as you fix more dishes with fresh vegetables, you will get faster chopping up the vegetables.  If I were a professional chef, I could probably have done this in 5 minutes!  But it is worth the extra bit of time for this step, because even if you are slow it still doesn't take that much time.

 

Salad:

 

Your salad doesn't have to be complicated.  Short on time - just make a salad of organic spring greens.  For this salad, I used some Annie's Organic Salad Dressing (I like the Caesar variety because it does not contain soy oil or sugar) on my lettuce.

 

Nutritious, delicious meals made from scratch do not have to take all day to fix.  Many of my recipes take very little time to fix.  If you are short on time, find quick, easy items to make as I did for this dinner.  You will be rewarded for your efforts when you feel better and have improved health.  Don't forget to buy the best quality ingredients you can find.

Breakfast Burritos for Dinner



We often have breakfast burritos for dinner - an extremely quick, easy, and filling meal.  Actually, breakfast burritos are good for any meal of the day.  Find and buy good quality eggs and add this meal to in your meal planner next week. 

 

Be aware when you buy eggs, that organic only means the chickens are fed organic feed (the main ingredient being soy unless the eggs specifically say 'soy-free'), cage-free means that the chickens are not confined individually in cages (but this does not mean that they are not confined in one large building together), and free-range means they have access to the outdoors (though if offered feed all the time, the chickens may not venture out and will be fed a soy-based non-organic feed unless specifically stated 'organic, soy-free').  Investigate how the chickens are raised for the eggs which you purchase. 

If you cannot find free-range, organic, soy-free eggs, I think the most important aspect is to get eggs from chickens that are outside in an open, grassy, sunny area that can truly free-range.  In this photo, Fred is harvesting the last of our raspberries and throwing the soft ones over the garden fence, so several of our chickens (and the rooster) have come over to check it out.  Truly free-range chicken can 'free-range' outside in an open area. 

 

We feed our chicken an organic, sprouted grain mixture so they do not receive soy in their diet.  If anyone is interested in learning how to make your own chicken feed, let me know and I'd love to share with you what we do.

Ingredients (serving size 2 making 2 burritos each):

6 free-range good quality eggs
1 tsp. kelp granules
1 Tbl. milk (or water)
1/2 - 1 1/2 cup diced vegetables (I used organic orange sweet bell pepper and green onions for the ones photoed)
~ 1 Tbl butter
1 - 3 tsp fresh chopped herbs (I used basil, cilantro, lemon thyme)
2 - 4 or more Tbl salsa
fresh tomato and avocado
4 whole wheat or whole grain tortillas

Crack eggs into a bowl, add kelp and milk.  Beat together with fork or whisk.  Prepare vegetables (such as onions, peppers, mushrooms, zucchini) and herbs (such as basil, cilantro, chives, thyme, oregano) - use what you have on hand. 



Heat a skillet to medium heat (don't use non-stick coated skillets - I have a cast iron skillet I use).  Grease the skillet well with butter, and saute the chopped vegetables for a minute or two (don't saute the tomato, avocado or fresh herbs if using).  Push vegetables to the edges of the skillet and re-butter the center.  Pour in eggs and scramble.

 

Place tortillas on a plate, add eggs, and top with any of the following: fresh herbs, salsa, tomato, avocado, cheese, sour cream, etc.  Roll up and enjoy.

Lynn's Baked Chicken Wings



Baked Chicken Wings is my friend, Lynn's, favorite family quick meal.  The quality of the chicken wings that you buy is extremely critical to this recipe.  This meal takes just a little planning because you need to have some thawed chicken wings, but it is extremely quick and easy to make.  Serve with a side of quinoa with almonds and celery or a salad.  Leftovers (if you should happen to have any!) are great reheated or cold.

When I asked Lynn about her favorite "30-minute or less meal" was this is what she said, "This is one of my family’s fun meals, the recipe that I make when I am tired or short on time.  It is also one of our favorite meals, our version of “Friday Night Pizza”.  I serve it with oven baked fries.  There are two secrets to this recipe: 1) Purchase good quality wings from Whole Foods or a local ranch  (do not use grocery store wings as the flavor will not be the same) and 2) Remember to thaw the wings ahead of time (to quickly thaw if you have forgotten, you can place them in a ziploc bag and soak in a sinkful of water for a couple of hours)."

Ingredients:

3 pounds of good quality chicken wings  (this amount will feed 5 adults)

Toss 3 pounds of chicken wings, patted dry with a paper towel, with the following:

2 Tbl dehydrated onions

2 Tbl dehydrated garlic (6 crushed garlic cloves – as many as a head!)
2 Tbl paprika (or 1 Tbl paprika, 1 Tbl smoked paprika)
¼ tsp chili powder (or Lynn uses 1 or 2 tsp of crushed chili peppers - they like things spicy)
2 tsp sea salt
1 tsp freshly ground pepper

Mix dry spices together in a large bowl.  Pat dry the chicken wings with a paper towel and place in bowl with spices.  Toss until chicken wings are well coated.  Let rest for a few minutes, if in a hurry, to a few hours to marinade (place in the refrigerator).

Lay the wings next to each other on parchment paper on a cookie sheet,  spaced about 1” apart.  Bake at 425 F for 30-40 minutes, until cooked golden and crisp. 



Tom's Quesadillas

When I first met with my team, I asked how they thought I could best help others making the transition from eating the standard American diet to a diet of 100 % God's food.  Kris suggested that I provide ideas and recipes for quick 30-minutes or less meals. 

This was a brilliant suggestion and I am going to start with my family's favorite, quesadillas.  In fact, this is one of our 'emergency' meals.  You must have a few back-up meals on hand at all times, so that when things don't go as planned, you can still quickly pull together a meal for your family.  Not only will it be more nutritious, it will save you money if you don't have to run to Sonic, order a pizza, or buy the prepared dinner at the grocery store.

Quesadillas became my family's favorite because they became my son, Tom's, favorite. He learned how to make them so that whenever he is hungry he can make himself one.  Not only does he make his own quesadillas when hungry, he also makes the yellow rice and refried beans from scratch that are used in them.  When we run out, he makes up another batch of each.  Best of all, he cooks lunch or dinner for the whole family when we have this as a meal, typically once or twice a week.  It is his speciality now!  Involve your children and teach them to cook using God's foods, so they will have this knowledge when they are grown and on their own.

We keep packages of tortillas in the freezer, and always have a bowl of cooked rice, a bowl of refried beans, and white cheese in the refrigerator.  These are the keys ingredients for this simple, quick meal.

Ingredients:

whole wheat or whole grain tortillas

refried beans

yellow rice

green onions, chopped

organic salsa

Monterrey Jack or other white cheese, shredded (shred your own)

avocado

Optional (add what you like and have available):

bell pepper slices

mushrooms

shredded chicken

taco meat

Preheat a griddle or skillet (we use a cast iron griddle). Place tortilla flat on a plate and spread refried beans on half.  Then layer with yellow rice, green onions, salsa and other optional ingredients of your choice.  Lastly place a layer of shredded cheese on the top.  Fold in half and place on griddle (no oil or grease needed).  Heat until slightly browned (about 5 minutes depending upon temperature), and carefully flip over.  Heat for an additional few minutes until both sides are slightly browned and the cheese is melted.  Then, if desired, open up gently and place avocado slices inside and then close back up the tortilla.  Enjoy by themselves, with a side salad, or with carrot sticks.