Best Kept Secret to Being A Dinner Superstar...

/

Whole Foods Boca Raton

Since I started working with my health coach (Amanda Dobler), I’ve been doing a lot more cooking. Pre-Amanda, I thought that every meal needed to be the best meal of my life & I was going out to eat a lot. Post Amanda, I’m lighter, I have the structure of my plate down to a science with a few go to meals, and I try to make things taste great with as few ingredients as possible. My waist is happy, my wallet is happy, and I’m happy!

I strive for easy clean up - ideally 1 pan, because I already have to cook you guys! So what’s the secret to saving time and making it easy. My go-to secret is to peruse the pre-packaged meat section of Whole Foods for the seasoned items. This is not the hot bar, it’s the section next to where they keep the meats. They usually have pre-seasoned steak, chicken, meatballs, burgers, etc. You don’t need to talk to a soul, just grab what ya need and get going. Yes you still need to cook it, but reheated meats really creep me out.

This week I looked like a champion whipping up gourmet meals with little to no effort & no more than 1 pan! Ok, ok… I’ll tell you what I made.

Easy Breezy Dinner: Lemon Herbed Chicken Over Rice

Ingredients:

  • Pre-Packaged Lemon Herbed Chicken (Whole Foods)

  • White Rice

  • Chicken Broth (1/2 cup?)

Instructions:

Pre-heat the oven to 350. Grab an oven safe casserole dish (small to medium, I like this one). Put rice in the dish. Pour in chicken broth. Cut open the Chicken. Put it in the dish. Cook for roughly 40 mins. Take it out & eat it! That’s it. You’re done. If you want to get fancy make a side salad.

Give it a whirl & let me know what you think!

Weekend Recipes: Kristen Cavallari's Basil Dressing

/

This dressing is so easy and it tastes so delightful, your family or friends might think it took days to make! On top of it being delicious, you can quickly modify the ingredients by holding the honey to make it Dr. P approved!

True Roots - Sweet Basil Vinaigrette Dressing

  • 1/2 cup champagne vinegar

  • 1 small shallot, minced

  • 1 clove of garlic, minced

  • 2 tablespoons raw honey

  • 4 tablespoons basil (finely chopped)

  • 1 tsp lemon

  • 2 tsp dijon mustard

  • 3/4 cup olive oil

  • salt (preferably the pink kind)

  • pepper to taste

In a medium bowl, whisk the vinegar, shallot, honey, basil, lemon juice, mustard, salt & pepper (just a pinch). While whisking, add the EVOO in slowly, Pour over your favorite salad & YUM - you are now a master chef! Thanks Kristen!

This makes about 1 1/2 cups and if you are rolling solo these days, it will last about 1.5 weeks! If you are on a low sugar diet, you’ll want to leave out the honey - don’t worry it still tastes great!

Enjoy!