Turkey Tortilla Soup

So I’m sure everyone back home is doing last-minute shopping for their Thanksgiving meal Thursday. The turkey is probably defrosting and brining as I type this. Here in Germany, though, Thanksgiving came early. Actually, it came early and twice. Two weeks ago, I celebrated potluck-style with some of my American colleagues and then last Saturday, I hosted a sit-down Thanksgiving dinner. Both of which were a huge success and left me looking to get into my most comfortable pj pants asap.

When all the guests went home, though, I discovered I still had about half a turkey on my hands. Turkey sandwiches are delicious, but I can only eat so many. Soup, though, that is where it's at. Especially now that it’s freezing outside. To spice things up, I decide to do a Mexican inspired soup instead of the standard turkey noodle. 

The recipe is so fast and so easy. It will be on the table in 30 minutes. Plus, it is so, so, so much better than any canned soup. The chipotle chili in adobe sauce really adds a smokey kick of flavor. Squeeze some lime on before serving and enjoy!

What to love:

· Low fat: Turkey is low in fat and this recipe does not add much more.

· Low carb: Unlike many soups, this one has no pasta or potatoes in it. Just a sprinkling of sliced, toasted corn tortillas.

· High protein: Even without the extra carbs, one serving of this will keep you full for hours and help build muscles thanks to the meat and beans.

· High fiber: The beans and veggies help regulate blood sugar levels, keep you full and reduce cholesterol.

· Decent dose of Vitamin C from the tomatoes and other veggies.

10-Minute Tex-Mex Tortilla Pizza

Now this is my kinda fast food. A crisp tortilla topped with salsa verde, black beans, melted pepper jack, sweet red onions and some smoky spices! So much flavor and so few calories compared with your standard slice of pie.

Another brilliant recipe passed onto me by my sister. Gotta give it to her, she knows her stuff when it comes to Mexican food! 

It is my new, go-to savoy snack. It satisfies my craving for Mexican food and pizza in one fell swoop. Does it get any better? I cannot wait to serve it up at girls’ wine night. Not to mention, it makes a great dinner or lunch when paired with a salad. Enjoy!!

What to love about this meal (beside how delicious, cheap and fast it is!): 

• Healthy omega-3s from the avocado help your heart and brain.

• Protein and cholesterol-lowering fiber from the beans help regulate blood sugar, keep you full and build strong muscles!  

• Red onions have some vitamin C and when consumed raw help fight cancer. They are anti-inflammatory, antibiotic and antiviral. (Read more about the benefits of onions here!)
• Cayenne pepper helps stimulate your circulatory system, lower cholestrol and prevent heart disease. (Read more here!)

Mexican Pizza

 

Smokey spiced meat and black beans covered in sweet red onions and melted cheddar cheese. To top it off, a homemade salsa and slices of creamy avocado.

So cilantro was on sale and I, not being one to pass up a bargain, decided that I needed to purchase unreasonable amounts of the herb. The result: I ended up having Mexican food four out of seven days last week. Am I sick of it yet? NOPE! I did my standard chicken enchiladas, but decided to get creative come Friday with some fusion food! Pizza meet burrito. So, so good.

Now, this is not one of my lightest meals. There is bread, cheese and ground beef involved here, but I don’t feel guilty in the least. Why? Because its actually pretty good for you. Beside the fresh tomato salsa you pile on every slice, which gives you some vitamin A and C, the avocado has health omega 3’s to boost heart health and brain function. Adding herbs like cilantro helps pull toxic heavy metals out of your body and the lime juice helps the liver flush out toxins. Plus, there is fiber from the beans and the protein I use is lean ground beef. Ground turkey is another great alternative or you could do shredded chicken.

If you are really looking to cut down on calories and carbs, simply replace the standard crust with my cauliflower crust recipe. Since we are piling on the toppings this time, I’d recommend cutting out or back on the tomato sauce to keep the crust slightly more firm.

Fish Tacos

I have had this for dinner at least once every week for the last month. Behold: Fish Tacos! I cannot get enough. I LOVE IT! Feel free to scream-sing those lyrics Icona-Pop style.

Besides being delicious, the tacos are fast to make and require minimal stove time so you can enjoy the summer weather instead of sweating in your kitchen. My favorite part of the dish, though, is the salsa salad I put in the tacos. It's a medley of sweet corn, blackbeans, avocado, red pepper and red onion that I top off with fresh lime and Mexican spices. It is so bright and crispy! I skip tomoatoes, because they often get so watery and seedy unless they are in season.  Sometimes I throw in mango if I want to really bring out the sweetness, but I feel like it does not go as well with fish as it does beef or chicken.

If you want to lighten up the meal, skip the tortilla and cheese and simply serve the fish and salsa salad over a bed of greens with your favorite Mexican dressing. I also just make the salsa salad as side. If you have it over rice, quinoa or salad it's makes for a great meal.

Mexican Breakfast Quesadilla

Holy moly. I forgot how much I LOVE these. Close your eyes, bask in the flavors, savor every bite kinda love. It’s actually probably fairly obnoxious to watch me eat them. But what can I say, they are just that good.

Breakfast quesadillas have been a favorite of mine since about the time I started cooking for myself. They pretty much got me through college. Cheap ingredients that keep well? What college student doesn’t love that! Plus, it’s a one pan dish that is done in no time. I have come up with just about every variation you can think of, but my favorite by far is the Mexican version. The black beans really make it a hearty dish and push it past breakfast food to a decent lunch or dinner option as well.

Admittedly, my recipe has changed over the years. I can now afford to throw in fresh foods like mushrooms, red peppers and herbs, but the basics are the same. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do!

Detox Halfway Point & Southwestern Stuffed Peppers

Detox update and resolutions: I’ve made it halfway!! I’m currently on day 23 of 40 and I have to admit that my old habits are starting to breakdown. Things are getting easier. There is light… in the middle of the tunnel?? OK, maybe that metaphor just doesn’t work here.

But seriously, I feel great! I no longer miss that cup of coffee in the morning or afternoon. I’m actually awake! I’m almost annoyed at how chipper I am. My energy levels aren’t all over the place like they used to be. No more foggy mornings and post-lunch crashes. And now that I have brought sugar-free desserts back into my life, I feel less deprived.

So with all the success I’m finding, I’ve been asking myself: How does life continue after this experiment ends? Will I continue with some of these new "habits" or will I go back to my old ways? What small changes are reasonable or necessary?

• Caffeine/Coffee: To be fair, I never really drank coffee regularly until my last two years of college. It’s only in the last three years when I started working at a company with a free coffee machine that gave me the option of cappuccinos and latte macchiato that I really became a two-cups-a-day sorta gal. Now that I have step away from this, I realize what a vicious cycle it can become. I needed the coffee, because I was drinking the coffee. I was drinking the coffee, because I needed the coffee. But I have also just grown to love the taste and smell, especially when eating baked goods. It’s therapeutic and romantic to hold that warm cup in your hands while the aroma swirls around you. I don’t want to give that up. My other reservation is that sometimes that caffeine boost is just what I want.
Resolution: I’m going to try to drink only decaf during the week and save regular coffee for weekends and special occasions involving baked goods.

• Processed carbs: Surprisingly, this has been the easiest change for me emotionally. I don’t really miss pasta and bread all that much. Weird, I know. But with all the alternative sources of carbs (beans, lentils, quinoa, etc.), my body doesn’t seem to crave them. The cauliflower-based alternatives (rice, pizza crust, mashed potatoes) are really going a long way in helping me stay satisfied. The only real problem is that you have to think about where your calories are going to come from.
Resolution: I want my diet to rely less on processed carbs, but I don’t intend to cut them out entirely. By that I mean I don’t want my standard breakfast to always be toast or to have dinner include pasta more than three nights a week. I have no qualms about eating processed carbs when I eat out, because I only really do that a few times a week. And I will go back to baking with flour, but hope to start bringing gluten-free recipes into my baking repertoire.

• Sugar/Sweets: This is a tough one. I’m still thinking about how to approach it, because sugar is in things that are dear to me and I just refuse to live without – namely baked goods and chocolate. Being Swiss pretty much means chocolate runs through my veins. It’s my life source. It contributes to my quality of life and joy. It’s not something I want to give up entirely. But since cutting sugar out, I’ve become acutely aware of how much I was consuming – often without evening knowing it. And I’m fairly certain most people would consider my consumption to be average, which is a little scary. The thing is sugar is added to so many foods that you just forget about – yogurt, canned tomatoes, sandwich meats, crackers and breads. And this is something I CAN do without.
Resolution: I will absolutely start paying more attention when grocery shopping and try to purchase products that do not have added sugar. For instance, I intend to keep buying plain yogurt and stop eating ones that are flavored and make sure my tomato sauce isn’t spiked with sugar. I intend to use as many whole foods in my cooking as possible to help cut out all the other crap that comes along with processed foods. Since I am not willing to give up my baked goods and chocolate, I think I will settle for just making wise choices as to when it’s worth it to eat and when it’s not. Homemade cakes, cookies, pies = Totally worth it. Run-of-the-mill doughnuts and pastries that have been sitting in the office kitchen for four hours drying out already = Probably not worth it. All this said, I’m still not sure what to do about chocolate.

• Alcohol: Another tricky one, because it is so closely connected with social activities, celebrations and relaxation. You picture yourself sipping red wine at a delightful dinner party, clinking champagne glasses at a wedding, drinking a refreshing beer on a hot summer’s day while you grill or stirring a mojito by the pool. It’s easy to forget that you are hurting your poor liver and wasting the day after a big celebration feeling rough. Intentionally not drinking really makes you aware of this. But your liver can handle a certain amount of alcohol. The key is just not to over do it – in quantity and frequency. Processing alcohol results in a highly toxic metabolite which can contribute to liver cell damage, but provided you give your liver time to recover it regenerates. And to consider what other factors your body is or will be dealing with at the same time. Are you feeling rundown already? Did you have a lot of caffeine, which also taxes your liver.
Resolution: Clearly, I'm not cutting it out. All things in moderation, even moderation. I see nothing wrong with enjoying a glass of wine while cooking or having that beer while grilling. My main takeaway is to be more intentional and aware of my alcohol consumption. As part of this, I intend to start considering the sugar content of the beverages I'm drinking and try to scale that back as well. 

BACK TO THE FOOD!
Enough rambling about what I want to do when the 40 days are over, though. I have to get through them first!

I'm on a roll with Mexican now. First the fajitas, now stuffed red peppers. I'm in heaven. Also, I’m thinking my next Mexican-inspired dish will included mango and a yogurt chicken marinade thanks to my coworker who shared her delicious lunch of grilled chicken and mango with me.

This time I was looking for another protein-boost. After finishing a crossfit workout, I wanted to make sure my sore muscles would had everything they needed. Spiced ground turkey loaded into succulent red peppers was the ticket!! I will be a lean, mean crossfitting machine if I keep eating like this.

Side note: I can't wait to make an Italian version of this.

Oven Chicken Fajitas

Friday night was fajita night! And movie night, but that’s beside the point. If I don’t have Mexican food at least one a week, something just feels wrong. Somehow my body craves spicy meat, fresh lime and creamy avocado.

Living in Germany does not make this easy, because there are all of two Mexican restaurants in Frankfurt neither of which actually serve Mexican food. And to make matters worse, you can’t find any decent salsa, chips or corn tortillas in regular supermarkets. That requires a trip to an indoor farmer’s market.

I do the best with what I can find, though. And tonight’s meal was cooked with ingredients that I even I can get my hands on at a local grocery store. The beauty of this dish was that while it took a while to cook, it did not take long to prep (15 mins). And everything went into just one massive casserole dish, so limited cleanup!

I served this over a bed of lettuce with avocado and sour cream. Were I not completed cutting out processed carbs, I would have used it as a filling in tortillas or eaten the salad with some tortillas chips crumbled on top.

Chicken Enchilada Soup

If you like Mexican food, just go ahead and make this. I can definitively say that your future self will thank you. It's hearty, healthy and so, so full of flavor.

I tried to fight it, making this recipe that is. I already had a recipe for a tortilla soup that I was perfectly happy with. But when I went home for Christmas and my sister made the soup she had been raving about, I had to admit it to myself: this one was better. 

So, just give in and make this soup for your own good.

As I mentioned this isn't one I can take credit for. But you can find it here.

And best of all, it is a breeze to make. Just saute the onions and throw everything else in a crockpot or just a regular pot and cook. Then pull the chicken out to shred and add it back again. If you don't have that much time and are willing to settle for slightly less succulent meat, just put the heat on medium and check the chicken after 15-20 minutes. 

The soup itself is great, but topping it is more than half the fun. Green onions, sour cream, grated cheese, avocado, hot sauce, red onions, salsa, cilantro, lime juice, chips, freshly fried tortilla strips. Go wild!