A Quick Meal of Chicken, Guacamole, and Corn Salad

Often times, people forget that dinner is just ingredients, put together on a plate. Mom used to make chicken, veggies, and a starch. It had no fancy name, and it was always a different combination. You don't always have to have a 'dish.' Remember that dinner can also be just have a few tasty foods.

A Quick Meal of Chicken, Guacamole, and Corn Salad

What to get: Roasted or Deli Chicken from the supermarket (Pavilions, in this case), Calavo Guacamole, Spicy Corn Salsa or other deli salad.

Where to get it: Pavilions, Vons, Ralph's and other supermarkets.

Most supermarkets have a deli section, where they sell some sort of roasted, baked, or rotisserie chicken. Check the ingredients, to be sure there are no (or few) bad guys!

While you're in the deli section, pick up some sort of salad. I chose roasted corn salsa, in this case, but it's more like a corn side dish than salsa. It was pretty good stuff!

Grab some Calavo's Guacamole (near the bagged salad greens) and you're good to go.

 Guacamole Ingredients: Hass Avocados, Tomato, Onion,

Jalapeno Pepper, Serrano Pepper, Cilantro, Garlic, Salt.

Why we approve: Chicken is a healthy source of protein and fat, and when it's not fried, you're usually pretty safe. Avocado is a great source of healthy fat and fiber, and corn salsa (or salad) is a starch that's pretty rare to overeat. Corn doesn't have all than many calories, and it's rarely something you binge on.


Preparation: Put it all on a plate, and serve. I also made a side salad, because I my daughter asked for it, and the dressing was simply guacamole, thinned with a little water and white vinegar.

Variations: This would make a great salad if you had a bed of greens. Thin the guacamole with a little water and/or vinegar to make a dressing, and then toss everything together!

If they don't have guacamole already made, you could easily make your own or simply eat half a ripe avocado with your meal.

Pros: Easy, and variations are available at virtually EVERY grocery store.

Cons: If you don't get there early, the chickens might be gone, since they are pretty popular. The other prepared meats (meatloaf, meatballs, ribs, etc.) tend to be FILLED with bad guys, so beware.

Cashew Kale Chips - a new snack from Trader Joes

What to get: A bag of Kale chips from the packaged snack isle, close to the toasted seaweed
Where to get it: Trader Joe's

Why we approve: we must admit veggie chips are a disappointment 99% of the time, but not this time. The recipe kicks ^$$!. This bag gives you two servings of delicious kale and dried veggies, some cashews and no nasty ingredients. There are not too many calories (150) and plenty of satiating fiber.

Preparation: Open the bag and try not to eat the whole thing. Someone with a sense of humor put a zipper on top to keep it fresh assuming the one who tries this stuff actually has self control. It's crunchy, it's delicious and you won't be sealing the bag so find someone to share it with.

Variations: You can eat this as a snack alongside some blander foods like string cheese or some Greek yogurt, or tuna for that matter. Other than eating it straight from the bag, you can use the chips to top some green salad or as a way to top an appetizer, such as goat cheese bites or roasted stuffed mushrooms. As a meal survivor item, I would pair this with a convenient source of protein: cottage cheese, hard boiled egg, fish...


Pros: This snack saves you a lot of time - just imagine cleaning, drying, and roasting the kale chips, let alone coating them in delicious salty-sour nutty mixture like TJ's have done! No way! This is a great way to get dried veggies in and add crunch to your lunch, snack or salad.

Cons: Most people would frown at the price of 3 + dollars since this bag only has 2 servings. May I kindly remind them that buying kale and adding the other ingredients + time would definitely come up to more than 3 dollars. Yet price is a limiting factor when it's only 2 oz of food. Another negative is that it's hard to stop at just one serving ;) No cons indeed.

Let us know what you think and enjoy!

Portland fresh food grab and go

What to get: pineapple chicken,roasted mixed veggies, and quinoa salad
Where to get it: New Seasons Market, Portland  and other locations

This is our first guest post, and we thank our good friend, fitness trainer, Chris Bathke, for the contribution. Chris is a super busy guy, owner of the Elemental Fitness Lab, who has a super active lifestyle and has learned how to be a real meal survivor. While we were visiting him in Portland last year, we enjoyed the freshly made organic food at New Seasons Market and we were so happy that he chose to share one of his lunches with us. Whether you are recovering from a hard workout or looking for a meal to fuel your fat loss, New Seasons is the best place to get delicious cooked items, from salads and appetizers, to filling entrees and desserts.

Why we approve: the foods Chris chose were pineapple chicken, roasted veggies and a quinoa salad. This is a great option, rich in protein, complex carbs and fiber.

Preparation: none is necessary, just open the package and enjoy :)

Variations: Chris chose a complete lunch, but if you are watching your carb intake, skip the quinoa salad and stick with the pineapple chicken and veggies

Pros: quick, delicious and fast, rich in protein


Cons: it may cost you a bit more to pick up ready made foods at the market, compared to cooking them at home, but it's worth it for all the time it saves you.

For anyone who lives in Oregon, know we are jealous you have New Seasons Market.  Enjoy!

Steamed lentils from Trader Joe's

What to get: Trader Joe's steamed lentils (salad section)
Where to get it: Trader Joe's

Why we approve: lentils are filling, low in calories, high in protein and fiber and provide a cool plant source of iron. These are very easy to use, because they have already been steamed - that frees you from soaking, boiling, draining, etc. By all means feel free to do that when you are not in meal survivor mode, but when in a hurry these are a life savior.

Preparation: You can put these in a salad, in a dip, a soup, a stew, or make lentil burgers. Open the packet, stir and use as you like. I prepared two salads in a pinch. It's good to combine lentils with tomato or lemon juice, as that helps absorb the iron, so a meal with tomatoes is always great.

Tomato and feta cheese salad: mix lentils with crumbled feta, a chopped tomato, some fresh mint, a dash of ground cumin and olive oil. Stir well and enjoy cold. 

Sweet corn and tomato salad: mix lentils, cooked corn, chopped tomato, season with sea salt and black pepper, drizzle olive oil and enjoy!

Variations:You can use lentils in hummus instead of chickpeas or serve them alongside lamb, instead of beans in a burrito or in a soup. For the purpose of fat loss and maintenance, toss them in salads or eat when in a rush. Our friends Jo and Ashley make a really cool dip mixing the lentils, a container of fresh salsa and some feta cheese - you can get it all at Trader Joes and it makes a great dip for a party!

Pros: We love the taste and texture and they are very very convenient. Good source of protein and fiber! Great satiety!

Cons: It is still a mystery what natural flavor means. We will never find out. As with all prepackaged foods, stick to the best you can find and always make an effort to eat home meals cooked from scratch to compensate for those times when you have to be a meal survivor! 

Enjoy these! They rock!

Wholly Guacamole at Target

What to get: Wholly Guacamole, box of six 2oz packets (also available as one large family size packet)

Where to get it: Target Stores (and Fresh & Easy, too).

Each box contains six of these packets

Why we approve: Guacamole is almost pure avocado, and super healthy. Guacamole makes almost anything taste better, including leftover chicken and raw veggies!

Preparation: Just tear open a packet and squeeze the guac onto your food or plate.  

Variations: Great on meat, chicken, veggies, or eggs. It takes everything to the next level. Guacamole should be enjoyed with breakfast foods, lunch foods, snack foods, and dinner foods!

Pros: Avocado is a practically a superfood. A measured amount means controlling portions and calories is easy. Vacuum sealed packets keep it fresh and green. Just enough salt and peppery zing. 100 calories is more than you expect. As you can see in the above picture, it's quite a little blob of awesome.
Cons: More expensive than making your own, but still not bad. Garlicy...

Enjoy!

Trader Joe's Frozen Turkey Burgers (and green beans)

What to get: A box of Trader Joe's Frozen Turkey Patties (box of 4), a bag of Trader Joe's frozen green beans

Where to get it: Trader Joe's

Why we approve: The turkey burgers have few ingredients; just turkey and spices. The green beans are just green beans, already cut to a nice length, and cook up nice and crisp.

Green beans are green beans

Turkey burger ingredients

Turkey burger nutrition

Preparation: Both can be cooked from frozen. The turkey patties were cooked on a hot skillet and were still pretty juicy after cooking. The green beans were steamed, then tossed with Himalayan salt and lemon zest (dried lemon peel from Penzley's, in this case).

Variations: You can eat it just like a burger. I had two for dinner with some TJ's pesto, a salad, and steamed veggies. Awesome.

Pros: The turkey has lots of protein, low calorie, no bad guys, tastes good to me (Roland). The green beans are as good as fresh and better than canned. I will buy these again! Both are extremely cost effective. Quite a deal!

Cons: Galya didn't really like the turkey, but love the green beans. She claimed they had a weird aftertaste, but I just think they taste like turkey burgers. I will buy them again. Cons of the beans? None.

Note: I marked this as both paleo and vegetarian, but you'll have to think; the turkey is paleo and the green beans are vegetarian and paleo enough for me (green beans are mostly pod and hardly any bean).

Tomato Bisque – Boxed Soups from Big Lots?

I have to admit that I wasn't thinking healthy or delicious when I decided to try a box of soup from Big Lots, but here I am writing about it! As I hope is obvious, we aren't a typical review site; we do review foods, but if we don't like them, why bother putting them up? We focus on the positives so you can grab and go!

As you can see in the picture, there's some cheddar on the plate. I was actually craving that grilled cheese and tomato soup feeling from childhood, but I don't find grilled cheese to be worth the calories. I sliced up two ounces of extra sharp cheddar from Trader Joe's, and it hit the spot. Sharp cheddar and tomato soup are great together!

Tomato Soup and Cheddar


What to get: 1 32oz box of Imagine Bistro Organic Fire Roasted Tomato Bisque, Sharp Cheddar Cheese from Trader Joe's or your local grocer.

Where to get it: Big Lots

Why we approve: To be honest, it's more of a snack and a comfort food, but it tastes great, and if you can be satisfied with a mug of really good tomato soup and some nice cheese, this is great. It has pretty good ingredients, few added bad guys (you just have to shake your head at the small amount of canola oil and deal with it).

Preparation: Heat the soup. Slice the cheese. Eat.

Variations: The carton contains four servings, so for dinner, you have options. Serve alongside leftover roast chicken of fish and a side of steamed vegetables like zucchini.


Pros: Delicious, thick, and rich. Resealable container. Only 120 calories per serving, but it tastes like more than that! Good stuff.

Cons: The soy sauce in the soup contains some sketchy things (natural flavor, etc.), but the amount of soy sauce is likely small. Seed oils are used, but in small amounts. Their other soups proudly claim to be "gluten free," but they don't claim this one is. I don't see any gluten ingredients on there, but there might be something "hidden."

There are more Big Lots soups coming up, too! There's some good stuff to be found in some unlikely places...

Thailand Mushroom Rice Noodle Soup Bowl

What to get: Thailand Mushroom Rice Noodle Soup Bowl
Where to get it: Trader Joe's

Why 'we' approve: The 'we' is the 'Royal We,' meaning I approve, but I doubt the girls would. It's salty, but if you love and miss ramen, this might fit the bill. It's inexpensive, convenient, and not particularly bad, ingredient wise. You'll have to eat something extra for protein, unless it's just to tide you over.

Preparation: Boil water (about 1 1/2 cups). Open the bowl halfway, leaving the lid half attached. Tear the seasoning packets open and add to the bowl. Add the boiling water and close the lid for three minutes. Eat.

Aside from autolyzed yeast extract and rice bran oil, it's not too shabby, healthfulness-wise. Gluten free, which is a rarity for noodle soup.

inside the bowl

Variations: Add some leftover vegetables, chicken, or hardboiled eggs to the soup.

Pros

• Very easy to prepare
• Satisfying like ramen used to be (because you're not eating ramen anymore, right?)

• Inexpensive
• It's soup in its own bowl
• Gluten free noodles!

Cons

• Ridiculously salty. Not just high in sodium, but actually extremely salty tasting. I ate it, but Galya passed because of the saltiness. 
• Why use rice bran oil, which has zero flavor? We tried it and tasted nothing. Might as well throw that packet away. Sesame seed oil would have been tasty.

just skip the rice bran oil

• Don't try sipping from this bowl, because it will run down your chin and onto your shirt because of the turned under plastic lip.
• Needs something extra to be a complete meal (I added two eggs to mine).

Ready to eat Dal

What to get: Dal Makhani

Where to get it: Trader Joe's

Why we approve: high in fiber and moderate in protein, extremely rich in flavor and satisfying, great side for vegetables, cheese, plain meat or eggs, lots of healthy spices

We chose this meal because it has a rich buttery flavor and just screams Indian. You could make it on your own, but it will take hours. This packet will take 1 second to open. 

Preparation: Either heat the packet in hot water, or open and heat on the stove.

Variations: This is not a great stand alone meal. You can either mix it with some plain canned beans, lentils or chickpeas or serve it alongside scrambled eggs, a piece of plain meat, or 2 or more oz of cheese.  It is a really spicy, so you can easily dilute it with water and add a touch of heavy cream to make a thick soup that you can enjoy with your choice of lean protein.

Pros: saves you a ton of time if you like Indian, good source of fiber and protein. Healthful spices that you find in this dish are not something most people use daily, so give it a go - it will do you good.

Cons: you still need to add something to make this a complete meal; we are not worried about sodium here, but if you are watching it - 670 mg may put you on the high side. Like all of these Indian dishes from TJ's, it's got sunflower oil, which is a seed oil, and high in omega-6s (remember to watch your seed, veggie, and soybean oil intake elsewhere for your best health results!).

Beans and legumes eaten in moderation can be great - and this is one easy and fast way to get lentils.  Let us know if you like dal, we would love to hear!

Eggplant hummus and veggie plate

What to buy: Trader Joe's Eggplant hummus
Where to buy: Trader Joes
Why we approve: it contains only natural ingredients and no artificial oils. The only fat is sesame tahini. It has 35 calories per tablespoon and not much protein, but it pairs well with other sources of protein.

Preparation: just open and enjoy. It is delicious.

Variations: this is not a stand alone food. If your goal is to get a full meal you can pair it with 2-3 oz of cheese and vegetables, to make a satisfying vegetable plate or you can serve it next to some plain chicken breast and add vegetables, such as raw or cooked carrots, peppers and green beans.If you need to, you can use this hummus in a wrap with some turkey or roast beef, or even add lamb, for a nice Middle eastern kick!

How much you will eat depends on your goal weight, but in my case (125 lb female) I had 4 tbsp of the hummus and 2 oz cheese together with these veggies for lunch.

Pros: delicious, great texture and good source of fats and fiber

Cons: not a lot of protein, so you need to pair it with something else, such as cheese, chicken, lamb, eggs etc.
It also has a strong garlic taste, so if garlic is not your thing this may not be your best bet. You may want to opt for the plain hummus, which is a lot less gralic-y.

I like this dish because it's a great quick lunch or an appetizer if you have health conscious guests over. Making your own eggplant hummus will also take hours, and if you are reading Meal Survivor, you probably don't have that sort of time on your hands right now. This is a winner prepared dish from the cold section where you can also find a few other types of hummus, so if you tried them, please let us know and share your thoughts!

Palak paneer

What to get: Palak Paneer
Where to get it: Trader Joe's
Why we approve: It's an easy way to get a relatively healthy side dish. Vegetables. It makes spinach delicious. Gluten Free. Vegetarian.

the non-photogenic palak paneer

The palak paneer story, as read from the label:

Palak paneer is a traditional recipe from Rajasthan, the northwestern province of India. Palak, Indian for spinach, is slow cooked for hours with ginger and garlic until it turns into a purée. It is then simmered with onions, tomatoes, and spices and finished with cubes of paneer, a soft Indian cheese made from whole milk. Serve with basmati rice, naan or pita bread.

Preparation: Boil in bag or microwave. Easy.

Variations: It's really good as a side dish with grilled chicken, but I've also had it in a bowl with a couple of poached eggs nestled into it. Good stuff.

Pros: spinach (eat it!), whole milk paneer (skim and low fat milk are actually no better for you), tasty, no weird ingredients, and tastes as good or better than the same dish from some Indian restaurants!

Cons: sunflower oil. We should dramatically minimize seed oils, and sunflower is no exception. Sunflower oil is high in omega-6s and we already have too many in our diets. However, I've done the math (subtracting the fats from the cheese and the cream, this likely has ~5-6g of fat from the seed oil), and as part of a healthy diet where one is minimizing the 6s, I do approve. I eat this one myself.

This really tastes like decent palak paneer from a restaurant, so enjoy!

Olive guacamole

What to buy: Olive Tapenade, Avocado
Where to buy: Trader Joes
Why we approve: both avocado and olives are excellent sources of fat and this makes a great side or dip

Trader Joe's olive tepenade is one of my favorite ways to add olives to salads, dressings, omelets, even fish...You don't have to deal with the pit inside the olive, the olive is already cut, and ultimately that saves you time!

Preparation:
To make this simple olive guacamole you need:
1 small avocado
2 tbsp olive tapenade
dash of lime juice (optional)

Core the avocado, mash it with a fork and mix it with the olive tepenade. You may wish to add a dash of lime juice, but that is entirely up to you.

Variations:
This recipe can be used as a side or a dip. Use this olive guacamole to dip veggies, spread in sandwiches or as a nice side to omelets and baked potatoes. You can also pair it with white meats or fish. Make sure you keep your serving sizes reasonable ( one avocado can have as much as 400 calories) if fat loss is your goal.

Pros: it's really easy to make and very very flavorful; offers healthy fats for meals that are lean and keeps you full a long time
Cons: it is quite heavy in calories and you need to watch serving sizes