Fast Food

So this is one of my favourite fast meals. I always used to make it in high school. It's a quick and easy recipe.

Here's my story:

I was in a rush to get to my class tonight and didn't know what I was going to cook for dinner. Class was starting in less than an hour and I had to eat before I left home. I remembered that over the weekend I had bought some frozen vegetables. So, I quickly defrosted them in a hot pan. I also had bought some Chinese noodles (they can be found at almost any grocery store). I put on a pot of water to boil for the noodles. In less than 15 minutes, I made a delicious stir-fry meal. I added the noodles to the vegetables and the teriyaki sauce (which comes with the vegetables), and cooked it for just a minute longer - so that the noodles could absorb some of the flavour of the vegetables and sauce.

Ingredients:

• 1 bag of Green Giant Teriyaki Stir-Fry
• 2 cups of thin Chinese noodles (rice noodles)

Quick Tips:

• The Green Giant Teriyaki Stir-Fry is very high in sodium and sugar (I realized that after I bought it). What I suggest is either getting fresh cut-up vegetables - most grocery stores have them now for stir-fry's - or get frozen vegetables that don't already have the teriyaki sauce (or any sauce for that matter) and add the teriyaki sauce (or sauce of your choice) on your own, so you can monitor the amount you use.

Credits:

• Stir-fry picture: http://www.rd.ca/cms/images/image/StirFry_291_20080818-144852.jpg
  

Butternut Squash Soup

So...Fall is here already (unfortunately), and I decided to kick off my first recipe post with a Fall soup. It is deliciously creamy and warms you right up! My mom bought a large butternut squash the other day and was asking me to find the perfect recipe for her...and I did. This is the original recipe I found, but I tweaked a little. Click here to visit the recipe website.

Ingredients:

• Butternut squash: 4 Baby Butternut squash or 1 large ( about 6 cups)
• Chicken bouillon : 5 cubes or single packages
• Onion: 1 medium
• Olive Oil: 1 tbsp
• Cream: 1/2 cup*
• Water: 4 cups**
• Salt
• Pepper
• Nutmeg: (optional)
• Parsley: to garnish (optional)
• Garlic toast : (optional)

Directions:

• Wash and cut the butternut squash(s) in half.
• Roast the butternut squash(s) cut side down on a sheet in the oven for about 45 minutes at 350 degrees F. Then scoop out the prepared squash.
• In a large saucepan, Slice and saute the onion in olive until tender. Add squash, water, bouillon, nutmeg, salt and pepper.
• Bring to boil and cook for 30 minutes or until squash is tender.
• Puree squash mixture in a blender batches until smooth and then return to saucepan.
• Before serving, add cream and heat through. Do not allow to boil.
• Garnish with parsley and serve with garlic toast.

* : The amount of cream in this recipe depends on how rich you prefer your soup. Taste the soup before adding the whole amount. Cream can also be substituted with milk for a healthier recipe. **: This portion can also be easily changed depending on how thick or runny your prefer your soup.

Quick Tips:

• Most grocery stores will sell squash already pre-cut and washed. Buying squash pre-cut is a great way to save time and less stress on your hands (squash is very hard to cut!).
• In my recipe, I used 2% milk - you can use 1% or skim, which ever you have on hand.

Welcome

Hey Everyone!

First off, I would like to say thank you for visiting my blog. I am excited to be in this blogging class because I've been meaning to start a blog, but never got around to actually writing one. The future is fast approaching and technology and communication now is changing.

My blog is about cheap healthy eating and I've decided to call it CHEat Yourself To Good Health (Cheap-Healthy-Eat = CHEat). I am in a food and nutrition course, and thought I would combine the two courses together. My blog will not strictly be about food. I will give nutrition tips and exercise tips as well. Once a month I plan on going to a resturant in London, and write up a little resturant review on it. I hope you all enjoy it and hopefully my blog will help you get on the right track with your health!