All Things Gwen

The good news is that I’ve gotten pretty confident in the kitchen, and I’ve been experimenting. I’ve adjusted some recipes, so now I can call them my own! I think you need to get brave and experiment too. Let me know if you change these up.

Here are some recipes – they are delish and great if you’re doing Four Hour Body. More coming soon!

Quick and Easy, Protein-Packed Chicken “Tortilla” Soup
Based on a recipe from the Four Hour Body cookbook
• 2 cans of chicken broth – estimate this, you can use less to make soup thicker
• 1 can of fat-free refried beans
• 2 cans of Rotel tomatoes or tomatoes with jalapenos
• 1 can of black beans – drained and rinsed
• 1 rotisserie chicken chopped up, skin removed or shredded chicken breast or browned ground turkey or browned ground chicken
• Chopped green onion – optional

Whisk chicken broth with refried beans. Add the rest of the ingredients and stir together. Heat thoroughly on stove. I’d try this with red kidney beans and black beans the next round. The base is really good, so you can make a simple bean soup with your favorite beans from here.

16 Bean Soup
• Bag of 16 Bean Soup Mix – Look for a bag of these dry beans by Goya or Jack Rabbit. They have something similar at Trader Joe’s
• Water and chicken bouillon or chicken broth
• 1 can of diced tomatoes or stewed tomatoes – can use tomatoes with jalapenos
• Garlic – thinly chopped – as much as you want
• 1 medium onion – chopped
• 2 stalks celery – chopped
• 1 large carrot – omit if you are on Four Hour Body Diet
• Red peppers -diced – optional
• 1 bay leaf

Soak and drain beans – boil in water two minutes and set aside for an hour. (Be sure to drain.) Add about a cup of water or chicken broth, more or less depending on how soupy you want it. Add remaining ingredients and simmer until tender.

Awesome Eggplant Chips
• Very thinly sliced eggplant – I use the mini ones about an inch and a half to three inches round, not the fat ones like you make for eggplant parmesan
• Cooking spray
• Extra-virgin olive oil
• Garlic powder and/or dry minced garlic
• Emeril’s Essence

Preheat the oven for 350. Spay a cookie sheet with cooking spray and lay the eggplant on top. You can overlap. Drizzle some olive oil on top, and sprinkle with spices. I go crazy with the dry minced garlic. Bake until dry and crisp. I like them burnt. I swear these battle with Kettle Chips.

Cucumber and Onion Salad
• Peel and cut cucumber into circles
• Slice, dice or chop onion as you wish
• Dice a tomato – optional – I prefer plum tomatoes
• White vinegar
• Paprika – optional

Add the cucumber, onion and tomato to a bowl or dish. Add vinegar to taste – don’t drown your veggies, it’s tangy so a heavy splash is good. Add fresh ground pepper and a smidgie of sea salt. Refrigerate or serve immediately.

Photo by premus.