First, when I say “cleansing” meal, I don’t mean a real cleanse that has you drink liquids or eat plain foods. (Although they have their place…) I mean your favorite healthy meal that you like to eat after a meal, a day, or a week of heavy foods.
This is on my mind because I’ve spent the last couple of days making heavy ice creams, one of which required me to cook up a whole pound of bacon and use the grease in my ice cream base. (I’ll post about my bacon ice cream experience on Monday.) Cooking a lot of meat and using bacon grease isn’t really me, but I made it because I get excited about new recipes. And bacon ice cream, while popular these days, isn’t something I’ve ever made before.
But frying bacon, combined with going out for runs and walks in the hot weather, left me craving light, healthy food.
So after I finished my ice cream experiments, I had the meal you see above: a sandwich and salad, both with babaganoush (roasted eggplants, lemon juice and zest, peanut butter – because I didn’t have tahini – salt and pepper), cherry tomatoes, lettuce, snap peas, and cheese. (A cheese note: I prefer less full-fat cheese to a lot of rubbery light cheese unless it’s the low-fat Celtic cheese from Trader Joe’s, which I think is just as good as the real thing.).
I don’t know if it’s my favorite healthy meal, but it was light enough to leave me with room for a little Mexican chocolate ice cream afterwards.
So what’s your favorite light/healthy meal?
Normally I want something light, I think veggies only…like a simple sautee of veggies or a ratatouille. or oatmeal. Nothing like a bowl of oatmeal, morning or night!
Mine might sound heavy, but traditionally it’s very light. Pasta (usually a short-cut) with simple red sauce (fueled by garlic and lots of basil) followed by a nice light salad and a handful of mixed nuts.
My mind stopped registering when I read bacon ice cream. And now I can’t stop thinking about it. I’ve got something to look forward to on Monday!
This week’s light meal was a salad of mixed greens, mango, avocado, and shrimp. Because I forgot to thaw my frozen mango, I threw it in a frying pan with just a wee bit of olive oil and salt. The mango defrosted and caramelized at the same time.
Thanks for the great ideas, ladies!
@Beth: Oh, ratatouille is great idea. I think I have all the veggies to make it too. Thanks!
@Tracy: That doesn’t sound heavy at all, especially if it has lots of basil. Mixed nuts afterward is also a great idea. Great for protein!
@Wendi: I love avocado and mango together, but caramelized mango? That sounds simply delicious.
Jen, I totally got lucky with the “caramelized” mango as my thawing technique. Of course, I need to file that tidbit away for future reference when I need to pull a rabbit out of my hat.
Jen – Chicken with avacado salsa – so filling, but so light – yum! Salso: Cilantro, avacado, lime juice, red onion and tomato. If you have time, marinate the chicken in lime juice, cilantro and olive oil. @nd choice would be salmon, steam vegetables and a small portion of brown rice. The only problem is I prefer my salmon with buteer and fresh herbs.
I am not sure what to make of the bacon ice cream, I’ll check back on Monday…
@Wendi: No one needs to know you got lucky! You should totally take credit for that culinary tip.
@Paige: Oh, avocado salsa sounds yummy. It has all of my favorite things it in it, especially lime. I’m digging lime these days. A little bit of a butter on your salmon isn’t so bad, right? Still sounds pretty healthy to me!
I just stir fry mixed veggies. And gulp some good ol’ OJ.
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@beabots keniston: Veggies seems to be the way to go for light meals. And of course, OJ is a nice shot of Vitamin C. Great suggestion!