Hi everyone!
I hope everyone had a happy healthy weekend! The OBB crew had a great time hanging out at the Well Expo. Thanks to everyone who visited us and played spin it to win it; we gave away free cooking classes, personal training sessions, metabolism testing, stress-less seminars, shopping bags and of course, the coveted tea mug. We also collected names to be entered in a drawing for a FREE spot in our Little Black Dress Class (a $397 value!!).
If you weren’t able to make it, you missed a lot of fun on Sunday… the OBB crew and friends did a flash mob which we followed up by a cooking demonstration of fast and fantastic kitchen tips and recipes featuring our 50 Things to do with a Rotisserie Chicken. Everyone who attended was able to sign up for a free cooking class! Don’t worry, we got video of the flash mob and I’m sure you will be seeing that very soon. If you want to join us for a cooking class, our next two will be held at Whole Foods on Wednesday, February 9th at noon and Wednesday, March 12th at noon. Check out the Whole Foods website for more information on those classes (they’re only $5!).
Here are the dishes we shared at the demo; please tweet with us at OBBSheila and let us know what you think if you try a recipe!
Chicken, Asparagus and Quinoa Salad
1 cup uncooked quinoa, rinsed
8 ounces asparagus, tips only
1 7-ounce jar roasted red peppers, drained and sliced
2 cups sliced rotisserie chicken meat
juice of 1 lemon (about 3-4 tablespoons)
2 teaspoons olive oil
mixed greens
- Cook quinoa according to package directions. Allow to cool.
- Steam asparagus for 3 minutes, then plunge into cold water to stop the cooking process.
- Slice red peppers into thin strips.
- Combine quinoa, steamed asparagus, red pepper strips and chicken in a large bowl.
- Whisk oil and lemon juice together and add to salad. Toss and chill.
- Serve over mixed greens.
* We like to cook our quinoa in the rice cooker. It’s easier, cuts down on the amount of dishes you’ll have to do later and allows for more room on the stove top to cook other things. You can even add the asparagus tips when the quinoa is halfway through the cooking process and it will be perfectly steamed!
Asian Chicken Noodle Salad
4 cups shredded rotisserie chicken meat
1/4 cup creamy nut butter
1/4 cups soy sauce
2 tablespoons rice vinegar
2 tablespoons chili garlic sauce
1 tablespoon minced ginger
3 tablespoons chicken broth or water
12 ounces linguine or rice sticks
2 carrots, grated
4 scallions, chopped
1 red pepper, cut into thin strips
1/3 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
- Cook pasta according to directions. Place in a bowl. While pasta is cooking, blend or process the nut butter, soy sauce, vinegar, chili garlic sauce, ginger and broth until smooth.
- Add chicken, carrots, scallions, pepper strips and chopped cilantro to the bowl of pasta and toss.
- Pour sauce over the pasta mixture and toss well to coat. If sauce is too thick, thin it with extra broth or a little water.
Chicken with Broccoli Rabe and Sun-Dried Tomatoes
1 bunch of broccoli rabe, trimmed and chopped
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1/2 cup slivered oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes, rinsed
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1/8 teaspoon salt
pinch of freshly ground pepper
meat from rotisserie chicken, sliced
pine nuts
mixed greens
- Cook broccoli rabe in a large pot of boiling water until bright green and barely tender, 1 to 2 minutes. Drain in a colander and gently press out as much water as possible.
- Heat oil in a Dutch oven or large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the broccoli rabe and chicken and cook, stirring until tender, 3 to 4 minutes. Remove from heat; stir in sun-dried tomatoes, vinegar, salt and pepper. Top with pine nuts as garnish.
- Serve over mixed greens.
* We recommend steaming the broccoli rabe instead of boiling it. When you cook veggies by boiling them, they lose a lot of their nutritional value in the water; all the water soluble vitamins and minerals and dumped down the drain. To steam the rabe, simply place the rabe in a steamer fit into a boiling pot of water, cover it and allow it to steam until tender, about 5 minutes.
Jamie Oliver’s Evolution Cucumber Salad with Shrimp
2 cucumbers
sea salt
freshly ground pepper
6 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons lemon juice
fresh mint
tablespoon greek yogurt
black olives
1 fresh red chile
shrimp
- Peel the cucumbers, chop off the ends and halve them lengthways. Use a spoon to scoop out the seed and discard them. Chop the cucumber into irregular bite-sized chunks and place in a bowl. Season with a good pinch of sea salt and freshly ground pepper. Add 6 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil and 2 tablespoons of lemon juice and mix well. Pick some leaves off a few sprigs of fresh mint and roughly chop them. Add them to the salad and toss together. Serve the salad simply as it is, or let it evolve…
- Add a large tablespoon of greek yogurt to the cucumber salad. Toss until well coated and serve drizzled with a little extra virgin olive oil.
- Chop up a large handful of black olives and add them to the salad. Toss well.
- Halve a fresh red chile lengthways, seed and finely chop. Scatter over the salad and serve drizzled with a little extra virgin olive oil.
- Toss in some cooked shrimp and serve.
* We suggest leaving some of the peel on the cucumber instead of peeling it fully. A good amount of nutritional value is stored in the peel. Try peeling strips off and leaving a couple strips on.
