First Grilling of the Season

The Boston area and all New England has experienced a mild winter and an early spring.  Tonight we are grilling some chicken breasts--a BOGO (buy one get one).  I'm grinding up some dried chili peppers and various seeds--cumin, corinander and kummel (can't think of the English word, only the German) along with garlic, olive oil, and kosher salt. 


I have a parsnip, 1/2 turnip, carrots and boxed mashed potatoes which I will make into a root vegetable puree.  Cherry tomatoes gratinee (on sale, natch) will round out the vegetable selections.   You can never eat too many veggies.  Serve two or three every night.  You won't eat as much meat.  Shop the sales, naturally, and buy something that can be spread over several meals or used as "ingredients."  


After this we're having a soup of red lentils.  Lentils are nutritious and reasonable and although most recipes are vegetarian, yours does not have to be.  A bit of chicken sausage, bacon or kielbasa is all it takes.  Think "meat as flavoring."   


With shrimp on sale I made a fab shrimp bisque with rice as a thickener.  Not bad calorie-wise and tasty with white wine, brandy, and part of a fennel bulb.  Also leeks.  I used my immersion blender to make a nice puree.  Think about this when shrimp are on sale.  Complex flavors and a nutrition for less than fast food prices.