Deli Cheat

I would like to say that every meal at my house is cooked from scratch and reflects perfectly balanced nutrition.  Mind you, that does happen several times a week.  But sometimes I want a healthy meal that takes only 10 minutes to put together.  

A roasted deli chicken provided 2 great meals for the 4 of us.  The night that I brought it home, we had "wraps".  A hearty serving of lettuce from the garden, combined with shredded carrots, tomato & avocado provided the veggies.  Some shredded cheese for a little calcium, and the chicken for protein.

We LOVE ranch dressing at our house and I make mine with a store brand ranch powder packet, buttermilk and a combo of fat-free sour cream & mayo.  The buttermilk and sour cream help reduce the fat and the mayo keeps it from tasting whimpy.

While I'm putting away the leftovers, I make deli salads in 6 cup reusable containers for lunches (or suppers) the next day.

To make things come out evenly, I usually portion out the meat and let everyone else select the amount of the other items they want on their wrap or salad.

This works with any combo of meat and veg.  Tonight I served pre-cooked frozen shrimp with left-over roasted corn, some toasted almonds & pumpkin seeds. While the pan for the nuts was warm, I sliced up a cheese called "Idaho Golden Greek" from Ballard Family Dairy. They call it a "Halloumi style grillin' cheese".  Just toss it into a pan on medium heat and it gets an amazing golden crust on it, while maintaining it's shape.  Next time I'll remember to take a picture of it before I eat it all.  

Next time you're crunched for time, pick up some salad veggies and a deli chicken and make several healthy meals at once.