My assignment this week was to pick my top 5 meals and to explain why they’re my favorites. To be
honest, this will be tough because over the course of 3 1/2months, I’ve had some truly delicious meals.
So, I’m going to take this assignment a little further.

First, my dinners are important, because I have them by 6:30 pm and that’s the last thing I eat before
breakfast the next morning. This can be tough if you don’t have something of substance to hold you
over. You know the whole breakfast = breaking the overnight fast…hence break-fast? Well, I really do
fast for about 14 – 16 hours a night, so dinner is pretty important. Here are my favorites…so far.

• Herb braised chicken with fennel and leek…delicious, filling, and an ingenious new way to bring
  veggies I wouldn’t usually eat, into my meals.

• Rosemary and sage roasted pork with cauliflower potatoes and garlic green beans. I love
  cooking with herbs. Rosemary and sage are two of my favorites, and garlic green beans take me back to my childhood, so this is a huge win all the way around. Finding a way to bring nostalgia into a meal just makes your brain rejoice in ‘good ole home cookin’.

• Sesame orange chicken with cauliflower rice and veggies. Very nice, and a lighter meal for when I’m not so hungry or have had a late lunch. The flavors are amazing and a nice change.

• Colcannon, because well, it’s colcannon! I’m not sure how Jamie has created this most
  wonderful version, but I can confirm, it was fantastic and really stepped in for St. Patrick’s day
  where traditionally our meals held a LOT of calories and salt. Jamie created this while keeping
  to all my restrictions. I’m not sure how, but it was magically created out of a small bit of pork,
  cabbage, mashed cauliflower, diced carrots, and exactly the right herbs.

• Herb de Province chicken with onion and garlic pinto beans and cauliflower rice. Every bite is
  fantastic and as I’ve embraced cauliflower rice, this is a really lovely meal. I mean, who wouldn’t
  love Herb de Province?

In addition to the above I feel it’s necessary to cover soups and chilis. Sometimes there are days when a person just doesn’t feel good. Like REALLY doesn’t feel good, and soup is the only thing that will do. Since I’m challenged calorically, my soups and chili are made fairly hearty so that I can do the long periods of time between dinner and breakfast. Jamie has created marvelous Stewps…soup so packed it’s closer to stew. They are exactly what one needs to keep their strength up. My favorite is Italian Wedding white bean and tomato with kale soup. It’s exactly what the dr. ordered. I’ve kept a couple aside in the freezer for those emergency situations when it’s the only thing that will do. I also am very partial to the white chicken chili with pinto beans, as well as the turkey chili. Both are made packed with veggies and are delicious!

Now for the get-away meals that I can take with me on the trail for refueling. One of my favorites is the salmon salad with celery, cucumber, olive oil, garlic, fennel and Dijon mustard, on a bed of butterleaf and spinach green salad with citrus champagne vinaigrette. They go very well together and super fuel me up for the trail.

Ok, that gives you only a few of the favorites. They’re well worth sharing. Who knew you could eat like
this and still lose weight and be healthier! Bon appetit!

~ Charlie

P.S. For a breakdown of these 5 top recipes, click here to go to Jamie’s page!