Staying healthy and happy all winter with easy, brightly colored veggies and a secret weapon!

This post is brought to you by Victoria Abbott (Victoria Maffini and Mary Jane Maffini).

What a winter! After a busy holiday season we were sandbagged by some brutal weather. The temptation is to eat comfort food (lots of starch and sugar), but when we give in to that we feel sluggish and miserable (after we've eaten it all). 










Plus when we are rushing around we often short-change ourselves, forgetting to eat enough vegetables and other healthy food, such as lemon -  the secret ingredient that adds tang and zip so many recipes without adding calories. 








We are busy on the edits of The Wolfe Wido, our third collector mystery and still busy talking up  The Sayers Swindle.  We need to make sure we stay healthy and energetic, but we're surrounded by take-out food opportunities and other pitfalls. So here's a quick and tasty recipe that helps us stay on top of the season.


This quick veggie side started out as dinner party food for us when we first found the recipe, but it has migrated to a busy day dinner. It's savory and delicious and takes a couple of minutes to chop and then ten minutes to cook. It reheats well too, if there's any left over. 

You can saute a chicken breast or put on a piece of fish to bake just as you start to chop the veggies and it will all come out at the same time,

We love the bright colors - Christmas red and green and the gold of yellow peppers for glamor.

All you need is:

2 zucchini
1 red pepper
1 yellow pepper
2 cloves garlic (or 2 tsp prepared garlic)
2 tbsp olive oil (give or take)
Juice of half a lemon (or more)
S & P

Cut the zucchini into thin strips















Cut the peppers into thin strips















Heat the oil in a large skillet















Saute the garlic and the pepper on medium heat for about five minutes














 Add the zucchini - and cook for another five minutes.
Stir every now and then.
Add two tablespoons of lemon and you're good to go. 











 If you are the person who has kidnapped the picture of our finished dish, please return it and we'll pay the ransom. If not, trust us, it looked good.


This is great with baked chicken or sauteed shrimp.  We served it with baked salmon and a green salad.  Dinner in less than twenty minutes!

If you need carbs, you could cook up some arborio rice while everything else is getting ready.








Here's a little bit more about Victoria Abbott, author of the book collector mysteries. 

Victoria is an artist and photographer and MJ is the author of 13 books in three other series, as Mary Jane Maffini. They love their book collector mysteries and are happily at work on The Wolfe Widow, third in the series.   They're very excited about the The Sayers Swindle which is still fresh and new.



  
The Sayers Swindle, the second in the book collector mysteries hit the shelves and e-readers on December 3!

You can click here to order The Sayers Swindle!

Or here for the Kindle version!

Or order through your favorite bookstore - in person or online.

And don't forget to ....

Watch the trailer for The Sayers Swindle!









  

The Christie Curse, the first book collector mystery, launched in March 2013 to great reviews.








 
The Christie Curse is also available in Large Print! Tell your local librarian!

 Walter, the pug in the series is a dead ringer for Peachy, Victoria's new best friend. 

 Come over and friend Victoria on Facebook

www.facebook.com/BookCollectorMysteries   www.facebook.com/maryjane.maffini

Tell  her  you love the pug!
www.twitter.com/AbbottMysteries
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