Or bread, or rice, or something other than potatoes.
Alas, the end of Passover arrives this evening. Whew. I know this is an important time to reflect on religion, in particular slavery and freedom and what that means. Especially as someone who didn’t grow up Jewish, but in fact chose to be so as an adult, I almost feel more pressure to be conscious of that choice. Honestly, though, I’m mostly just feeling selfish right now. And hungry.
It’s hard enough for me to eat well on a “regular” day. I haven’t yet figured out good things to have in the house for lunch, so I do a lot of scrounging, or a late fast-food drive-thru when the kids are up from their afternoon nap. It’s not healthy, but it’s easy, so it’s what I do. But when you remove grains from the picture… holy crap, I feel like there’s nothing to eat!
Oh, I know. Whine whine, poor me. Just make a friggin scrambled egg, or get some salad fixings. But I get pretty tired of scrambled eggs (and egg salad), and I’m just not that great at making appetizing “meal” salads. Something I should work on, but not something I had the energy for this week.
I guess that’s what it comes down to. Lack of energy, laziness, a desire for something to just be easy. So much of my time is spent figuring out the kids’ food… four bottles and three “solid” meals every day… that for myself, I just don’t want to think. I want to grab and go. Food for me, especially during the day, needs to be quick. It’s grabbed during nap time, or other brief periods of quiet, in between loads of laundry. This is not the time in my life when I’m going to lovingly craft meals for myself.
Thankfully, after this evening, bread is back on the table. Tomorrow morning, I’ll take the kids to the grocery store and I’ll at least get bread, meat, and cheese for sandwiches. Maybe some tuna. But I know I’ll tire of that, and I know I need more than just a little turkey sandwich to last me the afternoon. I need good, easy snacks on hand, and I’m just not a baby carrot fan.
Anyone have suggestions for their favorite quick and easy lunches or snacks? Mmm, maybe I’ll make some more hummus…
And then, there’s dinner. Anything we eat for dinner (that isn’t takeout) has to be either made (from fridge to plate) in 40 minutes or less, or I have to be able to easily make it in stages throughout the day. Some things work well that way, and some just don’t (as my potato gratin demonstrated last week). Alright, that’s my project for today. Come up with my grocery list for this week, including lunch stuff and a plan for at least a few easy or make-ahead dinners.
Oh, and a moratorium on McDonalds. That just has to stop.
As you know, salads are hard for me too but I have found that I really like steak salad, which Aaron of all people introduced me to and which is also great when the weather warms up – a nice lean filet or flank steak that’s not too tough either broiled or cooked in the cast iron skillet and sliced/chopped over veggies, nixing the lettuce – like a chunky tomato, cucumber, bell peppers, hearts of palm, parsley, etc. type salad. Go ahead and put on italian dressing when you make it, it’s even better the next day. For snacks, I really like low-fat greek yogurt with a bit of honey and sliced almonds; I also like apples with natural peanut butter (and I always buy them pre-sliced – huge time-saver, way more likely to grab it and eat it too); celery and veggies with low-fat laughing cow cheese; low-fat cheese sticks; sugar-free jello pudding snacks with cool whip free; berries also work well with cool whip and you can use the frozen ones for this too, which I like because berries go bad so quickly. Also love homemade tomato soup – very quick, healthy, and easy to make – have it with an english muffin with some melted cheese on top. That’s a lot of my “diet food” – can you tell I just stocked up this weekend
I have basically all of the above in my fridge right now hoping to make healthy choices all week long… now we’ll see how I do following a week of croissants and crepes with nutella.
Liz, I have found it to be so much easier to eat now that the kids are eating more than pureed vegetables and fruits. Now I make a big back of whole wheat mac and cheese with steamed brocolli, grilled cheese, a lot of rice dishes and anything else that is “real food” that I can cut up into small bits with my kitchen scissors. Since I have to cook for them, I find that I am eating more at home, and less “drive-thru” or mall food court stuff. I also mainly eat leftovers for lunch, but have been known to make yummy salads or wraps while the kids are sleeping. My version of a good salad is more than vegetables, though. I really like sunflower seeds, or nuts, manderin oranges or apples, something that leaves me feeling satisfied instead of feeling annoyed that my husband eats out every lunch, and I am eating our leftovers!
I am sure the no-grain period would be really tough, as bread is a huge staple around here.
Just wait until your kids are older and you try to do Passover…my picky boys couldn’t even make it through two no-bread days and once they’re eating bread products, I can barely resist!
Hmm, I went the opposite way of you and while I rarely cooked pre-twins, now I cook all the time. I think I find the aspect of control in my otherwise out of control life especially appealing.
One quick and potentially healthy meal: homemade pizza. You can buy refrigerated pizza dough at most supermarkets (usually near the prepared foods/deli section). Let it rise for an hour or so, stretch it out, and top with pizza sauce, skim-milk mozzarella, and a variety of veggies. You can play with the toppings…omit the sauce, switch to a sprinkling of feta and use olives and you’ve got a Greek pizza. Or top with crumbled goat cheese and some chicken strips (you can even buy the pre-cooked strips) sauteed in a little olive oil and garlic and you have a fancy gourmet pizza.
Quick and easy, and we have it once a week
Like Krissy, I also found it easier to eat better once the boys were eating people food. I gave myself a pass when they were still on baby food to eat what was convenient (although maybe that is why it took so long to get back into shape? hmmmm…).
Lunch ideas:
* Buy rotisserie chicken, eat leftovers all week with canned beans, bread, steamfresh veggies (so convenient!)
* I actually eat salads frequently. I buy Trader Joe’s frozen grilled chicken and defrost the bag overnight. Throw together lettuce, chicken, grapes, almonds or pistachios, and blue cheese. Crunchy, sweet, and healthy!
Now that the weather is nice, we do lots of grilling. TJ’s sells marinated fish, then we make rice pilaf and veggies.
Oh, all of this talk of Trader Joes makes me SO jealous!
I eat a lot of black beans (or any kind of beans, for that matter) with brown rice. Throw in some cheddar, lettuce tomatoes, avacado, olive, sour cream, etc….eat as is or throw it in a tortilla. I’ll eat just plain brown rice and black beans too.
I have a rice cooker and I’ll cook up a big batch of rice on the weekend and then use it for dinner and lunches for the next couple of weeks.
Dinner idea? Ha! We’re still working on that one. We’ll be checking back to your blog for ideas.
Forgot my new fave blog:
http://crockpot365.blogspot.com/
Chick is using her crockpot every day. Every day! Crockpot meals are perfect for busy twin parents. Throw crap in it in the morning and it’s ready at the end of the day.
You already got some great suggestions, but of course I have to pipe up! I think 70% of my groceries are carbs. ::shame:: However, during my “shed those last 10 baby pounds” campaign earlier this year, I did happen upon some quick, appetizing, relatively healthy and filling snack options:
* Low-fat string cheese (the kind from Trader Joe’s is esp. good) and a piece of fruit (I usually choose an apple)
* Generous handful of a mix of unsalted roasted almonds and dried tart cherries (I mixed two bags of TJ’s unsalted roasted almonds with three bags of dried tart cherries. I’m not a big trail mix person because i don’t like the tons of stuff in typical trail mixes, so I did my own. My in-laws actually ask me to make them some all the time). This is ESPECIALLY filling if you pair it with a wedge of Laughing Cow cheese.
* 13 Kashi whole-grain crackers (the mini-crackers) with a wedge of LC cheese or a stick of cream cheese. With the wedge of LC cheese, it’s only 180 calories; with the string cheese, it’s 260. Yes, I did actually count out 13 crackers and put them in a baggie, enough for several days.
* Jello sugar-free pudding. I like the dulce de leche flavor. So much goodness for 60 calories!
And Marci had some excellent suggestions for other snack ideas, too. As for meals, I really have been depending on the Better Homes and Gardens New Dieter’s Cookbook. They have a section on quick meals, although the recipes all take less than an hour to make. I’m not counting calories anymore, but the food is good enough that I’m still using the cookbook!