Food inspiration, or what's for supper?
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Leftovers and snippets of food that will go bad unless eaten before we leave for vacation. So it was a bit of enchilada casserole, raw carrots, big lettuce salad and a sweet potato. A few sautéed onions on the side. Okay calorie wise.
The next week will be too many restaurants and homemade goodies from the relatives. 🥺. Moderation and wise choices will hopefully get me through it. That and the fact that hubby can eat his meal and polish off anything I don’t want. He will gain not one ounce!3 -
Tea is veggie lasagne 🤗 Wish I was away this week! Have a lovely time!3
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Bunnie lasagna? You're selling. I'm not buying! 😹🤣2
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Yooly you coming here or not yet?1
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Tonight we had chicken cutlets marinaded in an Italian marinade, grilled, with mashed cauliflower, broccoli with cheese sauce, and rolls. I of course had rice pilaf.
Tomorrow he is getting a meal (premade) of hamburger steak with mushroom gravy, mashed cauliflower, and buttered green beans. Tomorrow lunch for us is pulled pork sandwiches, with chips.
Tomorrow night is beef with broccoli for half of us, and beef with pea pods for the other half, with rice and crab rangoons and egg rolls for them that can eat them. (Alas. I miss egg rolls.) The meat is already sliced and in a bag of marinade. That's thawing out, and I'll just dump the whole thing into a pot and boil it. Then I drain that, and take a second bag of marinade that hasn't had meat in it, put that in a pan and thicken it with cornstarch, and add the meat to that. That way the coagulated juices from the cooked meat aren't all up in my sauce. I'll steam the vegetables and add them separately.
The rice is precooked, so I'll just get out four ounce bags for Girlfriend and Son and two ounce bags for Boyfriend and I, and heat those in the microwave then plate it all up. The crab rangoons and egg rolls are frozen, and all I have to do is dump them on a pan in a low oven (200 degrees) for about an hour. This is easy for me as I have a 4 pm timer and a 4:30 pm timer for dinner at 5. I just remind myself at the four pm alarm that there's stuff to go in the oven, and it works out fine. We really like this type of dish, and it's about as easy as it can be doing it this way, so it's worth the extra step of the separate sauce.5 -
What a system, Alexandra! You've got this so very organized, always.2
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I am struggling with meal ideas. It's like nothing sounds good or I am just too tired to care. I used to love meal planning and cooking. Now it feels like a chore.
One thing I am liking is doing bowls. This week (today actually) I am making hibachi chicken and shrimp bowls. The base will be plain rice and I will top it with teriyaki chicken and shrimp, sweet carrots, and sauteed mushrooms and onions. Then drizzle on some Yum Yum Sauce (a creamy slightly sweet sauce). Super filling for not a lot of points since the proteins and veggies are 0. Next week I am going to do a burrito bowl but not sure what I will put in it yet. Pretty much I aim for lots of veggies and a lean protein over a simple base with a fun item like a sauce on top.
But I need some new ideas... something to spark enjoyment again.2 -
I hit that every once and awhile. Usually connected to fatigue - because it takes energy to make something interesting. When I get it together my "fix" is music. In anticipation I choose a CD to play (I know that dates me) for prep/cooking time. And once that is on - it all comes together. But. Sometimes. Putting on that CD is darn near impossible.3
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This is what the large five week menu does for me. Even if I'm pretty tired, if things are thawed, and it's on the menu, it's usually easier for me to just do it than to not do it.4
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AlexandraFindsHerself1971 wrote: »This is what the large five week menu does for me. Even if I'm pretty tired, if things are thawed, and it's on the menu, it's usually easier for me to just do it than to not do it.
I would love to get more into doing it this way, even just a couple weeks at a time. The getting started is the hard part. By the time the weekend comes around, I have so much to do and I am so tired. And I have no real help cause it's me and the cats.
Sorry... I am just feeling really frustrated about it right now.4 -
Even Alexandra with her five week menu plays with a bunch of Staples.
I guess this is where individual differences come in. But that's where filling the pantry and the fridge with relatively self-stable items you've determined over time to be relatively filling for their calories comes into play so that you can make something reasonable reasonably fast.
Also: food as druggery--just no. But it doesn't always have to be super exciting. Basic staples are ok too!4 -
I am going to try and make it easy on myself so maybe I can do it.
For breakfasts I will do hardboiled eggs and some sort of carb. Either fruit, yogurt, english muffins, or mini bagels.
For lunches I will do either frozen meals (with extra steamed veggies) or salads. Both with a side of fruit.
For dinners I will follow the idea of keep it simple stupid. Bowls are great for this. I have tons of simple and easy recipes. If I want something fancier I can do it on a weekend and try to make sure it will leave me leftovers so I don't have to cook again the next night. Maybe I can at least get to prepping the veggies and protein so I don't have to chop as much each night I cook? I could most likely do that after I get back from my shopping as I put stuff away.
So baby steps?
And I know I was coming up with excuses and I need to stop doing that. That is why I trust you all when I am like this. You don't judge and hate on me, though you do point out just enough that it helps me snap out of it. And you are always there with amazing ideas.
So what I am saying is... thank you. Thank you for letting me be me with my quirks and whining. Thank you for your support and ideas. Just... thank you.4 -
Right back at you, Athijade. And it sounds like you are putting together a manageable / sustainable system.3
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🐹 huggies @Athijade 🤷🏻♂️
I really like your extra 🐇 plan. In fact I often do it myself -- frozen dinner with extra veggies. Sometimes replacing the rice with veggies too! (MFP, and crono, can both enter negative grams FYI to deduct the 150g of cooked rice from the frozen dinner 😎)3 -
Just got invited for veggie stirfry dinner at the moving to Newfoundland son's house.
We will start building some positivity into this now...I hope. 4 -
I was doing a turbo ride at 7pm which interfered with dinner, so I just had a sausage sarnie and 100g McCain french fries (bangers and chips both air-fried). Followed by a banana.
Post ride I had a protein ball and some greek yoghurt.
Lunch was a huge bowl of roasted vegetable couscous. Yum.4 -
Dinner was good - though I was kinda floored when I turned the corner and saw a huge garbage bin in their driveway. This is all too new for me to be ready for that level of reality.
I thought the stir fry was delicious - so did The Boy. Mom and Dad didn't, so they didn't eat theirs. Awkward time. Hopefully this passes soon.2 -
Laurie... fingers crossed things turn out nicely for one and all!
Newfoundland I hear is beautiful and many an artist have visited and even lived extensively in the picturesque towns and villages-->
(I'm shovelling for all I'm worth here!) 2 -
Bella_Figura wrote: »a sausage sarnie and 100g McCain french fries (bangers and chips both air-fried). Followed by a banana.
That's funny Garfield! So today someone (not downstairs) gave me a box of Costco spinach pies--and since it started fighting for freezer space with the previous box of Costco spinach pies they gave me a while back... I cooked a tray for dad and downstairs--and snuck out 580 Cal for me! BUT, back to the funny, one of the options I contemplated was making a bunch of shoestring potatoes. I've got just about 600 Cal worth of them in the freezer... but they didn't really look like much, so I skipped! Then again, six baby spinach pies don't look like much either!1 -
I would love to live there...lots of rocks and water...I love painting rocks and water! But will have to let some time pass to let my daughter-in-law establish their nest before I would consider such a thing...sometimes, me thinks, mother-in-laws are a bit much.4
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Laurie I absolutely think you should up-sticks and move too! I'm absolutely sure you must have the soshul skillz to do so without upsetting the DIL - after all, won't their lives be so much harder if they don't have you around to spend time with The Boy when they're working or they want some alone time? Your presence will be enriching for all concerned! You need to start selling it it as a positive enhancement to their Newfoundland life. You don't have to be in their pockets all day to be a huge asset as a nearby babysitter.
Actually you could use reverse psychology and just say something casual along the lines of: 'Gosh, it'll be an adventure for you guys to spend all your free time together as a threesome! Though I expect you'll need to arrange some sort of childcare for when The Boy's on vacation and you're both working...."
Plant that seed and watch it grow from a minor "huh, we hadn't thought of that!" into a huge oak tree of a "Holy s**t, we'll never get 5 minutes to ourselves for the next ten years! And childcare will bankrupt us!...Ma, you wouldn't consider relocating to Newfoundland would you....?!?!?"3 -
Ah, Bella, sounds beautiful. But there is context with my beautiful DIL that I just don't have the energy (right?) to get into here. She is a wonderful woman. But come hell or high water she must do this her way - or forever feel she has no control over her own life. Maybe in a few years? Maybe in one year? I'm treading very delicate territory. So my approach will be to offer full out support and be a cheering section. Hopefully she will feel good about herself and be as happy as possible - and thus my son and The Boy will be happy also. They both know I would travel there in a blink. Perhaps that is a problem in itself?5
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Dinner tonight: Veggie weiner slices sauteed in BBQ sauce (lol - sounds kinda fancy), little gem potatoes, greenbeans and butternut squash (from frozen). Woohoo. Sounds pretty good for a fifteen minuteish meal with no prep time.4
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I am baking a chicken!…grilled asparagus and baked potatoes!…..3
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I really like the plant the seed idea and watch it grow -- it should be done for sure, hopefully both subtly and effectively.
But beyond that I don't see how Laurie
gets a win without letting them cope with a hurricane season or two.
Also not sure that Newfoundland is the best resession proof location in Canada?
Our Laurie will cope magnificently and in a few years things will play out!!!
Reminder Laurie that the forums are searchable and your screen name is not super stealthy!2 -
Hmmm.... Laurie you're giving me ideas since I have the same veggies at home!2
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Thanks, PAV. Points taken. Stealth is not one my my strengths, for sure.3
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Hmmm...not my healthiest ever day, though super-yummy!
Breakfast: Sourdough toast with 10g butter and a dollop of homemade rhubarb and ginger jam
Lunch: Knackebrot, houmous, carrot sticks
Snack: A HUGE (145g!) ciambella....OMG, this is the first ciambella I've had since our last trip to Rome and it was as good as the authentic Italian ones...hardly surprising, though, as the baker is from the castelli romani....
Dinner: More sourdough with vintage cheddar and cherry tomatoes. Followed by a Border dark chocolate coated ginger biscuit.2
