Monday, June 27, 2011

Determined

To keep Rick built up and in "fighting form", I have resolved to pack him full of good healthy things!  Today, I juiced seven carrots, two apples, seven stalks of celery and a pineapple, to give him throughout the day.  That is a good energy booster, too, because right now? He is fitting my bathroom with a new vanity!  I am excited about that one, because it has two drawers and a cupboard. When we remodeled, I opted for a pricey pedestal that never did work out well for me.  So, out with the old and in with the new...

I am getting heart palpitations just thinking of how orderly this will be compared to the hidden jumbles I have been hiding! We splurged on a nice shiny new set of taps, too, so all is good.

My weight, by the way, has leveled out. Last week, I was ready to jump off the nearest bridge, and my weight reflected the stress. A gain of three pounds a day? REALLY???? But, now it is going down, again, so there remains only five pounds over before. And that? Is because we were travelling for three months and not going near our own kitchen too much!

Thank goodness for the produce at Costco, though. Such good food and so good for you. Our new breakfast favourite is a spinach and mushroom omelet for breakfast, with red pepper, onion and Bergeron cheese. Oh my.

Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Chopped and ready....

Looks like I won't have to spend any time at the grocery store this week! I spent a good portion of my morning prepping the remaining vegetables for use over the next few days. Since hubby will be out of town for the majority of next week, I am sure I will have enough vegetables to keep myself going.

Yesterday`'s dinner was "Lisa's Meatballs and Cabbage"- my dear hubby brought up the remaining hamburger from the freezer, which was a two pound package. The result is enough meatballs to feed an army! So, that is what we are having for supper tonight...again! For snacking, I have cut up three peppers, three carrots, and we have a package of snap peas begging to be eaten. All that I need to do is prepare some sort of dip, and we are set for a good movie night at home, or lunch for the next couple of days, depending how things play out this evening. There is something about having prepped veggies at hand that makes me feel like quite the domestic goddess! To see finely diced peppers (I use my Nicer Dicer to chop the ends that aren't as pretty as the strips!) ready for an omelet, or sprinkling into a tossed salad.

Although this new "push the veggies into hubby to get him healthy" program is a bit labour intensive, when you get into the habit of preparing in stages, life is a lot easier. I have made fruit salad twice this week...mega amounts. That just seems to improve with age. Yesterday's effort included a mango and half a pint of blueberries with the standard nectarines. We had the remains for breakfast. With a piece of gluten free toast? I found it just as satisfying as my usual fare of eggs and toast. We are also limiting dairy, so a dab of Greek yogurt went onto the man's fruit, but it just didn't appeal to me. I recently tried a trick to make a nice fruit topping. You drain a container of yogurt overnight in the frig...line a strainer with a coffee filter, and discard the water. Then, you mix in some honey, and cinnamon. Wow! That really is a good topping for fruit. If you added garlic and a few savory spices, it would make a good dip for veggies as well. Hmmmm....off to drain the Greek yogurt! They carry it at Costco now, so that makes my life so much easier! Now, if only they would carry the good Kalamata olives.....ah well. The other stores need a bit of my patronage too!Tonight's supper will be corn on the cob served with some leftover meatballs and cabbage. Definitely need to stay home tonight!

Lisa's Meatballs with Cabbage - use amounts on hand
leftover rice - about a cup
extra lean hamburger - two pounds - I prefer using ground bison
cabbage (I cheat and use preshredded coleslaw mix, or a small head - just leave room for the meatballs!)
onion - sliced finely
celery - about three stalks
tin of diced tomatoes
Fresh Dill to taste...I like LOTS!

  1. In a dutch oven layer sliced cabbage, onions and celery. 
  2. Add an egg, salt and pepper to the hamburger and rice. Form into walnut sized meatballs and place on the layered veggies.
  3. Add some hot sauce to the tomatoes, a good shot of ketchup and about four cloves of finely chopped garlic to the tomatoes...pour over all.
  4. Top with fresh dill, slap on the lid and simmer over medium heat until the liquid reduces, and the smell fills your home with the most wonderful aroma!

If you feel like fussing? Serve with potatoes, baked or mashed. If not? Just chow down and enjoy!

Monday, June 13, 2011

Dull Monday

But not at our table! This morning, I had a fruit cup (1/2 cup of blueberries, 1/2 a nectarine and 1 tsp of Splenda), 1 1/2 servings of vegetables via a half can of  V8 juice, two poached eggs and 1 piece of gluten free toast with a scant teaspoon  of butter. MM MM good! This is going to be a "good, good day"!

Lunch will be Caesar salad ( a small one today!) with a piece of toast. Supper is as of yet undetermined, but so far? It looks like an orange ginger stir fry to use up the leftover chicken and some of the peppers, carrots, onions, cauliflower and mushrooms that are ready and waiting to be turned into something fabulous! Basmati rice will accompany the stir fry, and the extra will provide the cold rice needed for tomorrow's 'beefy' meal...Lisa's meatballs and cabbage. Today's trip out will be to buy celery for that dish. I am really trying to keep the grocery bill down around here as an experiment. Just how much money does it take to feed two old people anyway? I have a tendency to buy as if I am cooking for an army...especially when I hit the produce at Costco. They do have the best quality there, and it stays fresh for a long time. If I buy at Superstore, the stuff seems to rot before I can get to it, so I think that is false economy. So far? There are lots of vegetables left over from last Wednesday's shopping trip. Tomatoes, lettuce, cauliflower, asparagus, peppers, carrots, onions and mushrooms. Not to mention the tons of lemons, limes and oranges. Yesterday, after picking up a few  necessities at the greenhouse (mint, basil and a pot to plant them in) I stopped by Extra foods  for two sweet potatoes, two baking potatoes and some hard raspberry candies. Hey. That is a fruit choice, right?

MMMMMM food!

My resolution to keep prepped veggies and fruit salad in the frig is really working for us. There has been very little spoilage this week, as it isn't a big deal to use the vegetables when they are cleaned, ready and waiting to be used. The mushrooms, onions and peppers were sliced, diced and waiting to be tossed into an omelet for our breakfast.  The fruit was chopped and waiting in a Tupperware container for our snack....of course, using the Nicer Dicer and the companion slicer gizmo makes the task a lot less tedious. I just don't have the knife skills to turn out perfectly chopped veggies like these little gadgets can!  Yesterday, I found some extra  containers for sale online, so in a week or so, I will be able to have containers of each veggies stored in the frig, ready and waiting. They are made of polycarbonate, and have very snug lids, so it will be nice to have a dozen of them ready and willing to stow away our good things! For now, though, I certainly need courage to extricate anything from the balancing act going on in the refrigerator!

In keeping with our resolution to only eat something with four legs once a week, I roasted a chicken for lunch today. With some roasted asparagus and a quickly made sauce, that meal was a great success as well. This roast beast will be reworked into a more meals over the next couple of days.

We have been really good about eating our five plus fruits and veg lately. Tonight, supper was a very generous portion of  Caesar salad. The dressing was simple and not quite as dangerous as most Caesar dressings are, so between the two of us? We polished off two heads of romaine. Oh yes we did! I started with a teaspoon of Dijon mustard, whisked in some healthy oil, some red wine vinegar and two cloves of garlic. After adding the prewashed and chopped (see? I really am getting the hang of this!) lettuce to the bowl, I tossed it gently in the dressing and then added shaved Parmesan cheese, salt and pepper. For some reason? Tonight it was magic! I treated myself to two slices of Udi's gluten free bread, toasted and buttered. MMMM good! I put a couple of slices of cold chicken on my plate, but really didn't feel like eating them - the salad was just too good! So, back in the frig they went for later on.

All in all? I am very pleased with efforts in the kitchen today. How is that for a miracle?