Well, I was busy doing my thing this Sunday and suddenly realized it was lunch time and I was famished. Thoughts of Cheezits ran through my head..my dark self whispered it would be much easier and faster to just grab the box and munch, “after all we’re soooo hungry, just do it”. Then I remembered I had leftovers in the fridge…These leftovers were not a run of the mill soggy casserole that no one wanted to finish, but a fresh salad together with rice and beans. It took only a minute to have a nice bowl of half salad, half rice, beans, hot sauce, cilantro and onions. Whew! I was SAVED. Now sitting here thoroughly satisfied I had to reflect a little on this intervention. If I hadn’t had what I really loved in that fridge and it wasn’t waiting for me I would have been a goner. In diet books I always read that we should keep something ready in the fridge for such times and I think trying to be virtuous we dutifully peel carrots and scrape celery and put them in bags stocking up our Frigidaire with what we think we should eat. It occurs to me that this is a nice idea but if you can’t get excited about veggie sticks then that isn’t going to help you when the hunger pangs hit. Also just having leftovers available really isn’t going to cut it either if you weren’t crazy about the meal the first time around. I am frugal but it finally dawned on me a few years ago what leftovers were going to “sell” in the family and which were going to sit around until they changed their molecular structure and had to be discarded with nose held. Now, the only leftovers that end up on the shelf are the ones we really love. Mexican food is big for us so anything of that nationality gets boxed or bagged. I try and make extra of whatever we love when I am cooking for the purpose of tasty meals later on. Whole wheat pasta, even plain, in a plastic dish has many fast lunch possibilities as long as Olive Oil and Parmesan cheese are around the house. Rice, ditto. Whenever I make salad I make a huge bowlful and then it is ready for a side dish or a meal with cottage cheese, nuts, whole wheat toast or even a slice of cheese. These leftovers can obviously come in handy for a quick dinner too! The point is: have what you really love that is healthy (not what you think you should love) sitting around, prepared in a way that is ready for fast consumption and then just watch the portions (that’s why a side salad helps). You can have a healthy lunch that you can really enjoy and still feel virtuous.
Tag Archives: healthy diet
Unusual Foods that Freeze Well and a Couple That Don’t.
One thing about living a ways out of town is you learn how to keep food in the house for as long as you can. Since running to the store is not a quick trip for me I have discovered some surprisingly successful things to freeze. Most people don’t realize that bananas can be frozen, they can, and they hold up pretty well.
Bananas: Peel, cut in half, (so you don’t have to have a whole one every time) throw in a Ziploc and freeze.It’s that easy. Use the oldest first and you will know because after a few weeks they start to turn a little darker. They taste fine, they just don’t store indefinitely. Nice to know when they go on sale too. Now, of course you probably don’t want to eat them naked out of the freezer but they work well for smoothies and desserts.
Canned tomato paste: How many times have you cooked something and didn’t use all the can? I do that a lot. What to do? Freeze it. I just put a baggie over the top and a rubber band and it goes in the freezer door. It doesn’t even freeze solid so it is very usable the next time you need it. Or even better, freeze scoops of the paste in ice cube trays and throw in a Ziploc. A great way to use up tomato paste is in canned soup with a tomato base. Canned soup can be so blah. I deepen the flavor by adding paste.
Wine: leftover wine is a problem in our house. Freeze in ice cube trays and then pop out and put in Ziplocks.Wine cubes are great to add to sauces, stews, gravy and soups.
Instead of freezing your leftover home made soup (or stew) in a big plastic dish and forgetting about it, freeze it in metal muffin tins. You don’t need to grease the tins. After the soup is frozen, just run your warm wet hand on the bottom and then pop right out. (I sometimes use a dull table knife to pop) Freeze in a Ziploc. You have smaller portions that are easily heated up for one or two people and a quick satisfying lunch on a cold winter day.
Peppers: I do a lot of gardening and have these around. I like odd types you can’t get at the grocery store. The surprising thing about peppers is you don’t have to blanch them. Just cut and freeze. They will be ready for cooking though, not eating.
Tomatoes: Another vegetables that doesn’t require blanching, you can even freeze whole in a Ziploc. I prefer to strip the skins off by submerging in a pot of boiling water for a minute and then freezing in dishes because I make a lot of tomato sauce.
Fresh Herbs: Almost all herbs freeze very well. Basil is a little picky because it can turn black. You can freeze basil by chopping by hand or blender/food processor and mixing with oil or water and freezing in ice trays again and then transferring to Ziplocs.
Mushrooms: You must saute them in a little oil or butter and freeze on a cookie sheet or in little containers. You’ll always have some on hand to add to soups, stews or spaghetti sauce.
Berries of all kinds: No processing required, just freeze on a cookies sheet so they are nice and loose when frozen and throw in a Ziploc. Later, you can dip your hand in the bag and grab any quantity you want.
Now a couple things that don’t freeze well even if they are in the grocery store!
Potatoes are terrible when they have been frozen. They get rubbery. Maybe you can get away with it if they are mixed with a lot of other veggies in a soup but even then, the taste is flat and the texture worse.
Green Beans: Yep, that’s right, even the bags of green beans in the grocery store freezer are awful. Why? Because they never cook right again and when you reheat them they are like hard, spongy, little tubes that taste like grass. The solution I find is to buy French style green beans at the store and add those to my soups and stews. They do not hold that hard shape and the taste is acceptably better. Even when I freeze my beans from the garden I “French” them now.
Portion Control
The more time and energy I devote to my diet the more I am convinced that the real key to weight loss for anyone is portion control. Since I don’t believe in diet”ing” eating less must be where the calorie factor is figured in. I am also quite aware through personal experience that putting less on your plate is an exercise in panic and frustration. My body knows and remembers how much food it has been getting and it wants that same amount today that it had yesterday. When it didn’t get it, it made me feel like I was starving. This is the thing that makes losing weight so dang hard. Depending on how much we have been over eating the feeling of lack when we trim it down can really amount to torture. Fortunately I found a book with an idea that really helped me in that department. It’s called The Volumetrics Weight-Control Plan by Barbara Rolls PhD. Her point of view opened my eyes to new possibilities. I will say right up front here that I do not follow this book religiously, as this is not my only regime. I just took some of the great ideas she had and apply it where I can because they are brilliant. Basically it boils down to this. Eat more of the foods that are dense, (or low in calories but filling), like vegetables, fresh fruit and beans and less of foods that are higher in calories but lighter so they don’t fill you up like crackers, chips, french fries and cheese. I am looking to increase the volume in my meals while lowering the calories. For example: I love spaghetti, well, who doesn’t? Now, I can switch to a better made pasta with some grains added and that is a fine idea but it’s still pretty much a heaping plate of the higher calorie stuff. If I eat only half of my usual portion I will feel cheated and hungry. So what if I take out half the the noodles and then add back in enough tasty vegetables to bring the amount back up to snuff? Instant satisfaction! So, for a year now I make spaghetti sauce, adding to it chopped tomatoes, roasted eggplant, sauteed zucchini and mushrooms. Toss with the pasta and cover with Parmesan cheese. It’s delicious and I can eat till I am full with the added advantage of getting my daily dose of recommended vegetables as a bonus.
Here is a sample recipe for an easy, healthy, and delicious smoothie but remember: just use the fruit, water and vanilla extract for the lowest calorie count. They are still very good!
Strawberry Mango Smoothie
1 Cup of strawberries
½ C Mango
1 small or a half banana
Vanilla yogurt or soymilk or just water for low calorie
1 tsp Vanilla extract or more
Blend
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Liquid Fruit, A Smooth Idea
Weekday Routines
I found something that I consistently like to eat for breakfast on the weekdays. It’s become my routine. Every morning I have my homemade Granola. Here is another recipe where I deviate from worrying about calories and focus more on health and satisfaction but it seems to be working. Granola is something we are always told to stay away from because it isn’t a diet food. Well, I am not on a diet, I don’t believe in diets, I believe in eating well, being sensible and reducing my portions. The basic recipe for this granola came from a book but I added spices and every nut/grain that I thought would work. The result is very healthy and really delicious. I have 2/3 of a Cup every morning with 2% milk. That doesn’t sound like a lot but the whole grains keep me fine until lunch. The recipe looks overwhelming with all the ingredients but once you have them in the house it’s easy to prepare. I just get out a big bowl and start dumping the dry ingredients in. Then I use a glass measuring cup for the honey, heat it up in the microwave to make it easier to mix and add the vanilla and oil. To me, it’s worth the time to get these grains and nuts in my diet with something that tastes this good and it isn’t adding any weight to me.