Focusing on Food

I'm BACK!
I think. . .

We've got a borrowed CPU with most of my files loaded up on it. It's not the ideal situation, but it is so much better than nothing. Having to use a computer in ONE LOCATION feels so very old school. I keep imagining myself as a caveman resigned to only hack out my stick men inside on the cave walls. At least I'm 'drawing' again though!

I'm going to attempt to not overload this post with too much at one time. Today will just be about food and my menu for the week.

Pat and I are really going to start making an attempt to eat better. Unfortunately, that means most of my favorite recipes will be disappearing from my menus. I know it's a good thing, but I do love my cheese. . . and cream. . .and BUTTER!!! Of course, I won't be dropping these items completely at once, but we're definitely working toward some healthier choices. With that said, here's this week's meal plan for Menu Plan Monday:


Breakfasts: Cereal/oatmeal, cinnamon sugar croissants, raspberry parfaits, peanut butter toast, eggs w/toast & bacon, whole wheat blueberry waffles

Lunches: Turkey sandwiches, tuna noodles, chicken pitas w/veggies, soup and warm pita wedges, PB&J, leftovers, salad w/chicken or turkey

Dinners: 
Steak w/sweet potatoes & broccoli
Crockpot chicken, yellow rice, green beans
Ministrone Soup w/crackers
Grilled shrimp, boiled red potatoes, roasted carrots

I'm definitely a newbie to the whole eating healthier thing so I'm looking for some other great menu ideas. I know the extensive list of other Menu Plan Monday participants at I'm an Organizing Junkie will have some tasty, but healthier food suggestions.

If you've got a recipe or even a tip or two on eating better, please share!!!

While I've been out of the loop the past few weeks I've still made attempts to plan our meals to a certain extent. Without my computer, I couldn't access most of my recipes. However, there was still Pintrest and all those delicious-looking foods I'd pinned. As such, I did try a few new recipes that I thought I'd review for you here.

1. Penne a la Betsy! from the Pioneer Woman. I'm sad to say, but it's a lot of her recipes that will be leaving my lists as we move toward more conscious eating habits. . . . sigh. . .anyway.
Like all of Ree's recipes,this was DELICIOUS! I regret not having the fresh herbs (I used dried instead) as that really would have out it over the top. It was a subtle dish with no outstanding flavors, but really was yummy.

2. Southern Chicken and Corn Chowder from Add a Pinch was super tasty.
Let me admit that the recipe said to roughly chop the veggies and I did. I regret that. I should have chopped them just a little finer as it was a bit too chunky for my tastes. As well, the soup was a tad thinner than I had anticipated. I'll add some cornstarch to it next time to fix that up. Yes, I said next time! We will most likely repeat this recipe in the future. That's definitely a good thing!

3. Baked Black Bean Taquitos from Naturally Ella were right up my alley.
I liked that this was a vegetarian meal that I could kinda quickly pull together for our lunch. However, things went a little awry for me when it came to the corn tortillas. The directions said to dip them in a pot of boiling water (turned off) for a few seconds before adding the filling. As soon as my tortillas touched that water, they disintegrated into it!! So, I went without the water bath for them. Yet, when I rolled them they split. By the time they came out of the oven, they had ALL split on the sides and were more like black bean quesidillas. I'm sure this just had to do with the type of tortillas I bought and with my lack of experience with corn ones. No matter the cause, they were still pretty darn yummy. I will most likely repeat this recipe, but I need to figure out what I did wrong with the tortillas. If I can't I'll still probably make the filling again and use it in another way!

I also had these Pizza Grilled Cheese Sandwiches on the menu, but never actually got around to making them. I still have all the ingredients, but with our new perspective I didn't include them in this week's plan. If we decide we want something naughty I may make them yet.

I can't believe it's taken me ALL MORNING to get this post written. I'm so out of practice. I've got a ton of tasks that I want to catch up on so I better get to it.

Again, if you've got any healthy recipes/suggestions I've LOVE to hear them!

6 comments:

  1. Hi Hope,
    I have been thinking about you and was going to send an email just to check on you, so I'm glad to see you are still kicking LOL! I have a suggestion or two. First all of your favorite recipes can be healthified by using light ingredients such as butter, milk, cheese, sour cream, cream cheese, and so on. I use Truvia in my coffee, tea, and I cut back on regular sugar with Truvia or a like product made with Stevia when baking.
    Second next time try putting the hot water in a spray bottle and misting the corn tortillas and see if that makes a difference, or wrap them in damp paper towels and steam them in the microwave.
    I too am on the healthier eating lifestyle and so far have lost 7 pounds since the 1st.
    Therese

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  2. We like to eat stirfry. We used to have it with rice, but my husband developed type 2 diabetes so now I just make more stirfry and we do without rice. You can cook it with just a bit of oil in the pan so there aren't many fat calories in it. My family is picky, and this is about the only way they will eat veggies.

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  3. Check out some of Graham Kerr's cookbooks. He was "The Galloping Gourmet" back in the 70's, with quite the kitschy tv show, where he'd whip up delicious concoctions full of meat and butter and cream, always with a glass of wine next to his chopping board. Then his wife had a health scare(stroke or heart attack, I don't remember), and he realized that he had alcohol issues, so he went back and developed lots of recipies from a much more health-conscious perspective. He has a pasta carbonara that my husband and I love -- if Graham could make that decadent dish healthier, you know he's got something fabulous going on. And yes, we lost weight cooking his stuff!

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  4. Grilled Shrimp sounds wonderful.
    You have a great menu planned! Enjoy your week.

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  5. Berry-
    Thanks! I know we need to eat more seafood and I'm uber picky about fish so shrimp works well for both of us. Now I just need to figure out how to grill it between now and then! ;)
    Thanks so much for dropping by!!

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  6. I'm so glad you're back! Don't laugh but I still use a PC. I've never liked the laptops with their flat keyboards--makes my wrists and hands ache. Plus, if I had a laptop I would be on it all day long.

    Like you, We (I should say I since hubby is not on board) want to start eating healther. I'm going to start with one meal a week and hopefully increase as we go along. I'm looking forward to seeing your recipes as I'm totally clueless when it comes to eating healthy.

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Thanks for stopping by! It means so very much to me. I love to hear what you have to say.

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