[rachinaz]

I need help from those of you who are further down this road of healthy eating. Keep in mind I am not a great cook and will never take the time to make elaborate meals. I need some things that are quick and simple to make. Or at least will keep well over a few days if I can make some over the weekend and use it throughout the week (but not too complicated!). DH and I both work full time outside the home so I know planning ahead is key, but ease and simplicity are high on my list of priorities.

[mom2emnkate]

I have two days a week that are totally insane and the meals must be either super quick, can be paritally done ahead of time or slow cooking. LMK if you need recipes (I am sort of a "wing it" cook, but I can try to formulate some sort of recipe)
Super quick or partially done ahead of time:
*beans and rice (can add meat if desired)
* sweet potato hash (has ground sausage in it, but Imagine you could replace it with a lighter ground meat)
* tacos (everything can be done ahead of time and healthy ingredients...lots of veggies...can be used)
* spaghetti (whole wheat) and sauce (I put pureed pumpkin or carrots in mine to boost veggie content and you'd never taste it.)
* Stir fry

Slow cooked:
*Roasts
* Soups/stews! Very versatile--add what you like and what you have. With a green salad and a whole grain bread.

A lot of times I will make something like a roast in the crockpot or roasted chicken on Sunday or Monday (when I'm off) and then use the leftover meat later in the week in a stir fry.
For lunch I generally pack...
*spinach salad: baby spinach leaves with a fruit (red grapes or dried cranberries), cherry tomatoes, a handful of shredded carrots, either black beans or leftover chicken or defrosted fake-crab. Dressing is Milked-down ranch.
OR
* barley salad: 1/2 cup leftover cooked barley, 1/2 cup cherry tomatoes, 1/2 rinsed canned beans, shredded carrot, small amt. chunked cheddar, with chipotle dressing. (I had this today. yum)

HTH

[Peace~Karen]

DH and I both work full-time, too, so I know what you mean about ease and simplicity. Here are my quickie meal staples:

My freezer is stuffed with Amy's Kitchen products. They're wonderful heat & eat options.

My pantry is stocked with cans and cans of beans (only ingredients: beans and salt) You have to choose carefully if you're not shopping in a health food store; canned beans often contain a bunch of sugar and other junk. Read labels.

Also in my pantry are rows of 1/2 gallon mason jars filled with bulk grains (quinoa, millet, rice, polenta, oats, barley, etc) that can be prepared with ease in my rice cooker.

Our local farm drops off my weekly deliveries of veggies (except in winter). When I'm good about it, I clean and prep all the veggies on the weekend so they're grab-and-go throughout the week. (But, I haven't been doing such a good job keeping up with that lately. )

I also keep the fridge stocked with fruit and I usually pay for the added convenience of pre-cut melon and pineapple.

I keep a variety of nuts, dried fruit and dark chocolate on hand as snack staples.

And no shopping trip is complete without grabbing some Newcastle Brown Ale.

Here are some of my favorite recipe and healthy food idea web sites:
http://whfoods.com/
http://www.wholefood...ipes/index.html
http://www.drweil.co...w/u/id/PAG00318
http://www.vegetariantimes.com/

HTH!

Peace,
Karen

[Mellissa]

UGH! I wish I could help with this but I stink at dinnertime. Usually I make something for DH and the kids and make myself a huge green salad or Lean Cuisine. For me I keep Hillshire Farm Shaved Ham for quick sandwiches or to chop up over my green salad and grilled chicken breast strips for my salads. One of the things I did for DH after his heart attack was replace all the white rice with brown rice, wheat spaghetti for the white spaghetti and started preparing things from scratch (not hard things but like spaghetti sauce and usual jar/can things) to cut down on the amount of salt he was eating. So although my family doesn't eat the healthiest menu they do eat healthier alternatives than before and that works for me ; )

[rachinaz]

Peace~Karen, on Oct 19 2007, 11:05 AM, said:

My pantry is stocked with cans and cans of beans (only ingredients: beans and salt) You have to choose carefully if you're not shopping in a health food store; canned beans often contain a bunch of sugar and other junk. Read labels.

Also in my pantry are rows of 1/2 gallon mason jars filled with bulk grains (quinoa, millet, rice, polenta, oats, barley, etc) that can be prepared with ease in my rice cooker.

Our local farm drops off my weekly deliveries of veggies (except in winter). When I'm good about it, I clean and prep all the veggies on the weekend so they're grab-and-go throughout the week. (But, I haven't been doing such a good job keeping up with that lately. )

Thanks for all the ideas posted. I'll use them to do my grocery shopping this week. And you all have to promise not to laugh at me for the questions below! Never mind, laugh away. But please do me the favor of answering them anyway.

Kristina - Pureed pumpkin in spaghetti sauce? I've never heard of such a thing. Do you use the canned stuff? Doesn't that make it really thick?

Karen - You'll have to pardon my ignorance...............quinoa, millet, polenta..............I've heard of them (really, I HAVE ). But how do you use them? A side dish like rice? I'm assuming they are all whole grains? And I will admit that it never would have occured to me in a billion years they could be prepared so simply as to use my rice cooker. How do you know how much water to add? Is it similar to the ratio for rice?

I assume your farm dropoff is a co-op situation. How do you go about looking for such an arrangement? And can you give me a ballpark estimate of what that would cost?

[Jess_jugs]

When I have more time I"ll post a list ok, Rach?? And I'm cracking up at your reference to P45X.....

[mom2emnkate]

rachinaz, on Oct 19 2007, 05:24 PM, said:

Kristina - Pureed pumpkin in spaghetti sauce? I've never heard of such a thing. Do you use the canned stuff? Doesn't that make it really thick?

Yes, I used the canned stuff and yes, it does thicken the sauce a lot, but we don't like runny sauce anyway. It has virtually no flavor of its own, and packed with vitamin A.

[Peace~Karen]

rachinaz, on Oct 19 2007, 05:24 PM, said:

Karen - You'll have to pardon my ignorance...............quinoa, millet, polenta..............I've heard of them (really, I HAVE ). But how do you use them? A side dish like rice? I'm assuming they are all whole grains? And I will admit that it never would have occured to me in a billion years they could be prepared so simply as to use my rice cooker. How do you know how much water to add? Is it similar to the ratio for rice?

I assume your farm dropoff is a co-op situation. How do you go about looking for such an arrangement? And can you give me a ballpark estimate of what that would cost?

This link should answer your question about the grains:
http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/products/g...rain_facts.html
(be sure to follow the link from that page under "cooking grains" to find the water ratio for various grains)

The farm dropoff is part of a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture), which is similar in concept to a co-op. Here are a couple links with more info.
http://www.nal.usda....s/csa/csa.shtml
http://www.localharvest.org/

I can't really give a ballpark estimate because CSA costs vary a lot. Our farm is Timberwood Organics. We pay $835 per year for their "large" box which equates to $28.80 per week (the CSA runs 29 weeks). This week we got: salad mix, arugula, salad turnips, radishes, sweet italia peppers, napa cabbage, kale, cherry tomatoes, red mustard, long beans, green bibb lettuce, and parsley.

Peace,
Karen

[rachinaz]

Peace~Karen, on Oct 20 2007, 08:59 PM, said:

rachinaz, on Oct 19 2007, 05:24 PM, said:

Karen - You'll have to pardon my ignorance...............quinoa, millet, polenta..............I've heard of them (really, I HAVE ). But how do you use them? A side dish like rice? I'm assuming they are all whole grains? And I will admit that it never would have occured to me in a billion years they could be prepared so simply as to use my rice cooker. How do you know how much water to add? Is it similar to the ratio for rice?

I assume your farm dropoff is a co-op situation. How do you go about looking for such an arrangement? And can you give me a ballpark estimate of what that would cost?

This link should answer your question about the grains:
http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/products/g...rain_facts.html
(be sure to follow the link from that page under "cooking grains" to find the water ratio for various grains)

The farm dropoff is part of a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture), which is similar in concept to a co-op. Here are a couple links with more info.
http://www.nal.usda....s/csa/csa.shtml
http://www.localharvest.org/

I can't really give a ballpark estimate because CSA costs vary a lot. Our farm is Timberwood Organics. We pay $835 per year for their "large" box which equates to $28.80 per week (the CSA runs 29 weeks). This week we got: salad mix, arugula, salad turnips, radishes, sweet italia peppers, napa cabbage, kale, cherry tomatoes, red mustard, long beans, green bibb lettuce, and parsley.

Peace,
Karen

Thanks so much, Karen. This is great info.