Cholesterol Follow-Up

[harimad]

What are your favorite tricks for eating healthy when one is short of time? For the purposes of this discussion, assume money is not an issue (but don't bother with the wise-crack answer of hire a private chef, it's already been done). Since I like cooking, bonus points awarded for quick recipes or techniques.

Comments

[leeble]

Yes, you can probably do better yourself, but clearly you don't have time to do so just now. Don't beat yourself up over it.

With the fruit - put 2 pieces out, leave the rest in the fridge. When you eat the 2 pieces up, put more out to get warm. Do you like cut veggies? You definitely can get pre-cut carrots, celery, broccoli.

Buy a bunch of frozen veggie mixes at the grocery store. When all else fails, bring them to work and nuke. I throw them on top of whatever I've cooked so I have extra veggies - this assumes you can bring a tub of leftovers in to nuke. Otherwise you can do this for dinner. If you like broccoli, you can eat it every day and it will be very good for you - broccoli and kale are wonder foods.

One pot meals are good, since you can sneak in things like chopped Kale :)

See if you can get Cruiser to do some cooking, maybe a little prep work when M. is down for a nap? If he could do your Mise en Place, you could still do the cooking when you come home.

Make double batches of everything and freeze some for another night. Things like chili freeze well. I make it with ground turkey, but lean ground beef is fine too. This is my recipe for soupy chili.

Sautee an onion and garlic in a pot in some oil, put in one package of ground turkey (or beef) and cook. Drain fat if there is any (generally, there isn't with the lean stuff). Add in spices to taste - I put in 2 cans RoTel tomatoes (with chili, etc - it comes in regular, mild and fiesta) - cumin, cayenne or other chili (not chili powder, that has dried garlic, etc in it), oregano. If you want a thicker chili add some tomato paste. At this point you can add beans (1 can drained and rinsed) and or corn (frozen, one cup) or hominy (posole) 1 can drained and rinsed. Don't add hominy and corn. Cilantro if you like it, lime juice, etc. Serve with rice or as is. It's pretty fast, and does best if you make it ahead and serve the next day. Freezes well. You can throw in some chopped frozen spinach or other greens (spinach cooks fast, other greens do not). If you have moral objections to RoTel :) you can use one can diced tomatoes and one chopped fresh chili of choice (or green pepper if you don't like spice).

Lentil soup/stew is always good. Also, does well with the tossing in of greens. If you can cook up a batch of chicken breasts (why make 2 when you can make 6) you can freeze them, and pull them out when you need. Chop and toss into your lentil soup.

I know this may sound weird, but it is tasty and a good quick lunch. Put equal parts lentils and rice (brown rice :) in your rice cooker with appropriate amounts of liquid (rice and lentils take the same amount). Cook. Toss with salad dressing or bbq sauce. Throw over lettuce, or eat hot with veggies of choice (frozen veggies are good for this).

Rice gets too boring, so try other quick cooking grains - cous cous and bulgar wheat. Both are excellent with chopped in tomato, cucumber, red onion or scallion. Toss with lemon juice, olive oil and feta crumbles.

Almost any grain can be cooked in your rice cooker, just adjust amounts of liquid (should indicate on box or if you buy in bulk, on the container)

And cooked tomatoes are very good for men - prostate health apparently. The combination of tomatoes and greens, cooked, is dynamite. Add a touch of vinegar and you're golden.

[harimad]

You put your finger on the key: get over the habit of doing it better myself. I'm a bit like an engineer that way. I also need to control the engineering habit of trying to improve a recipe because that always takes longer, too.

If we can organize ourselves, I will try prepping all produce over the weekend and see if I can deal with the inevitable spoilage. Even better if I can pick a couple recipes in advance to make, and buy what I need.

There's always broccoli & baby carrots in the fridge, Ro-Tel in the cabinet, deshelled frozen shrimp (raw & cooked) and boneless turkey "breasts" ("with rib meat" - sometimes over 50%!) in the freezer. These are the best bags-o-dinner I've found; I add extra veggies or meat if I have it on hand. FYI, the ones without rice tend to be much better than the ones with, and a bag generally serves two.

Trader Joe's is my friend. I'm experimenting with their frozen foods. So far TJ Chix Burrito Bowls and TJ Chili-Lime Chix Burgers are keepers. The first is just a well-done version of the inside of a burrito; the second I strongly recommend you taste. They look like flat circles of nothing but the taste really nice and cook quickly.

Omlets and donburi remain favorites, using half the yolks.