More home cooking, less packaged foods
In an odd way, mid-January started off a desire to actually cook dinner instead of heat up dinner. For years Adam and I have been doing pre-packaged things for dinner. Trader Joes has great dinners, and I think we've tried half the stuff they offer: chicken fajitas, turkey meatloaf, polenta lasagna, mushroom fettuccine, the list goes on. We are also quite fond of the Stouffers, Steam Fresh, all those pasta/dinner in a bag foods. They worked, and most of them are 2 servings. Add salad and some sort of dessert, and it's a fast dinner. Who wouldn't want that when you're out the door for work before 7:30 and don't get home from the gym until about 8:30. There are tons of options too, you just have to vary your shopping between stores: Ralphs or a grocery store chain one week, TJ's the following, and Fresh & Easy the next. Don't forget the good ole standbys: frozen pizza and chicken nuggets.
Then something hit me in January. If I just planned a little better, we could actually have a real meal several, if not most days of the week. I'm proud to say, we're going into week 3, with no repeats, and only a few misses. So far we've enjoyed:
Fettuccine with Creamy Red Pepper Sauce
Veggie Cassoulet
Turkey/Spinach Lasagne
Sweet & Spicy Chicken
Veggie Enchiladas (which Adam actually really likes and that surprises me)
Stuffed Zucchini Boats
Oatmeal Walnut Cookies (yes, I had to try a new cookie recipe because it sounded so good)
I've also taken to the crock pot, since it uses very few ingredients and we've tried:
Creamy Chicken Burritos
Roasted Pork Tenderloin
Chicken Parmesean
Creamy Italian Chicken (we will try this one on Wednesday)
The pork tenderloin wasn't a strike out, but it was kinda bland. It was better on day 2, reheated with bbq sauce and eaten on a bun as a pulled pork sandwich. Today's attempt was a total disaster. We tried the chicken parmesean because it's Adam's favorite dish in the entire world. Only after I was mixing the sauce this morning did Adam ask me why it was chicken parm when there is no tomato sauce. Hmm...I don't know. That's just the name of the recipe I guess. It tasted ok, but over all, it was a disaster. It's NOT chicken parmesean, and even though I followed the directions and cooking time, it stuck to the crockpot like no other. We didn't save the leftovers, straight into the trash. The lasagne was pretty good for a low fat recipe. Next time I'd add more onion and mushroom as the turkey/spinach combo got a bit monotonous.
I'm surprising myself and doing OK with the planning ahead. I think it was wise not to attempt to cook 7 nights a week. We enjoy going out on the weekends. My only complaint is that a lot, if not ALL of the recipes are for 4-6, or even 8. That's just too much for 2. Duh. I cut the crock pot recipes in half and it works good for dinner and either leftovers for the next day, or a container or two of lunch. So I suppose, while we are eating actual home cooked meals, we're still dealing with portion control.
I tried to go find some decent, healthyish, cookbooks for two and it's IMPOSSIBLE. I spent a bunch of time online and found some great sounding books, only to go to Barnes & Noble and Borders and find a practically non-existent selection of 'Cooking for 2' books. These two sound like the best bets:
Eating Well Serves Two: 150 Healthy in a Hurry Suppers
Light Cooking for Two
I'm hoping to stick with the actual meal cooking. It's not stressful and it's kinda exciting to have these new foods to try out, so I think it's working so far. If I can master this, my next attempt will be to cut down the pre-dinner snacking (chips/salsa, naan/olive tapenade, etc - once in a while is ok, but every day it adds up).
THEN my next goal will be to actually stick with the 'no more than 2 Diet Dr Peppers a week' rule I tried to set for myself. LOL - but let's be realistic, working on the first two goals will take time enough, I don't think I'm in danger of having to cut back my DDP ration any time soon.
Then something hit me in January. If I just planned a little better, we could actually have a real meal several, if not most days of the week. I'm proud to say, we're going into week 3, with no repeats, and only a few misses. So far we've enjoyed:
Fettuccine with Creamy Red Pepper Sauce
Veggie Cassoulet
Turkey/Spinach Lasagne
Sweet & Spicy Chicken
Veggie Enchiladas (which Adam actually really likes and that surprises me)
Stuffed Zucchini Boats
Oatmeal Walnut Cookies (yes, I had to try a new cookie recipe because it sounded so good)
I've also taken to the crock pot, since it uses very few ingredients and we've tried:
Creamy Chicken Burritos
Roasted Pork Tenderloin
Chicken Parmesean
Creamy Italian Chicken (we will try this one on Wednesday)
The pork tenderloin wasn't a strike out, but it was kinda bland. It was better on day 2, reheated with bbq sauce and eaten on a bun as a pulled pork sandwich. Today's attempt was a total disaster. We tried the chicken parmesean because it's Adam's favorite dish in the entire world. Only after I was mixing the sauce this morning did Adam ask me why it was chicken parm when there is no tomato sauce. Hmm...I don't know. That's just the name of the recipe I guess. It tasted ok, but over all, it was a disaster. It's NOT chicken parmesean, and even though I followed the directions and cooking time, it stuck to the crockpot like no other. We didn't save the leftovers, straight into the trash. The lasagne was pretty good for a low fat recipe. Next time I'd add more onion and mushroom as the turkey/spinach combo got a bit monotonous.
I'm surprising myself and doing OK with the planning ahead. I think it was wise not to attempt to cook 7 nights a week. We enjoy going out on the weekends. My only complaint is that a lot, if not ALL of the recipes are for 4-6, or even 8. That's just too much for 2. Duh. I cut the crock pot recipes in half and it works good for dinner and either leftovers for the next day, or a container or two of lunch. So I suppose, while we are eating actual home cooked meals, we're still dealing with portion control.
I tried to go find some decent, healthyish, cookbooks for two and it's IMPOSSIBLE. I spent a bunch of time online and found some great sounding books, only to go to Barnes & Noble and Borders and find a practically non-existent selection of 'Cooking for 2' books. These two sound like the best bets:
Eating Well Serves Two: 150 Healthy in a Hurry Suppers
Light Cooking for Two
I'm hoping to stick with the actual meal cooking. It's not stressful and it's kinda exciting to have these new foods to try out, so I think it's working so far. If I can master this, my next attempt will be to cut down the pre-dinner snacking (chips/salsa, naan/olive tapenade, etc - once in a while is ok, but every day it adds up).
THEN my next goal will be to actually stick with the 'no more than 2 Diet Dr Peppers a week' rule I tried to set for myself. LOL - but let's be realistic, working on the first two goals will take time enough, I don't think I'm in danger of having to cut back my DDP ration any time soon.