Almost forgot!
This week's plan includes a birthday dinner for my brother, who requested fried chicken. To keep it healthier, I'm using only bone-in breasts. I'll chop each breast half in half, so that I get two servings from each massive piece in the package. I'm also going to pull off the fatty skin before breading it. Then, I'll fry the chicken in a blend of peanut and vegetable oils rather than shortening or lard.
No, it'll never be diet food, but it's certainly possible to indulge in traditional comfort foods as long as you keep an eye out for ways to lighten them and, most important, keep the portions small.
Monday
Chicken parmesan (baked, not fried)
Angel hair with chunky tomato sauce
Salad
Tuesday
Hoppin' John
Chicken-flavored rice pilaf
Salad
(Bonus info: Grains + beans = a complete protein.)
Wednesday
Fried bone-in chicken breasts
Biscuits
Baked beans
Salad
Thursday
Frittata
Roasted potatoes
Gazpacho
Friday
Pioneer Woman's ranch-style honey mustard chicken
Corn
Salad
Saturday
Slow-cooker macaroni and cheese
Veggie mix
Salad
Puppy Bowl Sunday
Cincinnati-style chili over French fries
Snacks
Monday Meal Planning: Torture-Free Edition
My husband insists that I'm violating the Geneva conventions when I make a slow-cooked pasta sauce like yesterday's meat sauce. This week's meals call for no all-day simmering sauces (though I may elect to keep the meatballs for subs hot in a small slow cooker after I heat them).
I'm still under $400 for this month, budget-wise, and the only purchases I'll have to make between now and the end of the month are for perishables like fruit, salad fixings, and milk. I think we're shaping up well.
Monday
Home fries with eggs and bacon
Mini-bagels
Fruit
Tuesday
Rice and beans with turkey kielbasa
Corn
Salad
Wednesday
Basil-parsley-almond pesto pasta with diced tomatoes and feta cheese
Garlic bread
Salad
Thursday
Chicken sausage and cheddar waffles
Greek salad
Friday
Meatball subs
Sweet potato fries
Salad
Saturday
Greek pasta bake (Every Day with Rachael Ray recipe)
Dinner rolls
Salad
Sunday
Bacon and onion pizza
Sweet potato fries
Salad
I'm still under $400 for this month, budget-wise, and the only purchases I'll have to make between now and the end of the month are for perishables like fruit, salad fixings, and milk. I think we're shaping up well.
Monday
Home fries with eggs and bacon
Mini-bagels
Fruit
Tuesday
Rice and beans with turkey kielbasa
Corn
Salad
Wednesday
Basil-parsley-almond pesto pasta with diced tomatoes and feta cheese
Garlic bread
Salad
Thursday
Chicken sausage and cheddar waffles
Greek salad
Friday
Meatball subs
Sweet potato fries
Salad
Saturday
Greek pasta bake (Every Day with Rachael Ray recipe)
Dinner rolls
Salad
Sunday
Bacon and onion pizza
Sweet potato fries
Salad
Calorie Counts Let Loose in the Real World
Let me direct you to my husband's blog, where he wrote recently about encountering New York City's calorie-posting law.
Incidentally, just this past week we went shopping at Target and stopped in the store café for a snack (the popcorn and drink combo is a great deal at $1.50!). The store had put up a new price board since we'd last visited, and it now features calorie ranges for every item on the menu.
The popcorn, fortunately for us, turned out to be a reasonable two-person snack with only about 300 calories (if you get a calorie-free beverage), but some meals had surprising stats. The hot dog and chicken fingers meals are surprisingly good bets for a light meal, but the healthy-sounding sandwiches pack a hefty punch.
Having seen calorie count-enhanced menu boards, I now definitely support their implementation nationwide. Sure, we can make estimates now, and we can even do research before heading out if we feel especially motivated, but there's nothing like having that information right in front of our eyeballs right when we need it. I hope other restaurants follow Target's lead.
Thoughts on NYC « Springtime for Dubcek … and Slovakia!: "And it definitely affected my lunch decision. I had thought about just grabbing the Philly cheesesteak combo, but decided against it when I saw the nutritional damage would be more than 1,300 calories for the sandwich and fries (by point of reference, when I’m not traveling or celebrating the holidays, I try to limit my daily intake to 2,000 calories). The hot dog combo was about half that, with the small fries packing about 400 calories (and earning my blame for the indigestion I felt after eating) versus 297 calories for the hot dog."
Incidentally, just this past week we went shopping at Target and stopped in the store café for a snack (the popcorn and drink combo is a great deal at $1.50!). The store had put up a new price board since we'd last visited, and it now features calorie ranges for every item on the menu.
The popcorn, fortunately for us, turned out to be a reasonable two-person snack with only about 300 calories (if you get a calorie-free beverage), but some meals had surprising stats. The hot dog and chicken fingers meals are surprisingly good bets for a light meal, but the healthy-sounding sandwiches pack a hefty punch.
Having seen calorie count-enhanced menu boards, I now definitely support their implementation nationwide. Sure, we can make estimates now, and we can even do research before heading out if we feel especially motivated, but there's nothing like having that information right in front of our eyeballs right when we need it. I hope other restaurants follow Target's lead.
Monday Meal Planning: Post-Holidays Edition
I've had a hard time motivating myself to blog after the holiday blogging binge I had in December here and at The Cookie Book, but now that I've returned home and restarted my meal planning, I should share!
I do have new posts up at Edible TV and Fit Fare, and sometime I will post extra info on both for your edification and enlightenment.
And with that, this week's meal plan, designed to use up a lot of pantry stock from the sales:
Monday
Grilled chicken
Sesame noodles
Salad
Tuesday
Garbanzo bean cutlets
Cheesy veggies
Herb and butter rice
Oil and vinegar slaw
Wednesday
Spaghetti and turkey meatballs
Garlic bread
Salad
Thursday
Tofu potstickers (Alton Brown’s Vegetarian Steamed Dumpling filling)
Green and wax beans
Salad
Friday
Bean burritos
Sweet potato fries
Gazpacho
Saturday
Chicken schnitzel
Corn
Roasted baby potatoes
Salad
Sunday
Penne with turkey bolognese
Dinner rolls
Salad
I do have new posts up at Edible TV and Fit Fare, and sometime I will post extra info on both for your edification and enlightenment.
And with that, this week's meal plan, designed to use up a lot of pantry stock from the sales:
Monday
Grilled chicken
Sesame noodles
Salad
Tuesday
Garbanzo bean cutlets
Cheesy veggies
Herb and butter rice
Oil and vinegar slaw
Wednesday
Spaghetti and turkey meatballs
Garlic bread
Salad
Thursday
Tofu potstickers (Alton Brown’s Vegetarian Steamed Dumpling filling)
Green and wax beans
Salad
Friday
Bean burritos
Sweet potato fries
Gazpacho
Saturday
Chicken schnitzel
Corn
Roasted baby potatoes
Salad
Sunday
Penne with turkey bolognese
Dinner rolls
Salad
Small Changes for Big Results?
Does this sound like you?
Alas, it sounds nothing like me. If only weight loss were as simple as switching from Coke to water.
Giving up sugary drinks is too often cited by women's magazines and soft news stories like this as a quick route to weight loss, but honestly, how many people striving to take off five pounds are still drinking Dr. Pepper?
Of course, if I'm being entirely too judgmental about this, and there are some tips that apply to you, please forget everything I just said.
Small changes do make a big difference to people who haven't considered weight-loss strategies before. It helped my husband to give up Coke in favor of Coke Zero and sugarless iced tea. As for myself, I don't think I've consumed sugary soft drinks more than once every few months since high school.
If you're searching the web today for inspiration for first-time New Year's weight-loss resolution, though, go check this article out!
5 small changes to help you lose weight - CNN.com: "Inspired, Kassouf made radical changes in his diet.
'That would last about a day,' he said.
So he moved on to Plan B: small changes. That worked. Four years after he got mad at his girlfriend, Kassouf weighs 200 pounds, down from 245, mostly by focusing on a few parts of his diet without changing everything.
'What I started to realize is, it didn't have to be all or nothing,' he said.
There's actually a name for what Kassouf did: It's called the 'small changes approach.' James Hill, director of the Center for Human Nutrition at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, is the father of the movement, and in this month's American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, he writes about how 'small changes are more feasible to achieve and maintain than large changes.'
For Kassouf, small changes started with soda.
'I was probably drinking 10 Cokes a day,' he said. By switching out those Cokes for water, Kassouf saved 1,400 calories a day."
Alas, it sounds nothing like me. If only weight loss were as simple as switching from Coke to water.
Giving up sugary drinks is too often cited by women's magazines and soft news stories like this as a quick route to weight loss, but honestly, how many people striving to take off five pounds are still drinking Dr. Pepper?
Of course, if I'm being entirely too judgmental about this, and there are some tips that apply to you, please forget everything I just said.
Small changes do make a big difference to people who haven't considered weight-loss strategies before. It helped my husband to give up Coke in favor of Coke Zero and sugarless iced tea. As for myself, I don't think I've consumed sugary soft drinks more than once every few months since high school.
If you're searching the web today for inspiration for first-time New Year's weight-loss resolution, though, go check this article out!
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