So, I was talking to my sister, Laura, the other day about ideas for eating healthier. As you may have read (but not so much noticed yet), I'm doing Weight Watchers . . . . again. I started Weight Watchers after I had Ava and lost 30 lbs. in about 4 months. I then did the same after Zachary. Sooooo . . . I'm at it again after Kate.
Laura and I talked about some of our ideas for making sure we (us and the fam) eat a lot of veggies and low fat or carbs. I thought I would tell you about some of the dinners I've made from the past week or so. Really, I am doing this as a way to share some of our favorites in order to get ideas from you too. I need some new and exciting dinners to try.
Shish-ka-bobs: I loved them. They were delicious with chicken, zucchini, yellow squash, peppers, tomatoes, mushrooms, pineapple, etc. The kids liked making them (shoving what they like on the stick) but did not like eating them.
Shrimp Tacos with Guacamole Salad: Ohhhhhh . . . so good. This was a hit with everyone. The salad had black beans, lime juice, peppers, tomatoes, cilantro, red onion, etc. And shrimp is just so easy to cook.
Cobb Salad: This idea came while I was on the phone with Kamber one afternoon wondering what to do for dinner. She mentioned it and I thought, "Hmmm, what do I have in the fridge?" This is what I pulled out - hard boiled eggs, chicken, red onion, mushrooms, cheese, avocado, tomatoes, bacon over lettuce. The kids had to have a bed of lettuce and choose five things to put on their salad.
Summer Veggie Casserole: This is one of my favorite Cooking Light Magazine recipes because it includes all the veggies you pull out of your garden in the summertime - zucchini, yellow squash, onion, tomato, basil. This was easy to make a TON of and put into three separate casserole dishes for us, a friend and Scott's parents.
"Spaghetti": My new found love in life . . . the Spaghetti Squash. Seriously. I haven't ever really had it around before and now I buy one every time I go to the grocery store. It's delicious!!! I usually put a little bit of butter and some garlic herb seasoning. Last night I served it as "spaghetti" with red sauce and Parmesan cheese. Soooooo good.
Sauteed Chicken with Warm Bacon Vinaigrette: I just can't say enough how much I like getting the Cooking Light magazine. I'm so excited to look through it each month and then I try 5 - 10 of their recipes from each issue. They are always new and different and almost always we love them. This was a keeper. It had chicken, bacon, shallots, maple syrup, dijon mustard and arugula. Mmmmm.
The other things I try to always have around are:
Oatmeal packets for breakfast.
Wheat english muffins, a fried (Pam) egg with the yolk still runny and a canadian bacon for a breakfast sandwich.
Hard boiled eggs in the fridge for a snack.
My bags of frozen blueberries from our trip to Oregon last year. I add them to any fruit I have and about 1/2 cup of Danon light yogurt for a smoothie. I make smoothies a lot and the kids love them.
Grilled chicken breasts. If I have these leftover just in the fridge I can easily add them to a salad for lunch.
Fiber One bars, because I have to have something sweet and chocolaty and this has been my favorite.
Healthy Pop popcorn and Crystal Light are my "after the kids go to bed" snack while we watch TV.
There you have it. That is how things are going in the food department around here. Please, oh please share with me what you are doing.
5 comments:
yum! seriously, this post looks like it belongs on a food blog. well done! And I feel so famous that you used my idea, and it worked! :) And, I have a great spaghetti squash recipe I'll have to send you.
And now, I have to tell you my oatmeal secrets. I just weaned my kids off the packets and onto regular oatmeal -- also cooked in the microwave, in the same amount of time, but without lots of the sugar and additives in the packets. I had to wean them carefully, though... started by adding about 1/3 c quick oats to their packets, for a few weeks (or maybe it was months). That cut the sugar content, just by diluting the packet -- you follow? Then, one day a few weeks ago, we were out of the packets, so I just used 1/2 cup of the regular quick oats, added a tiny dash of salt and cooked with milk. Added some goodies as it cooked -- brown sugar and a dab of maple syrup, or cinnamon and apples, or diced frozen strawberries or raisins. My kids really love it. And so do I, actually. I'm not afraid to add sugar to it. I just like to add it myself, and it's a lot less expensive. Anyway... enjoy!
ps. we love the light popcorn as a snack, too. yum! and crystal light. good stuff.
What great recipes! I so need to start weight watchers again like nobody's business! I just made this amazing chicken with coconut rice the other night, and it was so good. Ainsley ate so much of it. The chicken was super moist and tasted great.
http://www.the-girl-who-ate-everything.com/2011/05/hawaiian-grilled-chicken.html
This website has some fun recipes also, http://www.skinnytaste.com/.
And I've pinned A LOT of recipes through pinterest. You don't need an account to look at someones boards. I've made so many delicious recipes from pinterest.
http://pinterest.com/organizeddesign/
Hope that helps!
ALso a few of my favorite webistes are Our Best Bites
Two Peas and Their Pod
For the Love of Cooking
One of my favorite cook books is The Food Nanny Rescues Dinner. She has it broken down into food themes.
Monday is Comfort Food
Tuesday is Italian Night
Wednesday Meatless or Breakfast Thursday Mexican Friday
Pizza night
Saturday Grill Night
Sunday Family Traditions
She has all the recipes to go for them. I cook out of this all the time and it's easy, and good.
I could honestly talk about cookbooks and food blogs all day, so if you want anymore let me know!
Oh one more Americas Test Kitchen Cook Books. Super helpful and has great recipes! Ok I'm done!
Your post made me realize that I am just going to have to embrace my fatness. Let me know when you roll out the recipes with red meat, butter, cream or chocolate...or any combination of the above.
Every one of the dishes look so yummy!!
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