Lean & GREEN!

Since I started a diet, I've been food focused and inspired to post. This has become of our favorite recipes. This is "Dijon Chicken & Broccoli" from Stacey Hawkin's Time Savor Gourmet cookbook. I LOVE how GREEN it is! Cook up the broccoli in her garlic oil with her special seasoning. Put aside. Then cook the chicken with garlic and sauce of soy sauce and dijon mustard. Let all simmer together, yummy! Sometimes I thicken the juice with a little cornstarch for a "gravy" feel. Super yum!

UPDATE: We didn't like the spinach in it...it is best with just the broccoli and chicken...next time!

Clean Kitchen!

Wow. What a delight to cook tonight! It's so funny, every time I put Chicken Puttenesca on the meal plan, somehow that night gets hijacked and we never actually eat it! I've never even made it before and it's been scheduled at least five times! So even though I didn't marinate overnight and slice the chicken breasts and bake it, we DID eat Chicken Puttenesca tonight, sorta.

I've been blogging about becoming free from being messy at my other blog http://tidy-house.blogspot.com/ and the kitchen "after" pictures are here. Viva Italiano!

Today's Lunch, Snack and Dinner Phood Photos!

I wanted to take photos of my food today. Phood Photos. We usually have pb&j for lunch but today I was in the mood for something different. We don't have a snack everyday, but today was carbs, carbs, carbs and I thought it was lovely since it looked like a cupcake! Just to report in, dinner tonight I call "Sun Dried Tomato Chicken". I thought it looked pretty in the pan.

Speaking of pans, I have this weird love for a Farberware non-stick pan I bought in 1999. The coating is now scratched so I was in search of a replacement. Everytime I looked at Target, nothing struck my fancy. So I ordered the (almost) exact same pan online! It was on uber sale so I bought THREE! Two will go into storage for the envitable day when I'll need a replacement. You know by now that I'm no cooking aficionado but I do like the shape of this pan!

I can't remember what life was like before I started planning and preparing meals for my family. It has become so much a part of who I am and a big part of my daily routine. I even noticed last week that I was preferring to come home and cook dinner instead of grabbing something out. Who is this person living my life?!??!

Mom Will You Cut Off My Crusts?

I was in the mood to document Sarah's lunch today. I've been cutting her crusts off her sandwiches for about 8 years! If each sandwich has four cuts and she eats 5 sandwiches per week, that's 20 cuts per week. If did this for 5 years that would be 5, 200 cuts! No wonder I'm weary of trimming bread crusts! I decided that since she doesn't eat the whole sandwich anyways (even without the crusts), why not use the "circle method". WOW, I LOVE this and wanted to share.

I know I must REALLY be a geek, but this makes me so happy! I use one of our drinking glasses to do the deed and she LOVES eating a UFO saucer for lunch!

Using the same divided plate for lunch everyday (yes, it gets washed each night!) helps me remember to include a veggie and a fruit everyday. "You Get What You Get, So Don't Make A Fit"!

Moving On

I've spent since January 2011 in self-education about my lack of cooking habits here on this blog. I'm at a point where I feel "educated" in this area! Huge changes were made in my family...we began eating dinners every night together with a meal prepared by me! I've become proficient at meal planning and preparation! My kids eat a homemade lunch every day and I now have a system for meal planning and preparation and feel that I can build on that firm foundation in the future. I find that I'm just taking pictures of dinners over and over...there's no real growth now because I'm working the system that is now in place. Now that taking and posting food pics has recently become a "burden" this blog is no longer useful for its purpose so I'm moving on.

So I'm going to continue to post on this blog, but maybe only a few times a year as something excites me. My focus of self-education is now our home. Our house is so cluttered, it is hard to walk in any room without the fear of stepping on something (since we can't see the carpet in many rooms). I'd also like to be able to have someone over to my house. I'm going to need a place for those thoughts so please visit me at http://tidy-house.blogspot.com/ Thank you so much for following me!

Hiking Lunches

Recently, we started getting more outdoorsy. What to do about food while away from home?

Focusing on one thing at a time, I set out to solve the question of lunches.  I call them Snak Paks (which my son pointed out I was infringing upon ConAgra Foods' Snack Pack® pudding trademark! I've taught him well!) If we eat breakfast together in the morning before we leave and we eat dinner together when we get home, that leaves the entire daytime on the trail so "lunch" isn't going to do it. We need more. (I try to set up a crockpot meal to be ready when we arrive home, which has been very late some trips)!

So here's what we do now...each person gets a gallon ziploc and I fill it up with:
-dried fruit, nuts, chocolate chips (gorp)
-peanut butter and jelly sandwich
-chips of choice (pringles/doritos) which taste REALLY good on the trail
-medifast diet bars (equal protein/carb, fills you up)
-fruit leather
-baby carrots
-cookies (sometimes)
-gummy bears
-granola bars
-I "collect" things for the snak pak drawer so when it's time to pack lunches, I have lots of variety

The idea is I pack a "snak pak" and each person can eat whenever they get munchy. We stop for an "official" lunch but sometimes the kids are into their food on the trip there or if they didn't each much during the day, they snack on the way home. Everyone seems satisfied and we come home with extra (which then go back in the box where I store snacks for the snak paks). I don't hear "I'm hungry" on these days and it gives me peace of mind knowing everyone is provided for. Fresh fruit is heavy so I don't do too much of that and I don't get crazy about having to be super healthy...it is fun to have some sweets on the trail and I've decided that's ok.

We drink water from water bottles for fluids.

So what do you all do for hiking meals?

Chicken Puttenesca & Go Green Medley

TSG's Chicken Puttenesca is delicious! I can't believe how many vegetables we're eating! I had a few frozen green beans, some frozen peas and frozen soybeans so I tossed them in the microwave and called it "Go Green Medley". I served brown rice with the non-dieter's plates and John is doing so well on his diet that his pants are starting to fall off!