I've gone two weeks eating fruits, vegetables, meats, rice/quinoa, and spices. I've been to bootcamp 5 times, volleyball twice, and walked 4 miles. My husband - by default - has also been eating healthier (he still has his snacks that I won't eat, aka chips and pretzels) and has been going to bootcamp with me once a week and playing hockey a couple times each week. Meal-planning and working out together has been great. We take turns cooking, and we're both sore from bootcamp. It allows us to spend time together, and we're in better states of mind. I know he is not overjoyed that I'm super-restrictive on the foods I'm eating right now, but he has no complaints with all the fresh cut-up food ready to snack on.
The grocery bill this week was $77. This is about $20 more than it used to be and about $20 less than what it was last week. Fresh produce is more expensive than processed foods. There is just no getting around that. However, I think with a little more practice, I could shave another $10 off that bill. We should still be under or at our monthly budget for food, but I a m watching it closely. Thinking about it though, eating for a week on $40 per person really cannot be considered frivolous.
So here'e the next week of meals:
Breakfast - Crustless Quiche
Lunch - Pot roast
Snacks - Strawberries, raspberries, mangoes, sweet peppers, celery, and home-cooked potatoes
Dinner -
Monday - Stir-fry vegetables and quinoa
Tuesday - PF Changs lettuce wraps (encore appearance because they were so good last week)
Wednesday - Vegetarian Taco Salad
Thursday - Leftovers
Friday - Egg fried rice (hubby will be gone, so this will last for a couple meals through the weekend)
Well here goes week 3!
Monday, February 13, 2012
Saturday, February 4, 2012
Second Week of Whole Foods
Wow! I have gone 8 full days without sugar or any processed food. I feel so great, but I'll admit...I spend a LOT of time in the kitchen. My go-to food after my hour commute home is homemade potato chips or homemade steak fries. The first thing I do when I get home is spend just under 30 minutes getting this snack around. After that and sometimes while it's still in the oven, hubs and I start making dinner. In addition to eating healthier, I've been getting better at working out regularly. I went to my bootcamp class Thursday, walked 4 miles with a friend on Friday, and went to another bootcamp class this morning. Tomorrow, I will play league volleyball.
I'm starting my second week eating whole foods, and I decided to spend today meal-planning, shopping, and cooking to get myself out of the kitchen a little more. This week, it looks like I will be eating -
Frittata for breakfasts
Cabbage rolls for lunches
Oranges, dried strawberries, and sweet potato fries for snacks
Dinners -
Tonight and Sunday: Egg-fried rice
Monday: knock-off PF Changs lettuce wraps
Tuesday: Sauteed green peppers, potatoes, and onions
Wednesday: Leftovers (that's pretty typical on Wednesdays)
Thursday: Salmon and green beans
Friday: Date night
I have noticed an increase in our grocery bill. We should still be able to stay within what we budgeted, but I think I'm going to be extra cautious to make sure food is eaten before it spoils. I wish I had the energy to coupon better, but just cooking so much is new for me. I'm not ready to add another time-consuming activity yet.
I spent about 3 hours in the kitchen. Some changes I made to the recipes below-
Cabbage Rolls - quinoa instead of groats
Fried Rice - brown rice instead of white rice, Bragg's instead of soy sauce
I'm starting my second week eating whole foods, and I decided to spend today meal-planning, shopping, and cooking to get myself out of the kitchen a little more. This week, it looks like I will be eating -
Frittata for breakfasts
Cabbage rolls for lunches
Oranges, dried strawberries, and sweet potato fries for snacks
Dinners -
Tonight and Sunday: Egg-fried rice
Monday: knock-off PF Changs lettuce wraps
Tuesday: Sauteed green peppers, potatoes, and onions
Wednesday: Leftovers (that's pretty typical on Wednesdays)
Thursday: Salmon and green beans
Friday: Date night
I have noticed an increase in our grocery bill. We should still be able to stay within what we budgeted, but I think I'm going to be extra cautious to make sure food is eaten before it spoils. I wish I had the energy to coupon better, but just cooking so much is new for me. I'm not ready to add another time-consuming activity yet.
I spent about 3 hours in the kitchen. Some changes I made to the recipes below-
Cabbage Rolls - quinoa instead of groats
Fried Rice - brown rice instead of white rice, Bragg's instead of soy sauce
CABBAGE ROLLS
For 4 servings:
1/2-1 pound of organic lean minced Beef or Lamb
1/2 cup buckwheat groats
1 organic egg
1 head of cabbage
2 medium onions
4 garlic cloves
4 tomatoes
2 tablespoons olive oil
Salt
1/2 cup buckwheat groats
1 organic egg
1 head of cabbage
2 medium onions
4 garlic cloves
4 tomatoes
2 tablespoons olive oil
Salt
Tear 6-8 leaves off the cabbage and cook in boiling water or steam until wilted enough to be flexible. Set aside to cool.
In a large bowl mix the meat, uncooked brown rice, 1 chopped onion, egg, 2 minced garlic cloves and salt. Roll the meat and rice mixture in the cabbage leaves and put them in baking dish. For the tomato sauce, sauté the other onion, the garlic and the chopped tomatoes in a wide based pan.
Place the stuffed cabbage leaves in a baking dish, cover with the tomato sauce, add 1 cup of water and cover. Bake in the oven 350 degrees for 1 hour.
Fried Rice
3 cups cooked white rice
3 tbs sesame oil
1 cup frozen peas and carrots (thawed)
1 small onion, chopped
2 tsp minced garlic
2 eggs, slightly beaten
1/4 cup soy sauce
On medium high heat, heat the oil in a large skillet or wok. Add the peas/carrots mix, onion and garlic. Stir fry until tender. Lower the heat to medium low and push the mixture off to one side, then pour your eggs on the other side of skillet and stir fry until scrambled. Now add the rice and soy sauce and blend all together well. Stir fry until thoroughly heated! **You could really play around with this rice too! Try adding some diced ham, or green onion :) Yum!
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Recipe Trial - "Vegetarian" Tacos
Last night, I tried to make vegetarian tacos based off of this recipe
http://www.jinalauer.com/2012/01/recipe-experiment-taco-lettuce-wraps.html
Well, I didn't follow it exactly because I am a firm believer that recipes are there to suggest complimentary ingredients not to constrict the cooking experience with a bunch of rules that must be followed. Also, I didn't really read the recipe close enough to realize it was vegetarian until I was already cooking hamburger. So here's what I used and did:
My Ingredients:
1 onion, 1 potato, 1 red pepper, 1 yellow pepper, 1 can of black beans, 3/4 c of corn, 1 tomato, some hamburger (this would be optional of course), romaine lettuce, olive oil
My Taco Seasonings:
Lots of chili powder and heavy dashes of curry, paprika, onion powder, garlic powder, pepper, a squirt of Bragg's Liquid Amino Acids
What would be helpful to do before you start cooking:
Cut up the onion and dice the potato, tomato, and peppers
Boil the potato chunks for 7ish minutes (you want them soft)
Rinse the lettuce leaves
Now to cook:
Cook the hamburger (if you are using it) with the seasonings, set aside when it's done
In a separate pan, cook the onion chunks with some olive oil until they begin to brown
Add the potatoes and seasonings, cook for a few minutes
Add the peppers, cook a few minutes to soften (the original recipe called for these to be raw but I like my veggies a little softer)
Add the corn and black beans, cook a few minutes so they get the taste of everything and warm up
At this point, spoon the cooked veggies (and hamburger if you want) into a romaine leaf, top with tomato
Here's the problem:
Romaine leaves do not make good taco shells. The next time I do this I'm going to use Boston lettuce or green leaf lettuce. My hands, wrists, and face were covered in food, so I ended up dumping the contents onto the plate, tearing up the lettuce, and converting the whole thing into a taco salad. It still tasted phenomenal!
Bonus:
I put the extra (which was quite a bit) into 5 2-cup containers with diced tomato on top of each. I cut up the rest of the romaine lettuce. I will be eating delicious and very filling taco salad the rest of this week.
Today is the last day of the month so it's time for a new budget and time to see how well we followed this month's budget. I'll be crunching numbers tonight after bootcamp.
http://www.jinalauer.com/2012/01/recipe-experiment-taco-lettuce-wraps.html
Well, I didn't follow it exactly because I am a firm believer that recipes are there to suggest complimentary ingredients not to constrict the cooking experience with a bunch of rules that must be followed. Also, I didn't really read the recipe close enough to realize it was vegetarian until I was already cooking hamburger. So here's what I used and did:
My Ingredients:
1 onion, 1 potato, 1 red pepper, 1 yellow pepper, 1 can of black beans, 3/4 c of corn, 1 tomato, some hamburger (this would be optional of course), romaine lettuce, olive oil
My Taco Seasonings:
Lots of chili powder and heavy dashes of curry, paprika, onion powder, garlic powder, pepper, a squirt of Bragg's Liquid Amino Acids
What would be helpful to do before you start cooking:
Cut up the onion and dice the potato, tomato, and peppers
Boil the potato chunks for 7ish minutes (you want them soft)
Rinse the lettuce leaves
Now to cook:
Cook the hamburger (if you are using it) with the seasonings, set aside when it's done
In a separate pan, cook the onion chunks with some olive oil until they begin to brown
Add the potatoes and seasonings, cook for a few minutes
Add the peppers, cook a few minutes to soften (the original recipe called for these to be raw but I like my veggies a little softer)
Add the corn and black beans, cook a few minutes so they get the taste of everything and warm up
At this point, spoon the cooked veggies (and hamburger if you want) into a romaine leaf, top with tomato
Here's the problem:
Romaine leaves do not make good taco shells. The next time I do this I'm going to use Boston lettuce or green leaf lettuce. My hands, wrists, and face were covered in food, so I ended up dumping the contents onto the plate, tearing up the lettuce, and converting the whole thing into a taco salad. It still tasted phenomenal!
Bonus:
I put the extra (which was quite a bit) into 5 2-cup containers with diced tomato on top of each. I cut up the rest of the romaine lettuce. I will be eating delicious and very filling taco salad the rest of this week.
Today is the last day of the month so it's time for a new budget and time to see how well we followed this month's budget. I'll be crunching numbers tonight after bootcamp.
Monday, January 30, 2012
The Cherry Post
Well, here is the cherry post. I'm 29 and married. Children may come into the picture at any point. Like a lot of women, I think about my family, my fitness, and my finances. These three things are so intertwined. For instance, I want to cook healthy meals and have healthy food stocked in the house, and this can lead to a healthier me, but this also means I will spend more on groceries. I may decide that family is more important and cut back my working hours, but this can affect the finances. I may decide to save money by cancelling gym classes, but this can affect my fitness. The relationship of these three things is so integrated that you cannot change one without affecting the others. So as I approach 30, I've decided to tackle the balance of these three areas of my life and share the story with you.
So here is the state of things now:
Family
It's just me and hubs right now, and I'll admit - I really like it that way. We've been married just over 5 months and are in pure newlywed bliss. We lived together for several years so we have already worked out the kinks of who gets to shower first in the morning. We talk about children and are not opposed to the idea, but until they appear, we are really enjoying each other's company.
Fitness
O.M.G. I stepped on the scale in January and saw a number that I hadn't seen since high school. I'm about 25 pounds heavier than what I need to be to fit into all the clothes in my closet. So, I have started a regimen of bootcamp 3 days a week, volleyball 1 day a week, and....well, I'm working on the "and" part. The goal is to get in 30 minutes of activity every day. Currently, four days are covered. Getting in some activity on those other three has been a real struggle for me. I've only been doing the bootcamp 3 days a week for ONE week. So, this is far from the norm and a far cry from habit. I'm hoping to stick to these classes as I come up with home exercises for the other days.
Fitness is two-fold, you have activity and you have healthy eating. I cut out all sugar and all processed food two days ago. I am eating fruits, vegetables, unprocessed meats (no deli meats or sausages), and grains like rice and quinoa. Of course, I'm drinking a ton of water. So far, I'm feeling good. I have energy and I'm not obsessing about my calorie-intake. Everything I am eating is contributing to a healthier body, so I am allowing myself the freedom to eat as much as I want without regard to portion but with regard to satisfaction.
Finances
Hubs and I lived together with 100% separated finances for several years. Combining them completely after the "I do's" was a little scary for both of us. We have decided to combine them as of this month - January - and are working through the angst of feeling a little loss of control. We have been meeting at the end of every month to discuss the next month's budget and have February almost ready to go. We'll look it over once more before deciding to commit to it. Once committed, very few changes occur unless something unforeseen happens.
So there it is, a brief snapshot of what is going on this moment. During this year, I'm hoping to keep the closeness that hubs and I now share, increase my overall health and fitness (would love to lose the 25#!), and pay off the student loans. So here goes!
So here is the state of things now:
Family
It's just me and hubs right now, and I'll admit - I really like it that way. We've been married just over 5 months and are in pure newlywed bliss. We lived together for several years so we have already worked out the kinks of who gets to shower first in the morning. We talk about children and are not opposed to the idea, but until they appear, we are really enjoying each other's company.
Fitness
O.M.G. I stepped on the scale in January and saw a number that I hadn't seen since high school. I'm about 25 pounds heavier than what I need to be to fit into all the clothes in my closet. So, I have started a regimen of bootcamp 3 days a week, volleyball 1 day a week, and....well, I'm working on the "and" part. The goal is to get in 30 minutes of activity every day. Currently, four days are covered. Getting in some activity on those other three has been a real struggle for me. I've only been doing the bootcamp 3 days a week for ONE week. So, this is far from the norm and a far cry from habit. I'm hoping to stick to these classes as I come up with home exercises for the other days.
Fitness is two-fold, you have activity and you have healthy eating. I cut out all sugar and all processed food two days ago. I am eating fruits, vegetables, unprocessed meats (no deli meats or sausages), and grains like rice and quinoa. Of course, I'm drinking a ton of water. So far, I'm feeling good. I have energy and I'm not obsessing about my calorie-intake. Everything I am eating is contributing to a healthier body, so I am allowing myself the freedom to eat as much as I want without regard to portion but with regard to satisfaction.
Finances
Hubs and I lived together with 100% separated finances for several years. Combining them completely after the "I do's" was a little scary for both of us. We have decided to combine them as of this month - January - and are working through the angst of feeling a little loss of control. We have been meeting at the end of every month to discuss the next month's budget and have February almost ready to go. We'll look it over once more before deciding to commit to it. Once committed, very few changes occur unless something unforeseen happens.
So there it is, a brief snapshot of what is going on this moment. During this year, I'm hoping to keep the closeness that hubs and I now share, increase my overall health and fitness (would love to lose the 25#!), and pay off the student loans. So here goes!
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