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Weekly Food Prep Ritual!

13 Sunday Apr 2014

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One of the habits we are practicing in the Lean Eating for Women program I started back in late July is to plan our meals.  Planning sets us up for success, whatever that might look like!  For me, that means preparing meals for the upcoming week on Sundays.  And each night during the work week I take some of what I’ve prepared and get my lunch ready in a Tupperware to take to work with me.  While I do like my job, our work cafeteria is pretty lame.  [Getting the runs on my first day after grabbing a seemingly innocent slice of pizza for lunch, and hearing how others have gotten sick after eating from the salad bar was enough to scare me off.]  And we’re in a rural part of suburbia where there aren’t too many choices for going out to eat.  Plus, that can add up and get expensive over time.  Preparing and bringing my own food sets me up for success – the choices I make are mine alone and work for my own personal food and nutrition journey.

Have I mentioned I’ve dropped 33 lbs since I started this journey last July??  That’s just under 15 kg for my metric readers, by the way!  I’ve been weight training 3 times a week, doing some sort of cardio 2-3 times a week, and resting one day a week (usually on Sundays).  Now, of course, we’re going for excellence, not perfection here, people!  If I’m sick it’s not a good idea to work out and I will have zero energy.  Knock on wood I’ve been injury-free during these past 9 months so that has not been a problem.  And when the gym was closed for Christmas, no excuses!  I met up with a friend at a school playground with some stretchy bands and did a playground workout bundled up in the cold!

So…food prep starts with making a shopping list and budgeting some time for the actual food prep of course.  I am single with no kids PLUS I really enjoy grocery shopping, so this is pretty effortless for me actually.  One of the biggest habits we are learning in Lean Eating is to consume veggies and lean protein at every meal.  Yes, that means breakfast too!  Some of my favorite foods to prep include…

  • Chicken
  • Quinoa
  • Polenta
  • Mushrooms
  • Red bell peppers

I also make sure I have other veggies stocked up for the week such as fresh spinach, baby carrots, green onions and flat-leaf Italian parsley.

To cook the chicken, I usually roast two breasts. I’ll line my broiler pan with tin foil and drizzle a little olive oil on it.  The chicken breasts go in the pan and I douse them with lemon juice and garlic salt.  I might sprinkle some paprika on one and some tarragon on the other.  Play around and experiment with different spices!  20-25 minutes at 425 degrees is about right to cook the chicken, but it’s good to test and cut into the chicken and make sure it’s cooked through (meaning, no pink).  I usually bring one to work for lunch and dice up the other one to throw into an omelet for dinner later in the week or maybe to toss with some veggies.

I’m falling in love with quinoa! But I will admit the flavor can be a little bitter depending on what I eat it with.  Sometimes a small blob of pesto helps.  But I’ve also discovered blending some red quinoa in with the regular tan-colored type cuts the bitterness too.  1/2 cup of each in a pan with two cups of water, boil for 15 minutes and then let rest, covered for about 45 minutes until all the water is absorbed.  Put it in a Tupperware and you’ve got a nice batch of quinoa that will keep for over a week in the fridge.

What about polenta?  This is a “neutral” food that goes with just about anything.  I buy it in a tube, slice it up and put it under the broiler for a few minutes to ‘toast’ it slightly.  And I might sprinkle it with a little pink Himalayan sea salt.

I also spend time slicing up some fresh mushrooms and dicing a red bell pepper.  I’ll sauté the mushrooms very lightly in a little olive oil and add some garlic, lemon juice and minced flat leafed Italian parsley.  The mushrooms and bell pepper each go in their own separate Tupperware in the fridge.

NOW with all of those ingredients I have endless combinations of lunches and dinners to get me through a busy week!  The secret is to take that time to get your foods cooked and ready to go.  After work I immediately go to the gym and work out.  When I get home I shower.  By this time I’m feeling good but a little tired and not really in the mood to spend a lot of time making myself dinner. BUT with my veggies all chopped and ready to go I can crack a couple of eggs and whip up an omelet with the diced chicken, mushrooms, bell peppers and some fresh spinach thrown in!  Voila!  Easy, quick and nutritious!!

Or for lunch during the work week, the night before I will pack up a Tupperware with a few pieces of sliced polenta, some quinoa and throw in some of the diced red peppers, mushrooms and some spinach leaves.  I might even add a small blob of hummus or guacamole and sprinkle in a few black Kalamata olives. The next morning I throw it into my lunch bag, grab an apple for my late afternoon pre-workout snack and off I go!  I’m usually on conference calls all morning and through the traditional lunch hour, so I typically will eat lunch at my desk, listening in on calls with my headset in mute mode.

See how investing a little time on a Sunday sets me up for eating success?  What are some of YOUR favorite meal prep rituals?

Extra, Extra Lazy!

16 Sunday Feb 2014

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Ahhhh, bliss.  It’s a 3-day weekend and I’m feeling so lazy and luxurious!  My weekends tend to be either jam-packed full or with absolutely nothing going on.  And for nearly the past year, one weekend a month had been dedicated to work – by design.  That’s actually not been so bad – our entire team goes into the office and works two shifts spanning from around 8pm on a Saturday night through lunchtime on Sunday.  Sure, that next Monday everyone is a little groggy in the office, but we all were in it together and that makes it understandable.  And that’s the world of IT for ya – when things need to be deployed we have to work when most everyone else is asleep.

So.  Many of you know since last July I’ve been immersed in the Lean Eating program for women.  Guys, there’s a program for you too by the way!  THE best habit-based coaching I’ve ever done.  I’m learning and practicing habits I will keep for LIFE!  Amazing stuff – really and truly.

Sundays are typically the days I do grocery shopping, meal planning and food prep for the week ahead. I might still do that today even though my company has the holiday tomorrow (President’s Day).  Which is truly bizarre – I haven’t had President’s Day off in 6 years!  (Other than when I was unemployed the first half of 2010).  Yeah, I think I will still do food prep today.  Just one less lunch to prepare for the work week ahead.  I’m actually going to have lunch tomorrow with a guy I worked with over 10 years ago.  He and his wife are moving back east so this will be a sad farewell, but I’m looking forward to seeing him.

What does meal prep look like?  I may do some more detailed posts on this down the road, but it’s basically about setting yourself up for success for the week ahead.  Getting groceries and preparing food on Sunday so it’s easy to grab and go when you head out the door to go to the office or school or whatever you are doing every morning.  Who has time in the morning to chop up veggies or cook up some quinoa or steel-cut oats before heading out the door?  Maybe some of you do, but I sure don’t.  But if I spend my Sunday getting veggies chopped, cooking up a batch of quinoa and slicing and broiling up some polenta brushed with a little olive oil (which I love), then it’s easy to throw a mixture of that in a small Tupperware in the morning and throw it in my lunch bag.  Maybe with a small handful of fresh spinach on top, some baby carrots, a couple of black olives and a small blob of hummus.

I find that eating two small afternoon meals works best for me.  I do my workouts in the evenings after work, and having a small snack around 4pm makes me feel ready and confident for my upcoming workout.  Typically that late afternoon snack has been a plain nonfat Greek yogurt sprinkled with 5 or 6 walnuts, but ever since trying plant-based eating exclusively for a couple of weeks, I find that reintroducing dairy into my diet makes me feel bloated.  And gassy.  Yeesh.  Maybe I have a mild intolerance I never realized?  Who knows.  So I’ve switched to either a couple of slices of polenta or some baby carrots with hummus.

Along with trying plant-based eating, our program also had us experiment with Paleo eating.  I’ve enjoyed Paleo (also known as ‘primal’ or ‘ancestral’) eating in the past so this was nothing new to me.  But I do find that I do OK with polenta and hummus…neither of which officially is Paleo, because polenta is corn-based and hummus is legume-based.  My coach says that’s OK – what’s best for me doesn’t have to be strictly vegan or strictly Paleo, for example.  What a relief!

I do know I’ve been dropping more poundage and feeling leaner and more energetic since I’ve cut way back on grains and dairy while increasing my veggie consumption.  Do I miss grains and dairy?  Honestly, no!  Is it worth indulging, knowing I’m going to feel bloated, miserable and rip farts for a good half hour afterwards?

I don’t think so!

..but I didn’t WANT to use the blender…

02 Saturday Jun 2012

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…or perhaps we could call this post “Soup Bender weekend #2:  the extended dance remix.”

I broke one of my hardfast rules about cooking – ALWAYS read a recipe through thoroughly – every single word – before you start the prep work.  Even before you start grocery shopping for ingredients.  Somehow in skimming through this latest intriguing soup recipe, I’d missed a casual yet crucial phrase in the final steps while the cooking was already well underway.  “…transfer to a blender…”

Um, OK.  The last two soups I made did not require blending/pureeing at the final step, and I’d made a bad assumption this one wouldn’t either given it’s from the same cookbook.  So I’d planned to just make this recipe un-pureed (is that a word) and keep it chunky-style, which is just as flavorful, though a far different texture.  (And yeah, I felt lazy too).  Good news that the vegetables did NOT get too mushy…my alternative turned out great.

Crema de Cangrejo (Crabmeat soup) – Serves 6

  • 1 T olive oil
  • 1 small onion, chopped (about 1/2 C)
  • 1/2 C chopped carrots
  • 1/2 C peeled and diced (1/4″) all-purpose potatoes
  • 1 celery stalk, chopped
  • 1 T minced fresh cilantro leaves
  • 1 T minced fresh parsley leaves
  • 1 tsp dry mustard
  • 1/4 tsp white pepper
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 2 tsp chicken bouillon granules
  • 4 C hot water
  • 6 oz fresh or canned good-quality crabmeat, undrained but picked over for shells and cartilage
  • 1 T fresh lemon juice
  • 1/2 C whipping cream (optional)
  • Cayenne pepper or sweet paprika for garnish

Heat the oil in a 4-quart saucepan over low heat.  Add the onion and cook, stirring, until softened, about 3 minutes.  Add the garlic, carrots, potatoes, celery, cilantro and parsley and cook, stirring, for a couple of minutes.  Add the mustard, white pepper, salt, bouillon and water.  Bring to a boil, reduce the heat to low and simmer for 15 minutes.  Add the crabmeat and cook for 5 minutes.

Remove from heat.  Let cool for a few minutes, transfer to a blender, and process until smooth.  Return to the saucepan, bring back to a boil, and taste for salt and white pepper.  Stir in the lemon juice and cream (if using), keeping the soup on the burner just long enough to heat through.

Serve in soup cups, sprinkled with cayenne.

Fivenineteen notes:  dry mustard is like a mustard powder.  You can find it in the spice section of most grocery stores.  Do NOT try to substitute regular, creamy mustard or mustard seeds.  It’s not the same and won’t work.  I also chopped up a whole, small potato and a whole, small yellow onion.  It might have been more than the recipe called for, but it turned out great.

Crabmeat:  another sticker-shock moment, although not surprising.  Fresh Dungeness crabmeat was US$29.99 per pound at the grocery store.  Compare that to whole, fresh Dungeness crabs at $8.99 per pound, plus all the cracking, cleaning and scraping/steaming I’d need to do with them…I splurged on a half pound of the prepped, shredded crabmeat.  Which is delicious, by the way.

I was a bit surprised to see a recipe with crab in a South American cookbook for some reason.  But the author, Maria Baez Kijac, explains everything wonderfully in her preface to this recipe:  “In South America, there are a variety of cream soups that don’t necessarily have cream – they owe their creaminess to being pureed.  This crabmeat soup is perfect without cream, but for cream lovers like me, adding a bit of whipping cream just makes the soup taste better.  Sometimes I serve the cream in a separate bowl, so that guests can take a tablespoon to the soup, if they so desire.  Though expensive, crab is found in abundance along the Pacific coast of South America, including Ecuador, where this recipe comes from.”

Yet another fantastic soup meal, with leftovers to savor!  Enjoy!

From The South American Table,  by Maria Baez Kijac