Monday, February 13, 2012

we've been cooking

...aka hand making in the kitchen.  As far as I am concerned, if it's not pre-packaged, doesn't come with microwave instructions, or isn't from Whole Food's global cuisine hot bar, it's handmade.  We've been doing an excellent job of constructing recipes at home lately, many from our favorite light recipes blog, skinnytaste.com
mincing red onions for skinnytaste's potato salad

Pollo in Potacchio
Strawberries-- in winter.  I know, I know.
Trader Joe's Teeny Tiny Potatoes for Skinnytaste's potato salad
This was a modified Skinnytaste recipe that went from veggie side dish to pasta dish!
I think it's fairly common for families to struggle to prepare nourishing meals throughout a week when it's also filled with work, school, social activities, exercise and down time.  Mark and I are no different, although we are lucky that between us there is just one full time job and this semester just two classes. We are taking the opportunity to re-set our habits of eating and getting our food to the table (so to speak. Currently, the table is covered with sewing!).

For about six weeks now, we have been meal-planning on Saturdays, together.  Mark will cook one or two meals a week and help with recipes I select for the other nights of the week.  We have been really good about eating out only once a week (with maybe an additional coffee or sandwich added to that). After we decide on our menu for the week, taking into account sale items at our local grocery stores, we make our list of groceries, adding household supplies and pet supplies.  Then we go out and get all the shopping DONE!  We usually try to include a combination of meals that can be made fast (like broccoli rotel soup, stay tuned) and some recipes that require the slow cooker (Mark's favorite).  We have also been trying to tip the scales in the direction of fresh produce instead of processed foods.

With the exception of Better'n Peanut Butter and Mark's two-box per week habit of Special K (or Trader Joe's semi-equivalent anything with the clusters), we've been really enjoying our peaches, bananas, strawberries, pineapple and apples.  Mark and Moses, especially the apples.  Me, especially the peaches.

So, that's it. It's really helping us both to keep track of our Weight Watchers points and be successful in becoming more healthy and losing weight.

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