Menu suggestions from future daughter in law

[elvan]

Menu suggestions

MONDAY

Breakfast: Oatmeal with coconut milk, honey, chopped nuts and berries. Cranberry juice.

Snack:  Apple with nut butter. Coffee

Lunch:  Hummus, whole wheat pita, feta cheese, carrots, peppers, celery, cucumbers

Snack:  Soy yogurt w/ 2 TBS granola

Dinner:  Veggie stirfry with fresh ginger and turmeric, brown rice or quinoa

Snack: Banana, Peppermint tea

TUESDAY

Breakfast: Veggie omelet, cranberry juice

Snack: Whole wheat toast with nut butter, Coffee

Lunch: Salad with cabbage, carrots, avocado, peppers, olive oil dressing, flax seeds

Snack:  Popcorn

Dinner:  Baked sweet potato with quinoa and cranberry pilaf

Snack:  Dried fruit and almonds, Peppermint tea

WEDNESDAY

Breakfast: Baked apple with chopped nuts. Cranberry juice

Snack: Steamed Edamame. Coffee

Lunch:  Brown rice, Eggs over easy, grilled peppers

Snack:  Pineapple

Dinner:  Polenta, Braised greens, grilled chicken

Snack:  Whole wheat toast with nut butter. Peppermint tea

THURSDAY

Breakfast: Scrambled eggs with fried sweet potato.

Snack:  Hummus and veggies

Lunch: Chili and corn bread

Snack:  Smoothie

Dinner:  Pad Thai over Brown Rice

Snack:  Fresh berries and yogurt

FRIDAY

Breakfast: Grits with parmesan cheese

Snack: Dried fruit and nuts

Lunch:  Vegetable barley soup

Snack:  Fruit with nut butter

Dinner:  Chicken Enchiladas

Snack:  Popcorn

SATURDAY

Breakfast:  Whole wheat French toast with honey, nuts, and berries.

Snack:  Guacamole with veggies

Lunch:  Curried vegetables over quinoa

Snack:  Grapes

Dinner:  Vegetable frittata

Snack: Whole wheat toast with nut butter

SUNDAY

Breakfast: Johnny Cakes with butter, honey, nuts, and apples

Snack:  Edamame

Lunch:  Chicken and brown rice soup

Snack:  Soy yogurt and granola

Dinner:  Falafel with yogurt sauce, whole wheat pita, cucumber salad

Snack:  Pineapple

I cannot say that I really know what some of this stuff is so if you are wondering, you will have to do what I do and GOOGLE it.  I hope this is helpful for planning purposes, clearly, you can add or delete your own choices.

[John10forteen]

Noteworthy from previos post: (Ellen's Future Daughter in Law) She has her degree in Environmental Science, runs and cooks for a Vegetarian cafe and intends to get her masters in nutrition.

This menu is a good reference (for me) because it does a great job helping me to understand a plan with all these ingredients. I have heard of all of these as healthy but never tried most of them because they did not fit into a real schedule of mine. Now I see I can schedule some of these things into my healthier habits.

[elvan]

Quinoa is one of my absolute favorite things and falafels are amazing but I make my own sauce.  I serve falafels on pitas with shredded cheddar cheese and sprouts when I can get them, which is not often.  I need to grow my own.  I LOVE radish sprouts because of their spiciness.  Anyways, the sauce is equal parts of tomato paste, lemon juice, and honey with a Tbs of oil.  It makes a sort of sweet and sour sauce that will convert anyone to eating falafels.

[djmurray]

I am so impressed with you folks who can cook.  I read a recipe and my eyes glaze over; turn on a cooking show and it feels to me like I'm watching paint dry. 

[bonnie-12-28-14]

Love you anyway Donna.  Thank you Ellen that took a lot of time.  I am going to do more investigating on this on the weekend.  One of my quilt shop friends who closed her shop years ago and opened in her basement is going to retire.  So she is having fabric on sale for $3.00 a yard which is a huge discount.  

My friend and I are hoping she can take us in tomorrow and I am sooo excited.  I LOVE quilt fabric.  

I also love sweet potatoes and have them all the time.  They are also great with salsa.  Yes I said salsa get a spicy kind and then instead of sour cream use greek yogurt.  Yummm.

[elvan]

Donna, you are hilarious, I don't LIKE to cook but it is a necessity to eating if I don't want to eat processed food all the time.  I had stuffed mushrooms for dinner, the big portobellos with parmesan cheese and then a little of my sauce on top.  It was really good.

I love fabric too, Bonnie, and quilts.  My sister in law used to make them all the time and I always hoped she would send one our way but no luck.

Sweet potatoes and salsa sounds like an odd combination but it's probably amazing.  I like baked potatoes with lemon juice and pepper...or I DID before I got sick after eating them...yuck, that was a bad memory.

[bonnie-12-28-14]

Baked potatoe with lemon sounds pretty bad.  But this is what I love about people we are all different and that is simpy awesome.  All of my family has quilts.  My brother John and his wife,who lives about 3 miles from my Mom have the most.  I love to do seasonal quilts and I have no idea how many I have but I change them out all the time.  

Love mushrooms!!!  Should we make it our mission to get Donna to try do a litle cooking?  Donna what do you love that you wish you could have an easy way to make it at home whenever you wanted it.  Considering our site it should be healthy.  

[djmurray]

Hmmm - let me ponder that.  I am game if you are, but trust me, it's an uphill battle.  I had an ex-sister-in-law many years ago who kept giving me cookbooks, but it was kind of like an ex-smoker pushing Allen Carr's book on someone who isn't ready.  I didn't even open them.

I'm a pretty much meat, potatoes and salad person and I can make all of those.  I know how to cook spinach, and beyond that I have a few old recipe (stuffed shells, porcupine balls, etc.) but they're pretty fattening.  I do make awesome salads, both fresh vegetables and fruit.  So there really isn't too much that I want that I can't have.  My tastes are simple and actually well suited to a healthy life style.  All I have to do is cut out the bread and butter and the sweets, and decrease my portion size.  I really think it's going to be that easy.

[elvan]

I think you are definitely on the right track, DJ.  I love the 80/20 rule.  I don't cook much, it is messy and time consuming.  I love a good salad but to be completely honest, I rarely make them at home because it so hard to keep all of the ingredients fresh.  I eat very little meat.  I do happen to like dry toast and I find that it settles my stomach if I am feeling nauseated from meds.

I need to get back to exercising and not being able to breathe along with this ridiculous pain in my shoulder, is making that seem like the impossible dream.  My shot apparently did not work because I seriously have never had as much pain as I have today and had last night.  My scapula is sticking almost straight out in the back and that's were the bulk of the pain is.  I slept with a giant ice pack strapped to myself last night and then I went back and forth with the blankets because I was freezing from the ice and hot from not breathing well.  What a circus.

I think you are going to do well with the weight thing.  You have clearly already removed your biggest temptations with the bread and butter and sweets.  I have a horrendous sweet tooth and I think I would actually fell better if I just stopped eating sweets...she said as she reached for a "Sour Patch Kid,"  LOL.

[bonnie-12-28-14]

Oh Ellen I am so sorry I will put you in my prayers tonight.