time flies

Between a vacation, multiple out of town weddings, surgery and recovery, the summer flew by. In 2 weeks I go back to work, next week A starts his new class at daycare, and I start the fall semester of school. Adding to the fun is the fact that while I've been recovering from surgery, I've been limited in mobility so I've since gained some weight to shed as well. So the goal for the fall is to manage a full-time job, part-time school, getting back in shape (preferably a less round shape) and keep the whole family eating better. A is still allergic to dairy and that is going to be a challenge while the rest of his class have a hot lunch menu at school, including pizza on fridays. Daycare director suggested that what some parents do is send in a similar meal to what the other kids are having, just modified to accommodate a food allergy or any other particular observance (vegetarian, kosher, etc) so the kids don't feel left out. And somewhere in the ever busy schedule, I'm going to find time to prep all these meals. Yeah...

I have 2 weeks to get the house ready for the whirlwind to come. I'm trying to put a serious dent in the clutter before I return to work. I'm hoping that as we get into the fall, being decluttered and better organized will help me meet the rest of my goals.

Food ideas to toss around -
A's daycare lunch menu seems to consist largely of chicken nuggets, hot dogs, burgers, pasta and meat sauce, mac and cheese, the occasional fish sticks, grilled cheese and pizza. It's easy enough to pick up a bag of frozen chicken nuggets from costco (tyson's don't use dairy products in the breading), i can probably take a pound of ground beef or turkey and pre-form and freeze burgers. I'm guessing an appropriate size for an 18 month old would be slider-like. Hotdogs are easy in that I can buy kosher hot dogs which will have no dairy. For the pasta, we can always make pasta for dinner the night before so we'll be packing leftovers for his lunch. Fish sticks I suppose I can take a look at store bought ones and check the ingredient list. Otherwise, it's not too hard to bread and bake fish occasionally. Again this might mean that we have fish the night before as well for dinner for the whole family. Mac and cheese, pizza and grilled cheese will be more challenging.

For the rest of us, I'm trying to plan healthy meals that can be prepped in advance. I'm trying out more w/ beans these days since they're cheap, low in fat, high in fiber and sometimes iron, and A loves them! He was happily last week chowing down on chili w/ kidney beans, and the black beans I made last week w/ our chicken tacos.

Oh and a few recipes -
Crockpot chili:
2 lbs of ground beef
1/2 lb of dried kidney beans (or more if you'd like)
1 can of tomato sauce (25 oz)
1 small onion, diced
1 bell pepper, diced
2 stalks of celery, diced
1 tbsp minced garlic
Chili seasoning - chili powder to taste, 1/2 tsp cumin, 1/2 tsp paprika or any packaged mix
salt and pepper
1 tbsp masa harina

Soak the beans overnight, drain and rinse.
Brown and drain the ground beef.
Add the beef, beans, vegetables, seasonings (everything except the masa), and tomato sauce to a 5-6 qt crockpot. Add 1 cup of water to the crock. Simmer for 8 hrs on low. Mix the masa with a little water to form a slurry and stir into the chili to thicken it at the end of the cooking time.

Another crockpot technique that worked out well for us last week took advantage of chicken leg quarters being cheap and dark meat being really forgiving of slow-cooking and reheating. I prepped 5-6 chicken leg quarters in the pot, seasoned with just a little salt and pepper, and simmered all day. Once the chicken was cooled, I removed the skin and bones. The meat was used all through the week for any application calling for leftover chicken. I mixed with with barbecue sauce for pulled chicken sandwiches and I mixed in taco seasoning and made chicken tacos and burritos. I would probably do this again for potpies, enchiladas, and any other sort of casserole. As a bonus, I got 2 cups of chicken stock out of the liquid that was remaining in the crock. I just cooled it and skimmed the fat off the top.

It's been a while...

I haven't posted in quite a while - things have gotten ridiculously busy with work picking up speed, A going through far too many ear infections, and trying to declutter the house. I'm hoping to make a concerted effort to keep up regular posts though in hopes that it will keep me encouraged to cook and eat healthier. A few updates, A is now able to eat more table foods and wants whatever is on my plate but is still allergic to dairy so I'm still working on meals w/ no dairy for him that are appealing to the rest of the household.

So a few ideas in the works:

Breakfast sandwiches (aka hockey pucks)
Light english muffin
1 egg, or egg white
1 slice Canadian bacon
1 tbsp of shredded reduced fat cheese

Doesn't have the satisfaction (or the heartburn) of a greasy puck from mcDonald's but it works pretty well to be portable for work and hold me through the morning w/o snacking. I'll try assembling a few and seeing how they hold up to being pre-made and refrigerated or frozen and reheated.

I'm also looking forward to grill season. It means i'm doing less cooking and cleaning as the grill is hubby's demesne and my job is to just prep the meat and veggies w/ whatever marinades and seasonings sound good.