Day Two: Food

It's still day one. I haven't had anything all day but herbal tea and plain water. At 5:30, I got hungry.

So, I went into the kitchen to prepare food for tomorrow. So often, just messing around with food in the kitchen has something of the same effect as actually eating. It's easy to stop thinking about food after spending an hour washing it, cutting it, weighing it, smelling it, looking at it, steaming it, putting it through the blender and washing bits of it off the cooking dishes.

I'm ready to sit down and drink some more water, watch a movie, read a little, and then go to bed.

But first, I thought I'd share my meal plan for tomorrow.

Breakfast: Basic Porridge

100 Calories Fresh Fruit or Vegetable: 100g apple, 15 g raisins
100 Calories Whole Grain or Starch: 1/3 cup raw oats
100 Calories Healthy Fat: 17 g sunflower seeds
100 Calories Lean Protein: 180 g hazelnut milk
plus: cinnamon and powdered ginger

I chopped up the apple pretty small, and combined all ingredients in a small pot with lid. Left the pot in the fridge to sit overnight. In the morning, the oats will be soaked, the raisins with be plump, and it will only take a few minutes to heat up into a hot, delicious, fruity, aromatic porridge.

Lunch: Saag style spinach with chick peas

100 Calories Fresh Fruit or Vegetable: 1/2 bag frozen spinach
100 Calories Whole Grain or Starch: 1 cup steamed brown rice
100 Calories Healthy Fat: 14 g butter
100 Calories Lean Protein: 1/2 of a small (7.75 oz) can of Chick Peas (Hanover is the best!)
plus pepper, salt and curry spice blend.

I made this a double recipe so I can have it again. First, I dumped the whole bag of frozen spinach into a medium sized pot, and added a little water. I let that simmer until hot and slightly soft all through. Added the butter, and stirred in the seasonings. Removed half and blended on low until creamy. Stirred the blended half back into the textured half and added the chick peas.
Will reheat this rich, velvety vegetable dish and pour over rice.


Supper: Experiment with fresh cream-of-corn soup. (Will not make again)

100 Calories Fresh Fruit or Vegetable: 115 g fresh corn (cut right off the cob.)
100 Calories Whole Grain or Starch: 1 slice of whole grain bread, toasted
100 Calories Healthy Fat: 1 cup soy milk
100 Calories Lean Protein: 100 g (12 medium sized) pre-cooked shrimp
plus: turkish cumin, cayenne, ginger and lemon salt.

After cutting the corn off the cob, simmered this with the soy milk. (I don't think I cooked it for long enough.) Added spices. Ran through the blender in an attempt to get it to turn creamy. Gave up. Plopped in shrimp.


Snacks:

100 Calories Fresh Fruit or Vegetable: 112g (7" long) Banana
100 Calories Whole Grain or Starch: 5 Akmak crackers
100 Calories Healthy Fat: 15g (1 Tablespoon) Almond butter
100 Calories Lean Protein: two smart dog brand tofu pups, with mustard.

(These snacks are to be eaten separately, or maybe in pairs, throughout the day...not all together. Tofu pups with almond butter? Yuk.)

I think it's pretty amazing that I can come up with such healthy well-balanced meals considering that were out of the house camping for most of last week and I haven't done any real grocery shopping since August.

Tomorrow I'll think about what all my favorite foods are and go get them, so I can really enjoy them while Sweetie's out of town. (We don't have the same favorite foods.)