What’s cooking this week
As I mention often, time is at a premium in my household. My husband currently travels most of the week on business, and I look after my son and run my business as well, I work out regularly in what time I have left (though I combine as much of that with spending time with my son), and therefore, despite my dedication to healthy eating, it’s near to impossible to find lots of time to prepare food.
What I like to do to keep things easy, though, is make sure I have plenty of healthful foods in the house so that I’m not tempted to order takeout. No matter how health-conscious I am, you add tired + hungry + too much to do + not enough time to do it in + did I already mention hunger? and that equals stress, which is an easy trigger to eat stuff you otherwise wouldn’t, particularly given as active as I am and as many calories as I need in a day.
This week, my solution to this problem has been to:
- Make up a batch of black bean burgers to cook up whenever hunger strikes
- Buy plenty of frozen fruit such as strawberries, blueberries and mango for smoothies
- Make a huge batch of salad dressing (actually this is what I have to do once I’m done posting!) so that I don’t talk myself out of salad this week simply because “it takes too long” — it takes me literally 3 minutes to mix up some delicious Caesar dressing (recipe will follow shortly)
- Stir up a big batch of soup (this week it’s split pea with spinach because it requires the least chopping!)
- Pressure-cook a big batch of garbanzos so that I can have delicious, salt-free garbanzos on my salads, and I also make great homemade hummus that my son thinks is the bomb (why don’t more people feed their kids beans? Hummus is an amazingly healthy food, and my son eats it just plain very often or on a little whole grain bread)
- Keep easy-to-prep-and-cook foods on hand like fresh broccoli and zucchini, which turn into a lovely, lovely stir fry with a little sauteed thinly sliced garlic (saute the garlic in veggie broth, stir in the veggies after the garlic is transparent and cook till veggies are al dente — adding a little more water if need be)
- Have salad greens and baby spinach on hand — greens for big lunch salads and spinach to add to fruit smoothies (which might sound weird, but gives the smoothie serious staying power)
- Sunshine Burgers for times when I truly have no time to make anything
All that turns into roughly:
- 3 meals of black bean burgers, which I serve with a simple veggie/starchy veggie such as green peas or sweet potato — great when I’m in a hurry
- a big salad just about every day (serving-bowl sized salad! When it’s warm, I really love salad, and it’s not like you can eat too much!) :)
- Hummus to go with salad and cut veggies at least a couple days
- 4 days of soup (or more, depending on the size of the batch)
- 2 dinners of stirfried veggies (if you clean all the veggies at once, you can store the second batch in an airtight container for a day or two to make a fresh stirfry whenever you want it)
- Several smoothies
- Sunshine Burgers in a pinch — together with salad or a veggie, they’re a lifesaver for quick meals
That’s something like 12-14 meals right there, plus smoothies (which I tend to have with lunch) and my apple-cinnamon oatmeal for breakfast. And even snacks on the occasional days when I need one or my kiddo does. (And yes, I already know that I eat a lot.) :)
What do you do to simplify your cooking?
Great post!
A very easy recipe that I often default to is “All-Purpose Bean Salad” from one of Lorna Sass’s cookbooks. It is easy to remember and prepare. It involves 2 cups beans + 2 cups raw veggies + 1/4 c fresh herbs + vinegar or lemon juice + onions + 1/4 c chopped nuts. The beans and nuts can be any type. The veggies can be any mixture of red cabbage, carrots, celery, or bell pepper. I like to use dill, basil, or parsley or a mixture for the herb portion. And I often use red wine vinegar and either green onions or red onions. Olives can be substituted for the nuts, but they can be salty! This is excellent as a side dish with cooked greens. I especially like chard or beet greens with this bean salad.
I like to have on hand pressure-cooked chickpeas, spinach for smoothies, and dressing, too.
I love your ideas! We are trying to eat vegan, but it is really hard to keep it up. Lots of prep time. I’m off to get a few things for black bean burgers for my dd and I.
I love, love, love your blog. I read often, and always come away encouraged. Thank you so much!
Laura, I’ve made a similar salad for years and had totally forgotten about it. I’m so glad you mentioned it! :) (And I’m going to add the veggies – a mixture of several – to make it even better. I find that I miss vegetables if I don’t get enough of them in a meal — does that make sense? That’s why I hadn’t made the salad in a while, in fact.) Thanks!
Claire, glad you like the blog! What ends up being the biggest challenge about eating vegan for you? We’re almost entirely vegan in my household (we occasionally have an organic omega-3 egg or two in some dish), and I might be able to offer more tips to help you … not that there’s anything wrong with *not* being vegan, you understand. :) Just … if that’s what you want to do, there are ways of making it easier on yourself. (I truly, truly swear by big batches — HUGE batches sometimes — of a couple soups or salads that you can serve up over the course of the week. I literally wouldn’t survive without this! When I don’t, I feel stressed and lost all week, like I’m having to play catch-up, which is no fun. I almost never let that happen, though!)
Hi again! Well, it’s mostly hard just finding meals that are filling enough for my dd. She is 14 (almost 15), and very active (she dances). She is sometimes in tears because salad or veggies or fruit just don’t fill her up. She needs substance. I made those black bean burgers last night, and she hasn’t tried them yet, but I’m hoping she likes them.
For me, I think the hardest part is having stuff on hand, like you said. I haven’t been happy with the soups I’ve made, so I need to find some better recipes. I ’spose “Eat for Health” probably has more than one. :)
Honestly, I will be vegan eventually. After reading “Eat for Life,” I could never give up. I just think it’s the best way to be healthy, and to lose weight (my biggest issue at this point). My next battle will be getting my dh and ds to come along. *sigh* Baby steps…