Healthy Menu Ideas

[Csara]

There's a new blog entry added:

Healthy Menu Ideas (http://www.hometalkers.com/node/8)



I just decided that I am going to try to eat healthier. I want to get back to meal planning and cooking nutritious meals for my husband and I. We aren't getting any younger (I just celebrated my birthday) AND I'm nursing, so I think it's important for the health of my family. "They" say eating right means 3 balanced meals a day and 3 light snacks. I think I'd like to stick to 6 lighter meals per day, but we'll see how it goes. Ideas I have for a healthy breakfast include: oatmeal - a favorite of mine (and helps with milk production), whole grain toast with cottage cheese, whole grain cereal with lowfat or skim milk, and fruit with any of the above. Fresh fruit is so much healthier than fruit juice.

[Csara]

Well today was a horrible start to my "new" idea.

It was a rough night in the sleep department so that didn't help. I think I eat more when I don't sleep well. We ordered in Italian food last night. I had 2 pieces of pizza, pasta bolognese shared with DH, salad and a garlic roll. Talk about chowing down. As if that wasn't enough, at 4 a.m. I had another piece of pizza. 8 a.m. a bowl of cereal, 12 noon I went to Starbucks and had a large iced coffee and a blueberry scone. This afternoon was our friends' two year old's birthday party and I had cake, a chocolate reeses cookie, 2 bagel bites, a chicken nugget, spinach dip and chips, a piece of a turkey wrap, fruit salad (maybe the only decent thing I ate today). Basically I picked at everything - didn't eat much of anything in particular, but when you think about it, I'm sure I consumed a ton of calories. Now I just chowed on yet another piece of pizza. Please someone remove it from my house!!! And now for the kicker - I AM STILL HUNGRY!!! Looks like dinner is a bowl of cereal since I have nothing healthy in the house....or rather, I have NOTHING in the house.

Gotta work on a menu for the week and make a shopping list. I'll keep you posted incase anyone is interested.

[Jester]

I only ate fruit! I even passed on cake. I never miss a food spread and I was great today, you gotta admit it. :feed:

[Sydneyp]

Most people eat more when they don't sleep. I think it's because your body is demanding 'something' and you can't give it what it really needs.

I never managed it in the states, for many reasons, but here we always have a gigantic bowl of fruit - whatever is in season, and we have time to eat it. I think that's the biggest difference, and what might be hard for you because of the baby. It's a lot faster to eat a piece of pizza or cake than a nice big greek salad or balanced meal.

We have a wonderful dish here - spinach and rice - I've never eaten spinach in my life but this stuff is wonderful and quick, just pop it in the microwave and spoon it in (your mouth).

If you'd like, I'll try pry the recipe from the chef at the local taverna.

We also have a dish called Briam, which is basically zuccini, eggplant and potatoes - it's fantastic and filling, and also can be made ahead and microwaved on demand.

[Jester]

Sounds great. BTW I'd love to come to Crete some day. :)

[Csara]

Sydney, my mouth is watering. Both dishes sound great, as does a big greek salad! Jester and I would love the recipe if you are able to snag it.

[Sydneyp]

OK- First the briam

All slices should be between 3/8 and 1/2 inch thick. When in doubt, slice thicker - you want them to hold their shape.
3-4 cups of sliced zuccini
2 medium or 1 large eggplant - cut into quarters lengthwise and sliced
5 or six small/medium potatoes (we usually peel them, but you don't _have_ to) sliced. If the potatoes are larger, cut them lengthwise to make manageble bite-sized pieces.

5-6 sprigs of parsley, minced - stems, no stems; who cares?
1-2 tablespoons of dried oregano You could use fresh, but mince it well and use less.
A teeny tiny bit of mint - we use spearmint here, because that's what mostly grows wild. If you don't have mint, a teeny tiny bit of dill.
Salt More than you'd imagine. I'd start with two teaspoons and work from there. It's better if it has the salt in it while it's cooking, but you can add some after it's finished.
Some black pepper - don't go crazy, just sprinkle it over the baking dish.
a scant 1/4 cup of sugar. The chef here uses a handful - medium sized hands.
About 2 cups of diced, stewed tomatoes. You can probably get these in a can - if they aren't stewed, that's fine, just cook them a bit in a pot to release the liquid.
2 small onions, quartered and sliced - or one medium onion, cut larger than diced but smaller than sliced.
1 clove of garlic or 1 teaspoon of processed garlic paste or minced garlic. You get the picture.
1-2 cups olive oil (I vote for two, but I'm turning greek faster than I'd have guessed.)
Basically, dump it all in a baking pan - it's better for it to be shallow than deep. Put in enough water to bring the liquid up to about 3/4 the depth of the veggies (if the veggies are 2 inches deep, put in enough water to bring the liquid up to 1.5 inches, more or less.
Bake in a medium hot oven until veggies are tender.

Briam stores and reheats (oven, stovetop or microwave) well. We eat it with the local traditional bread, which is white and heavy. We aren't shy about the olive oil - it's good for us and the main source of fat in our diet. You might have trouble fitting it all in a regular baking dish, so you might want to divide it into two smaller dishes - one for now, one for later.

[Sydneyp]

Spinach rice - my dinner last night.

Mince one medium onion - saute in olive oil in a large pot. Add 1/2 cup of rice (sorry I don't know the best kind - the chef says not glasse - something like what they call here carolina.) Perhaps basmati - you want a rice which won't lose it's shape completely. Add 1/2 cup of water and simmer until most of the liquid is absorbed (but not all.) Remove from the heat. Add one finely chopped tomato, some salt, and a tiny bit of dill, the juice of a lemon, and a liberal dose of olive oil. About 1/2 cup to start, more if you want it.

The chef told me that 1/2 cup rice goes with 2 or 3 kilos of fresh spinach, but I'm not so sure. That's 4 1/2 to 6 pounds of spinach, which seems extreme to me. Anyhow - that's what he said. The finish product looks like wet, cooked spinach liberally mixed with rice, but mostly spinach. Of course, if you used frozen spinach, eyeballing it would be easier. I'd say 3 or 4 of the small packs of frozen spinach for 1/2 cup of rice is about right.

If you are using fresh spinach, cut the leaves into thirds or quarters - remove the heavy stems and discard.
Add the spinach, stir and cover the pot. The fresh spinach will release a lot of liquid (yummy!) I've never cooked spinach, like I said before, so I don't know how differently it acts when frozen.

The big thing here is that you don't want to overcook either the rice or the spinach, and there should still be some liquid in the mix when it's finished. It shouldn't be soupy, but more than just moist. Cook it on a low/medium heat until the rice is done but not mushy.

I'll take a picture tonight to give you a good idea what to look for.

We eat this with the heavy white traditional bread, too. How else would you mop up all the juice and oil?

Good luck and "yah sas" from Kriti

[Csara]

thank you so much. both dishes sound excellent!