Yesterday I got to spend a bunch of time in the kitchen, which was just fine by me. Riker took an unprecedented 3 hour nap and then his grandparents stopped by to take him to the park for a bit, which gave Matt time to brew a new batch of beer (finally, it's been months!) me time to prep some food for the week.
This week is a really tough work week for me schedule-wise, with three days in the city where I have to come in super early and then also leave pretty late. That meant I wouldn't have the luxury of making lunch at home each day, wouldn't want to make food after getting home late, and I really didn't want to succumb to buying lunch and eating crappy all week. Enter lunch planning - reminds me of the old days when I worked in the city 5 days a week and cooked for hours every Sunday.
I prepped three days worth of meals to power me through until Friday, and even got some dinners started so Matt could easily warm & serve them each night. Breakfasts needed to be grab & go, so bananas and low fat banana muffins (baked and frozen on Sunday) were the perfect item. Lunches came together in a snap; I cooked three servings of quinoa, and while that was simmering I sautéed fresh peppers with a bunch of spices and sriracha hot sauce, then tossed everything together and topped the "quinoa bowls" with some walnuts for extra protein.
Snacks are either a plain nonfat Chobani with strawberries & blueberries; a string cheese and baked apples; or whole wheat flatbread crackers with Laughing Cow Light and sliced apples.
Eating healthy is so much easier for me when all the work is done ahead of time.
I made dinner in between all the other cooking, so it was nothing fancy. Cavatelli & broccoli with ricotta and lemon graced our table last night.
I haven't eaten cavatelli & broccoli in nearly three years, since the last time I ate it I got a stomach bug and was violently ill for three days afterward. I haven't been able to shake the association, until I went shopping over the weekend and spotted cavatelli in the freezer. For some reason it spoke to me, and promised to be a good weeknight freezer staple that wouldn't get me sick.
Cavatelli has 10 grams of protein and 4 grams of fiber per serving, so I gave it a go. I paired a bag of it with a half cup of fat free ricotta, a whole head of fresh steamed broccoli, a few cloves of garlic, some fresh basil and a squeeze of lemon juice. And a whole bunch of crushed red pepper on top.
Swapping fat free ricotta for the olive oil that usually appears in this dish made the whole thing around 350 calories a pop, with plenty of green veggies and protein for all. And it's pasta, my fave!
My bus just pulled into the station so it's time to sign off and rush home for a few precious minutes of downtime with my fam before starting all over again tomorrow. G'night!
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