Jewish Musings, Tuesday, 3/7/2017

[savtele]

What’s on your mind — how to make kugel? This week’s Torah reading? Life goals? Prayer? We are all engaged in weight loss/weight maintenance journeys and we are all Jewish or at least interested in Judaism. We like to eat, we like to discuss. It is our goal here to provide each other support on our journeys, to share experiences, to call on our rich cultural heritage and texts, and to help each other grow spiritually.

Some of us take weekly turns starting the thread:

Angelika
Holly
Lee
Louise
Lynne
Peachy

And for those of you that stop by to read this thread without posting - you are welcome to do that but you are also welcome to chime in!

[savtele]

I had to leave, then got home late last night - when I came home I read all your posts. WOW! Just Wow!

Frieda - I am so proud of you for taking that step!

Meanwhile:
Boker Tov All! This will be another very busy day - mom has a dr. appt, so I'll be leaving early & coming home late. But....

I'm loading up the crockpot with chicken thighs, vegetables (squash, Holly), and other good things that can cook all day & be ready when I get home, tired & cranky. To that end, the "crock" part of the pot is being loaded up with onions, celery, asparagus, etc. & in the AM all I have to do is pull it out of the fridge, add stock & meat & turn it on.

So my question to all of you - when you know you are having a big day/several days/week - do you plan dinners ahead? Frieda - I was very intrigued by your meal plan & pre-cooking!

[lee058]

Good morning everybody. Hope you are all well. Re planning meals ahead: I try to make sure that I always have plenty of food in the house all the time. This makes me feel secure as well as making it much easier to have good food when we want it. H is going out of town this coming weekend, so he won't be doing his usual weekend cooking. DS and I will probably make some things that we like, as well as ordering takeout and/or going out to eat. I'm still babying my arm, so I don't want to get too ambitious about cooking.

It may snow this weekend! I had hoped that my area was over having winter weather. Hopefully, it will be warm enough that we will just have rain instead.

Have a peaceful rest of the day, Lee

[happysavta]

I don't plan the daily menu. I prefer not to be locked in. But I do pre-cook food in batches. One reason is what Lee mentioned. Having food around makes me feel secure. The other reason, is of course, it makes it much easier not to have to spend time cooking when its meal time. If the food is ready and waiting, you're much less likely to grab something like a candy bar to ward off the hungries before dinner is ready. Those extra calories before a meal are a killer.

If you like cold food, like sandwiches, pre-cooked food isn't a problem. I happen to like hot food, soups in particular. If you're a cold food person, the same principle applies to having cut up veggies or cut up fruit in the fridge. If it's there, that's what you're going to take. Of course, that works a whole lot better if there simply aren't any cookies or cakes in the house, so there's no alternative choice. If you're fine with pre-cooked frozen meals that you find in the supermarket, like Healthy Choice, then you're all setnd you don't need to have the refrigerator full, you've got the freezer packed and ready. That doesn't do it for me; I like certain tastes, so I actually prefer to eat my own cooking.

Having food waiting also gives you an incentive not to go eat out. You're spent money buying the groceries, you've spent time cooking, and you don't want it all to go to waste and end up in the garbage. So you're less likely to act on impulse and go out for some pizza.

And the last reason I prefer to cook ahead and have food ready is that it gives me a sense of structure and that's empowerment to me. I'm not grazing, wishing or wondering or thinking about food when it's lunch or dinner time. I still have choices. Let's see, shall I pull out the red cabbage and apples or some garlic asparagus? Heck, even if I take some of each, I can't get into trouble.

So, we've got security, ease, taste, structure and I can still have choice and eat a large quantity of cooked veggies and soups. That makes it worth the effort to me to cook ahead. If anyone has some freeze-ahead recipes, I'd be very interested. My cabbage soup turned out so good, I'm going to make some more today.

My cabbage soup: (I use the Wizard chopper to cut up the onion, cabbage and potato. This is a great little tool, cuts down prep time tremendously. I make salads with it too.)

Fry some onion in 1 Tbl. of olive oil in a soup pot until translucent, about 1 minute.
Shred 1 carrot and fry it with the onion. (Do not burn).
Add 4 quarts water. Add a bay leaf. Add 1 can of tomato sauce per each 4 quarts water.
Chop fresh, green cabbage and add to pot.
Chop 1 stalk of celery and all the celery leaves in the inner part.
Add 1/2 cup fresh Italian parsley.
Add 1 potato, chopped into small pieces.
Add 1 -2 cloves whole garlic.
Add fresh or dried dill.
Add salt, pepper, and 1/2 tsp. tumeric.
Add 2 Splenda.

Let it cook for about 30 minutes.

[gazelle18]

Planning ahead and freezing food is not a strong suit of mine. I agree that it sounds like a good way to counteract or prevent
"Emergency" eating. I'm inspired now!

Frieda, I was glad to hear about your appointment with your therapist. He sounds really good

[hollygail]

I don't exactly "plan" dinners. I have grilled boneless skinless chicken breasts in the fridge almost all the time (sometimes also some in the freezer). DH does the grilling for me. (We buy boneless skinless chicken breasts every time they're on sale and store them in the freezer to have on hand.) Right now, I also have a large-ish frozen package of 4-oz salmon fillets (wild-caught; I don't buy farmed salmon). I often have steamed brown rice or other grain (fully cooked) in the fridge. There are always bags of salad. My pantry has cans of beans (numerous varieties), plus I have dried beans. "Throwing" together a meal doesn't take much effort at all. I don't have to spend time thinking or deciding; I know what's available and take it out, warm the things that I eat hot and enjoy.

[happysavta]

Lee, I wanted to tell you that I just booked that mammogram (haven't done one since 2013) and the bone density and I scheduled an appointment with my internist. You are inspiring! Taking care of myself was never high on my priorities list.


I bought a jar of Olay skin cream at Costco. Beautifying myself was also not something I took any time for or paid any attention to. I'm so ignorant on the subject. Does anyone use skin care products they recommend? There are so many out there.

[louise]

I am the worst with food planning/prep so I often ended up with Lean Cuisine. That's what makes the food delivery plan so good for me (except that I'm not seeing any change in my weight for awhile - not going to dwell on that). I do try to keep sugar snap peas, 10 calorie jello cups, WW mini fudge pops, Vita Tops and like that on hand so that I can have a snack that won't derail me.

[peachymom1]

Frieda, first, thank you for your very kind words from last night! Second, GOOD FOR YOU for scheduling all those things! As for skin care, I use Oil of Olay basic moisturizer. In the past, I've liked Mary Kay and Jafra products, but Olay is good and easily available.

As for meal planning, we plan our menus on Saturday nights for the following week. We take into consideration anything coming up, so we can make a provision for it. Tonight, for example, we're having tuna melts because they're easy and quick, which is important because DH and DS are off voting right now, and DH has some stuff to do tonight. (I voted by mail.) This usually works pretty well for us.

I'm with Lee too -- having enough food in the house makes me feel secure.

Today was my boss's last day. She took me out for lunch in appreciation of our 13 years together. What a mensch!