Monday, January 10, 2011

Menu Mondays - can someone please tell my stomach to stop growling?

My downfall is twofold: a) seconds, and b) snacking on leftovers while I clean up from dinner.

Obviously this means that I need to STOP cleaning up after dinner. One plate, do not enter the kitchen again.

Ha.

Anyhow, after Monday I googled "how to make brown rice not taste like death" and I'll be darned - someone thought of that. Friday night's brown rice was way better. Way better. Like, I might get through this switch to brown rice, it tasted that much better. The key, like the Yahoo! answers page says, is to soak it. Did you ever think about the fact that brown rice is a whole grain? Yeah, me either. I know it's better for me, and it's kind of chewy, but I never really thought of the grain-iness. So I threw a cup of rice in some water and let it soak through the day, and then when I was ready to cook I drained and rinsed it and cooked it normal with 2 1/2 cups of water and the rice cooked faster and fluffier, and had more of a texture like sushi rice, except not so sticky. More mushy. But NOT chewy! Score! I added about a Tbs of fresh grated parmesan cheese to it but I didn't really taste it so next time I won't bother wasting the calories.

Last week's menu:

Monday: flounder, brown rice and roasted squash (very uninspiring meal -- I thought it would all be better)
Tuesday: whole wheat linguine with spicy red sauce and ground turkey (I ate mine over salad)
Wednesday: Roast pork, corn and spinach (ate over salad)
Thursday: This healthy broccoli cheese soup. My changes: 1/2 water and 1/2 fat-free chicken broth and skim milk instead of 1%.
Friday: shrimp, brown rice and roasted zucchini and squash (way better than Monday on all fronts)
Saturday: A 6" subway club, sans cheese. Not satisfying, but adequate.
Sunday: homemade pizza with mushrooms and spinach

And I actually have a two-week plan this time, because there were a lot of sales and if I don't document what I'm going to use things in, I'm afraid they'll get lost in my freezer:

Monday: salmon and asparagus and whole wheat pasta with low-fat alfredo sauce
Tuesday: grilled chicken salad
Wednesday: pork enchiladas and beans
Thursday: low-fat version of Sarah's poppyseed chicken with brown rice
Friday: lentil soup
Saturday: shrimp stir fry

Monday: green chili chicken with asparagus (this was an Apron's recipe in this week's Publix ad)
Tuesday: pulled pork sandwiches with homemade baked sweet potato chips
Wednesday: chicken sausages and side salad
Thursday: stuffed peppers (with ground turkey and brown rice)
Friday: filet steaks and spinach
Saturday: mustard and pecan coated pork chops and brussel sprouts

And my ugly-toes picture:

No comments: