Meals 3/30/15 to 4/3/16

This week was an odd one because Friday morning we're flying out to visit my parents for a week (and celebrate my mom's birthday!). I'm waiting to plan the meals for those days until I get there so I can plan with my parents and cook for them. They've always loved health food so I think they're going to really enjoy my meals!

The Plan (Luteal phase)

Mon 3/30
Breakfast: Pumpkin chocolate chip baked breakfast cookies
Lunch: Fish tacos (see below for recipe)
Snack: Hummus and crackers
Dinner: Waldorf salad

Tue 3/31
Breakfast: Breakfast cookies
Lunch: Spaghetti squash carbonara
Snack: apple and nut butter
Dinner: leftover waldorf salad

Wed 4/1
Breakfast: Fruit Smoothie
Lunch: leftovers
Snack: hummus and crackers
Dinner: Spinach salad

Thurs 4/2
Breakfast: Fruit Smoothie
Lunch: Fried brown rice with veggies
Snack: clementine
Dinner: leftovers

Friday 4/3
Since we are going to be in an airplane I am making snacks for today: Cucumber crisps, green bean crisps, and buffalo cauliflower

(Usually I plan Monday to Sunday as a week but this week I'll wait and probably eat food prepared by others on Saturday and then plan out Sunday and the rest of next week from there)

How is it going?

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Breakfast Cookies

These were edible! The chocolate isn't ideal for the diet but it made the cookies yummy and I used semi-sweet. I think morning is the best possible time to eat a little sugar since I'll have a chance to burn it off during the day.

I didn't have protein powder so I just skipped it. That was a bad idea. One, protein rich is the principle for breakfast and Two, the cookies were very mushy and my husband pointed out that the protein powder probably acted like flour. Next time I'll use it.

I already had canned pumpkin from the pumpkin sweet potato leek soup last week and I already had oats and most of the ingredients except the chocolate chips (can't keep sugar around this house. I eat it all).

Fish Tacos
A favorite food of my husband's and me as well. I assembled this from various Internet recipes. I had cod leftover from last week so I breaded that and baked it. Ideally I would have used grilled fish but I just love breaded fish too much! So I breaded it in urad flour which is an Indian flour made from lentils and also some flaxseed meal. I also considered using besan flour and semolina for healthier options than breadcrumbs.

The breading mostly fell off while cooking. I've never been able to get something breaded to bake and look like the pictures. Very frustrating. I wish I knew what the secret was to a nice breaded crispy fish or chicken.

There were a number of carb-free or low-carb tortilla alternatives on Pinterest but the one that caught my eye was this one made from plantains. It calls for three and Weis had a sale 3 for $1 so it was perfect. Although, they only had greenish ones and I really wanted to try it with blackened or darkened ones.

I seriously need a food processor! I don't remember how I got by without one!

For the sauce I mixed half mayo and half sour cream then added a dash of Siracha sauce. Not the healthiest thing ever, but being able to eat foods I love is crucial to staying on this diet (and I've already been going without all my beloved desserts like ice cream, fro-yo, and candy bars for nearly two weeks!)

I also had an avocado left from the failed breakfast of last week so I made guacamole from that by smashing it with some lemon juice and salt. And shredded lettuce instead of cabbage or cole slaw.

It was good and I even liked the cod, though that's because it was smothered in the sour cream/mayo sauce! I wish the fish had been crispy.

Waldorf Salad
This was fantastic. I always forget how much I like this. Crisp red apples with yogurt sauce and walnuts. Couldn't be more perfect! The only thing I will change for next time is I'll leave out the parsley.

I had some leftover parsley so it seemed a great opportunity to use it but I really don't like it.

Waldorf salad, crackers, hummus, and clementine in lunchbox ready for work!

Spaghetti Squash Carbonara
I've never been a fan of squash. Okay, that's putting it mildly. I've avoided squash all my life. I have an irrational fear of it. But then this year I was out to dinner with my father-in-law and my dish came with fried butternut squash that looked and smelled wonderful. I was tempted enough to try it and I liked it!

That opened me up to trying other squashes. Though not summer squash. That still looks really gross to me!

I first heard about spaghetti squash at Weight Watchers. Since then I've heard about it a lot as a substitute for pasta. I've been really wanting to try it.

The first thing I discovered is that it is super hard to cut. I was afraid I had bought the squash for nothing and I wasn't going to be able to do it. But then I looked up a YouTube video and it worked perfectly.

My next question was whether I was supposed to pull all the pulp out when I removed the seeds. That pulp looked like the stringy stuff I'm supposed to end up with. But it seems that it is removed based on my Google search. Reminds me a lot of carving pumpkins as a kid!

The other thing to keep in mind when doing this meal is that it will take a lot of time. Roasting the squash first takes about an hour and a half. I'm lucky that my work shifts are mostly in the evening (4 to 10 is a typical one) so I have time in the mornings to make meals.

When finished this meal was absolutely delicious! I loved it. The bacon and caramelized onions really help!

Update on the snacks next time!