Tuesday

Discovery of the day: Edamame

I've had a couple of bags stuffed in the back of my freezer since forever. I'd cooked them before and liked them -- not sure why I stopped. I cooked a bag last night and shelled enough to bring to to work. Note to self: Buy shelled edamame next time!

Dropped another pound, although I am pooping green. Small price to pay, methinks. I was expecting a lot more gas, not that I'm complaining, mind you! I must not have been eating too poorly before after all -- my system seems to be taking the dietary changes fairly gracefully.

So far I have breakfast, lunch, and snacks pretty well figured out. Breakfast is oatmeal or Kashi cereal, less than a cup, with rice milk and some sort of fruit. Eventually I'd like to have the cereal & oatmeal only a couple times a week but just can't make myself go there yet. Fruit salad with walnuts and flaxseed might work.

Snacks can be more fruit, either some of the fruit salad I try to have on hand, or a whole fruit of some sort. Sometimes mixed nuts, but I try to keep it less than 2 oz/day. Today I brought the edamame to work -- good stuff.

Lunch is generally a Big-Ass Salad (BAS) based on 6 to 8 oz of romaine & possibly spinach, with whatever canned beans, beets, and traditional fresh salad veggies I have around. I've been using (drained) cans of marinated three-bean salad to take the place of dressing, although in the past I've drizzled the greens with a little olive oil and sherry vinegar instead. Love to put avocado in it; either plain or smashed with salsa to make a cheater's guacamole. But I need to not eat *too* much avocado, at least until I get the next 10-15 lbs off.

Dinner, however, is tougher. Partly because of the rush in the evening, partly because the stuff I want to eat does not have a high acceptability factor with my son. When he's with his dad, I eat another BAS. But that still leaves up to 5 nights a week I have to "produce".

Since it's still cold outside I can get away with lots of soups and stews. I found a great easy recipe of egg drop soup, which he likes, and it doesn't have too much animal protein in it for me. I adapted a white bean & kale soup recipe that came out pretty good. There's always stir fry, and I picked up dried beans to try some crockpot soups. I pulled out my Moosewood Cookbook and found some recipes that will work, although a lot of them have cheese which I'm trying to avoid. Luckily my son likes broccoli and most of the traditional "kid-friendly" veggies, and he seems OK with the rice milk & soy milk, too, so once I kill my last pint of half&half, that's the end of the dairy cartons for me. I should be mostly off dairy at that point (except for freshly grated parmesan!) but my son will still get cheese.

Over the next couple of weeks I hope to get in the groove and come up with maybe 10 easy, quick veggie recipes with a high acceptability factor that I can mindlessly rotate through. I have a red beans & rice recipe I can adapt, and I bought tofu, too. I need to get in the habit of dealing with tofu. I like it OK, just never got in the habit of using it.

I spent big bucks on FFV (fresh fruits & veggies) this week in hopes I'll cook them before they rot. My fridge is stuffed! I'm going to make hummus (easy & good), and I'm going to try making baba ganoush. Those should go well on the BAS.

Tonight? Who knows. I'm supposed to take my son for a haircut after work -- he desperately needs it -- which means we'll be eating dinner out, which means fast food. Ick. I haven't dealt with that yet. I'm not sure I can stomach a limp McD's salad....