Nausea, Migraines and Infections, oh my!

The title of this post is fairly self-explanatory. I developed a migraine yesterday afternoon, between the pain, nausea, and sensitivity to light, I wasn't able to do much after 4pm, and wound up just buying chips and Mr. Noodles for dinner.

I will make the beef stew tonight, served on brown rice, and make extra to put the curry on tomorrow.

Updated plan for the week

O has gone off tomatoes and tomato sauce lately, so I'm having to edit. I didn't wind up making the tortellini minestrone on Monday, I had no tortellini and O didn't want a tomato based soup, so I made a black-eyed pea and kale soup with the hot Italian sausage and it turned out great. I did make the steak and pasta salad last night, O just wolfed it down after football practice.

We're both feeling a little autumn-ish, so instead of the frittata tonight, I will be making a beef stew, and instead of the sausage and tomato sauce on polenta tomorrow night, I'll be using up the last of the salmon in the freezer, with a couscous pilaf and a salad.

Still going with the curry on Friday night, and the burritos and dips after the game on Saturday.

Meal Plan for Sunday, August 26-Saturday, Sept. 4

Sunday - Roast Chicken dinner - whole chicken roasted with onions, russet and sweet potatoes, carrots and garlic, and sauteed broccoli or a side salad

Monday - Tortellini Minestrone with hot italian sausage and rapini or kale

Tuesday - Pasta salad and pan-fried sirloin steak

Wednesday - Goat cheese frittata w/ crusty bread and a tossed salad

Thursday - Hot italian sausage in tomato sauce on fried polenta slices and a tossed salad

Friday - Chickpea curry, lentil dhal and brown basmati rice or yogurt naan

Saturday (after football game) - burritos made with leftover chili in freezer, veggie and pita dip plate with hummus, peanut sauce and homemade ranch dressing

Beans, beans the musical fruit

The Baked Beans turned out really well in the crock pot, and for once, I managed to make beans without making enough to feed a regiment for several days. I still had leftovers, but not so much that we'll be eating beans for weeks to come.

I winged it with the recipe, but it worked out so well, I'm going to try to remember it to post here:

Baked Beans
1 cup pea beans, soaked in water to cover, overnight, then boiled until soft, reserve cooking water
2 tbsp molasses
2 tbsp tomato paste
2 tbsp chili sauce
1 whole chipotle pepper in adobo
1 tsp salt
1/2 cup chopped white onion
reserved bean water, to thin sauce
3 cheese smokies, chopped into bite sized pieces

I put all this together in the crockpot on low, adding enough of the bean water to make sure the sauce was liquid, but not too thin. Since there's not much evaporation with a crockpot, you don't need a very liquid sauce to cook in. Keep the remaining bean water around to add to the pot if the beans are looking dry. Cook on low for 6-8 hours.

You can make this just as well in the oven, but add more liquid and make sure to keep the heat very, very low.

I was going to make chili-cheddar corn bread to go with this, and spicy kale, but since we wound up eating dinner at my sister's far later than we thought we would (it was supposed to be an early dinner/late lunch, but my sister, as usual, couldn't get things together for hours and didn't get dinner on the table until almost 8pm), so we just had a late night bowl of beans as a snack.

It's starting to get colder and wetter out already, and it's already feeling like fall on some days, so I'm going to make the full bean, bread and spicy greens dinner sometime later this month. Then I can post my corn-bread and kale recipes.

And then I go and get in my own way

I forgot to soak the beans last night. I could do the quick boil for 2 minutes and soak thing, but this morning I'm so busy with laundry and prep stuff, I'm not going to bother. I also stupidly volunteered to run the bbq at O's football game today. Stupidly because it looks like no other parent did and I might be running it for other teams as well. So I don't know what I'm going to put together that I can make before 3pm that will be ready and waiting when we get back at 9pm.

Back in the Saddle

I'm feeling much better than I was in my last post, not shaking uncontrollably and pouring in sweat just walking to the bathroom! Yikes!

Yesterday I finally managed to do a reasonably good grocery shop, went to the big organic superstore in the Village and picked up a few sauces and stuff that are handy, and scoped out their stock for future trips. They have elk! Elk stewing meat, elk sausage, even elk garlic coil! Which is good because their organic beef is like $30/lb, ouch. Totally not doable for us. O would eat a pound or two to himself.

The dinner plan for this week (from Friday to Thursday, for clarity's sake, lol):

Last night: pan fried round steak with brown rice and a tossed salad
Tonight: beef stew with red wine (I had a glass last night, lets just say it's a good cooking wine!)
Saturday (game day): baked beans in the crock pot with smoked sausage and corn bread (freeze half the corn bread)
Sunday: the roast chicken dinner I've been meaning to have for weeks, and haven't defrosted the stupid chicken, with roast potatoes and some sauteed broccoli
Monday (freezer dinner): chili and cornbread, both frozen from different meals
Tuesday: whole chicken legs roasted with sweet potato, onions, peppers and asparagus
Wednesday: sliced, pan fried polenta with hot italian sausage and tomato sauce, and a salad
Thursday (making chicken broth): tortellini minestrone

I have even planned out some breakfasts and lunches with that, so I don't fall back off the wagon so quickly.

Dinner Plans for the week

Since I'm still feeling sick and shaky, tonight I'm going for simplicity, Beef and Bean Burritos made with leftover chili I made in the crock pot last week and froze in 1 cup serving sizes, along with cheese and avocado, rolled up in whole wheat tortillas. I'm stoked because the local brands have finally gone trans-fat free. I haven't eaten wraps, burritos or quesadillas in a long time because of the trans-fat thing, and it's great to have some really easy food options back on the menu!

Tomorrow is payday, which means a big shopping trip for groceries. I want to hit some of the ethnic grocery stores, Sun Wah for greens and sauces, Dino's or one of the Indian stores for spices, curry sauces, dried beans and various pickles, one of the Portuguese or South East Asian stores for seafood, an Italian grocery for pesto, olives and cheese. It'll be an all-day trek kind of thing, so I'm not sure what I'll do for dinner. Maybe a nice anti-pasti/savouries plate with some pita from Halal and lots of fresh veggies.

Thursday is a football practice day, so it'll have to be something filling, maybe a meatball sub for O, and a little sub with salad for me. Friday is another practice day, so again, something quick and filling, pasta perhaps. Saturday is game day, but it's a late game, 5:30, meaning O can't eat after 2 pm or so, and we won't get home until at least 9pm. Yikes, that's going to suck big time. Will have to pack a picnic lunch for myself, and something for O for right after the game. Last week I was sooooo starved by the end of the game, the little snacks I'd packed were not nearly good enough, so I'll need to put together something more substantial this time, and something to tide O over until I can get some food into him, if this game is anything like the last one, he's going to be exhausted and hungry!

Back again

Haven't been posting much lately, after the unholy heat there came the unshakeable flu.

O's first football game is tomorrow, I'm so proud of him. Even though he was sick this week, he dragged himself out to 3 of the 4 practices scheduled, and only missed one because he couldn't be more than 5 feet from his puke bucket, yuck! He hasn't lost any weight according to the scale, but I can see the difference in his body, and in his energy.

We were eating pretty badly for the last 2 weeks, I just couldn't bring myself to cook, I was knocked on my ass by this flu for a week, and couldn't manage to eat anything harder to digest than saltines and potato chips.

I'm feeling much better today, felt well enough yesterday to start CoolRunning.com's Couch to 5K program. I made it through my first jog/walk/stagger last night during O's football practice. I'm aiming to be jogging 3 days a week and doing yoga, either my own program or a dvd 6 days a week.

Tonight's dinner was definitely a treat, one I shouldn't repeat too often. Perogies fried with bacon, onions and mushrooms.