A Week of Good Food Menus

 Sunday

Breakfast:  Sunday Vegetable Omelet

Beat the eggs in a small bowl.  Chop the vegetables and sauté in a pan with a little olive oil, until veggies are soft.  Clean the pan (or use another one), then heat a little more olive oil on medium heat.  Add the eggs.  Let them set a few minutes, then lift the edge and let the loose egg run under.  When there’s not much loose egg left, add the cheese, sausage and veggies, and fold the omelet over.  If you can’t be bothered making an omelet, make a lovely veggie scramble with all the same ingredients.

Enjoy with both halves of a whole grain English muffin, with just a little butter and jam, and a cold glass of orange juice.

Lunch: Hummus on Toast, Salad

Since breakfast today is more like brunch, lunch is light and there isn’t any snack.  Spread hummus on a piece of whole grain bread, and eat with a green salad lightly dressed with oil and vinegar. 

To make salad:  I put a TBS olive oil and about a tsp vinegar in a large bowl.  I add a little mustard and a little minced garlic, and mix it all with a fork. Then I throw lettuce in the bowl and toss it all.

Dinner: Greek Chicken, Sweet Potato, Green Beans

Greek chicken breast:  Coat about 4 oz of skinless, boneless chicken breast with Greek spices or Mrs. Dash, and cook on medium heat in a skillet until done (about 4 minutes each side) in a little olive oil.  Cook another 2 oz without any spices, at the same time, to use in tomorrow’s lunch salad.  (These amounts are per person.)

Sweet potato wedges:  Cut a sweet potato into small wedges.  Toss in a bowl with a few TBS of olive oil and some salt and pepper, then spread on a cookie sheet in a 400°F oven until brown (about 10 minutes).

Strawberries in chocolate.  Melt 1 ounce dark (semi-sweet) chocolate in a double-boiler. (Don’t have a double boiler? Just put the chocolate in a small pan, and put the small pan in a larger pan that has water in it.)  Wash and dry berries – don’t’remove leaves – and dip the bottom half of each one in melted chocolate.  Wipe the pan with dried apricots to use up extra chocolate.  Cool on wax paper until chocolate hardens.  Makes 4-6 strawberries and a few apricots.

 Monday

Breakfast

Choose a good whole-grain cereal – anything where the first ingredient is whole wheat, oats, or some other whole grain.  Wheat Chex, Cheerios, Shredded Wheat – these are only a few of the many choices.  Enjoy cereal with milk and leftover srawberries (without chocolate!) from last night.

Lunch: Chicken-Apricot Salad

** these ingredients are optional.  If you don’t have them, don’t worry.

Into a large bowl, grate the lemon peel, then juice the lemon.  Add honey, mustard, oil and poppy seeds.  Add chopped apricots. (If they’re really dry and tough, let them sit in the dressing for 10 minutes or so to soften before you go any further.)  Add other ingredients, and toss.

Dinner: Hearty Bean Soup

Enjoy a bowl of hot soup, with two lightly-buttered whole-grain English muffin halves on the side.

Cook carrots, onions, and garlic in oil until soft.  Add broth, beans, a little Italian seasoning and a little black pepper. Bring to a boil then simmer 5 minutes.  Puree in a blender or with a hand-blender, leaving soup as smooth or chunky as you prefer.  Add sausage and spinach, and cook a few minutes longer until the spinach wilts and the sausage is warm.

Breakfast: Banana-Blueberry Smoothie

Use a blender or hand-blender to combine one ripe banana, 1/2 cup frozen blueberries, and one cup of soy milk or skim milk.  Enjoy with a piece of whole-grain toast.

Lunch: Hearty Bean Soup

Leftover bean soup, with a handful of whole-grain crackers like Triscuits.

Dinner: Fish, Broccoli, Bulgur and Pie-Apples

Most fish can be cooked by simply drizzling a little olive oil on it, adding a few herbs (like Italian spices, or Herbes de Provence, or oregano) and broiling.  Fish only takes about 3-5 minutes per side under the broiler – a bit more for thick fish.  Fish is done when the thickest part flakes easily with a fork.

Cook broccoli in the microwave for three minutes – no need to add water if you cover it; it just steams in its own moisture.  Or you can use a steamer on the stovetop if you have one.  I like to squeeze fresh lemon juice on broccoli when I serve it.

Bulgur takes just 12-15 minutes to cook.  Put 1/4 cup bulgur and 1/2 cup water or broth in a saucepan and cover.  Bring to a boil, then simmer.  You can turn it off after about 5 minutes and just let it sit there until everything else is done – it will finish cooking all by itself.

Pie-Apples with yogurt sauce

It turns out that most of the good taste of apple pie comes from the apples – so don’t bother with a fattening crust and a time-consuming preparation.  Just do this for each person:

1. Core and chop one apple (no need to peel) into a microwave-proof bowl.
2. Sprinkle with a spoonful of sugar or brown sugar or maple syrup.
3. Microwave on high for 3-4 minutes until soft.
4. Top with vanilla yogurt or with plain yogurt mixed with a little additional maple syrup.

 Wednesday

Breakfast: Oatmeal with fruit

Oatmeal is really good for you.  I never liked it until I tried steel-cut oats, which I think have a more interesting taste and texture.  But if you like regular oatmeal, enjoy – they’re both very similar nutritionally.   I keep frozen blueberries in the freezer all year long.  They’re extremely good for you, and easy to add to hot cereals and smoothies.

Lunch: Salad with egg and corn chips

See Sunday for tips on making your own cheap and easy salad dressing.  Or use bottled dressing if you prefer it.  Just make sure there’s no partially-hydrogenated oils in the ingredients.

Adding a hard-boiled egg to your salad adds good protein and makes the salad more interesting.  I put an uncooked egg (or several) in a pan of water, then bring the water to a boil.  I cook the egg(s) for 12 minutes from the time the boiling starts, then immediately run them under cold water.  Works for me.  Cook extras and keep them in the fridge.

Baked corn chips are surprisingly healthy.  Bearitos Blue Corn Chips (my favorite) have two grams of fiber, two grams of protein and only 65 grams of sodium in a serving.  A serving is an ounce, which is one large handful or about 15 chips.  Sun Chips are another healthy chip (thought they’re a little higher in sodium).

Dinner: Beans & Greens

Okay, beans are an acquired taste.  I hated them for the first 50 years of my life, but we have since become good friends.  Beans & Greens is my husband’s favorite bean recipe.

Saute the garlic, onion and sausage in about half the olive oil until the onion is soft.  Add the greens and broth, and cook about 5 minutes until about half the liquid is cooked off and the greens are wilted.  Add drained beans, and cook another 5-10 minutes to “marry” the flavors (longer is better).  Drizzle with remaining olive oil and serve.

Cut whole-grain pita rounds open, drizzle with olive oil and top with a little grated cheese, then place under the broiler briefly for a great accompaniment to beans & greens.

 Thursday

Breakfast: Grapefruit & peanut-butter toast

Choose a pink or red grapefruit, and sprinkle with just a little sugar.  Enjoy with a slice of whole-grain toast topped with peanut butter.

Lunch: Beans & Greens

Finish off the leftover beans & greens, with some carrot sticks and crackers on the side for crunch.

Snack: Popcorn

Did you know popcorn is a healthy whole grain?  Pop your own with a little canola oil – don’t use expensive microwave popcorn with unhealthy hydrogenated oils added.  I’ve heard you can put regular bulk popcorn in a paper bag in the microwave, but I haven’t tried it.

Dinner:  Home-made Pita Pizza

Home-made pizza, with a side salad and the rest of the canned apricots for dessert.  Here’s how to make a really easy healthy pizza:

Preheat oven to 350° and put pita bread on cookie sheet or perforated pizza pan.  Cover pita bread with spaghetti sauce and top with cheese (take it easy with the cheese).  Sprinkle with as many vegetables as you can fit on the surface of the pizza, along with some bits of healthy sausage (optional).  Drizzle with olive oil (optional).  Bake for 15 minutes.

For spaghetti sauce: I like Classico sauces, because they don’t generally have added sugars. My two favorites are spicy red pepper and Florentine.

For vegetables:  I like to use red peppers, onions, mushrooms and spinach.  If you stick the spinach UNDER the cheese, it won’t dry out too much during cooking.

Friday

Breakfast: Cold cereal

See Monday for tips about whole-grain cereals.

Lunch: Hummus and Red Pepper Sandwich

Hummus is a great way to eat beans.  Just 2 TBS gives you 3 grams of fiber.  You can have it with raw red peppers, or you can make roasted peppers.  To roast peppers:  Cut peppers in half, remove core and seeds, and smash flat on a cookie sheet.  Broil mercilessly, skin side up, until the skin is completely charred and black.  Remove from oven and dump into a bowl of ice water – this makes it easy to remove the charred skins (the final step).

Dinner: Salmon with orange-soy glaze

Here’s a simple recipe for salmon.  Cook about half a pound per person, so you can eat 2/3 for tonight’s dinner and 1/3 in a spinach salad tomorrow.

Mix together all of the glaze ingredients (everything but the salmon).  Add salmon, skin side up, cover and let sit 1/2 hour at room temperature or longer in the fridge.

Preheat broiler.  Cover a shallow oven-proof pan with aluminum foil and place fish in pan skin side down.  Broil about 6” from heat for about 8 minutes.  (No need to turn.)  Fish is cooked through when it flakes easily with a fork in the thickest part.

Serve with boiled potatoes and a side salad.  When you cook the potatoes, cook one extra medium-size potato per person and save for the next day.

Remember to save leftover salmon and potatoes for tomorrow.

Breakfast: Oatmeal

I put chopped apples in my cereal bowl with a little cinnamon and microwave for 3 minutes while the oatmeal cooks, then add blueberries and dump the cooked oatmeal on top.

Lunch: Spinach-Salmon salad

Mix the last five ingredients in a large bowl.  Add spinach and toss thoroughly.  Add bits of salmon and potato and toss again.

Dinner: Orange-Ginger Beef Stir Fry

Mix together sauce ingredients in a small bowl. (You can use a cheese grater to get the zest off the orange.) Slice meat thinly and stir fry about three minutes in a little canola oil in a non-stick skillet.  Remove from pan.  Stir fry veggies in the same pan, in a little oil.  Cook hard veggies (like carrots, broccoli) first, then add others and cook until veggies are crisp-tender.  Stir sauce to recombine.  Then add sauce and meat to the pan and cook until heated through and evenly coated, about 1-2 minutes.  Serve with brown rice.

You can use the inside of the orange when you make tonight’s fruit salad for dessert – perhaps using orange, apple, and banana mixed together.