Plan, Pffft

I love to cook, but in the summertime I like to swim in the early evening. I get my exercise done without the bother of sunscreen. But swimming late does put a dent in the meal prep time. Our resulting meals are now something I can either cook ahead of time or throw together at the last minute. 

Each morning I cook the previous days harvest either for dinner or for the freezer. (This will change once the okra starts coming in. It is not a happy vegetable if it gets cooked in advance) If it is going to be eaten that night it goes into the fridge for a quick warm-up for dinner.  Since I am being very intentional about planning things that require little last minute cook time, I should actually a little more apt to stick (mostly) with the plan. As you can tell, I did not.

And if you do come to my house, I will offer you candy, but don't expect anything you see in stores because I order sugar free candy from Choc Zero. (no affiliation, just a really good product ) It is a  good alternative for a no sugar treat. The downside is it is so tasty and smooth that TheHub has started eating it too.  I kept noticing the wooden box I keep it in was awry but didn't think anything of it. I only allow myself a couple of pieces a week and the last time I was getting some I realized  it was seriously low, and just about all the milk chocolate was gone. So now my only alternative is to re-order a bunch more so he can have his quota (which is more often than mine) or order only dark chocolate. I guess we will see if I have a totally black heart or not!

What was planned:

1. Veggie meal subject to garden and produce stand finds, keto cornbread

2. Meat loaf, caulimash,  sautéed zucchini, tomato slices

3. Greek style snapper, green beans, tossed salad, keto dinner rolls or keto hushpuppies

4. Maurice Salad, rolls or keto crackers

5. Thai lettuce wraps

6. Chicken enchilada bowl

7.Take-out

What we really ate:

Monday: I had a lot of chicken left over from a rotisserie chicken meal and it had to be used pronto. Additionally I really did not want to go to much trouble preparing dinner.

Chicken enchilada bowl

Tuesday: I fully intended to have a meatloaf that I had prepared and frozen a little while ago, but as I was getting it out of the freezer I found 2 German hamburger patties I had frozen. They have the taste and feel of meatloaf (mostly) and I had the advantage of being able to cook them in the air fryer.( No oven heat!)

German hamburger patties, mashed potatoes or cauliflower rice, asparagus

Wednesday: We both grew up in households having vegetable dinners when veggies were at their prime. It is something I have continued all of our married life and to us a meal of fresh vegetables just screams summer.

Squash casserole, green beans, sliced banana peppers, sliced tomatoes

Thursday:  I decided I was not going to cook___ period, the end. TheHub decided it might be a great night for us to bring home some takeout.

Fried chicken, coleslaw, fried okra (or none)

Friday: We had decided we would go out to eat, and would find a restaurant that had delicious food, but was uncrowded enough for my comfort level. I was kind of excited to get gussied up with hair done and full makeup, but right before we were leaving TheHub started feeling pretty bad. Nothing is worse than going out when you feel like crap, so_____.

Curbside pickup meal: Grilled lamb, grilled veggies, Greek salad

Saturday: We both woke early, watched a little of the British Open then ran out to do a few errands. One of them was a stop at our regular produce stand.  That stop decided what we would be eating for dinner.

Pink eye peas, corn on the cob, fried green tomatoes, cuke peach salad.

Sunday: TheHub was still not feeling great, and wanted nothing heavy for dinner. It was fine with me and I actually made  a planned meal

Maurice Salad*

What's up next:

1. Pesto chicken, over pasta or zoodles,  sliced tomatoes, green. beans

2. Cereal or something equally easy (Hub has a dinner meeting)

3. Chopped salad, rolls or keto rolls

4. Veggie dinner (depends on garden output)

5. Grilled something (steak or burgers) tossed salad, green beans

6. Take out

7. Veggie dinner (tbd based on what we have in the garden)

I am sure things will change because they always do, but neither of us are underfed and dinner will happen one way or another.

Have a great week staying on plan, going off plan, or with no plan at all!

And now I need to quit writing this post, go string beans to cook, and prep some squash for another squash casserole!

*The Maurice salad was perfectly fine, but I obviously have no sentimental attachment to a salad served at a now defunct department store in Detroit. All the reviews I read were so favorable and they claimed it tasted just like the salad they had eaten previously.  Like I said, it was tasty, but did not wow us at all. I would have  been just as happy with a chef's salad.