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Monday, July 19, 2021

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. 

28 comments:

  1. I'd say you did well with your planning. Hope your husband is feeling better

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    1. I think he feels better but I am not positive because I have no spoken with him today. While he has been at the office I have been living the life of Riley, eating bon-bons while the help tends to my every needs, or sanding and staining the basement stairs at Mom's house. I live a terribly exciting life! Since I am currently wearing my painting shirt and pants, you decide which.

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  2. Sounds great to me! I love all your fresh veggie meals, I could eat like that every single day.

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    1. I can too, Martha as long as they are fresh veggies!

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  3. I've been thinking about maurice salad! Thank you for helping me with the name. It was always fun to take the bus to downtown Detroit, shop, then maurice salad, or hot fudge sundae at Sander's. My mom, now 98, and a friend would have the salad for lunch, at Eastland, and she remembers it. From another former Detroiter

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    1. It was tasty, but I had no memory of it, so the nostalgia isn't there. I suppose it is similar to several of the dishes from places that are no longer around town. When I was a kid/teen the thing to do was to eat in the mezzanine at Loveman's though I don't remember what their signature meal was, or if they even had one.

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  4. Ive not been meal planning, but making meals base don what's on hand, and the gifted veggies. We had curry-wiht enough for mydaughter for several lunches, and tonight will be lo mein with cabbage. I'm starting to get sick of potatoes so looking for a coolish place to stick them aside for another week or two.

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    1. I understand being sick of potatoes. I am tired of green beans!

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  5. KIm's meal plan for the week, Cherrios, capt crunch, cheerios, chocolate bar, chips lots of diet coke.

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  6. I hope your husband is feeling much better. And wish (how I wish) that my partner would willingly eat a vegetarian meal.

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    1. We are omnivores and can go either way. Since we both grew up having similar dinners in the summertime, it is really a normal thing for us.

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  7. Does your spouse feel better? I hope so. I've never had sugar-free candy that tasted good.

    Love,
    Janie

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    1. I think he feel better but I don't really know!
      This stuff is pretty dang good.

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  8. Being half German, I'm surprised I'd never heard of a German Hamburger before. Sounds good, as does the Maurice. Everyday's a school day!
    Hope your hubby's feeling better? My Tom felt the same way last week for about 24 hours; son, too.

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    1. I assume he is feeling better, but he was gone by 6 this morning and that was before I was awake

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  9. I have never heard of a Maurice salad. I will have to google it. Cindy in the South

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    1. It was good, but I had nothing to compare it with and could just as well settled for a chef's salad.

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  10. Never heard of Choc Zero or Maurice salad. Googled the salad. I'm not a fan of mayo based dressings, so it left me indifferent. But oh, the Choc Zero website... Oh yum! I'm now a fan. Celie

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    1. Choc Zero is pricy, but so good! I finally wised up and ordered a ton with a 15 percent off coupon. Now if I could just get TheHub to eat just one when he eats them instead of several!

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  11. I have never heard of a Maurice Salad, but it seems I have eaten similar salads. I need Choc Zero! Tommy prefers milk chocolate until it runs out, then he will eat the dark chocolate.

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    1. I understand they are selling it at select Whole Foods. I don't know if they have it at ours though.

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  12. I have more or less given up planning meals! There's always zucchini to be made into something or the other, these days, anyway, so, it's OK. :D

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    1. I plan and eat green beans for lunch every day so I don't have to have them for dinner all the time, but I still don't follow the plan I made.

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  13. I had never heard that Rosemary Clooney song until recently. It's a curious song, but I like it.

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    1. Unfortunately for y'all the first song that jumps into my brain is what you get. When I was a kid my parents had a Rosemary Clooney album that they listened to sometimes. I guess that is why so many songs pop into my head, because music was on all the time when I was growing up.

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  14. I had to look up Maurice salad too. Not sure that would be my first choice in a salad - unless someone else was making it for me, I guess. I hope your husband is feeling better today!

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    1. It was fine, just not the best thing I have ever had.

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