One Bowl Eating is...

...my method of serving healthy, delicious, balanced, single-serving meals in one bowl per person.

Sunday, March 21, 2010

Antioxidant Breakfast

Hi,

New breakfast recipe:

8 oz. Euro Yogurt
1 oz. Uncle Sam's cereal (no flour or sugar)
6 oz. blue berries

Enjoy with an 8 oz. milk.

Let me know how you like it!

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Apparently I'm Not the Only American Who Spends Little Time Cooking

I read this interesting article this morning in the New York Times. Apparently I'm not the only American who spends very little time cooking these days. I guess I'm less into food gadgets than this crowd though. Ever tried making toast and egg at the same time, with one appliance? Soon you can!

Tonight's recipe, no cool gadgets required:

6 oz vegetarian black beans
4 oz grilled chicken strips (I buy these pre-cooked at Trader Joe's or Costco)
6 T. guacamole
12 oz chopped lettuce, tomatoes, assorted grilled veggies and salsa

Delicioso!

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

Happy Discovery!

A few weeks ago I found myself thinking.... "I wish there was a way that a fresh supply of high quality vegetables would just show up at my doorstep every week." I've tried and liked using grocery delivery services (Peapod, the now-defunct ShopLink, and the sadly-named Roche Brothers), but I don't need $100 worth of groceries every week - just the produce. Last night, thanks to my friend Michelle F., I learned about Boston Organics. I read about it and registered in less than 10 minutes. Starting next Wednesday, $24 worth of fresh organic produce will turn up on my doorstep weekly. I'm psyched! Have you ever used such a service, in Boston or anywhere else?

Here's what I prepared in 5 minutes for lunch today:
- 6 oz basmati rice (cooked last night while I was cleaning up from dinner)
- 6 oz. peas
- 6 oz. grape tomatoes
- 1 T. Smart Balance Light
- 3 oz. tuna (drained)
- 1 oz. grated Parmesan

It tasted like a healthier version of tunafish casserole, one of my favorite meals as a kid.

Sunday, March 14, 2010

Rainy Night Dinner

All this rain in the northeast has been saturating in more ways than one. I spent some quality time with my ShopVac draining my basement this morning, "hosted" a Temple meeting, and at one point had 5 kids in the house playing at once. So although I was out of fresh vegetables I was determined to make a good dinner without leaving the house to go food shopping. We had friends join us which gave me increased motivation.

Here's what was in my bowl tonight:

4 oz tilapia
6 oz spinach
3 oz lima beans
3 oz rice
1 T Smart Balance Light
1 T tartar sauce

To be honest, I should have had another 6 oz of vegetables too. If it had occurred to me earlier, I would have added grape tomatoes to my bowl

To prepare, I did the following, half hour before we sat down to eat:

Poured skim milk over frozen Tilapia (thanks, Costco) in a baking pan. Sprinkled each filet with paprika, dried dill, and oat bran. Baked at 400 degrees until cooked (probably 15 minutes - a toaster oven works great for this).

Prepared Trader Joe's Wild Mushroom rice in the microwave.

Heated frozen lima beans in microwave.

Heated frozen chopped spinach in microwave.

Nothing fresh about this dinner but it was quick, nutritious, delicious, *and* I have leftovers for tomorrow.

What did you have tonight?

Saturday, March 13, 2010

One Bowl Eating: What & Why?

One Bowl Eating is my made-up method of serving healthy, delicious, balanced, single-serving meals in one bowl per person per meal. Here's why.

In July 2008 I realized I wanted to change the way I ate. I'd been regularly exercising and sleeping for 6 months but my body was still way out of shape. I often ate my young kids' leftovers because I was too tired to cook "real" dinners for myself. I ate for comfort and to numb myself from the pain I was feeling as my marriage deteriorated. I frequently had stomach aches. On the outside, I was visibly overweight, but I was also competent, productive and professionally successful. On the inside, I felt uncomfortable and ashamed.

I sought help. The story of the help I received may be a story for another rainy day. But a key component of the help was to consistently follow a plan of weighed and measured eating, with no flour or sugar. I doubted I could keep this up for 2 meals in a row. But I decided I was willing to try, one meal at a time.

The first time I tried to prepare a meal that included 12 ounces of vegetables I almost panicked. I was sure this would be too time consuming and unpleasant tasting. I had to create a system that worked for my palate and for my limited availability. With two young kids at home and a requirement to be main bread winner I had little time for cooking.

Over time I created ways to create healthy, balanced meals in five minutes or less. At every meal I prepared food for everyone else and then my own separately. I learned what foods to stock in the house and what to cook in bulk a few times each week. I learned how to dirty as few dishes as possible. I learned what tasted delicious and what tasted bland to me. I learned I can eat well without eating flour and sugar! Between late July and December, 60 pounds seemingly dropped off my body.

I continue to eat this way. Throughout, friends and relatives have been curious about my way of eating. To my surprise, people often asked about my system because it seemed fresh, easy and healthy to them. So I started collecting the "recipes" I'd made up. And today, on this rainy Saturday while my kids are out with my soon-to-be-ex, I thought I'd start sharing them in this form.

There are days as a single mom that I feel so tired that I just wish someone would turn up to take care of *me*. Do others feel this way? If they do, and if they find me here, perhaps they will feel less alone in the struggle.

By going public here, I am in no way suggesting that if you follow my meal plan you will lose 60 pounds, or that you need to lose 60 pounds, or that I am any sort of food expert. It would be fun if we could share recipes and talk about how challenging it can be to serve healthy, delicious, quick meals to ourselves and our families. Frankly, I would benefit from the support too.

Here's my first recipe for you. It's my favorite breakfast. I call it Oatmeal Goup.

Pour 8 oz of skim milk into a glass.

Combine in 1 bowl: 1 oz dry oatmeal (I use McCain's from Trader Joe's), a third to a half of the milk, and 1 T natural peanut butter. Microwave for 60 seconds. While it's cooking, slice 1 banana. Remove the bowl from the microwave, add the banana slices and 4 oz of European yogurt (plain, no sugar, I buy it at Trader Joe's). Stir and enjoy with the rest of your glass of milk!

I look forward to hearing your thoughts!