I thought I should share a few cooking lessons I learned this weekend after our birthday extravaganza.
Did you know that you can wrap potatoes in aluminum foil and cook them all day on low in the crock pot? By dinner time, you can reveal 12 fully baked potatoes, and you didn't have to microwave, bake or grill to make it happen.
Did you know that it's really easy to make Italian beef? And really tasty? You just put some beef in the crockpot, a package or two of Italian-style salad dressing mix, a can of beef broth and a jar of pepperoncinis. I used five pounds of beef, three packets of the seasoning and one big jar of mild pepperoncinis. We had enough Italian beef to eat for breakfast, lunch and dinner for several days. I would recommend making a smaller quantity.
Did you know that people like to eat raw veggies?
When I am cooking, I always feel that I should make a few of my most delicious, time-tested, raved-about recipes. And those always seem to include at least one cup of mayonnaise, sour cream or Ranch dressing. Or at least one stick of butter.
My husband's uncle, Jerry, was visiting us from California this weekend. We are all amazed that a couple of years ago, Jerry went on a medically-supervised fast and lost 90 pounds. I'm pretty sure he ate nothing whatsoever for a month, and then worked up to a liquid diet and finally, a highly-controlled diet.
He now eats lots of veggies. And zero-calorie salad dressing. Along with really lean meat.
Italian beef and baked potatoes aren't tops on his diet. And mayonnaise and Ranch dressing? That would be the equivalent of just applying fat directly to the skin.
I had no clue how to cook for him, so I let him contribute whatever he could eat to my high-fat offerings.
I was so amazed at how the whole family kept gravitating toward Jerry's ultra-healthy salads.
It got me thinking. I wonder what would happen if I served meals that were totally healthy. What if the next time we had dinner guests I made grilled chicken and steamed zucchini? I might try it sometime just to see what would happen.
Maybe I should experiment on my family first.
But not yet. We still have to finish this, which is sitting in our freezer.
We have several healthy eaters in my family. I know their healthy food tastes good, but I also like my comfort food. I always try to have a little taste of everything! (But the healthy tastes are much smaller than the un-healthy tastes.) And what is that cake still doing in your freezer?! I can hear it calling ME! How can you be in your house with cake in your freezer and not eating on all day?! Just wondering.
ReplyDelete:)Lynn
I go through times periodically when I get on the cooking more healthy bit. I like it, my man likes it and some of the kids really like it. My biggest meal making problem is variety. I get going on the main thing and forget about side dishes until I don't have time and end up throwing some raw vegies on the table and calling it a side. it works most of the time but when I know something like fried rice or baked potatoes would be ideal or some good homemade rolls I get bummed and think I failed.
ReplyDeleteI like your check boxes at the bottom. How did you do that? Anyway, my stepmom often feeds us like that when she is dieting. She just gives us a hunk of chicken and some grilled veggies. We don't mind it. It is good but usually not quite satifying because she eats healthier than we do. On the other hand, we go to my mom's house and my stepdad makes the greasiest, fattiest, delicious food for us. We like that too but it makes us feel bad about our diets.
ReplyDeleteLynn,
ReplyDeleteDo your healthy eaters still eat massive amounts of carbs, though, to sustain them on 20-mile runs? It's so amazing to watch someone survive on veggies, fruit and lean mean, without any fat or carbs!
The cake in the freezer does not call to me nearly as much as the bag of Cheetos! Salty is my downfall!
Jenny, I'm with you on throwing a bag of carrots on the table and calling it a side dish. I also love to cut up a couple of pieces of fruit and watch the kids devour those. Fruit and veggies are so much more edible if someone else just cuts them up!
Emily I,
Go in your layout on blogger and click the big box in the middle that says, “Blog posts”. Click edit. It’s an option there.... I just changed the wording of my choices for the check boxes. =]
I hear you on the balance. And you are right! It's not that people weren't eating my salad with the mayo dressing. It's just nice to combine it with something really healthy! I was enjoying Jerry's non-fat salad, too, and I learned that salsa has almost NO calories, so you can dine on that to your heart's content!
Hey Emily,
ReplyDeleteAre you doing anything fun for April fools to help with the Birthday countdown. When is the actual day? My 42nd is on the 30th.