Insomnia task 1 - Grocery list

Well since I was laying in bed not sleeping I decided to get up and make a list of the meals I would cook this week and the ingredients I need. Since I am trying to blog more I thought I'd give you an idea of my plans for lunch and dinner (not so much breakfast cooked around here except for the weekends)

Breakfast 1 -
Slow cooked steel cut oatmeal with bananas, sugar free vanilla syrup, butter, milk, and walnuts

Breakfast 2 -
Sunday omelets (this is become sort of a tradition around here in 2009) - ham, bell pepper, onion, spinach, mozzarella/pepperjack combo, avocado, tomato

Lunch 1, 2, 3 -
1/2 Whole wheat pita stuffed with roasted red pepper hummus and sliced turkey, combined with fruit (mango, strawberries, or banana) OR greek yogurt

Lunch 4,5 -
Quesadillas - whole grain tortillas, pepper jack/mozzarella, baby spinach, any leftover meats or veggies from the week, avocado, tomato

Dinner 1 -
Fettucine with chicken tenderloin and broccoli in a lemon alfredo sauce

Dinner 2 -
Stuffed bell peppers and steamed baby carrots (the stuffing is ground beef, onion, marinara, brown rice, mozzarella cheese, baby spinach)

Dinner 3 -
Bean burritos and corn casserole - whole grain tortillas, pepper jack, fat-free refried beans, salsa; fresh corn cut from cob, fat free cream cheese, jalepeno, salt and pepper

Dinner 4 -
Balsamic chicken and pears - chicken tenderloins & pears in a garlic balsalmic vinegar sauce, served with frozen italian green beans (Roma beans)

Dinner 5 -
Cavatappi with spinach, beans, and parmesano reggiano (canneloni beans, garlic, olive oil, pasta, baby spinach, parmesano reggiano)

Snacks/Breakfast on the go
Marcona almonds for me
Trail mix for Ryan
Protein bars for me (I like the zone perfect dark chocolate)
mootopia high protein skim milk
soy milk
protein shakes for Ryan
V-8
dark chocolate
whole grain English muffins with peanut butter or cheese
teddy grahams
leftovers (I almost always have leftovers, sigh)

My methodology for planning meals is to choose ingredients I can use more than once. With just the two of us its hard to shop and not waste food if I don't do this. This week those ingredients are:

whole grain tortillas
baby spinach (otherwise we'd never use a whole package - I stick spinach in everything and usually still end up not using the whole package)
parmesano reggiano
pepper jack
mozzarella
chicken tenderloins


Its hard to balance nutrition and price. Some things that help are vegetarian dishes, repeat ingredients, pasta (unfortunately for the low-carb person, but very fortunate for her Italian blooded husband), beans, and most especially planning ahead. I aim for 100g protein per day at about 1400-1600 calories and 25-30g fiber. I don't worry about fat grams but try to keep the saturated fats within reason (which is hard when you subsist on a lot of cheese). As for carbs, I like the totals for me around 120-140g (with 30 of that being fiber). I don't track my intake everyday anymore but I still track now and again to make sure I'm on target. I don't watch Ryan's carbs as much but I probably should but I do make sure he gets plenty of protein, fruits, and vegetables in his diet as much as I can. He drinks a lot of soda and now I am tending to drink carbonated waters with lime pretty often when I want the fizzies. (My gastric bypass was not friendly to fizzies for about a year but now I enjoy being able to burp).

So was that overkill? Can you tell I'm bored? :) Good night!