So Julie, What Do You Eat?

     The other day I was asked, "What do you eat in a day. Give me an example." For a moment I couldn't think. What do I eat?  
    There was a time I was consumed with eating, what's for lunch, what's for dinner. I always knew what I had or would be having. These days it doesn't seem as important. So, I went back over the last three weeks log to get a better picture of what choices I had made.
     As you know, many mornings when I have a few, and I really mean a few extra minutes, because it really doesn't take much time at all, I'd make spinach or a spinach mix of greens with garlic and bacon bits. Sometimes cracking an egg on top for a scramble.
     A friend in Florida turned me on to Quinoa. I have real gut issues with oatmeal so quinoa is a great substitute. It's as filling and much more versatile than oatmeal. Can be eaten for breakfast lunch or side dish for dinner. I'll post some recipes in my next blog.
     On rushed mornings I tend to make a piece of toasted Udi bread (made from rice flour) with almond butter or I'd make up a bag of mixed raw nuts (walnut, almond, sprouted pumpkin seeds, brazil and cranberries) and eat those. If I have nuts I will grab a piece of fruit and have it as snack. Nectarine, grapes, peach or apple.
      Lunch varies between a version of my Chinese rice noodle soup, chicken salad lettuce wrap, salads of all sorts or an assortment of cut up veggies with some almond butter dip. 
     My favorite salad is the Julie version of Wendy's chicken, apple, pecan, cranberry salad. So easy and so good. 
     I've been know to make garbage soup, meaning whatever veggies or meats are leftover from prior meals gets tossed into a broth, cooked down and used for soup stock. When I make this, it last two or three days.  I add different things to it each day for variation. Vermicelli rice noodles, rice, red skin potatoes, zucchini, celery, spinach, onion. It really depends on what I have in frig.
     Dinners usually consist of a meat or chicken, however unless i'm really craving protein I keep the portion size to 4-5 oz. I have always been a steak lover and recently we were lucky enough to get in on a deal for pasture raised, grass fed 1/4 side of beef. So lately I been eating beef a couple of times a week. One night last week we shared a porterhouse and boiled corn. Last night we had tilapia fish and broccoli. Another night rib eye with roasted yellow squash, zucchini and  tomatoes with some Mrs. Dash and feta spinkled on top. Another evening we grilled pepper jack hamburgers and smothered them in onions, mushroom and peppers. That was it and it was more than enough for us.
    In our 25 years together we rarely do 3 course meals and almost never do deserts.                                                                                    raspberries from my backyard

      If you remember an earlier post of mind, I'm fighting a life long 8:00 pm snack battle. I guess we could consider that desert. We'll have a bowl of grapes, plain yogurt with fresh fruit (with a couple drops of chocolate stevia), or popcorn popped in coconut oil. We are trying to get away from popcorn because it's extremely hard for me to digest plus 99% of American corn is GMO.
          My refrigerator almost always has a bag of greens (described above), a rotisserie chicken and fresh fruit and fresh bulbs of garlic. Some cupboard staples are Quinoa, Swanson chicken broth, canned tomatoes (one of the only canned item I don't mind using), brown rice, Jasmati brown rice, dried cranberries and Mrs. Dash Original all natural spices and No MSG.
     Now, you may be thinking, "But rotisserie chicken, Swansons, canned tomatoes?" I much prefer to buy chicken and brown it up to have on hand for meals but that's not always possible. Plus, when I'm done with the rotisserie carcass, it's used it to make really good stock. I have read some articles of late about canned tomatoes contain a resin that leaches a toxic chemical, bisphenol-A (BPA), into food. So I may be learning to can my own tomatoes in the future. Maybe one day, but for now these processed items are my friends.
     I'm on my way to Leah's (daughter) to make Rhubarb jam. So, until the next time. Think before your eat. What will this food do for me?