Menu Plan Monday, 30 May

A busy week needs an easy menu ...

Monday

• Pillsbury's (always delicious) "Ultimate Barbecue-Rubbed Chicken" with roasted asparagus. Ingredients: boneless chicken breasts (from freezer), brown sugar, paprika, cumin, garlic powder, chili powder.

Tuesday

• Leftover grilled chicken with Spanish-style ready rice, blueberries, and low fat Greek yoghurt.

Wednesday

• Grilled pork chops with tossed salad and baked beans. Ingredients: boneless pork loin chops (from freezer), cumin, chili powder, cayenne pepper, garlic.

Thursday

• Tossed salad topped with leftover pork, black beans, shredded Cabot 50% reduced-fat cheddar, salsa, and chipotle ranch.

Friday

• "Simple Seared Tuna" with steamed green beans and rice. Ingredients: wild caught tuna steaks (from freezer), Penzeys Parisian Bonnes Herbes, salt, black pepper, olive oil, lemon, steam-in-bag green beans, microwavable frozen rice blend.

Saturday/Sunday

• Panko-crusted baked chicken tenderloins with Green Giant's Valley Fresh Steamers "Garden Medley" vegetable blend. Ingredients: chicken tenders (from freezer), panko, paprika, black pepper, garlic powder, egg white, frozen vegetable blend.

Weight Watchers Weigh In: Better Than Expected

I weighed in at Weight Watchers this morning and weigh exactly as much as I did last Tuesday. This comes as a relief to me, because I was dead certain I'd regained a pound or two over the weekend thanks to over consumption at our family Memorial Day picnic. I did try to keep moving around during the picnic by strolling around the picnic area, etc and did a lot of heavy duty gardening afterwards, which probably helped.

Of course, there's a tiny voice in the back of my head incessantly chattering about I'm now behind schedule and need to work even harder this week to make up for my momentary weight loss pause. I know I should ignore it but, oh, it is so persistent. "Eat less ... exercise harder ... try for 3 pounds this week ... you didn't lose anything last week ... you need to catch up ..." Oh, the wickedness!

I've lost 6 pounds since May 3, which puts me ahead of schedule considering I was expecting to lose 1 pound a week. I'm doing fine. Trying for 3 pounds is just setting myself up for failure and frustration. So shut up, tiny voice, shut up.

Weight Watchers: Skipping Out

I didn't stay for the meeting after today's weigh-in. I had the fidgets something bad and sitting still for forty minutes seemed too much to ask. So I went grocery shopping instead.

There has to be a joke in there, somewhere. "A fat girl skips her Weight Watchers meeting and walks into a grocery store ..."

I bought good groceries, too:

• Dole "Perfect Harvest Salad" salad kit
• Price Chopper "PowerPack" complete salad kit
• Seaweed salad
• Two kinds of sushi roll -- tuna avocado roll and "New York Roll" (tuna, salmon, avocado, masago)

I haven't bought either salad kit before, but they look really tasty. The Dole kit has apple cider Dijon vinaigrette, dried cranberries, diced almonds, shredded carrots, and a snazzy blend of lettuce. I'd never seen the Price Chopper before but hope it is a regular item, because I'm going to want to buy it again! It has baby spinach, dried blueberries and cherries, dried edamame, walnuts, and blueberry-cherry vinaigrette ... oh, the deliciousness!

Mind you, I'm going to tart them both up even more by adding crumbled goat cheese and fresh blueberries.

Lazy Picnic Food

We're going to a Memorial Day picnic tomorrow and I was told to bring pasta salad and dessert. Because I'm feeling awfully lazy, I just whipped up a batch of King Arthur Flour's sugar free brownies and tarted up a box of Betty Crocker's "classic" Suddenly Salad with lots of extra vegetables and parsley from my container garden. While I do not think I will win any prizes for originality or skill, I don't expect to bring home much in the way of leftovers, either.

Weight Watchers Weigh In

I weighed in at Weight Watchers this morning and was rather pleased to see I lost 2.8 pounds last week for a total loss of 6 pounds since May 3. Mindful eating and increased activity is definitely paying off!

Of course, picnic season begins this weekend with our family Memorial Day picnic and I'm a bit worried that it will be hard to make good dietary choices when surrounded by burgers dripping with cheese and salads swimming in mayonnaise. And the devilled eggs! Curse you, deliciously devilish eggs!

I've been told to bring pasta salad and a dessert so I can, at least, make sure those dishes fit in my diet. The pasta salad will be mayonnaise-based, but I will use light mayo cut with 0% Greek yoghurt. I'll also use whole grain pasta and pack the salad with vegetables and black beans. Dessert is easier as I'm already known for bringing diabetic-friendly desserts so we'll have sugar-free brownies and fresh berries.

I know, I know ... it's a picnic. A special occasion. No need to get so worked up about a little food.

It's just ... I'm fat. Much of my family is fat. They have health issues. I have health issues. And I believe some of our shared issues are diet related. So family food has become a big deal for me. And so I ask you, People of the Internets, how do I side-step family food bombs without bringing up my own lifestyle changes (I'm just not ready to discuss them yet) or sounding like the Food Police?

Simple Seared Tuna

Made tuna steaks for supper Monday night. I would have preferred to cook them on our grill, but it's been raining for what feels like weeks now and grilling in the rain is just no fun. I used the recipe for "Seared Herbed Tuna" from Weight Watchers 4 Ingredient 10 Minute Recipes and we thought the steaks turned out quite deliciously -- so deliciously, in fact, that I wondered why I didn't cook tuna more often!

(I know tuna is "supposed" to be served medium-rare, 

but we're not very brave and stick with a warm bright pink center).

Ingredients: wild caught tuna steaks (from freezer), Penzeys Parisian Bonnes Herbes (instead of Herbes de Provence), salt, black pepper, olive oil, lemon.

I had planned on serving these steaks with "Sauteed Green Beans and Cherry Tomatoes," but two stove top dishes just seemed beyond me considering how exhausted I was (three hours sleep, natch) so I microwaved green beans then tossed them with chopped jarred roasted peppers, lightly salted butter, and Penzeys Parisian Bonnes Herbes. The green beans came out really well and I will be making them this way again.

Getting Fit

I earned my second star in the President's Fitness Challenge! For two weeks in a row now I've managed at least thirty minutes of activity five days a week. I'm so pleased with myself! Can I keep it up for four more weeks? I think I can.

Reality vs Memory

I found my old Weight Watchers weight record from the first time I followed the program and ... I'm doing a lot better than I thought. I have kept telling myself I am fatter than I was when I left the program a few years ago, but I am not. When I left the program, I weighed 247.6 pounds. When I rejoined the program, I weighed 243.8. The story I've been telling myself -- that I am out of control and just getting fatter and fatter -- is not true. Obviously, it is advisable to lose more weight and increase my fitness levels, but it might also be smart to start telling myself new stories.

Stories that are actually true.

Menu Plan Monday, 23 May

Picked up a Weight Watchers cooking magazine at Borders a few weeks ago and thought I should really give some of the recipes a try sooner rather than later. Also, Memorial Day Weekend is going to be a major gardening weekend for me (if it doesn't rain), so I've planned for a small no-frills picnic. If the lawn is dry enough, there will also be croquet.

Monday

• "Seared Herbed Tuna" with "Sauteed Green Beans and Cherry Tomatoes" from Weight Watchers 4 Ingredient 10 Minute Recipes. Ingredients: wild caught tuna steaks (from freezer), Herbes de Provence, salt, black pepper, olive oil, lemon, green beans, cherry tomatoes, garden basil.

Tuesday

• Tossed salad topped with diced leftover pork tenderloin, plus low fat Greek yoghurt and blueberries.

Wednesday

• "Chicken Milanese" and "Skillet Asparagus & Roasted Peppers" from Weight Watchers 4 Ingredient 10 Minute Recipes. Ingredients: skinless boneless chicken breasts, panko, olive oil, Parmesan cheese, grape tomatoes, red onion, salt, black pepper, garden basil, red wine, garden parsley, roasted peppers, asparagus, light balsamic dressing.

Thursday

• Tossed salad topped with leftover chicken, black beans, shredded Cabot 50% reduced-fat cheddar.

Friday

• "Chicken Paprika" from Weight Watchers 4 Ingredient 10 Minute Recipes over whole wheat couscous with tossed salad. Ingredients: frozen bell pepper stir-fry mix, chicken tenders, black pepper, low-sodium marinara sauce, Penzeys Hungarian sweet paprika, low-sodium chicken broth, whole wheat couscous.

Saturday/Sunday (Memorial Day Weekend)

• Hot dogs and hamburgers with pickled beets, tossed salad, pasta salad, and devilled eggs. 

Low-Carb Schmarb, It's Good Food

I'd been weeding library cookbooks in February -- removing those that were falling apart, contained hilariously out-dated health information, or had been overly icked by messy cooks -- when I came upon a burgeoning shelf of unloved low-carb cookbooks. There's nothing wrong with these cookbooks. They simply represent a diet fad that has come and gone. Feeling sorry for them, I ended up bringing home Betty Crocker's Low-Carb Lifestyle Cookbook: Easy and Delicious Recipes to Trim Carbs and Fat (General Mills, 2005) and copying down a bunch of recipes.

Despite its lack of trendiness, the Low-Carb Lifestyle Cookbook is a perfectly decent cookbook with tempting photographs and recipes which promise tasty and healthy meals in very little time. So far, I've made four recipes with good to fantastic results:

• Mustard Lamb Chops (blogged 24 Feb)
• Veal with Asparagus (blogged 13 Mar)
• California-Style Turkey Patties with Corn and Tomato Relish (blogged 30 April)
• Italian Roasted Pork Tenderloin (blogged 15 May)

All the recipes I tried were prepared in about thirty minutes -- very nice for the work week. Also, not only were they low carb, they are generally low-fat and low-calorie. (Obviously, you're mileage may vary as my idea of low-carb, low-fat, low-calorie cookery may be your vision of Dietary Doom).

Lambilicious

Monday I made the easiest lamb dish in the world using Taste of Home's "Slow-Cooked Lamb" recipe. I halved the recipe as there are only two of us and I didn't want leftovers, but otherwise followed the recipe exactly. It's one of those recipes that is so simple and short that it's practically foolproof.

I rubbed four lamb loin chops with a mix of oregano, thyme, garlic powder, salt, and pepper. Then I set them aside while I layered the bottom of my slow cooker with a thinly sliced onion. Topped the onion with lamb and let it cook on LOW for 6 hours. Served the lamb with "light" Caesar salad and it made for a tasty work night supper. Look forward to making "Slow-Cooked Lamb" again.

17-Week Plan

I actually signed on for Weight Watchers' 17-week program as that will carry me through to the end of August, because I think Weight Watchers is going to be a seasonal thing for me. Based on prior experience, I know it's easiest for me to lose weight during the warm seasons when all I want to do is eat big bowls of fresh fruits and vegetables and play about in the garden.

Apparently, a lot of people don't sign on for the 17-week program because the woman who processed my membership had never done one for 17-weeks before and there was a bit of a mad scramble through the supply closet to get me the right documentation!

Anyway, in 17 weeks, I hope to drop 17 pounds. That's a drop in the bucket compared to what I'd like to lose overall, but it's a good start. Weight Watchers says people on the plan can expect to lose 1–2 pounds per week and that's fine by me.

Homemade Spudulike: Baked Beanz

Baked beans on a baked potato? Trust me, it's better than it sounds.

You need:
1 can Heinz (tomato-based) baked beans
2 large baking potatoes
2 pats lightly salted butter (I used Vermont Butter & Cheese Creamery's cultured butter)

Stab potatoes with a fork a few times, rub with a little olive oil, roll in coarse salt, and bake at 425° for about 50 minutes.

Open baked potatoes, top with butter, and allow to melt (I popped mine back in the still hot oven for a few minutes to speed the melting process), top with baked beans, season with black pepper, and eat.

It's a tremendously simple, cheap, and filling supper. I expect we'll be eating this again in a few weeks -- especially if spring remains as dank and dreary as it's been.

The Shadow of the Future

I don't have much of a diet history. The message I get from the media is that most fat women are always on one kind of diet or another, but that's never how it was for me. Aside from Weight Watchers five years ago the only other diet I've ever tried was earlier this year when I dabbled with the South Beach Diet . The diet felt too restrictive for me to follow for very long, but I did come away with some great recipes so I still count that a win.

This is not to say I never thought about dieting. Oh, I feel I've thought about it all my life -- about how fat I am and how I "should" go on a diet -- but I only "seriously" acted on it once before. So why now? Because my family's health history is a terrible one. Mostly I try to turn a blind eye to the horror of it, but this past Easter brought too much uncomfortable gossip to my dinner table. With Type I and II Diabetes, high cholesterol, hypertension, heart disease, thyroid disorders, random cancers, and autoimmune issues in the mix already, I don't need to hear about how a few of my relations are "so fat" they won't go out, anymore. Impossible to hear these stories and not think "I do not want to be an old housebound woman with Type II Diabetes, high cholesterol, hypertension, and body shame."

I don't know I can fight my genes. I already have high cholesterol and hypertension, after all, but if I can be a little less fat and a little more fit then I feel I might not end up that old lady.

President's Fitness Challenge

I signed up for the President's Fitness Challenge last week. It's a very easy challenge -- just participate in at least thirty minutes of activity five days a week for eight weeks (conveniently, the American Heart Association suggests at least 150 minutes per week of moderate exercise). The definition of activity is, I think, quite generous and counts things like household tasks, gardening, and Wii.

Last week, over the span of six days, I walked four hours and ten minutes and earned my first star. I am inordinately pleased with myself.

Weight Watchers, Again

Two weeks ago, I went back to Weight Watchers. I'd been away from the program for a few years and never really thought I'd go back. At the time I left Weight Watchers, my local meeting seemed full of dieters who thrived on 100-calorie snack packs and sugar-free soda and they just drove me crazy with their happy unfood chatter. I'd lost a considerable amount of weight and was feeling pretty confident about my own ability to continue to loose weight so I left.

And completely failed to lose any more weight. (Well, yeah, who didn't see that coming?)

Rather than lose weight, I gained some back. Not a lot, but just enough to frustrate me. I must have gained and lost that "regain" weight a half dozen times since I left Weight Watchers. I thought I was alright with that since I wasn't getting fatter and my doctor was okay with my general health, but lately I feel as if my body is getting in its own way. Last year, I spent six months being unable to walk and, now that I can walk, I want to do things that the rest of my body balks at. "You want me to fucking what?" it shouts, when I suggest something as mundane as bicycling.

So, I went back to Weight Watchers ... and it isn't as bad as I remember. The program has changed a bit, of course. Fruits and vegetables are free, now, and participants are encouraged to eat a variety of whole foods. Indeed, the way the Points system has been re-rigged, a lot of processed low-calorie foods have increased in Points value. Oh, yes, there are dieters at my new local meeting who do go on a bit too enthusiastically about fat-free whatsits and zero-calorie whossnames, but I have managed to tune them out so far.

This isn't to say I don't use Splenda or eat sugar-free gelatin. Certainly not. I just couldn't live on them the way some dieters seem to. It wouldn't make my taste buds or tummy happy and I can't imagine attaining any kind of sustainable weight loss with unsated taste buds.

Menu Plan Monday, 15 May

Just cooking my way through our cupboards and freezer this week, making food that tastes good but that I don't need to think much about to make.

Monday

• "Slow-Cooked Lamb Chops Recipes" with Caesar salad. Ingredients: onion, oregano, thyme, garlic, black pepper, lamb loin chops, light Caesar salad kit.

Tuesday

• Tossed salad topped with diced leftover pork tenderloin, low fat yoghurt, blueberries.

Wednesday

• My "Salsa Turkey Cutlets" with black beans and carrots. Ingredients: turkey cutlets, garlicky salsa, Penzeys salt free Arizona Dreaming seasoning blend, Cabot 50% Reduced Fat Cheddar, guacamole.

Thursday

• Tossed salad topped with tuna, low fat yoghurt, and peaches.

Friday

• Grilled "Marinated Pork Tenderloin" with couscous and green beans. Ingredients: pork tenderloin, low-sodium soy sauce, brown sugar, sherry, cinnamon, garlic powder, olive oil, crushed dried onion.

Saturday/Sunday

• "Orange-Roasted Pheasants" with rice and tossed salad. Ingredients: butter, orange peel, salt, pepper, onions, scallions, pheasants. (Kind-of excited about cooking pheasant as I haven't before, but there are two in my freezer I want to eat before they are freezer burnt!)

Deliciously Simple Pork Tenderloin

Twice now, I've made "Italian Roasted Pork Tenderloin" from Betty Crocker's Low-Carb Lifestyle Cookbook and I'm beginning to think I would be happy cooking it every week -- it's so tasty and yet so simple. Seriously, this succulent pork tenderloin, well-seasoned with garlic and fennel, is easy enough to be a weeknight meal but tastes fancy enough to feed guests if paired with the right sides.

The first time I made "Italian Roasted Pork Tenderloin," I was in clean-out-the-fridge mode and served the pork with garlicky sauteed mushrooms and salad:



The second time, I served the tenderloin with cannellini beans cooked in tomato sauce with feta and green beans:

Homemade Spudulike: Tuna & Sweetcorn Mayonnaise

Another week, another spudulike. And, as promised, I went with classic tuna and sweetcorn spudulike. How was it? Pretty darn good!

Tuna Sweetcorn Mayonnaise

Ingredients
12 oz solid white albacore tuna, well drained
7 oz low sodium corn, drained
Mayonnaise, to taste
Parsley, to taste
Salt and pepper, to taste

Directions
Combine all ingredients in a large bowl and mix well. Portion out onto baked potatoes, use as a sandwich filling, spread on crispbread, or serve on a bed of mixed salad greens.

(This recipe makes enough to fill two large potatoes and spread liberally across six crispbread).

Spring Steak

My parents grill pretty much year round. Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these grillmasters from their perfectly grilled steaks or chicken breasts. While I envy them, neither The Husband nor I are hardy enough to follow their example. No, we grill from May to October and count that a blessedly long season.

Tonight was our inaugural run -- we had our grill hooked up to our home's (emergency generator's) propane tank last autumn so we would never have to fiddle with changing grill tanks ever again. It's awesome. And the steak came out pretty well, too!




I rubbed our last farmers' market sirloin steak with Penzeys salt-free Arizona Dreaming seasoning blend and let it sit on the kitchen side for about twenty minutes. Then The Husband grilled it for about 10 minutes -- I think 8 minutes would have been better as I like my steak closer to medium-rare and this was medium verging on medium-well. It's a fiddly business, you know, getting steak done right.

Served the steak with Dijon roasted asparagus -- tossed asparagus garlic, grape tomatoes, Dijon mustard and fresh ground black pepper then roasted it at 425°F for about 13 minutes. Delicious and heavily inspired by the recipe for "Asparagus Sauteed in Butter and Mustard" from Kitchen of Light: New Scandinavian Cooking with Andreas Viestad.

Also served the steak with Knorr Pasta Sides "Beef" flavor (made without butter) as I was just too lazy to make the rosemary-white bean mash!

Menu Plan Monday, 9 May

No cookbooks this week. Just me, poking around the kitchen, going hmmm ...

(Which is not to say I didn't bring any cookbooks home from the library recently, just that I'm not currently cooking from any of them).

Monday

• Home-made tuna & sweetcorn spudulike. Ingredients: baked potato, low-sodium tuna, low-sodium sweetcorn, parsley, black pepper, light mayonnaise, and shredded Cabot 50% reduced-fat cheddar.

Tuesday

• Tossed salad with tuna-and-sweetcorn salad (leftover spudulike filling) on crispbread.

Wednesday

• Farmers' market sirloin steak, marinated & grilled, with garlicky asparagus and rosemary-white bean mash. Ingredients: steak, red wine marinade, asparagus, garlic, olive oil, black pepper, cannellini, rosemary.

Thursday

• Tossed salad topped with thin slices of leftover steak, plus cottage cheese and blueberries.

Friday

• Grilled marinated pork tenderloin, green beans, rice. Ingredients: pork tenderloin, Penzeys Greek seasoning blend, olive oil, white wine vinegar, garlic, black pepper, green beans, low sodium chicken broth, brown rice.

Saturday/Sunday

• Fried clam strips, sweet potato fries, and a raspberry shake at the burger shack down the street, now that it's open for the season.

Tired of Being Fat & Unfit

I'm tired of being fat in a world not made for fat people. And I'm tired of being unfit and feeling as if my body struggles with the most basic activities (surely, it should not be so hard to push a wheelbarrow full of compost across the yard?). And I am, quite frankly, scared of the family health issues that may haunt my future. So here I am, trying to do something about it. Just another fat girl going on a diet and vowing to be more active.

And I feel like I'm betraying all my principles by going on a diet. Adopting lifestyle changes. Joining Weight Watchers. It's like I've finally completed the Stepfordification process and become a Real Girl™

Homemade Spudulike: Olé

There's a fast food chain in the the UK called spudulike. They sell baked potatoes stuffed with things like tuna and sweetcorn, baked beans (the proper British kind), coleslaw, egg mayonnaise (egg salad), and chili con carne. As far as I know, there's nothing like it in the US ... which is a bit sad as spudulike is cheap, filling, reasonably wholesome, and makes my tummy happy.

Until I saw the recipe for "Olé Salsa Potatoes" in Pillsbury Fast & Healthy, it never occurred to me I could make spudulike at home. I mean, it's not a complicated food! Everyone knows how to bake a potato. Just need to figure out what flavor of stuff you want on top.

(sadly, cell phone photo does not do it justice)

I microwaved the potatoes and, while they microwaved, prepared the beef filling -- just cooked very lean ground beef until browned, then stirred in garlicky salsa and Penzeys salt free Arizona Dreaming. When the potatoes were done and rested, I rolled them around on the counter as the recipe suggested and it really did loosen the potatoes' flesh quite nicely. Then I cut each potato in half and topped the halves with beef mixture, sour cream, and salsa. Next time I might also had a little shredded lettuce and some sliced olives for increased taco-ness.

Anyway, these were very good potatoes, The Husband was amused to eat spudulike off our best china, and I enjoyed the whole experience enough to want to make them again next week ... with tuna and sweetcorn, I think, as that is the best topping ever.

Salad of Randomness

I had a bunch of odds and ends huddled in the back of the fridge that all needed eating up at the same time. Not knowing what else to do, I made them into a salad.


Salad of Randomness

Ingredients
1 generous cup coleslaw mix (shredded cabbage and carrots)
7 diced spicy marinated green olives
5 oz can solid white albacore tuna in water, well drained
2 Tbsp minced red onion
1 Tbsp canola mayonnaise
2 Tbsp light Italian dressing (any vinaigrette might work)
Fresh ground black pepper, to taste
2 generous cups baby spinach leaves

Directions
Combine first six ingredients and mix well. Plop on plate or bowl lined with the baby spinach leaves. Season with pepper. Nom!

This was seriously delicious and almost worth buying coleslaw mix for. I've been on a coleslaw kick recently -- not that you'd know, as I haven't been blogging about it!

Cute, Fast Pasta

I made "Taco Spaghetti" from Better Homes & Garden's Fast Fix Family Favorites for supper on Wednesday as such a a grey, dreary day positively cried out for the comfort of pasta. The spaghetti was quite easy to prepare and very flavorful. The Husband also pronounced it cute and asked if I was going to take a photo of it before we ate -- as he never says such things, I can only presume he was as smitten with it as I.



I made a few changes to BHG's print recipe to healthify the dish and/or make it easier for me to prepare:

• Whole grain linguine instead of "regular pasta"
• Lean ground turkey instead of beef
• Penzeys salt Free Arizona Dreaming instead of taco seasoning mix
• Low-sodium chicken broth instead of water
• Cabot's 50% reduced fat Pepper Jack instead of cheddar

The dish is pretty easy to prepare, anyway. Just cook broken (I snapped mine into thirds) noodles according to package directions, drain, and set aside. Meanwhile, cook the meat and a diced onion until the meat is nicely browned. Stir in broth and seasoning, bring to boil, reduce heat and simmer uncovered for about 2 minutes. Stir in pasta, corn, half the shredded cheese, salsa, and chilies.

At this point, you're supposed to transfer the spaghetti to a greased casserole and bake it at 350°F until everything is hot. And I did that this first time around, but I won't next time as it doesn't seem to do anything interesting and stirring everything around in the hot spaghetti pot will heat it through just as well.

I served the spaghetti topped with shredded cheese, bagged shredded lettuce, diced grape tomatoes, garlicky salsa, and sour cream. Again, it was delicious (and cute?!) and I expect to make it again soon.

Menu Plan Monday, 2 May

Borrowed Pillsbury Fast & Healthy Cookbook from the library last week so it should come as no surprise that most of this week's menu was plucked from its pages.

Monday

• "Olé Salsa Potatoes" from Pillsbury Fast & Healthy Cookbook with tossed salad. Ingredients: baked potatoes, lean ground turkey, garlicky salsa, shredded Cabot 50% reduced-fat cheddar, light sour cream, Penzeys Bold taco seasoning.

Tuesday

• Leftover salsa potato with tossed salad.

Wednesday

• "Southwest Pork & Black Bean Stir-Fry" from Pillsbury Fast & Healthy Cookbook over quinoa. Ingredients: pork loin, low-sodium black beans, onion, bell pepper, garlic, corn, zucchini, black bean salsa, quinoa, low-sodium chicken broth.

Thursday

• Leftover stir-fry with yoghurt and fruit.

Friday

• Marinated grilled chicken breasts with "Barley, Corn, & Pepper Salad" from Pillsbury Fast & Healthy Cookbook. Ingredients: Penzey's Greek seasoning blend, chicken breasts, lemon juice, black pepper, quick-cooking barley, diced bell peppers, red onion, olive oil, rehydrated cilantro.

Saturday/Sunday

• "Taco Spaghetti" from Better Homes & Garden's Fast Fix Family Favorites with tossed salad. Ingredients: whole grain spaghetti, lean ground turkey, onion, Penzeys Bold taco seasoning, corn with peppers, shredded Cabot 50% reduced-fat cheddar, diced green chilies, shredded lettuce, broken tortilla chips, diced grape tomatoes, light sour cream.