Cauliflower rice and chicken soup!
No pictures and I was afraid to steal one of off the internet.

This is super easy and looks and even better, smells really great.

Boil your chicken in the big pot--add whatever spices you like, some celery, carrots, onions, garlic, whatever.

When your chicken is falling off the bone, remove from the pot and debone and dice the chicken.

To the pot add cauliflower rice (why hard it on yourself--just buy the big bag of it)
About a pound of sliced mushrooms
Something green, like peas
A can of heavy coconut cream
Something orange, like carrots or squash chunks
Maybe some lemon juice or lemon slices for garnish
And your chunky chicken.
More spices, maybe white pepper, or cayenne

Cook until the veggies are how you like them.

VOILA!!

Enjoy

Meal Planning...what it is

We all know the term meal planning, and for some of us it might conjure up images of clipping coupons, lots of containers of food in the freezer, eating the same thing day after day, cooking with friends and family, saving money, or any number of things.

Meal planning is simply the act of planning and sometimes, preparing meals completely or just partially,  in advance.  The main benefits for most of us are saving time and money, and eating healthier meals.  Meal planning is necessary if you are planning on doing any kind of a special diet, so that there is always “compliant” food available for you to eat at every meal.

My meal planning began in earnest when I started eating an “anti-inflammatory” diet or low inflammation diet about 26 years ago.  And though I loved eating out and even fast food, I realized that I was more likely to eat inflammatory food (how many hamburger buns can one really throw out the car window over the years) and also less likely to eat the healthy foods I needed to be eating. (I have yet to find too many broccoli featuring dishes at McDonald’s or Good Times.)

I have a couple of advantages in the meal planning game—one is I really can eat anything and like it and two is that I know how to cook and am familiar with many different ingredients.   My challenge is that I avoid quite a few foods, and also that I am the main meal preparer for two people that don’t have to eat an anti-inflammatory diet. Your secret weapon and your challenges are probably different, but no matter what they are, anyone can benefit from meal planning.  For most people planning relieves some stress in your life, allows you to create and keep records of what you spent and what you ate that can be compared to some fitness or weight loss goals you may have.  I have found that after meal planning for almost three decades now that I know what is going to be on sale and where to find it,  almost on an instinctive level.  I also don’t have the “stuck in the rut” syndrome of my life growing up.  My mother made dinner every night until I was about 16 years old. I finally took it over because I could not live through yet another cycle of Spaghetti, Enchiladas, “Hamburgers, Hot Dogs, International Night”, International Night”, Sunday Dinner…you get the point.  However, I kept some of my mom’s sense of routine in my planning, which goes something like this, a soup, a casserole, a meat and veggie entrée, lots of salads, and a vegetarian option, with a rotisserie chicken always at the ready.

Meal planning tips and tricks next time…

Meal Planning Tips and Tricks

Meal Planning Tips and Tricks:

Here are some meal planning tips and tricks that I believe will help you on your way to saving money and time, alleviating stress, and most importantly eating in a healthier way.

1. Keep it simple. This is my life motto, but truly, do not overthink this, do not buy too much crap (a case of equipmentitis is not saving you money), do not beat yourself up if you have some setbacks, and don’t reward yourself if you do great. (The benefits are their own reward). Loading any type of health, wellness or nutritional habit with emotion and drama is never good if you want to get into a habit. This will become a normal part of your functioning life.

2. Build in planning and shopping into your schedule. Taking inventory of your kitchen, going on a shopping trip, preparing food and storing it will probably take four hours. Building in other time to research recipes and food choice might be necessary for you too. The best way for me to do it is all at once, as in I get up on Saturday morning and go to the store and start cooking when I get home. When I do meal planning, shopping and cooking with people I am helping, it usually takes about six hours the first time, and then 3-4 hours each time after that, because I have already made the menus and shopping lists. (Full disclosure, my nickname is the Lauranado and no one moves faster through a grocery store or it’s parking lot, so maybe allow five hours the first few weeks.) You can make several things at once. The first time you put a tuna noodle casserole in with the roast, you may think you won’t survive it. But you will!

3. Be realistic about what you eat and what your family eats and will eat too. Don’t forget that you probably eat breakfast, lunch and dinner and some snacks. Having breakfast “stuff” on hand is every bit as important as dinner prep.

4. Division of Labor Issues: As my 26-year-old son says, “no one tryna to help Mama in the kitchen”, but if you do have a helper at home, you may have to re-assess how you do business in regards to shopping, budgeting and preparing. Also, if you live with other people and are all participating, find out what they want to eat that week or things they wish you would make. You can make much more of the food they love to eat when you plan. You also can have Taco Tuesday, Pizza Night, and get the chopsticks and soy sauce bowls located for sushi night. Speaking of that, meal planning can include a night of what we call “Fend fo yosef” (as if that is not always an option) or an order in pizza night, whatever works for your life. (One tip about division of labor is always let the kids and the males do whatever they volunteer to do. Wink.)

5. Plan for a main dish and side dishes for most meals.

6. Prepare for leftovers. Because meal planning means you will eat leftovers sometimes even if it is just the food you pack to take to work. This means that you may need to invest in good quality storage containers, or learn to double recipes, and clean out your frig and freezer now. You will find with meal planning, you won’t have as much food go to waste.

7. Be flexible! If the pork loins are on sale, go ahead and buy them and Google a new recipe when you get home or make an old favorite. If your new boss buys you lunch, partake, your food will keep.

8. Read recipes. Read every item on a menu for meal and food ideas. Talk to friends and family about favorite recipes that they enjoy. Use Pinterest, All Recipes, Paleo Nom Nom, magazines, and other idea sources to keep your meal planning fresh.

9. A routine will give you the structure to keep going. Next time I will give you the exact details of my routine. A routine answers a lot of the questions, and keeps you on track.

10. Have some stuff always ready to go. If there are ingredients you use often, buy them in bulk or when they are on sale—we go through the canned organic tomatoes for several recipes, as well as chicken thighs, ground beef, coconut milk, mushrooms and peppers at our house, and we always buy more when it’s on sale because we will eat them. Have your spices organized—and have all the basic ones plus some specialty ones for ethnic dishes you like, such as Mexican spices, Italian food spices, curry spices, etc.

Next time, exact meals and routine explained.

Ratatouille Chili

This is a good chili if you are really trying to cut down on carbs, like beans, but not as anti-inflammatory as some purists may like because it contains eggplant and peppers.

To make life very simple, one can buy frozen bags of ratatouille veggies at Whole Foods.  Let partially thaw and chop the veggies to the right size. Otherwise, grill the peppers, eggplant and tomatoes, either in your oven or on the grill...I put two big cups into my chili

Brown one pound of beef or bison with some onions and garlic
Add a biggish palmful of chili powder, a can of organic tomatoes and chilis, your veggies and a little stock or just water, until desired consistency, let boil up and then simmer, at least 10-15 minutes.

Voila.

I served with Siete grain free chips, and guacamole.

Add salt to taste, or not.