my menu

I'm so excited about my kitchen! I've spent the past two hours prepping all my food for the week and it's such a relief to know what we're going to eat! It's all there!

I made:

a turkey/veggie meatloaf - it's half ground turkey, half mixture of spinach, chickpeas, shredded carrots, red and green peppers, onion and covered with teriyaki instead of ketchup!

a barley/shrimp salad that has barley, salad shrimp, peppers, onion, avocado, tomato, celery, cilantro - with a dressing made of lime juice, fresh ginger, lime salt and olive oil and vinegar. (barley is a good addition to any salad because it adds protein and fiber - makes you feel more full than a plain salad). This can be eaten plain or in a wrap!

tuna salad made with a blend of greek yogurt and mayo instead of straight mayo... with peppers and onions and celery

in the crockpot we have chicken florentine - it's boneless chicken with a lot of spinach, tomatoes and mushroom - we'll have that over barley too. I made a full package of barley. It takes an hour to cook but it makes a bunch and can be reheated. A bag of barley is less than a dollar and goes a LONG way.

I made up celery stalks with goat cheese.
I taught Austin how to cook scrambled eggs in the microwave in a coffee cup and add laughing cow cheese. We have eggbeaters... but if money is tight we can just use regular eggs. You can cook veggies in the coffee cup for 30-60 seconds first and then add the eggs and cheese. (I learned this from http://www.hungrygirl.com/ )
I showed Austin how to add a handful of fresh chopped kale to any can of soup to "veg it up". He also likes cilantro and fresh green onions so we have those as toss ins as well.
I bought frozen veggies without sauce - they were on sale today.
I bought walnuts and almonds - quick snack.
I bought pears because we both love them.
We have parsnips - they are great roasted with a little olive oil!

Austin was really excited when I showed him what there is to eat. He loves to eat but has become conscious of his dough boy shape and is trying to use the Wii Fit more often. He will eat any vegetable and doesn't mind not having junk in the house... but i did have to show him what there is to eat, especially for the things that need to be put together.

(Linda, I just remembered I never answered your email! Yes, we do have the Wii Fit! Believe it or not.... Michael bought it for us after we left Jacksonville!).

We do not have any junk food in the house. Well... there's a bag of chips... but I don't care for chips anyways. I think we're ready!

AND... it might now this week!