Summer Mantra: Cook Once, Eat Twice

Intern Laura Bartee takes the helm of Robinsbite with her Cook One, Eat Twice advice. 

The arrival of summer brings recreation, outdoor activities and vacations. But it also provides less time to prepare healthy meals at home. Using the mentality of cooking once and eating twice, it can be easy to make foods in bulk that can be re-purposed in different meals throughout the week. Since no one wants to eat the same meal twice, try these quick tips to provide unique meals using pre-cooked ingredients.

1. Grilled Chicken: Spend one day a week grilling chicken breasts, tenders, boneless skinless thighs or drumsticks seasoned with your favorite marinade or spice blend. Leftover sliced meat can be used in fajitas, on a salad or as a pizza topping.

2. Crock-pot Chicken: If you don’t own a grill, opt to cook chicken in a crockpot. Use any cut of frozen or fresh chicken including bone-in, boneless or even a whole chicken. Pour water or broth in your crockpot, add meat and cook on low for approximately 8 hours. The chicken will be tender enough to shred and can be added to burritos on whole wheat tortillas, or used for a sandwich night with either barbeque pulled chicken or chicken salad.

3. Prepared Vegetables: Roasted or grilled vegetables are easy, quick and keep for several days in the refrigerator. To roast, slice and toss any vegetable in olive oil, salt and pepper and cook at 425° F until tender. Or throw vegetables onto the grill next to the chicken to save time. Try sweet potatoes, broccoli, butternut squash or mushrooms. Add leftover vegetables to sandwiches, pasta salads or eat plain as a side dish.

4. Ready-to-eat Produce: Once a week wash and pre-cut your produce. This produce will be available to grab for snacks or for lunches throughout the week. Try grape tomatoes, snow peas or celery as dippers for hummus. Shred carrots or squash in your food processor to throw into soups or salads. Slice and refrigerate cantaloupe, kiwi or pineapple so it’s ready to enjoy anytime.

5.Pre-cooked Whole Grains: Instead of making one portion of grains, pre-cook a large batch of brown rice, quinoa or bulgur wheat either on the stove or in a rice cooker. Store grains in the refrigerator and serve on salads or mix in roasted vegetables for a simple side dish. These grains can also be eaten as a substitute for oatmeal in the mornings for breakfast.

Healthy eating can still be made a priority in the busy summers when you batch cook foods once or twice a week.

What are your tips for cooking once, eating twice?

Sick of ground turkey? Go tenderloin!

We just need a break!

We're big fans of ground turkey in our house. We eat it at least one time per week! Sadly, we've hit the wall with ground turkey, folks-its time to switch things up and pull out other lean meat alternatives.

Tonight, we are still working with the turkey family-but this time, it's turkey tenderloin.

Purchase tenderloin either fresh or pre-packaged. If you purchase fresh, it may be a bit more expensive, but it won't have any of the "preservatives" you'll find in pre-packaged tenderloins. I'm using a pre-packaged loin tonight, which means whatever I use to marinade, rub or season with, I'll make sure it's naturally low in salt as there will already be plenty in the package.

My friend and colleague Wendy Jo Peterson is working on a cookbook. She sent me a quick and easy marinade for the turkey that consisted of Greek yogurt, cumin, paprika, mint and lemon. I know you are going to ask me amounts here--but WJP and I cook the same way--mostly by feel, not my amounts. Here's a guestimate:

Hello, Tenderloin!

Mediterranean Turkey Tenderloins
1 pre-packaged turkey tenderloin (mine had 2 loins per 1 bag)
3-4 cups Greek yogurt
3 T cumin ( I love cumin)
2 T paprika
juice of 1 lemon
handful of coarsely chopped mint leaves
Lemon yogurt sauce

Place turkey and all ingredients into a gallon sized plastic baggie. Roll turkey around in the marinade to make sure it's well coated. Refrigerate for 4-6 hours.  Pre-heat oven to 350. Remove turkey from baggie and discard.  Place turkey flat on a baking sheet or pan.  Cook until internal temperature registers 160 degrees. Remove from oven and allow to rest for 5 minutes.  Be careful NOT to overcook.  Serves 6.

For sauce: 1 small container of Chobani lemon yogurt, 2 t.cumin and 1t. paprika.  Stir well and serve w/turkey.

Tips:

• Turkey is very lean which means it will dry out quickly due to lack of fat. DO NOT overcook the meat!
• The above measurements are estimates-feel free to use your best judgement.
• If you want a more basic turkey, just season with salt, pepper and olive oil and follow baking directions. This turkey can be used for salads, soups, in wraps, sandwiches, nachos or anything you use chicken for in your usual meal rotation.
• We added sauteed green beans with almonds, salad with strawberries and sauteed potatoes & onions for a tasty dinner-with plenty of leftovers!

Check out the Eatturkey.com for more turkey recipes and Chobani.com for more yogurt recipes.

An Open Apology to the Spaghetti Squash

Dear Spaghetti Squash-

I'm so sorry I made you so mad. I know, I know....its that time of the year, isn't it?  I pay no attention to you all year until Fall when you are most abundant, most flavorful and let's face it, cheaper.   

Sure, you are a little large and sometimes hard to find in the grocery stores. I know people just walk past you--its not you though, it's them. They just don't know how to handle you or know what to do with you. I wish I could tell everyone just how easy you are to handle and that your deliciousness comes through when baked or microwaved. Or that you bring a smile to everyone-young and old-when I comb your lovely strands of flesh out with a fork.  You blend ever so sweetly with any kind of marinara or spaghetti sauce and take to a sprinkling of Parmesan ever so gently. You are full of fiber, vitamins and minerals (Vitamin A, Vitamin C and calcium) and have only 42 calories per cup.

In fact, if you compare yourself to pasta (which you really shouldn't as you both have exceptionally redeeming qualities), you are lower in calories, lower in fat and lower in carbohydrates.  You can save 179 calories per cup by hanging out with you.

So I apologize to you, my friend. I hope you can forgive me. I promise to pay more attention to you now that you are front and center. I get that you are angry--but did you really have to do this to my microwave today?

Kids Are Back at School---Now, What's For Dinner?

I know, I know-you just got the kids back to school-new backpack, lunch sack, locker decorations, school clothes, shoes, school supplies, a new haircut, perhaps. Your job is done, right? Not a chance.



See this picture above? Look familiar? I didn't think so--the days of June Cleaver-esque family dinner are a think of the past--or are they?

With her insatiable humor and dramatic storytelling, my friend and colleague Jessica A. Bowhall, MBA, RD blogs about the importance of bringing the family back to the dinner table. Welcome, Jessica!

Growing up, I remember eating dinner as a family every night – Sunday through Saturday. Because our dining room was basically connected to the living room, we could watch TV while we were eating and as a child that was the best thing in the world! Eventually, as my sister and I got older, the TV was moved to the family room and we had to stare at each other while we ate. At the time, I didn’t see the point. We lived together so we could stare at each other whenever we wanted. But as I look back, I can see what my mom was doing. By taking the TV away, we started communicating more at dinner. Checking in with each other to see how our days went. If I was struggling with a math technique that day, dad would offer to help after dinner. This was also a time for us to just be together. Enjoying each other’s company and sometimes laughing so hard we cried when mom tried to tell us some of the jokes she heard that day.

Today in the US, we see a growing trend of busier lives, children on their own, and less family time. As a Registered Dietitian, I hear many clients talk about less time to shop, less time to cook and less time period. Along with less time usually comes less money. There is no money to eat healthy, eating at fast food is cheaper and quicker, and sometimes my clients just don’t like to cook. When they talk of their families, it is usually in a stressed tone as they aren’t quite sure what their kids have been up to and they feel their spouses aren’t taking their share of the responsibility.

Eating dinner together doesn’t have to feel like moving mountains. My parents’ commute from work was at least 45 minutes – one way. My sister and I were 4 years apart and had different schedules for after school sports and activities. We lived in the middle of nowhere, so finding a neighbor to help “carpool” was a bit tricky. However, despite all of this, we made it work.

Here are some benefits of bringing the family back to the table:

• Syracuse University studies show that eating together as a family is associated with happier marriages, improved childrens health, and stronger family ties.
• Family meals can hone a child’s social skills and teach them table etiquette and good manners.
• Dining together makes for healthier eaters. Kids who regularly eat with their families tend to have healthier eating patterns. They consume more fruits and vegetables and fewer fried foods, sodas, and saturated fat than kids who don’t share family meals, says the American Dietetic Association.

If fitting a family dinner into your schedule seems impossible, just try one day. Set one day a week with your family that you will all sit down and eat dinner together. One day is all it takes to start a trend. If you don’t have time to cook, look to restaurants that provide healthier options for take out. You’ll soon see that once you make the time to sit as a family you’ll be able to make the time for preparing the meal with your family.

Jessica is relatively new on the blogger scene. Follow her here at Forever Wellness and/or on Twitter @Foreverwellness.

The Resurgence of the Diet Plate 2.0

I can clearly and very happily recall my visits Hollywood, Florida and dining with my Grandparents at such restaurant icons as the Rascal House and Pumpernink's. I can see the menus, the waitresses, (they were called waitresses back then-not servers as they are today) the pickle buckets on the tables and the deli meats in the case. (it's there that I first saw tongue--complete with taste buds and little hairs coming out of them-I shudder as I write this). I can also see the rolls and sweet n lows that somehow made it into my Nana's purse each time.

One item that I also recall clearly was the "diet plate". Usually, it consisted of a pale, limp piece of lettuce topped with a huge tomato and a scoop of cottage cheese or tuna salad in the center. Sometimes, it came with a plain hamburger patty. (pre Atkins-no bun days) While I never ordered the diet plate, I assume that many did because it stayed on the menu year after year after year. It certainly was a diet plate-could have also been called a restriction plate or unappealing plate.

I just finished my own version of the diet plate, however, I like to refer to it as a little taste of summer. I started out with a huge East Texas tomato and topped it with about 3/4 of a cup of lowfat Lactaid cottage cheese. Add lettuce or basil if you'd like. Top with a tablespoon or two of sunflower seeds and that was lunch.

Why do I love this? Easy:
1. Protein, carbs, dairy, seeds, vegetable and healthy fat..all out of 3 simple ingredients.
2. Pennies per serving
3. Cool and refreshing--it's about 100 here and about 4000 % humidity
4. Great way to use up surplus tomatoes
5. Easy way to get seeds into the diet-provides a great crunch to this dish
6. It looks beautiful-remember we eat with our eyes first
7. Portable for the office-bring each separately and assemble when ready
8. Versatile-eat as is or top on a piece of whole wheat toast, English muffin or a whole wheat cracker

A Little Taste of Summer
1 large tomato (homegrown, if possible)
1/2-3/4 cup low fat cottage cheese
1-2 T sunflower seeds
lettuce or basil, chopped, if desired

Assemble and serve!

Photo: www.eattoenjoy.com