Wednesday, August 4, 2010

Easy Meals for days when you are exhausted

Good Morning! Sorry I went MIA on you yesterday. It has been a very long four days at our house. I have not slept well for the last four days and yesterday I was a zombie until I got a 2 hour nap in late in the day. Of course that meant I didn’t sleep well again last night. *shakes head* However I feel much better this morning than I did yesterday.

Given my lack of energy the last few days I have been making very simple meals as that is all I have been able to manage. Initially I wasn’t going to post these but then I realized this may be useful for other people that don’t have time or energy to cook but still want something healthy.


Monday night for dinner we had a simple meal of brown rice which I tossed with the quick pickled veggies that I julienned. I also added a couple of black olives and diced tomato. I served this with sliced heirloom tomatoes with a drizzle of balsamic vinegar and a few red lentil and millet bites from the freezer.



For breakfast the next morning I made myself a bowl of curried veggie and mushroom soup and two collard wraps with lentil and walnut pate and more marinated veggies. This is actually my favorite use for the marinated veggies. They are so good on sandwiches.

Yesterday I made a big batch (3 cups) of dried black beans which I cooked in my slow cooker, in case I fell asleep. Cooking dried beans in your slow cooker works well if you don’t have time to make them on the stove. I do like to soak them for at least 4 hours, but preferably overnight, before I cook them. I think you have less issues with flatulence when the beans are cold soaked (but this may be all in my head). Place the soaked and drained beans in your slow cooker, cover with fresh water that is at least 2 inches about the level of the beans. Add a whole onion, a few bay leaves and garlic cloves and cook on low for 2 hours then check the beans for tenderness. The exact time they take to cook will depend on the age of the beans and how long they soaked. If you want the beans to cook for 8 hours then don’t soak them first and 8 hours on low is about right. Again it depends on the age of the beans.

Once the beans are cooked you can add them to salads, make a bean dip, combine them with rice or make a marinated bean and veggie salad. All of these are fast and hold well in the refrigerator to eat later. I tend to keep the beans in the refrigerator and use them in different ways. If you find you made too many beans they can be frozen (in their cooking liquid) until you need them.

I also made a batch of quinoa to add to meals. This is great to add to the soup, for more calories and protein, which I did for Dan. You can also turn it into a cold salad with diced veggies. If you are really tired just toss the quinoa with a little salsa and raw sunflower seeds.

The remainder of my day was spent eating “fast food”, like trail mix, peanut butter stuffed dates, or salad with salsa. Nothing too exciting, just anything I could make with very little effort as that was all I could manage.

Yesterday I was so exhausted there was no exercise, nothing. That is highly unusual around here. Other than a few crunches I didn’t exercise yesterday. I honestly don’t really feel up to it today either but two days without exercise isn’t going to happen. As tired as I am I know I will feel better after I finish exercising. At least that is what I am telling myself now. I will let you know if that works or not. I need to go exercise and then figure out what I am doing today. I hope everyone is having a good Wednesday. Talk to you again soon.

18 comments:

  1. Every single one of those things looks delicious. Yum.

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  2. Another one of my goals is to make big batches of things to stick in the freezer so that I can pull them out easily - like these lentil bites - yum. Hope you catch up on your sleep. If I don't get to lie down for at least 20 minutes every afternoon, I can barely make it to bedtime.

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  3. Sometimes easy meals are the best, either leftovers or simple combinations of whatever you have on hand. All that looks delicious.

    Thanks for the tips on slow cooking beans. I've been doing that lately, too, to get away from using canned beans. I've found that black beans cook really quickly compared to other kinds of beans, so I've had my share of black bean mush. Still good, though! Your connection to soaking time is new to me but makes perfect sense.

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  4. Jenny,

    Having things in the freezer has saved me many times. I often find it is 5pm and I haven't even thought of dinner which is when I turn to the freezer. Seitan freezes so well, as do beans. I always make doubles of those.

    I am not usually a nap taker but I have been the last few days. I don't function well on less than 5 hours of sleep.

    thanks for the well wishes,
    Ali

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  5. Jessica,

    I found that when I buy beans from the health food store those tend to cook really fast, I guess because the turnover in the store is higher so the beans are fresher. When I get bean mush I either turn it into a pureed soup or dip as though it was intentional. ;-) Beans are just not predictable as to how long they take to cook. I love my pressure cooker but that really has a tendency to make bean mush but at least it does it fast.

    Ali

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  6. I am beyond exhausted after my trip - can you just ship that food to me please???? ;-) It all looks so good, so fresh and healthy.

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  7. Heather,

    You should be exhausted. I am amazed by what you did on your trip. I hope you took today off to get a little rest before returning to work.

    Ali

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  8. Even your "easy meals" look beautiful, as always :-)

    Courtney

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  9. Courtney,

    Aww, thank you. :-) They really were very low involvement meals. I don't think I spent more than 5 minutes from frig or freezer to mouth.

    Ali

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  10. you have expanded my world with your foods and recipes. I love your blog.

    I awarded you a Verstaile Blogger award.

    It is your choice whether to play or not, but I still wanted to include you in the blogs that most inspire me and that I want to share with others.
    happy day!

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  11. Marcia,

    Aww, that is very nice of you to say. Thank you so much for your kind words. It makes me happy that you enjoy my blog.

    Thank you very much for sharing your award with me. :-)

    Ali

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  12. Things would be so much easier if you could just be my cook.

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  13. She Woke Up,

    LOL, that was good. The cats are trying to figure out why I am laughing. You are cute.

    Cooking is just something that takes practice. Healthy cooking is no different. The more you do it the easier it gets. Thankfully I have done it long enough that I can do much of it on autopilot now. That has come in very handy the last few days.

    BTW my hubby agrees with you. He has no idea how to feed himself any longer. I even pack his lunch for him and tell him what sauce or topping goes on what dish as he is leaving.

    thanks for the laugh,
    Ali

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  14. I love your simple meals and collard wraps! I am so inspired with the wraps. I can't wait to try it when I get to Omaha!

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  15. Carrisa,

    Thanks, I appreciate that. I really like the collard wraps too. Dan is not as enamored with them but I really enjoy them.

    Ali

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  16. I hear ya on the salad thing...John's not a big salad eater, so I usually make a big bowl of salad for us to share but end up eating it all myself...I could easily eat salad as the main course most nights...that's what I usually did before I got married. John's a hot meal kind of guy though.

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  17. Rose,

    Dan used to be exactly the same way but now he seems to enjoy salad. I think it just took a while for all our prior nutrition conversations to sink in. Men can be very stubborn. ;-)

    Ali

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