I am tired of the SAD (Standard American Diet) I grew up eating and still eat today, as well as eating out so much. I have physical issues that sometimes prevent me from cooking, so I eat out WAAAAYYY too much! So, I wanted a change. My blood pressure has gone up in the past year, I've gained oodles of weight, and I am tired, like ALL the time. So....I need something simple, easy, and DELISH to feed my family. Not to mention, something fucking cheap.
So, how do I get cheap, wholesome, delish food into my family's bellies without spending an arm and a leg or spending 6+ hours in the kitchen?
BOWLS! That's how.
The main staple of a bowl is grain. So choose your grain (like a choose your own adventure!):
- brown rice
- wild rice (mix with other rice)
- white rice
- jasmine rice (or other fancy delicious rice)
- quinoa (buy this at Aldi, sooo much cheaper!)
- farro (so expensive, when I find a cheap one, I will let you know!)
- wheat berries
- noodles
- couscous
- orzo
- barley
- oats (for breakfast bowls)
Then you pick your protein:
- any kind of bean you want (either salt-free canned varieties or dried and soaked yourself from the night before)
- lentils (dried and soaked overnight)
- chicken
- pork
- beef
- fish
- eggs
- soy
- vegetarian protein (like seitan--easy to make yourself or bought)
Then you pick your veggies (and fruits):
- (any veggie you want, just make sure there's a lot! getting frozen bags of mixed veggies works well for this!)
- (any fruit you want for your oatmeal bowls when you have them!)
Now, pick your sauce and toppings.
Then, I highly suggest you getting a new bowl for each family member, all matching (or not!) to eat their bowls in. Something new, pretty, and fun that will tell your brain "This is special! This is what change looks like!" Get yourself excited to try something new and eat some delicious food! The goal of these bowls are to lower your salt intake, expand your veggie and grain tastes, and to get more fresh foods into your diet. AND to make you excited to cook again (if you're out practice like I have been for the past year!).
The possibilities are ENDLESS! You can eat a bowl every day for 30 days, and never have the same bowl twice! You may have similar ones, but never the same :) I will be putting up my recipes (along with pictures) as I go. I've already had 2 nights, so those two won't have pictures, but the rest will :)
Here are some tips and tricks:
- Don't precook your grains for the whole week, as some people will tell you to do. They rot. You can do enough for leftovers for the next day, or you can freeze them after you cook them. But keeping them in the fridge will rot them if you forget about them. So don't waste your food!
- Don't precut your veggies for the week either. Again: they will rot. Instead, keep them intact, in the crisper part of your fridge until ready to use. If you do precut them, freeze them.
- Put your avocados in the fridge! I just recently figured out I can do this! AND they last for a freaking week! It's amazing and I never knew I could do that LOL My hubby did it on accident and now, I'll never store them on my counter again!
- Plan your bowls for the week. Get a white board from the resale shop and write down all the possible ones you can make. You can pick and choose at will.
- Buy your meat and grain in bulk whenever you can. Makes life so much easier! Same goes for frozen veggies.
- Consider making a veggie garden in the spring. I made one (my 15 year old son built a frame out of 1x2's and we filled it with dirt and put fencing around it) this year and now I have oodles of fresh veggies I don't have to pay for!
- Shop around!! I have a dollar store in my town that has frozen veggies and I can get them (sometimes name brand ones!) for a buck! That's great deal, that's always the price, compared to "sometimes" sale prices at the grocery store.
- Buy steamable rice for when you don't feel like making rice. Same goes for veggies. Then you only have to cook the meat! Great for those nights you feel like shit or are uber busy!
- Buy a rice cooker (so much easier than worrying about it scorching on your stovetop!)
- Get a spiral veggie cutter. Makes great noodly veggies! I love mixing noodled zucchini with real spaghetti! Soooo good!
- Make sure all dishes are clean before dinner the next day so you can just cook and not have to worry about dishes too! (or, do what I do, and wash while you cook!)
- Make your dishes as pretty as you can, with as many colors as you can! Beautiful food makes you happier to eat it (and it leaves you with a satisfying feeling after cooking!).
- Bowls are so simple, kids can make them!! Just do the steamables with some frozen precooked meat, and you have a microwave meal anyone can make :)
- There are no portion sizes! Eat as much as you want!
- While there are no portion sizes, you need to be careful with the sauces that go on top. Some will be swimming in salt (like, if you make a sushi bowl, you may want to top with some soy sauce--that shit is LOADED with salt!!) or sugar. So only use as much as you actually need in order to taste it, without drenching it and making it gross. Consider using other items, like spices to help the flavor the sauce go further, without having to add more sauce.
- Have your bowls match the season. Nobody wants a heavy chili in the hot, sweltering summer. So plan according to your season what is available and ready (like roasted squash in the fall).
- Make dinner special again. Create a homey atmosphere to enjoy your delicious bowls. Check out the Danish art of hygge (hoo-gah) which is all about the fine art of being cozy.
- If you're eating bowls for breakfast, lunch and dinner? Then have each person actually wash out their bowl after they're done eating and put it in a drying rack for later. Much easier than washing dried on food.
- Create a bowl recipe book for yourself. Print out recipes, copy from cookbooks, etc. and place all in a divided binder so you can find them easily later.
Bowls are easy, fun, and oh so freaking delish! And they are a great way to amp up your health, your eating style, and create a fun way to look at (and eat) food again!!
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