*BLAH*
 

That's how it is in our house with eating right now. I just don't care. I'm too tired to prepare stuff for everyone. Ds1 eats constantly and is totally omni. Dd is in picky four year old mode; things she loved last year, she now won't touch, and her menu is shrinking. Dh *wants* to be vegan, but he gets into "food moods" so it makes cooking difficult. For example, he says, "I :heart:heart:heart your refried beans. I could eat them every day." So I make a huge Crockpot of beans, and he has one meal, and the bowl sits in the fridge and now I'm forced to eat them all. (Fortunately my toddler will eat anything, but beans just wreak havoc on his belly, even though I soak and sprout them before cooking.) Or, he'll eat take-out pizza for a week.

At this point, I'm mostly just grabbing things I don't need to cook and shoving them in my mouth. It's disheartening. I just hate eating at this point. It's too much of a chore. :sigh

So, starting tomorrow, I need to get back into making some fabulous meals for me. I have a ton pinned on Pinterest. I just need the energy and motivation.

Someone be motivated with me?

Re: *BLAH*
 

So, I'm making this for lunch/dinner today: http://www.cookingclassy.com/2014/02...n-gluten-free/

Re: *BLAH*
 

Oh wait. We're supposed to cook for our families? Every day?!

Re: *BLAH*
 

I've been really hating cooking lately. I'm inspiration-less and we have all the varying dietary annoyances like you ...dh is Omni/low-carb, dd1 is gf, dd2 dislikes most things that dd1 likes, and then I need to make sure I have baby appropriate stuff. plus I prefer for everything to be veg-heavy and spicy, so feeding baby off my plate doesn't work so well. anyway...

I love love love that minestrone. It is just like one that I made up myself. Fire roasted tomatoes make it extra heavenly :melting

Re: *BLAH*
 

Now that I am home for lunch more I can play around too!! Today's menu is butternut squash quinoa. :yum

What are you guys cooking?

Re: *BLAH*
 

(((Christa))) How has it been going? Have you tried any more new recipes?

Today for lunch I made brown rice with veggies and beans on top (yellow squash, onions, celery, spinach, carrots, green pepper, and white beans). :) My sons won't eat cooked veggies, and they like to eat their veggies separately from the rice, so I gave them brown rice and each ate half of a green pepper. They tend to like things very plain!

Earlier I had a smoothie made out of a mix of rice milk and coconut milk, bananas, peanut butter, and carob powder. It was so yummy.

Re: *BLAH*
 

I was out of town when you posted this, but now that I'm back, I will be motivated with you. How can I support you?

Fair warning, though . . . I replaced my old school VitaMix last week, so in my typical style, I will probably overdo it for awhile. :shifty

Re: *BLAH*
 

Have an amazing recipe?

Re: *BLAH*
 

Oh, I wish so much I had a VitaMix! I love my Oster beehive blender, and I think it's lasted the longest of any blender I've had. But someday my dream is to get a VitaMix or other strong blender like that.

I would enjoy, too, seeing any recipes you want to share, mommylove! :)

Re: *BLAH*
 

We have food stuff too. My husband is gone a week at a time. He works crazy hard for 7 days straight and he eats things he can microwave. So when he gets back he wants roasts and stuff. I hate cooking for him currently. Our grocery bill is nuts. I don't feel like I am loving anyone in the kitchen at all. My husband doesn't like leftovers either. He also likes a big breakfast. I hate breakfast. I usually drink a smoothie or coffee and a granola bar. I have to eat for my blood sugar but I hate eating. He likes eggs and all that stuff.

I know part of my problem is I am having some health issues. I don't know if it is my thyroid or what. But, a lot of foods make me feel I'll and I can't really taste or smell :(

Re: *BLAH*
 

Tonight's dinner was awesome -- I couldn't wait to come here & tell y'all. :giggle

I veganized a potato soup recipe from the cookbook that came with the VitaMix.

Get this . . . and I had to see it to believe it, but . . . if you blend long enough, the food will heat up. As in hot. Soup hot.

I cooked potatoes in the crockpot the other night, so I saved a couple for this moment. I tossed them in whole & cold. Then I added 1/2 can of Great Northern beans, a chunk of onion (1/4 cup eyeballed), some dried rosemary, some bouillon & a couple cups of water.

I let it blend for 6 minutes & realized I meant to add nutritional yeast. Then I decided it needed more salt, so I added a bit & blended for another 2 minutes. Then I turned the speed way down & added a small handful of spinach & the rest of the beans. I let it chop for probably 20 seconds.

Then I served it. My kids complained it was too hot. :jawdrop

This was so fun.

After I served everyone, because I was a bit excited & obnoxious, I added water & a drop of dishsoap & let it blend to self clean. Dinner done & cleanup very minimal. :tu

Too cool.

---------- Post added at 07:35 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:42 PM ----------

Next up, I want to veganize the Tortilla Soup recipe that came with the book.

The base is: broth, tomato, carrot, celery, onion, garlic, yellow squash, red bell pepper, cabbage, mushroom & some Mexican seasonings. After it's hot, add optional items & chop coarsely. I would probably add: black beans, corn, possibly maybe previously frozen tofu, & garnish with chopped avocado, possibly diced tomato, cilantro, olives & crushed tortilla chips.

Even though I've had an old school VitaMix for many years, I am having so much fun with this new one. It helped that I learned a few tricks from the helpful Costco guy. My kids ask for smoothies every day. And guess who's been sneaking in vegetables?

+++++

And to give a recipe that's not VitaMix, last night's dinner was an old one I had forgotten about.

I wanted to make Vegetable Polenta but I didn't have zucchini. So instead, I rummaged through the cabinets & found cornmeal, olives & vegetarian chili.

So I made polenta with some chili powder for seasoning, spread it in a baking dish, then topped with chili, cheese & olives. Then I baked it at 350 for 20 mins. Kids loved it. :tu In hindsight, I should've used my cast iron so it would be 1-pot, but :shrug3 next time.

Re: *BLAH*
 

I have to share what I ate today.

DH is doing a TCM detox & somehow I came along for the ride. :giggle I've done many a detox, but never one where I can eat cooked food. I loved my cooked food choices today. :tu

First off, I have to tell you about walnut oil. Have you ever heard of it? I hadn't. I debated whether I should buy it or skip it. I'm glad I bought it. :yes I have a bit of an aversion to oils, so I'm trying to get past that. This stuff is yummy!

So today's lunch was kale, mushrooms & tofu chunks cooked in a little bit of water topped by a bit of S&P & a tsp or two of walnut oil. Since I was lazy & bought the bagged, chopped kale, it was very fast to prepare.

For dinner, I 'baked' sweet potatoes in the slow cooker, which I topped with kale, S&P & walnut oil. So fast, but it felt light & nutrient dense.