I always thought that I loved cake and doughnuts for the taste, so I was beyond thrilled to discover a lowcarb bakery with baked goods that tasted every bit as good as the real thing. Imagine my surprise when, after eating the doughnuts only once, I had no desire to have them again. That's when I realized that it's the high I get from the flour and sugar that I love. I struggle with it constantly. There are many times - especially if I'm under some kind of stress - that I really just want to bite into a cupcake and feel that "ahhhhh" feeling.

Ok, I take note of the plight of people who take a long time to prepare a meal and thought maybe we could give them pointers to making quick, healthy meals.

- Cook big batches and freeze left-overs, then you don't have to cook so often.

- Use dried or powdered onions instead of fresh. I have eyes that are VERY sensitive to onions and I'm in literal pain when I cut onions. (I have swim goggles in my kitchen drawer so I can chop them without pain!) So I try not to use them fresh, or I'll substitute scallions when I can.

- Buy a jar of diced garlic and keep it in the fridge.

- Use dried mushrooms instead of fresh, then you always have them on hand.

- Use frozen, unsweetened berries.

- Buy a bundle of herbs, stick it in the food processor and grind up very fine. Put them in a tupperware container and store in the freezer. Retains much more flavor than dried ones.

- Buy organic baby lettuces, they're prewashed and ready to go.

- When you buy veggies, chop them up right away so they're ready to go. I do this quite often with green onions or sweet peppers or broccoli.

- Buy bagged frozen veggies to save cleaning, chopping time.

Those are some very good tips Nancy!! I will be using a few of them and will think of you each time I buy dried mushrooms.....or do that herb trick...good ones!! Thanks!!

Or...if you're a danger to yourself with a sharp knife, you can get many veggies pre-chopped at the local grocery salad bar. It will cost more per pound, but you can buy as much or as little as your want and it does save time.



You know...it wasn't that long ago that people who did this daily were called 'moms'.
It used to be that a 'foodie' was someone who was adventurous with cooking and tried unusual techniques and or/foods. Now it just means someone with basic cooking skills. Sad.
It does take time to plan, shop for ingredients and cook decent meals that don't come out of a box with a giant white glove on the front of them. Like I said, we tend to make time for the stuff that's important to us.

Those were some great tips Nancy!

Here's a decent remedy for your onion woes:

http://busycooks.about.com/od/produ...niprocessor.htm

I don't have the model described in the article, but I do have a little mini-chopper/mini food processor thing - bought expressly for the purpose of chopping up hot peppers for a shrimp scampi recipe I found on these forums. Now I use it for chopping onions too. In fact, my husband was using it the other day to make his own dill pickle relish of all things....

I can't remember the brand of mini chopper/processor I have off-hand, but I got it at Kohl's for less than $20 and use it almost daily. The small container is very easy to clean in the dishwasher. Not like dealing with the old-style monster sized 'food processors' from back in the 80's.

For green onions - I'll rinse and pat dry, and then cut a bunch/bundle of them using scissors directly into a small tupperware-type container - much easier than trying to chop with the knife and cutting board.

All of Nancy's tips were the secret to my success. I always have healthy meals & snacks on hand and cooking in bulk saves money as well as time. I look at the supermarket flyers and choose protein & veggies that are on sale that week too.

Another thing I do is buy large roasts - easy to prepare & cook and I freeze the leftovers in single servings (small regular zipper bags inside a bigger freezer bag; I have 4 different types of meat/poultry in my freezer at the moment, enough for ~40 meals). That way I can grab one baggie & defrost to add to a salad or frozen veggies to make a meal - just add butter or full-fat salad dressing. My favourite reheating method is to steam the frozen meat and frozen veggies - everything stays moist and flavourful.

And I only shop one day a week. In my high-carb days I was making daily trips to feed my cravings du jour. So in terms of gas & what my time is worth, I actually spend less on low carb than I did when on high-carb diets or ad lib binges. I'm also off all medications for asthma & stuffed up head, headaches & joint pain, saving ~$250/yr.