Tuesday, February 20, 2007

Menu Plans, Lent, and low-carb...

As a few of my faithful readers (Hi dad!) will notice, I did not post my "menu plan Monday" post yesterday. The reason being that I am really struggling this week, what with the Ash Wednesday fast and abstinence and the start of Lenten Fridays. Dh and I have majorally went off our diet the last few days - in our infinite wisdom, we had a "Fat Friday", then a "Fat Saturday", yesterday was a "Fat Monday" and gosh, today really *is* "Fat Tuesday" after all! The good news is, I suppose, that all this higher-carb food has made us both feel just awful, and we're actually really ready to get back to our low-carbing ways. Our weight loss has stalled, but we haven't gained more than a pound or two back, so we should get right back on track tomorrow. But, as I have contemplated what's for dinner this week, I've run into a couple questions.

1) How do we fulfill our abstinence requirements (no meat other than fish) without breaking our budget while still following our low-carb plan for our health? I mean - fish is, in general, expensive! Sure, we can do salmon patties a couple weeks - but not *every* Friday for the next 6 weeks! I've got a low-carb tuna casserole that's pretty good - but I've still got two or three weeks of unknowns. And we're not even mentioning breakfast and lunch. Eggs for one meal - but what about the other? Hmmm....

2) If I splurge and fix a really yummy shrimp scampi, for instance - is that really a penitential meal? Fridays of Lent (all year, in fact) are days of penence - so simple meals are called for. That's fairly easy with bean soups, pasta, rice, etc - but low carb, plain, simple meatless-meals? Hmmm....

3) And, of course, my ever-present conundrum - whatever I fix has to be something the kids will eat, and is nutritious for them (the kids definitely don't need to go as strictly low-carb as my dh and I do - low*er* carb is good for people of all ages, but strict low-carb the way dh and I need to lose weight is *not* good for growing children, IMO. Plus - oh, the wails of horror if I told them no fruit or bread!! ;-) This is doubly hard with meatless meals - my kids aren't overly fond of fish. I can think of a few things - mac and cheese with our salmon patties for those who don't like them, for instance. But 6 weeks? Again - hmmmm....

I suppose, like most things in life, this is something I need to take one day, or at least one week, at a time. Living in the moment is definitely not my strong suit. Sounds like a good Lenten study to me! :-)

So, belatedly, here is my tentative, belated, "Menu Plan Monday"...

Fat Tuesday: We've got lots of errands to run, so we'll be going out to eat. Probably something really awful for us, too!

Ash Wednesday: Salmon Patties, Mac and Cheese for the kids, salad

Thursday: BBQ chicken, french fries for the kids, coleslaw (didn't get around to this last week)

Friday: Spinach Quiche (crustless), toast for the kids, cauiflower
***Maybe - cuz if I have an egg dish for dinner, what's for breakfast and lunch?

Saturday: Hamburgers, vegies and dip

Sunday: Steak Salad, bread and butter for kids

If you have any ideas, please feel free to share! Hope you all have a great rest of the week.

3 comments:

Maggie said...

How about cottage cheese for breakfast? That's what I had. Low Carb yogurt? Or even go unconventioal. I had creamed spinach the other day.

MamaJen said...

oooh - creamed spinach! Yum! Both dh and I really like cottage cheese, that's a good breakfast idea, too - thanks!

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