Add to favorites

Up until now I have been hunkering down. For me that means I’m practicing social distancing. I limit my trips to the grocery store and the gas station. I wash my hands like a mad woman.

Now I am in the final stages of locking down. Hunkering down is not easy. Locking down is going to be HARD. But we have to do it.

In my case I am planning for a 3 week stretch of working in isolation; keeping my inner circle to just a few people I work with and my husband of course.

I am taking one more trip to the grocery store to stock up on provisions. Then I am going to spend a chunk of my days channeling my inner Julia Child. I plan to make large batches of a few dishes and plan to rotate them. I am making things that will taste wonderful right from the freezer. Thaw and heat.

I am going to share some of those recipes with you today…in case you want to join me in stocking up on good food that will make the next few weeks more pleasurable than gnawing on beef jerky. I am here to give you inspiration.

I am going to let you know my plans for breakfasts, lunches and dinners.

I will do my best to include both ZReduction meals and ZReboot (maintenance) meal variations.

Breakfast

I will be concentrating on smoothies for my breakfasts. I do that often anyway. I can always switch out to scrambled eggs, a frittata or hard boiled eggs. The good thing is eggs last quite well in the refrigerator.

I want to make sure I get fruit, so my smoothies consist of a protein powder or plain full fat yogurt, Stevia if I feel I need it, a milk (pea milk is my favorite but I also use coconut milk or almond milk – no cow. Cow’s milk spoils. The others are shelf stable and can last.) Whiz that up and I’ll stay full and focused until lunch time. Here’s a smoothie recipe you can try, and an article on the miracle of collagen protein.

For fruit, I rotate strawberry, raspberry, mixed berry, peach slices or mango chunks. You can find them all in the freezer section. You don’t need fresh.

If you want granola, make this one and serve it with a drizzle of pea milk. Pea milk has a wonderful mouth feel.

Let’s skip lunch for a minute and talk dinner. Most of my lunches will be leftovers from a dinner anyway.

Dinner

I want to give you recipes and direction that do not require going to the store and getting fresh veggies every few days. A recipe might call for fresh veggies but I am going to give you hints on how to use frozen or canned items as substitutes. When the craziness we are going through lessens we can get back to enjoying fresh food again. It will taste SO GOOD!

I am going to make a lot of soups and stews. I can divide them into containers that can be removed from the freezer, thawed and heated. That way I don’t have to eat the same thing for days on end. I’ll get to change it up.

I picked this roasted red pepper chili because you can pull the meat out of the freezer and everything else can be stored in the cupboard until you are ready to make it. It uses roasted red pepper strips from a jar. It’s good too. Serve it with Frito’s. If you’re on ZReduction, don’t go crazy with the Frito’s. If you are on ZReboot (maintenance) feel free to add a can of pinto beans. I use Bush’s Chili Hot beans. They have a lovely gravy/sauce.

Meatballs and marinara up next. You can buy the frozen Italian meatballs (cocktail size) and bake them in your oven. Put them in a 9″ x 13″ pan and pour marinara sauce from the jar all over them. I get a spaghetti sauce with no sugar. Rao’s brand is one that I like, but there are more now, too. If you’re no longer dieting, a small piece of naan that you store in the freezer makes a nice garlic bread. You can sprinkle mozzarella or Parmesan on the meatballs, too. Good thing is cheese lasts — and you can freeze it!

Mushroom soup. Make this one early on while your fresh mushrooms are still good. You can use dry thyme and any regular onion. Then freeze it in batches. It’s super quick and also tastes great with a piece of garlic bread made from thawed naan.

My mom’s beef stew recipe is going to give me great comfort. If you are making this later in the lock-down process consider buying frozen veggies up front for the onions, celery etc. Even one of the pepper onion mixtures will work. You can use fresh potatoes (they last) or even canned ones. Add a can of green beans, too if you want.

For lunch you can have leftovers. If you are really on the run and need to eat processed food from a box get low carb. Atkins is one brand but there are more now.

For other fruits pick up oranges, grapefruit, and apples. They all last quite some time and will be special.

Dessert

I wrote a whole article on frozen desserts. My rule of thumb is keep your dessert carbs to 15 grams or less a day. Besides the frozen options many cookies work, too. You just need to do the math and be disciplined. So, here’s the article AND a bonus recipe for “raspberry ice cream” made from frozen raspberries. The cream should last in your fridge for a couple of weeks. My husband eats this several times a week and adds a few chunks of dark chocolate. Use 72% cacao chocolate and limit yourself to one square and you’ll have a BIG YUM.

More soon.

Spend time this weekend like I will be…preparing to lock down. Get out the games, watch movies, surf the net…Do whatever you do that makes you happy but stay indoors.

Hang in.

Cheers,

Raspberry “Ice Cream”

I scream. You scream. We all scream for ice cream – and we are on a diet! BONUS!