Eating to Live!

There are other ways to get protein

Although my husband is not a fan (big surprise), I like to mix it up a bit instead of having meat with every meal. I do try to incorporate most of the food groups with each meal (breakfast is the exception as I don’t often have vegetables for breakfast), having some sort of protein along with a small amount of fat will keep me going until the meal comes along. Keeping busy with work and life in general, sometimes means those meals are further apart than they should be.

Some people can eat small meals every couple hours, but that isn’t possible for others, including myself, who often has to go five and six hours between lunch and dinner when an afternoon snack just isn’t possible. But I find that eating a bit of protein as well as a small amount of fat with my lunch or snack, if I get one, will keep me from feeling as though I’m starved by the time dinner rolls around.

Sunday was a slower day; however, since the deep snow outside kept me inside all day. Instead I decided to try out some new recipes. I knew my husband would have leftover pork and sauerkraut for his dinner when he got home from work. It is his favorite comfort food. But since we had it for dinner Saturday, I wasn’t in the mood for a repeat. Instead I browsed the Internet for ideas and found a video cooking demonstration on preparing tofu “chicken nuggets.” They looked pretty interesting, as well as easy, so I duplicated the procedure somewhat in my own kitchen using a block of firm tofu that I had on hand.

Tofu is nothing more than beans. Soybeans actually, that has had the juice squeezed out and then used to make this sort of bean cheese, similar to making real cheese from real milk. I find it practically flavorless, but with the ability to take up the flavors of accompanying sauces, herbs and whatever else is in the recipe. Tofu is a good way to get a lot of protein in your diet without resorting to yet another serving of beef, pork or chicken. I like beef, pork and chicken, but sometimes I want something different. Tofu, while low in calories, is high in unsaturated fat with no cholesterol. Four ounces has about 80 calories, 40 of which are fat.

Once I dried the block of tofu by pressing it between layers of paper towels (I set my tea kettle on it as a weight), I sliced the block into quarter-inch squares, breaded them with one egg white and Italian seasoned bread crumbs and fried them in canola oil. After frying, I drained them on paper towels. I used the entire one pound block of tofu, but split the servings into about three ounces each. I kept out one serving for my dinner and froze the rest for another time.

In addition to the tofu, I also found a recipe for whole wheat bread that looked pretty interesting. The recipe makes six loaves or you can also use some of the dough to make rolls. Instead of baking all of the dough, after the first rising I made one loaf and six rolls and froze the rest in individual loafs for a future second rising and baking. I plan to have one of the rolls for my lunch Monday, which you will see later. I love baking my own bread and it makes the house smell so nice.

Since I was changing things around a bit on Sunday, instead of my usual oatmeal breakfast, I opted for an egg white omelette with cheese and salsa. I usually have mushrooms as well, but was all out. I also had two thin slices of dense, chewy Italian garlic bread I found in the store last week.

I still wasn’t hungry by lunch, but wanted to get it out of the way so I could start baking and cooking. To make it quick, I defrosted a whole wheat mini-bagel and made tuna salad with a two ounce can of white tuna in water, minced red onion and low-fat mayonnaise. I only used half the tuna salad on the bagel and had an orange, since I didn’t have any fruit with my breakfast.

By mid-afternoon, I realized I was hungry again. My lunch didn’t hold me over and it may have been because I didn’t have a glass of milk, which usually fills me up. I took a quick break and had another thin slice of the Italian bread with peanut butter and jelly and a glass of milk. I also had a banana (not shown). That did the trick and I was fine until dinner.

By dinner, I was ready for my tofu chicken nuggets. I served them with baked sweet potato “fries” and steamed green beans, as well as low-fat Ranch dressing as a dipping sauce for both the potatoes and the tofu. This meal was very filling and I didn’t clean my plate.