Honey, I'm Home! What's For Dinner?...

As I’m getting back in the swing of things this week, it occurred to me that I never really went into any detail on how to incorporate “dinner” into your new healthy lifestyle.  By far the most hectic meal of the day, for most Americans it is also the most important (sorry Breakfast).  Dinner provides a chance to, hopefully, sit down with your family and have a conversation—and it is usually the biggest meal, with the most ingredients and dishes, as a result.

So, how do you go about counting calories in all those various items or the “main dish” that usually incorporates a number of ingredients?  Well, it’s just simple math, but it takes some calculations.  In the beginning, I did the calculations—adding up the amount of calories for each ingredient per amount in a dish then dividing by the number of servings that dish would provide.  But, in reality, who has time to do this when it’s already six o’clock and dinner just needs to be on the table, like now?

For this reason, I came up with something I call “calorie bulking.”  Basically, I make sure to eat fewer calories earlier in the day, for breakfast and lunch, leaving the majority of my caloric intake for dinner.  As a result, I don’t have to focus so much on counting all those calories while I’m making dinner, but can instead focus on smart portion sizes and healthy choices.  This won’t work for everyone—if you’re really active throughout the day, you’re going to have to eat bigger meals earlier in the day or more healthy snacks.  I mostly sit at a desk or in front of a computer, or stand in front of classroom for the majority of the afternoon, so I don’t really need to eat as many calories earlier in the day (unless I’ve been running, of course).  If you’re aiming to consume around 1500 calories a day—the recommended amount for most women to lose or maintain their current weight—than I generally aim to leave about 800-900 of those calories for dinner, which should be able to provide an ample healthy meal.

Another way to go about calculating dinner into your healthy equation is to do the calorie counting once on a favorite meal—then make sure to repeat its preparation the same way every time.  On LoseIt.com, you can add in “custom foods.”  Here, I add in things like “homemade spaghetti” or “turkey meatloaf” instead of adding up every single ingredient every time I make/eat one of these items.  If you’re following the standby of “eating the same things,” then you should be able to use this to your advantage as yet another weapon in your arsenal of healthy living.

What about prepackaged or prepared foods?  Honestly? Scrap ‘em.  Outside of

canned foods—like beans or plain tomato sauce—most packaged foods are not worth consuming if it’s something you can easily make at home.  Your home version will be tastier and healthier in the long run.  I can’t remember the last time I ate frozen food, outside of the occasional sugar-free popsicle.  Even those “healthy” foods—like Lean Cuisine, Weight Watchers, etc.—are often a sketchy choice.  First off, many of them actually contain more calories than they claim due to packaging variances in the factory.  Secondarily, they are often meager portions, and if you’re calorie bulking for dinner, it’s a better option to make something healthy, yourself, for your lunch—of which you’ll most likely be able to consume more for less calories.  Finally, those so-called healthy meals often fall along the same line as fast food “healthy options”—packed with preservatives and sodium well beyond what any person needs in their diet, and toting more calories than the same meal prepared at home!
 
As a scholar of the 1940s and 1950s, here is where I say we could take a lesson from our post-war counterparts.  Can, freeze, and preserve your own food.  There was a time in our country when the change in seasons also meant time to can vegetables and fruit for winter, to make jams and jellies, or cook up tomato sauce by the gallons and jar for year-long consumption.  If I’m leaning a bit toward Doomsday Prepper here, I don’t mean to.   Honestly, things you prepare yourself, taste better—and somehow the Communists easily outranked childhood obesity as a concern back in the ‘50s, so there must be some truth to home production’s health qualities.  Figure out if there is a way you can make your favorite sauce/filling/condiment and preserve it for a longer shelf life—last year we made spaghetti sauce for the first time, and I’m just getting down to the last jars—soooo delicious, and so much better for you than the stuff in the store!  For years, I’ve made jams and jellies too.  Pick fruit (or buy) at the peak of local production in your area (not sure what’s in season? Hit up a local farmer’s market!)—the fruit will taste the best then—and make up a few batches of jam.  You can make low sugar varieties or no sugar varieties too, and it’s not nearly as complicated as you think.  Give some of it away for the holidays and you’ll be sure to impress your friends too.  Homemakery is, after all, a lost art.

Ellison Spaghetti Sauce

Ingredients:

• 3/4 C chopped onion
• 5 cloves garlic, minced
• Olive oil (just enough to saute onions ~ 1T)
• 2 28 oz cans whole peeled tomatoes or equivalent fresh, peeled, seeds removed
• 2t salt
• 1t white sugar
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 6oz can tomato paste
• 3/4t dried basil
• 1/2t ground black pepper

Directions:  In a large saucepan over medium heat, sauté onion in oil.  Add garlic and sauté until all is translucent.  Stir in tomatoes, salt, sugar, and bay leaf.  Cover.  Reduce heat to low, and simmer 90 minutes.  Blend with stick blender at this point if you want it without chunks.  Stir in tomato paste, basil, ½ t pepper and simmer 30 minutes more.  May be used immediately or hot water bath canned.

For entire recipe = 719 calories (batch sizes vary depending on water in tomatoes).