Throwing “Healthy” Together

Posted on August 28th, 2008.

Now that my kids are back to school, and life in the afternoons is absolutely HECTIC, I know that in order to serve healthy dinners when we get home from gymnastics, dancing, piano, etc. I need to plan and prepare something during the day when things are a lot more calm. 

Each weekday we are out and about, running here and there until 6:30 pm. If dinner is not ready and waiting for us by the time we get home, the hungry monster comes out in all of us and we raid the fridge or pantry for whatever food we can quickly stick in our mouth. If that happens, you can almost guarantee that what we’re eating isn’t the best and most healthy choice for us.

 

Occasionally however, we don’t have a lot of ingredients on hand because I put off going to the grocery store for a bit too long. (NOT one of my favorite things to do!) Yesterday, I was faced with this dilemma and every recipe I considered making, called for things I didn’t have. I finally decided to be brave and do something my mother would do… THROW SOMETHING TOGETHER! 

 

If you know me at all, you know this is not a talent of mine. I’m not scared to throw things together for smoothies or snacks, but it’s a completely different story when I have to feed my whole family and get their approval. However, last night I threw something together – with a bit of apprehension – and it turned out to be a huge hit! In fact, if I do say so myself, it was down right DIVINE! 

 

This is what I did:

I had a bag of frozen chicken tenderloins and threw a bunch in a crockpot. 

I had a big bottle of salsa and poured it in, completely covering the chicken.

I found a can of kidney beans and since I try to sneak beans into dishes wherever I can, (because of their high fiber and high protein content), I threw a can of those in. 

I saw a can of olives and figured I might as well add those in, since olives are in the “good fat” category. 

After looking at my creation in the crockpot, and seeing that it was a bit thick, I added just a bit of water to make it a little more “soupy”. 

Finally, I said a little prayer that in six hours, this concoction would actually taste good and fill us up with a healthy dinner. 

 

When we got home from gymnastics, the house smelled wonderful! I peeked in the crockpot, and dinner looked wonderful too! (I almost couldn’t believe it!) I cut up the chicken tenderloins into bite sized pieces and let it simmer a bit longer while I made quesadillas, using whole wheat tortillas. 

 

I dished the soup into bowls, sprinkled a bit of Mexican cheese on top and hoped for the best. My son dipped his quesadilla into the soup, took a big bite and what I heard next was music to my ears! MMMMMMMMMMM…… THAT is SO good mom!! 

 

I felt like I had conquered something big! I actually made a healthy meal – that my family liked – by throwing together different ingredients I had on hand! What a miracle!

 

The moral of the story is this: Plan and prepare your meals as best as you can. This will ensure healthy eating habits and will also help you avoid impulse eating. If however, you are short on ingredients, don’t be a chicken, (like I normally am), and be brave! THROW healthy ingredients together and see what you can come up with! 

 

You’ll feel happy that you made the effort – and you just might create something fabulous!

 

 

P.S. I would have taken a picture of my creation for this blog post… but it didn’t even dawn on me to write about it, until I was busy licking my bowl clean! LOL! 

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