Supper

I was thinking about our eating habits a bit and thought I'd share:

For quite a while now we have instituted a kind of eating schedule that could probably be best described from the book "Food Rules." To paraphrase, we eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince, and dinner like a pauper. What does that mean?

Well, breakfast is the biggest most caloric meal of the day, here we try and have a large/filling meal to give us energy for the day and cue our bodies that 'no really, it's time to get going!' I try to incorporate a protein like eggs and the various incarnation of them (including my favorites like puffy apple pancakes etc that take a bunch of eggs), we have a meat occasionally (like twice a month... yah, we're not really meat eaters around here), load up on grains, fruit etc.

Lunch for us is what most people would refer to as dinner. We figured last year sometime that it didn't make sense to have a big meal before bed, so lunch and dinner got swapped. Now, I'm spoiled. My husband comes home everyday around noon (usually, and if he's not traipsing around the world somewhere), so it's easy to keep everyone fed like this. However, if he didn't have such a schedule and wasn't opposed to left overs, I would just work a day behind. For example, whatever the family eats for lunch Monday goes with dad Tuesday etc., so he also gets his biggest meal midday even if he has to take food to work. Here is where I'll pull out the pasta dishes, if I had a meat something planned, baked sweet potatoes with all there lovely toppings like black beans, corn, tomatoes, avocado, laughing cow cheese, salsa, etc. Something to fuel the rest of the day and the husband who works out most days after work for about an hour and a half to two hours before he gets home.

Now, onto the real reason for this post, our dinner meal is more accurately referred to as supper. It's a lighter meal, just some extra fuel, not to much or meant to fill the belly, just to get through the night and not have the body working on something heavy as your trying to lay down to sleep. I understand the body's need to refuel especially after a long/hard workout (although just a spoon full of peanut butter and 8oz of fat-free organic milk does it for me, but I'm crazy like that), but for athletes and normal people alike.... calorie loading after 5 or 6 doesn't really help. So, I'll give you some things that we enjoy here and then I'll link it up and find some pictures to make this post more appealing, just needed to get something out there! Trying to create the perfect finished post in one feel swoop often leads to lack of sleep or ignoring of things that need to be done, so I'm going to try the two step approach.

Anyway! Starting from today and working backward as best as I can remember:

Cowboy Caviar from this recipe here, and corn bread. The caviar I make with apple cider vinegar instead of red wine. Tragically I looked up red wine vinegar and apparently the way that it's made doesn't end up getting rid of all alcoholic presence. I'm sure there's only just a faint trace left, but regardless, we don't believe in using alcohol inside of our bodies, so I've had to tweak that part of the recipe. I read that apple cider vinegar could be used as a substitute, and I think there were others on the list... you could Google it. Anyway, the change gives it a little more of a sweet taste I would say? Dunno, I totally like the red wine better, but I'm being good! And it's still tasty :-D The corn bread I'll type out the recipe for. I use what's on my corn meal container (have for years! Should probably write it down in case they ever stop printing it!), but I add wheat flour and don't use the optional salt.

Naan and hummus with smoothies. The hummus recipe here is a good base and has no tahini... I can't find tahini here so these types of recipe work best for me and they're all pretty much the same. Even my parents like this one. Confession though, this meal is one we entirely purchase at the commissary. I definitely need to learn how to make Naan, it's fabulous! That may have to way until post-baby though. For now we're addicted to the roasted red pepper hummus that our commissary offers (and no, not all hummus is created equal... our store was out so we picked up some at Walmart and it wasn't my favorite. The artichoke and spinach wasn't too bad though). Anyway! Find a recipe or brand you like! It's worth it :-). And hummus is highly supported by the Biggest Loser... lots of the contestants end up using it instead of mayo etc. Good stuff!

Zucchini muffins and smoothies

Bruchetta on homemade bread (or artisan bread from the store if we've been out), and we broil a bit of mozzarella on the bread before serving. Seriously, 2 or 3 pieces and we're full, and they aren't big slices at all! The recipe that I link to here is what I started using about 2 years ago when I first started making this. Now we just improvise :-). I've been asked a lot for this recipe though when I take it to squadron functions, so it's worth starting with. I don't use plum tomatoes, we usually use 4-6 yummy on the vine tomatoes. And I'm almost entirely sure that may maiden voyage with this one included just a pack of those pretty tomatoes that start with a 'c'. Yah, I know, I'm helpful, sorry!

and from there I can't remember specifics. (Hey, I'm happy if I remember to get out of bed most mornings!)

Other things we often have are sliced apples with peanut butter and a glass of milk. Cut veggies with hummus or a side of string cheese. Any variety of muffin with smoothies (I buy frozen fruit and add that with organic yogurt, wheat germ, banana's if we have them, and maybe a little pineapple juice and pineapple from a can lurking in the food storage). Cooked squash (butternut, acorn) etc. is nice. You could use a recipe from Pioneer Woman on that here. Pretty sure this way defeats the purpose of trying to keep from overeating at night, but you could tweak it? Sometimes we'll have an egg over a little rice with laughing cow cheese. During the colder months we'll have a light soup. Oh, and sandwiches are fair game for supper (basically anything you'd have for lunch). And our big "splurge" day of Sunday we end up eating kind of between both meals and we make curry.... which is essentially veggies over rice.

So, now to linking these up and if I remember more I'll let you know! Any favorite light meal/supper ideas you'd like to share?