I have always loved to cook, but this year, when school started and I went back to work I have been coming home overwhelmingly exhausted and way to tired to feed myself. I started slowly gaining my weight back and if that weren't enough, I learn I have high cholesterol. (they put me on a pill... I still can't get over this as the main stay in my diet for a year has been fish and veggies but whatever I'm off topic)
So this month when I went to the grocery store I went armed with a long detailed list of recipes and I have rediscovered my crock pot. On days when I'm feeling good I have put together meals and stashed them in my freezer. When I know i'm going to have a stressful day or it's Monday I pop one in the ol' crock and when i come home there is a healthy mean ready for me to put on a plate. If I feel like it I will then take the left overs and put them in individual containers and stash them in the ice box. If I don't I will lift the whole crock out of the warmer and put it in the fridge. I'm eating better and not skipping meals. I can't even imagine how great this would be for folks who don't live alone the way I do.
I've also made me some chemical free breakfast/energy bars that are making mornings run smoother and keeping me from being hungry before lunch, but that's another day.
Any body else have trouble getting dinner down their gullet on work days or bad days... and have a brilliant discovery to making that happen that doesn't involve pizza or a live in cook.
I agree, using the crock pot certainly makes preparing meals easier!
I used to really enjoy cooking, now it's just one more thing that needs to be done, that I don't feel like doing. I do think that sooner or later, we all feel that way about mundane chores, ill or well!
I love crockpot dinners too, you just reminded me to dust mine off and use it, especially now that it is getting colder outside. Could you please share your energy bar recipe? Thank you
It was two cups of dates (but the next batch I'm going to try something else because they were almost too sweet and dates are expensive)
two cups of Raw Cashews,
1/2 cup Raw Almonds
3/4 cup of Cocoa Powder (I used dark chocolate powder to make them a little more heart healthy)
a pinch of sea salt
1/2 c unsweetened shredded coconut (I threw in a hand full or so of wheat germ, you could add chia seeds or flax seeds or something.. you wouldn't even notice them)
2 Tbsp Vanilla
2-3 Tbsp cold water
chop the dates and put the dates nuts cocoa powder and sea salt in the food processor. Pulse and process all the ingredients together until the texture is course, then add the shredded coconut, and pulse a little more. Put it in a lined loaf pan, press it in good, put it in the chill box for at least an hour. Then cut em' up. I keep mine in the frezzer and pull one out the night before then eat it up for breakfast and I don't get hungry before lunch.