by Sam Tackeff | Jun 6, 2016 | Meal Planning
Happy Monday! In good news, I re-signed up for my farm share this summer, so we’ll be eating well all summer long. The photo is a sample from last summer’s haul.
We had an unexpected vet visit this weekend, because the pup was having tummy troubles. He ended up getting fluids, some anti-nausea meds, and plenty of rest, which gave me a good excuse to curl up with him on the couch and work on my weekly meal plan. By the end of the afternoon he was still feeling under the weather, so he got a fancy overnight stay, and we’re hoping that he can come home today. Having a sick fur baby is terrible.
It’s been a while since I’ve formally written out a meal plan – lately it’s been a combo of meal kit boxes, and last minute trips to the store for simple dinners. With my latest training cycle coming to an end, I need to just eat mindfully before my next big race, so I’m planning things out again!
I’m also testing out a blender (from an un-named company), so there will be a few sauces and green smoothies this week in my rotation for side salads and lunches. I’m thinking a spring pesto and maybe a ketchup.
:: The Weekly Meal Plan: Week of June 6th, 2016 ::
This week’s prep: cook chicken breasts and rice for pup’s bland get-better diet, grill chicken thighs and vegetables outside for week long lunches. It’s my start of grilling season, and I’m hoping to spend a lot more time cooking al fresco this summer now that I have access to a larger grill than my mini one.
Monday: chicken steamed buns over spiralized carrot and mint salad. This is one of our leftover meals from last week that I had stocked in my refrigerator. I’ve been having fun with my spiralizer lately – something about the season that makes me want to spiralize ALL THE THINGS!
Tuesday: salmon with creamy barley and zucchini salad. A Blue Apron meal that I think I’ll follow through with from their recipe rather than doctoring too much.
Wednesday: chicken picatta with fusilli pasta + garlic chives. We actually haven’t had pasta in a while. I may swap out my current favorite gluten free brown rice and quinoa pasta from Trader Joe’s for a little bit more protein.
Thursday: spiced lamb and beef tagine with lemon-garlic cauliflower couscous and labneh. This is a Blue Apron meal that I’m doctoring – swapping out cauliflower rice for the couscous.
Friday: out! or more likely takeout until it’s patio season and we can sit somewhere with the pup. Let’s face it, I may be in the mood for Chipotle.
Saturday: Thai marinated pork tenderloin with mango, cashews, and a mango-jicama slaw. A combination of a Cooksmarts meal (I subscribe to the meal planning service), and a salad that I like from Trader Joe’s.
Sunday: shrimp cobb salad with avocadoes, tomato, bacon, corn and eggs. Another Cooksmarts meal.
And now a question for you – what are some of the challenges you have around getting dinner on the table these days? I’m looking to build some new meal planning resources, and I’d love to hear more about what’s frustrating or challenging you.
by Sam Tackeff | Feb 7, 2016 | Meal Planning
I finished two books this weekend.
Saturday afternoon I finished a book I’ve been reading – Stephen Pressfield’s The War of Art. I’ve started (hesitantly) marking up my non-fiction personal development reads, and this one had so many notations. It’s going on my desk in my little self-help reminder zone, so I can pull it down and re-read sections when I’m feeling stuck.
Today, I finished Patti Smith’s M Train. It was exactly what I needed it to be. There’s a few pages in there about an adventure seeking the greatest coffee in the world, and they may have been the best few pages I’ve read in a long time.
After finishing the book, I took the pup on a long overdue walk. In my Secrets of Self Care course last week, we had a module on personal development – and someone mentioned their dog being a large part of their current personal development – which on reflection couldn’t have been more true for myself as well. I’ve learned so much about myself over the past few months of getting to know, love, and train my little puppy. One of my favorite parts of the week is training class – we are working through puppy kindergarten, and then I’d like to work with him on both agility and therapy dog training. It’s a great way to engage your dog, keep them thinking, and work on your own communication skills – you have to clearly communicate with an animal who can’t speak in your language, but when it works, it’s so satisfying!
I then progressed to planning out my weekend chores. The dishes needed a new system, and we need a new dishwasher, so I’ve been working on the backlog. We have yet again, an abundance of cardboard boxes that have piled up, and an IKEA bookshelf that needs to be assembled. (I actually enjoy assembling IKEA, but it’s not clear where this is going to go.) The fridge needed a purge and cleaning.
Then I sat down to meal plan. Here’s what was on my mind this week before heading to Trader Joe’s during the Superb Owl:
:: a breakfast plan for my weekly co-working date
:: a crunchy salad that can be assembled in the fridge and last for several days
:: a tray of roasted vegetables
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:: The Weekly Meal Plan: Week of February 6th, 2016 ::
After I cleaned my fridge, and realized that I had absolutely nothing left in there to eat. When I got to the store, I ended up scrapping a few of my ideas in order to get in more vegetables. I took home a pile of greens, and will be eating them throughout the week on top of my planned meals.
Sunday: mandarin orange chicken thighs with broccoli slaw, and a slice of almond cake. Not quite wings and pizza, but delicious none the less. (See header picture.)
Monday: lamb chops and cruciferous salad with balsamic dressing and thyme honey – I need to remember to defrost some lamb from the freezer!
Tuesday: cheesy chicken with Brussels sprouts and dubliner usually I make this with Laughing Cow cheese, but I noticed that they make spreadable Dubliner flavored wedges, and thought I’d give them a go.
Wednesday: eggs for dinner. Same as last week. I’ll keep this one simple and make a regular scramble and a green salad.
Thursday: roasted sweet potatoes with beef and tahini sauce, and broccoli. Inspired by Jules Clancy’s recipe on Stone Soup.
Friday: out! or as we do these days – takeout and an On Demand movie at home.
by Sam Tackeff | Jan 31, 2016 | Meal Planning, Wellness
Happy Sunday everyone!
That gorgeous skillet is filled with chicken thighs with caramelized onions and cardamom rice from Ottolenghi’s Jerusalem – my favorite dinner last week. I highly recommend it!
Today I spent most of the day outside, taking advantage of this un-seasonalbly warm 52 degree New England weather. I come to you with two lists today – the first is the morning practice that I’m committing to for the month of February. And then capping it off with my weekly meal plan – because most of you are here for the food!
For the month of February, I’m teaming up with some of my favorite biz ladies to do
Hal Elrod’s Miracle Morning. It focuses on making a habit of six activities – all of which I’ve done on a semi-regular basis in the past – but could use a little more incentive to get rolling on. The first step is waking and drinking a glass of water. This doesn’t count as one of the activities, but might be the most important! Here are the six:
Meditation – I’ve worked my way through the
Headspace foundation pack, and am now working through the activity packs. I started with Depression (I have a lifelong history of SAD in the New England winters), moving on to Anxiety (might as well tackle the tough ones first!) and looking forward to starting on “Creativity”. I have a year long subscription and am committed to meditating every day.
Affirmations – this is an interesting one, because I’ve avoided these in the past. Why are affirmations important? Well, we chose the scripts that we play to ourselves in our head, and often they can be a repeat of negative and self deprecating thoughts. By thinking of the same negative thoughts over and over, we can make these thoughts a reality. The goal with affirmations is to re-write the script. I’ve written out a series of affirmations that go beyond the inspirational quotes, but hit on my WHYs, my passions, and my desires. Sometimes you have to give yourself a pep talk to get going! (This is actually a great strategy for racing as well.) As I read personal development books, Internet articles, fiction, or even just talk to people, I’ll be building on these affirmations. I’m looking forward to adding to them as I learn and grow.
Visualization – this goes beyond a vision board, but vision boards are a good start! Just by thinking about the life that we want to be living and what our ideal days and years and accomplishments look like, we are achieving the first critical step to making change happen for ourselves. Today I spent ten minutes thinking what my ideal day would look like this coming week. No dramatic stretches! Just reminding myself how I want to act and FEEL.
Exercise – after a quiet winter season, I’m working to bring back movement in a more dedicated way through race training. But the idea here isn’t my whole workout, but to just get my muscles moving and heart pumping. I’ll be starting with a light weight routine in my house. After far too long in the trunk of my car, I just recently brought my frozen kettlebell up the stairs to have on hand. I will also be planking, squatting, and stretching.
Reading – 10-15 minutes of personal development reading. I have a strong reading goal that I’ve written about this year – 100 books! – and I make time during the day for reading already, so this is just a bonus. For my morning practice, I’m going to keep it to non fiction personal development topics. Right now I’m reading Steven Pressfield’s
The War of Art.
Journaling – this is something that I already try to build into my day, but could use the extra motivation. I’ll be doing my typical morning pages – 10-15 minutes of free writing with occasional structure – feelings, thoughts, gratitude lists, and the start of my daily to do list.
The most important part of this month is that I’ve found my accountability partners to ensure my success!
And! To make sure I feel rewarded for my habit building – I have a physical checklist that I’ll be using with little gold star stickers to cross off when I’ve accomplished my tasks. Chore charts don’t just work for kids!
Do you currently have a morning routine?
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:: The Weekly Meal Plan: Week of January 31st, 2016 ::
I’ve been trying to add in a new recipe from a cookbook each week. Last week was the gorgeous chicken with caramelized onions and cardamom from Ottolenghi’s Jerusalem. (See above!) – his recipes are always so delicious! Since cooking with Blue Apron, I’ve actually expanded my patience for cooking slightly longer week night meals, so I’m trying for some with a little oomph more often.
Sunday: green salad with smoked andouille chicken sausage and buttermilk biscuits
Monday: shrimp fried rice (Blue Apron) wild shrimp, with a little side of kimchi that my neighbor made and gave to us.
Tuesday: pork chops with brussels sprouts and pancetta, a super simple three ingredient dinner. Okay, plus spices. Maybe five ingredients.
Wednesday: eggs for dinner. I’ll keep this one simple and make a regular scramble and a green salad.
Thursday: the cookbook recipe that I haven’t decided on yet! I know, I know, I’m sorry to keep you hanging! If you have any suggestions for a great cookbook recipe, I’m all ears.
Friday:out! or as we do these days – takeout and an On Demand movie at home.
by Sam Tackeff | Jan 11, 2016 | Meal Planning
I spent much of the weekend preparing for Secrets of Self Care and am just now sitting down to one of my favorite rituals of the week – my meal planning! Still a few spots left in the program if you are “Monday motivated” and want to LEAP into action today. Send me an email!
For the past few weeks I’ve been trying out Blue Apron to assess whether I’d recommend it as a service to some of my health coaching clients. I’ll write up some thoughts soon, but after this week, I’ve put the service on hold – perhaps not indefinitely, but I miss coming up with my own meals! I decided this after getting the last shipment, so most of these dinners will be from the kit this week.
The other thing I’ll be eating is butternut squash. Somehow I’ve managed to amass a small arsenal of butternut squash, and haven’t been keeping up with cooking it. There are five on my kitchen counter, so I’ve been chopping and roasting like a mad woman this week. Do you have any favorite butternut squash tips? I’d love some more ideas!
Here’s what’s on the docket:
:: The Weekly Meal Plan: Week of January 11th, 2016 ::
Monday: seared cod and date vinaigrette (Blue Apron) with browned butter, quinoa, and spinach salad. Truthfully, I’m not big on quinoa these days, so this is likely going onto cauliflower rice.
Tuesday: cheese and snacks at the Wellesley College Club of Boston board meeting. In some of my spare time, I’m the co-VP of admissions and get to coordinate off campus interviews for prospective Wellesley women! Undoubtedly the best part is that I get to meet up with other amazing alums once a month and partake in high class snacks and wine.
Wednesday: chicken and udon noodle soup (Blue Apron) with napa cabbage and dried lime. I’ll be eating a late dinner because I’m going to try to head to Porter Square Books at 7pm for my friend Annelies’ talk about her wonderful tea cookbook Steeped! After that I have my business mastermind meet up – so this is going to be a late dinner!
Thursday: juicy lucy burgers (Blue Apron) with frizzled onion and romaine-walnut salad. Burgers are always a huge hit in this house. We’ll probably eat them bun-less, because I prefer them that way (and find that hamburger buns tend not to last several days in the fridge.
Friday: Out! Or more likely takeout from one of our favorite neighborhood spots.
What’s on your table this week?
by Sam Tackeff | Jan 4, 2016 | Challenge, Meal Planning
While I’m not doing a Whole30 this January, I’ve done several rounds of the nutrition challenge in the past, and one of my favorite parts of the experience is the planning process! For those of you unfamiliar with Whole30, it’s a 30 day nutrition challenge created by Melissa and Dallas Hartwig, which focuses on eating unprocessed whole foods, and cutting out inflammatory foods such as sugar and alcohol. For more information, go to Whole30.com, and make sure to get a copy of their book “It Starts with Food”.
1. Plan, plan, plan! Go into your challenge with a plan in mind. I actually use a Google spreadsheet – here’s my sample Whole30 template, feel free to copy and make your own – to plan my month in advance. I’m flexible as I go along, but having done some of the heavy lifting before I dive in really helps me to stick with positive choices.
2. Batch cooking is your friend. Every weekend on Whole30 I plan an afternoon where I make a few staples for the week. I hard-boil a dozen eggs, roast a tray of vegetables, bake some sweet potatoes, and grill a few pounds of chicken or other meats to keep in the fridge. I like also making a sauce of the week, such as mayo, romesco, or chimichurri. Overall I spend about two hours in the kitchen – so I can cut my daily cooking time down to a minimum!
2. Whole30 should NOT be a consistent test of your will power. Build yourself up for success! Clear your house of treats you know you won’t be able to stay away from. If you go consistently to social events, prepare by eating in advance, keeping a compliant snack in your bag, and stay prepared! If you happen to live in a place where social life seems to revolve around alcohol (ahem, Washington DC?), go to the bartender and order a soda water with a lime. (Pretend it’s a gin and tonic if you are tired of explaining Whole30 to people.)
4. Make a list of restaurants where you can get a Whole30 compliant meal, and schedule in at least a weekly dinner out. Eating at home for thirty days can be exhausting if you haven’t gotten used to it. I like having a few options in my back pocket where I know I can get meals that fit with the program. In the past, I’ve done Chipotle, and one of my neighborhood restaurants where I can order a steak or roast chicken, potatoes, and greens with minimal fuss.
5. Make a list of easy pantry meals that you can fall back on if you don’t want the meal that you’ve planned for the night. This is crucial if you aren’t used to sticking to meal plans. Some nights things change – be it your schedule, the weather, your mood, and you find yourself wanting something different. I keep a list of pantry meals or quick fix meals for these evenings so that I’m not left making a bad choice. Breakfast for dinner is often a solution for us. I always keep a bowl of chili in the freezer to pull out in an emergency.
6. Find support. Whole30 can be mentally challenging, and it always helps to do it with a friend. If you don’t have friends or family on board, there’s a great community out there – Instagram (#Whole30) and Pinterest are both good places to find people on the program.
7. How can I Whole30 with a family? This can definitely be a challenge, but it’s doable! The challenge is certainly easiest if everyone in the house is eating the same meals and your spouse is on board – but you can still do it if they aren’t! I’ll usually make a main dish that works for everyone, with optional non-compliant sides for those who aren’t participating in the challenge. Encourage family members to eat treats out of the house, or if they’d like to eat them at home, don’t feel like you have to sit there suffering and watch them while they do it! Take some me-time!
8. A Whole30 challenge does not need to be boring! If you are worried about eating boring chicken breasts and broccoli for thirty days, I promise you, the Whole30 does not need to be that! Many cuisines are naturally Whole30 friendly. I do a lot of Mediterranean tray bakes, Mexican inspired meals, Italian, and Middle Eastern meals. Spices are your friends – stock up at Whole Foods or Penzey’s before your challenge.
9. Rely on some template meals. You do not need to plan elaborate meals each night of your Whole30. Mel Joulwan champions the “Hot Plates” – Protein + Veggies + Fat + Spices + Sauce = Meal. (Lots of good stuff in her cook book Well Fed!) I like doing theme days for inspiration: “egg night”, “soup night”, or “meat + two veg night”.
10. Whole30 does not need to break the bank. Eating organic meat and vegetables and cooking all of your meals at home can be expensive, but it doesn’t have to be. I practice this year round: find your sales and purchase in bulk. I ask the butcher to package meats in pound increments so I can freeze each separately and defrost as I go along. Trader Joe’s Organic Free Range chicken thighs are delicious. Make use of the frozen vegetable – they can be great convenience foods, and are often riper than out of season vegetables. I subscribe to a CSA farm share in the summer time, and a meat CSA all year long to help lower the cost of these higher quality foods. (Plus, you’ll likely be saving money by not drinking alcohol and avoiding treats.)
11. You do not need fancy appliances to do a Whole30. A good pan, sharp knife, a roasting sheet, and a dutch oven are what I use most often. If you do want to get a little fancy, I love my spiralizer for making vegetables for salads, crispy fries, and vegetable noodles.
12. Know what to expect. It helps to go into the challenge with the right mindset. Whole30 isn’t a crash diet, it’s a way to reframe your eating style, and form new healthy habits. That said, it can very be challenging. Cutting sugar and alcohol cold turkey can be difficult. Be prepared to notice your feelings, acknowledge them but don’t fight them, and persevere. It will be hard, but you can do it!
13. Commit to the month. You can do anything for a month! If you find yourself frustrated, take solace in the fact that this is a finite challenge, and you will definitely learn things about yourself along the way. Choose a few new recipes each week, commit to learning some new cooking techniques, and have fun!
For more Whole30 resources, check out these resource posts on a few of my favorite blogs:
If you are interested in any personal coaching to support your Whole30 (or gym nutrition challenge) – I do schedule one-off consultations to help you strategize your month of good eating in compliance with the program! Email me at sam@thesecondlunch.com for more information.
by Sam Tackeff | Jan 3, 2016 | Meal Planning
No Puptron, the cinnamon roll is not for you.
January is usually the month I get back into home cooking after a holiday hiatus, but almost all our meals have been at home since getting our puppy – which is probably better for our health, but driving me a little bit crazy – I definitely need to get out of the house!
And it’s not been exclusively home cooking around here – we’ve ended up eating quite a few convenience-ish foods along the way. Cafe Spice Tikka Masala meals have been on sale for 3.49 at Whole Foods, and I’ve eaten probably a dozen of them. Have you tried them? They are so good! This week on the docket I have a few Blue Apron meals, a few classics, and some seafood. Easing my way into 2016 with some good stuff.
:: The Weekly Meal Plan: Week of January 3nd, 2016 ::
Sunday: chicken & garlic chive meatballs with quick apple & brussels sprout kimchi (Blue Apron) I also have some roasted butternut squash that will go with this on the side.
Monday: butternut squash and gouda casserole (Blue Apron) I’ve been getting a few pasta dishes in the meal delivery kits and am looking forward to trying this one. They typically include some panko breadcrumbs as crispy topping.
Tuesday: cabbage and beef emergency protein a version of this technique that I got originally from Nom Nom Paleo and have adapted over the years. Also perfect for those of you doing a Whole30.
Wednesday: tray baked kielbasa, red pepper and potatoes with a side of sauerkraut. This is a childhood favorite – my dad would cook kielbasa on Sunday mornings with our eggs, and it’s one of my favorite sausages.
Thursday: shrimp braised in tomato sauce with parsley over cauliflower rice a little bit of Greek inspiration. I might add feta to this as well. I use Rao’s Marinara for almost everything around here – it’s really the best jarred sauce on the market.
Friday: Out! Or more likely takeout from one of our favorite neighborhood spots.
What’s on your table this week?
