MEAL PLANNING

In our ever accelerating pace of life, do you ever wonder how to fit it all in?  We increasingly are finding ourselves short on time and cutting corners on meal preparation and therefore, sacrificing quality.  Not only the quality of our meal, but the quality time spent together, as a family, eating healthy food.  All too often, my wife and I find ourselves on the way home from work asking, “What’s for supper?”  The balancing act of keeping a son and daughter, 18 and 15 respectively, excited about family meals while working full time is challenging…well, not anymore! 

Recently, we decided to delegate 15 minutes every Sunday morning to generate a schedule of meals for the week.   Does anyone else do this?  It’s so simple……we were wondering what took us so long to figure it out.

Now, we boil 2 dozen eggs every Sunday, allocate leafy greens, organize herbs and are ready to go!  Here’s one example of making the best out of our first three days of the week using fresh, local, leafy greens.  I will list in sequential order:

Sunday PM- Place two fresh salmon filets (Omega-3 powerhouses), in a Ziploc bag with a small amount of olive oil, lemon pepper, green onion, dill, fresh cilantro, white pepper and lime juice and refrigerate.

Monday PM- Chop fresh greens; red leaf, green leaf, arugula, romaine, and sprinkle with chopped hard-boiled eggs, carrots, apples, and almonds.  Take salmon out of the bag and lay it on our trusty George Foreman and walk away for 8 minutes.  Mind you, we’re at the six-minute mark when we put the salmon on the George Foreman.  The next 8 minutes of salmon cooking is just enough time to uncork our favorite bottle of wine, change clothes, debrief school, feed the dog, you get it.  There you have it, hot salmon and fresh salad ready in 15 minutes. (DO NOT THROW THE LEFTOVERS!)

Tuesday PM- According to plan, we will take some of the leftover salmon and mix it with ingredients for a version of our own pate’ - fat free mayo, mustard, red onion, dill relish, chopped fresh basil, hard-boiled egg, and jalapenos.  That mixture from the heavens that took 6 minutes to combine is then to be spread on a toasted loaf of French bread, that was toasting during this process, adorned with assorted fresh romaine, raw spinach, cucumbers, tomatoes, and mozzarella cheese. We like to microwave each half of the loaf to make it softer to eat. Cut the halves into desired pieces and hand them out!
 
Wednesday PM- I’m sure you’re wondering if we’re getting tired of salmon by now - the answer is no.  There’s actually one more meal to use it all up.  With the left over mixture from Tuesday night’s pate’, we make wraps by filling butterhead lettuce and drizzling oyster sauce or peanut sauce to taste.  By partnering these wraps with an Asian salad containing mixed greens, broken up Ramen noodles, sliced almonds, hard boiled eggs, and green onions, bathed in a vinaigrette with sesame oil, we enjoy a culturally diverse meal, that’s fresh, local, and protein rich.  The prep time for this entire meal is less than 15 minutes.  The fact is that we don’t even have to think about meals for a few days is priceless. 

Our family depends on fresh, local, and healthy food.  By combining our nutrient laden produce with Omega-3 packed salmon, we know that we’re living and eating Superior Fresh….

The Thursday-Sunday supper menu usually consists of a form of pizza with salmon (dough being from scratch, fat free ranch, red wine, fresh cut dill, parsley, basil, and thyme topped with red onion, hot peppers to taste, and mozzarella cheese), a night or two out, and leftovers.  Greens, greens, more greens, and more salmon - so good.

-Kurt Wagaman

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Here's what others have said:

"Fresh produce is what the customer wants and enjoys. They are shrewd consumers and will pay for healthier food. Using fresh and local produce whenever possible allowed us to create high quality salads and increase our profit margins."
-S. Eckles/Former Red Lobster Culinary Pro

"With the USDA's Farm-to-School program ramping up, we as school district Food Service Directors seek access to local and fresh produce to provide our youth. Relaying to them the beneficial, nutrient rich, produce is our main goal. Many of these kids don't receive much nutritional input from other meals other than at school."
-K. Young/Head Cook in School System

"I have been the head cook at the St. Charles Elementary School for the last 19 years. I believe in serving fresh fruits and vegetables daily to all of our 500 students. We offer an arrangement of fruits and vegetables including a full service salad bar with many leafy greens and a variety of fruits and vegetables. This is a way for me to give back to the kids and get them started on the right track to a healthier lifestyle."
-T. Schaber/Head Cook in School System

T. Schaber, Head Cook in School System

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