Planning for the Week

It's never easy to change your diet without feeling deprived - even though you know it's the right thing to do. I handle change differently than my husband ... I face it head on replacing the 'no-no' foods with alternates - updating favorite recipes to be more compliant energizes me. It annoys Tom. He tends to look for what's different rather than embrace a new flavor or especially a new texture. Adding fiber is an excellent way to combat high cholesterol - that and filling your plate with color.

As I said in an earlier post, Tom is doing rather well and working hard to remember to look at the nutritional analysis on the foods he's eating. I reminded him to look for saturated fat and cholesterol. For those meals when the cholesterol is higher than I suggested for him, he adds foods that will add color and fiber to his diet.

Though I felt as though I neglected his diet a bit last week because I was so busy, he managed quite nicely on his own ... not the way I would have done it ... but OK.

In effort to give him the best opportunity to stay on track I've been cooking/baking all afternoon. It's not a burden as it is for some women because I love to cook. So the day began with a scan of both freezers and refrigerators to see just what was left after last week. Boneless pork ribs, chicken legs/thighs, a container of leftover Italian beef Tom had made, homemade chicken broth, lean stew meat and two zucchini. Once I put a menu together based on what I had on hand and what Publix had on sale, I was off to the store - list in hand.

On the lowfat menu this week:

• The Wyse Salad
• Beef Stroganoff
• Pork chops with apples and carrots
• Beef-barley soup
• Strawberry-Rhubarb Crunch
  
• Chicken Orzo Soup
• Chicken Chili with Beans or White Chili
• Zucchini Lasagne
  

We opted to eat the pork chops with apples and carrots for dinner. I knew it wouldn't be Tom's cup of tea, so to speak, so I made the strawberry-rhubarb crunch for dessert. I was right ... Tom said the pork was a little dry. I couldn't disagree with him ... no fat ... no bone = a somewhat dry pork chop, at least based on what he's used to eating. Me? I found it very edible, especially when coupled with a piece or apple and/or carrot. He'll learn ... frying a pork chop in his grease of choice (butter) without removing excess fat is something he'll need to bypass ... at least for now.

For the record, the crisp was a hit ... but I know he would have preferred the topping to be something more like his mother used to make (flour, sugar, butter), but mine's close ... remove the flour ... add oatmeal. Yeah, he's not a big fan of crunchy when he wants 'melt in your mouth.' But he said he liked it.