Help for Clutter, Hoarding and Emotional Eating at NurturingHope.com » Eat Dinner at the Table

Easy Soup Recipes for Cluttered Kitchens

Catherine — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 13:15:38 +0000

I adore soup. There is something so comforting about a big pot of hot soup on the stove, and my family always feels like they have had a “real” homecooked meal when it’s a soup night.

We make soup at least once or twice a week, especially in the winter. I make split pea soup, leek and potato soup, turkey vegetable soup, spicy tomato vegetable soup — the list goes on and on. A good soup has so much going for it:

It’s hot, homemade and delicious.
Packed with nutritious veggies, beans and/or grains.
Only uses one pot and the stove top — easy to prepare and easy cleanup.
Soup is peasant food, so the ingredients are typically economical and easy to find.
Hearty enough to be the centerpiece of the meal, with or without a crusty loaf of bread.
Yummy leftovers. (This is only a plus if you love leftovers, like our family does!)

Looking to start easy? Here is a list of yummy soup recipes that have no more than five ingredients:

If you’re an experienced cook or want to get a little more complex, try these delicious soups:

Soup night is my favorite way to get a healthy, economical meal on the table with almost no effort Enjoy!

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16 Nutritious, Easy Crockpot Recipes for Cluttered Kitchens

Catherine — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 12:04:31 +0000

I was reminiscing lately about the old days when my kitchen was a mess, and the lack of homecooked meals as a result. I hardly ever cooked because the counters, table and sink were so cluttered all the time that I couldn’t really begin to think about putting together a meal. So we ate a lot of junky takeout food. Today I was thinking that it would not have been that hard to combine a few ingredients in the crockpot for a hot meal later in the day.

The Tweaks System is all about one little step at a time. You don’t have to start cooking three-course meals at home. Here are some simple, good-for-you homecooked meals that you can just throw together in a crockpot — so much cheaper and healthier than pizza or fast food. The majority of these recipes use no more than five ingredients:

Pot Roast This is a flexible recipe; it uses potatoes and carrots, but you can add chunks of any root veggies you have in the fridge — turnip, rutabaga, parsnips, celeriac.
Italian Pot Roast This is great with Italian bread and a green salad.
Chicken Taco Meat Super easy way to prepare taco meat for now or for the freezer.
Roasted Chicken with Rosemary and Garlic There’s no reason why you couldn’t substitute dried rosemary for the fresh rosemary in this recipe.
Turkey Breast Get turkey breast on sale and use this easy method to cook it for sandwiches and salads.
Green Chili Beef Great on burritos with a little cheese and some quacamole or sour cream. This makes lots of leftovers that you can freeze or use for lunches.
Refried Beans Simple, healthy and very economical.
Mexican Pork Gives pork and beans a whole new spin — spicy black beans with lean pork loin cubes.
Italian Sausage Try this with whole wheat spaghetti or multigrain rolls. It’s safe to skip the boil-in-a-pot step at the beginning of the recipe.
Swiss Steak A nice small recipe for two servings.
Tomato Chicken A whole chicken and a jar of spaghetti sauce. What could be easier? Try throwing in some halved potatoes halfway through and some cubed zucchini in the final hour for a full meal.
Chicken Fajitas So much cheaper than restaurant fajitas, and healthier than Taco Bell!
Oatmeal Porridge Have kids? This is a great way to wake them up with a hot breakfast on hectic mornings. Just put oatmeal, water and a pinch of salt in the crockpot right before bed.
Aztec Black Beans Vegetarian, cheap, healthy and delicious. A real winner.
Curried Chicken Legs I’d throw in some baby carrots or cubed carrots for the final couple of hours and then serve this over rice.
Sloppy Joe Lentils Another non-meat recipe. This makes a big batch so you can freeze half for microwaving later.

This is a Friday Fun post.

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Tweak: Eat Dinner at the Table

Catherine — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 11:30:56 +0000

This Tweak is going to be a little bit painful to write because I am going to bare my soul and talk to you about some of the times that cause me the greatest regret as a mother. And as parents know, our shortcomings as moms and dads are the shortcomings that are the hardest to accept. But we learn and we do better.

Nowadays my family eats breakfast and dinner together at the table almost every day. I think this gives us the chance to touch base as a family, creating a stable routine as our day ramps up and winds down. We have a lot of fun, laughs and sometimes some serious conversations. But this wasn’t always the case.

During the worst of my times with a chaotic and cluttered house, a year or two before I met my husband and began to help raise his two daughters, meals at the table were unheard of. My son didn’t get too many homecooked meals between six and eight years of age. We ate fast food just about every day. Most of his meals were eaten in the car or at a picnic table or out of a paper fast food bag while he was watching TV or playing computer games.

We’d head out in the morning to get coffee and donuts or Egg McMuffins. Then my son would snack on stuff like canned fruit and cereal all day. At night we’d either go back out to get fast food or go to a restaurant, or I would order in. When I think back on that time I feel true regret and sadness. My son is fortunate not to have developed a weight problem, and he eats well now, but I’m sad that I didn’t nourish him better when he was a little guy.

Studies seem to suggest a correlation between family dinners at the dinner table and lower drug use and other troubles for teens. I don’t know if family dinners somehow help prevent kids from getting into trouble, or if they are just a feature of many families in which the kids are actively parented. But the link is there.

If you are single or partnered without children, the benefit of eating at the table is just as strong. Eating at the table is a foundation for learning to eat consciously. When your table is cleared and you sit down to eat regularly, you’re more likely to cook and enjoy healthy foods.

Here are some points to consider when preparing to add the Eat Dinner at the Table Tweak to your routine:

If your table has clutter on it, take a day (or two or three) to declutter it using the 15-minute-a-day declutter method.
Clear the table right after dinner and give it a quick wipe so that it’s ready for your next meal. Do the dishes or don’t — your call — but making sure that you are ready to set the table without having to do any extra work next time will really help this habit stick.
If you are buying fast food or take out most nights, bring it home and eat it at the table anyway. Order a pizza or Chinese? Enjoy it at the table. You deserve to eat your food in a nice, calm environment instead of furtively feeding yourself in the car, at your desk or at the coffee table.
You can gradually make the table nice. Use tableware that makes you happy and consider a centerpiece or some fresh flowers. How about candles? A few years ago I realized that I really like cloth napkins, and now we frequently set the table with them. Find out what you like and what makes your food seem like a “real” meal.
Try to keep conversation light during family dinners so that the family looks forward to the time. We use our table for family meetings when we need to discuss problems, but never during meal times.

Remember:

Choose no more than one tweak per month – don’t try to pile them on! Practicing a single tweak for at least a full month gives you the best chance of forming a real habit and life change. Do not try to add another tweak until the previous tweak has become a habitual part of your life (this can sometimes take longer than a month).

This is all about loving yourself and creating a joyful life! Therefore, when choosing a new tweak to practice, pick one that is appealing and gives you a sense of anticipation.

Read all the posts about the Eat Dinner at the Table Tweak here.

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Tweak: Eat Consciously