You all know I talk about weighing, measuring, journaling your food and planning and preparing it for long term success after weight loss surgery.  It sounds like a lot of work to many of you, right?  It really isn’t though.  Here’s what I “created” and prepared last weekend as I was scanning my email after finishing a late breakfast:

First I thought about what I had in my fridge that needed to be used.  My answer was yellow zucchini and a large sweet onion.  Hmmm, what can I do with that?  I also had ground beef in my freezer and pasta sauce in the refrigerator with grated parmesan cheese always at the ready. 

Are you getting my drift?

As I cleaned up from breakfast I took an extra 10 minutes and did the following:

• Washed the squash and sliced it in ½ inch coins
• Peeled the onion and sliced it
• Took the ground beef (4% fat, 96% lean) out of the freezer

I then put the squash and onion into zip lock bags and back in the fridge after weighing them.

I now have dinner ready to go for tonight and at least one other night, possibly two depending on the volume and calories/protein of my final dish AND THE NUMBER OF PEOPLE I AM SERVING.

Here’s how I will prepare it later when the meat has thawed:

• Spray a pan with olive oil spray and sauté the onion and garlic until the onion has carmelized
• Add the ground beef and Italian seasoning and continue sautéing until the meat is cooked
• Add the squash and the pasta sauce and mix thoroughly.  Bring just to bubbling, reduce heat and cover to simmer for about ½ an hour
• Check the pan and stir several times
• When the squash has cooked to your desired consistency, remove the lid from the pan and cook down for an additional 5 minutes
• Portion and store or portion and serve immediately, topping each serving with 1-2 tablespoons of grated parmesan cheese (be sure to add these calories and protein to your totals)
• Mangia and enjoy

This wasn’t so difficult, it wasn’t very time consuming as I spent 10 minutes in the kitchen preparing and then it took between 20-45 minutes to cook everything and I have a tasty and delicious meal ready to serve tonight and/or ready to freeze for additional nights.

Want to serve it over “rice” or “pasta”?

Use riced cauliflower or spaghetti squash.  Don’t forget to weigh and measure what you use and add the totals of the calories and protein to your totals.

Here’s an example - I divided the beef mix into 6 servings - each one was just under 164.6 calories and 16.4 grams of protein.  I served mine over 2/3 cup of riced cauliflower for an additional 25 calories and 2 grams of protein and topped it with 1 tablespoon of grated parmesan cheese for another 20 calories and 2 grams of protein.  My very generous portion for dinner was a total of 209 calories and 20.4 grams of protein with lots of flavor and texture.

It’s not rocket science.  Don’t try to make it more difficult than it really needs to be.  Keep it smart and simple and you will succeed.