Finally...relaxation!

Breakfast
The holidays are finally over-and I am actually very glad! I enjoy spending time with family and friends, but I have hardly been able to relax during my time off from school. Today I have the day off, and I plan to do some shopping with gift cards that I received as presents. Gift cards are always the perfect gift, in my opinion. Some people would say it's too impersonal to give a piece of plastic (or maybe even just a printout) but I like them because you can think about how you want to use it. I even made a list of possibilities before I headed out so I wouldn't just pick up the first thing that looked good.
For breakfast on my first "real day off," I made a simple meal that did not require much work, except a little measuring. I mixed a cup of plain, fat free yogurt with 1/2 cup of dry granola cereal and 1/4 cup of dried blueberries. I added a packet of Equal because the last time I used the plain yogurt, I really thought it lacked sweetness. It was much better this way, and the dried blueberries were a very nice touch. I have only seen these at a decent price at Trader Joes. I bought them awhile back to put in muffins and have now found a new use for them, it seems!

All together, this meal provided:
Grains: 1 oz whole (granola cereal)
Fruits: 1/2 cup (dried blueberries)
Vegetables: 0
Milk: 1 cup (yogurt)
Meats & beans: 0
Oils: 0

The cost of this meal was approximately: $1.21

Lunch
I had a small piece of chicken (2 ounces) and about 1/2 cup of brown rice left over from last night, so I decided that would be lunch today. I also added a cup of canned fruit cocktail on the side. This is another good substitute for fresh fruit during the winter months. I only buy the kind that is canned in fruit juice (this one was in pear juice) rather than syrup. This way, I get only the fruit, without the added sugars. I find fruit to be sweet enough as it is! I used almost the whole can (generic store brand) for this meal, but the unused portion is easily refrigerated for later in a plastic container. The one benefit missing from canned fruit is the fiber, but I try to make up for that by eating as many whole grain products as possible.


All together, this meal provided:
Grains: 1 oz whole (brown rice)
Fruits: 1 cup (fruit cocktail)
Vegetables: 0
Milk: 0
Meats & beans: 2 oz (chicken)
Oils: 0

The cost of this meal was approximately: $1.21

Afternoon Snack
All that shopping wore me out! I guess everyone is still off work from the holiday, so the stores were pretty crowded. When I got home, I made a sugar free caramel cappuccino with 1 cup of skim milk. I also had a slice of banana bread (the last one-yea!) with a tablespoon of peanut butter. It was a pretty good combo, as I suspected. Peanut butter and banana usually is!

All together, this meal provided:
Grains: 1 oz whole (banana bread)
Fruits: 0
Vegetables: 0
Milk: 1 cup (skim milk)
Meats & beans: 1 oz (peanut butter)
Oils: 1 tsp (peanut butter)

The cost of this meal was approximately: $0.39

Dinner
One of the items I bought with my gift cards was a large food processor/chopper. The one I have is tiny-only holds about 2 cups-and it's impossible to prepare anything substantial in it. This one has a 10 cup capacity, so I decided to plan a meal that I could prepare with it. I decided to make baked falafel, another recent discovery on CookingLight.com. Falafel is essentially a patty made from chickpeas, served inside pita bread. I have had it many different ways, but never prepared it myself. This recipe sounded relatively easy and got good reviews so, armed with my new food processor, I decided to give it a go. Luckily, I had most of the ingredients on hand. I bought the chickpeas and whole wheat pita bread, used fat free yogurt instead of whole, white onions instead of green, dried cilantro instead of fresh, skipped the tomatoes (they are way too expensive right now), and added feta cheese and spinach instead. I used dried chickpeas this time, partially because they are cheap, and partially because I couldn't find any canned ones at the store. The fastest way to prepare dried beans is to place them in a pan with about 6 cups of water for every pound, bring to a boil for a few minutes, and then turn off the heat and let them sit, covered, for about an hour. After they sat for 1 hour, I simmered them until they became soft (It took about an hour for that to happen). I made a spinach salad with dried cranberries, walnuts, feta cheese and raspberry dressing as a side dish. I had 1/2 of a pita with two patties topped with 2 tablespoons of the yogurt-tahini sauce (so yummy!), 2 tablespoons of feta and a cup of spinach, along with 2 cups of the salad with 2 tablespoons of dressing. We had guests for dinner tonight, and everyone really liked this recipe. I was so glad my "experiment" turned out so well. The new food processor was a huge help-it would have been a nightmare with the old one.
Baked Falafel Sandwiches with Yogurt-Tahini Sauce:

http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=1687658

All together, this meal provided:
Grains: 2 oz whole (1/2 of a large pita)
Fruits: 1/2 cup (dried cranberries)
Vegetables: 2 cups (spinach, plus I counted one of the chickpea patties as a vegetable. You can do that-beans can go either way!)
Milk: 3/4 cup (feta cheese)
Meats & beans: 2 oz (I counted the other chickpea patty here)
Oils: 1 tsp (salad dressing)

The cost of this meal was approximately: $2.46

How did I do today?
Grains: 5 oz out of 6 oz (all were whole)
Fruits: 2 cups out of 2 cups
Vegetables: 2 cups out of 2 ½ cups
Milk: 2 3/4 cups out of 3 cups
Meats & beans: 5 1/2 oz out of 5 ½ oz
Oils: 3 teaspoons out of 6 teaspoons

Total cost for the day: $5.27