Help! I'm in a Food Rut! Seeking Breakfast/lunch/dinner Ideas...

We eat fairly healthy, but I"m not crunchy about it. I'll employ processed foods if I need to in order to make things less stressful for me.

The hub and I don't eat first thing in the morning - just coffee. Girl makes her own breakfast, usually cereal and milk.

Lunches are leftovers from the previous night's dinner or sandwiches with some sort of chips and maybe fruit on the side.

Dinners usually consist of a protein, a carb, and a vegetable or two.
Last night I filleted a bass my dad brought us, fried it, and made hush puppies and fried okra.

Night before last, I combined mac and cheese with a bag of frozen mixed vegetables and a can of tuna, spread the last bit of salsa in the jar over it, along with the last of the parmesan and cheddar, and baked it until the cheese melted.

Night before that, frozen black eyes peas over rice, roasted brussels sprouts.

Tadpole: Rice in chili? That's a new one on me.

One of our most favorite and easy breakfast dishes are egg muffins. Basically just chop whatever veggies you like (we do onions, peppers, scallions, and tomatoes...sometimes add in ham) in a muffin pan. Make sure you spray it first! Then add in eggs. I find that 8 eggs works for 12 muffins with the vegetables we put in.

We just put them in a container and in the refrigerator. Sometimes we make them into burritos by messing up the muffins on a burrito wrapper, or in to a sandwich by putting one muffin on an English muffin. Other times we just have one or two on their own.

Breakfast:
-whole wheat bread with peanut or cashew butter
-oatmeal with fruit (take out a handful of frozen fruit - it's always handy, defrosts during the last 2 minutes of oatmeal cooking (blueberries, strawberry, or mixtures). You can add cinnamon to the oatmeal and water, and even a little stevia for sweetness.
- muffin tin eggs on an English muffin (serve like an egg McMuffin if you're on the go). Here's one site but you can vary the recipes. If you are making salad the night before, cut up a little extra onion, pepper, broccoli, tomato, etc. and set aside in a small container until the next morning. You can also use leftover cubed turkey or ham, ground beef, bacon, sausage, and some shredded cheese. Put the cut up goodies in a sprayed muffin pan (if some kids don't eat certain things, don't make all the muffin cups the same). Beat up eggs and pour on top of chopped items until muffin tins are 1/2 to 3/4 full, bake in 15 minutes. These also reheat well from the day before. http://showmetheyummy.com/healthy-egg-muffin-cups/
-scrambled eggs or omelets - put butter in a pan, and sauté any omelet type veggies to soften. Meanwhile beat eggs and grab a bag of shredded cheese. Put in whole wheat bread or English muffins to toast. Add eggs to veggies and either allow to set like an omelet, lifting edges so uncooked egg runs underneath, or just stir up like regular scrambled eggs. Serve toast with real fruit spread like All Fruit.

DInner:
-honey mustard chicken tenders/breasts/nuggets - equal parts of honey and mustard (regular yellow, spicy brown, grainy German mustard, anything), whisked together. Marinate chicken overnight or all day in a plastic bag, turn once or twice. Bake on a rack, baking sheet or grill.
-grilled seasonal veggies on skewers or in a basket: bell peppers (any color), onions (cut in wedges and pull out the small center pieces, saving them for salads or the muffin cups for breakfast), 1 inch chunks of zucchini, small fingerling or red potatoes (or cut larger potatoes into chunks - don't both to peel), sweet potatoes, mushroom caps if you have time. Or use asparagus spears. While grill is heating, mix up olive or canola oil with a little dill or Italian seasoning or just salt/pepper, pour over the veggies and toss lightly or roll the skewers in it. You can also bake these on a baking sheet while you are baking the chicken.

This morning breakfast was a toasted bagel with scallion cream cheese, roasted red peppers and caramelized onions.

For lunch I will be having chunky brussel sprout slaw (quartered seared brussel sprouts, tossed with vinegar, mayo, mustard, sunflower seeds and shredded carrots.

Last night for dinner we had brown lentils which were sauteed with garlic, onion, peppers. Add cherry tomatoes at the last minute so the tomatoes wilt. Season with salt, pepper and mint and lemon juice. Eat hot, cold, plain, on a bed of spinach, or over pasta. We call it summer minestrone.

tonight I'll be having take out curry (Malai kofta for me, chicken tikka for DS, and lamb vindaloo for hubs). We are meeting a friend for early 4th of july fireworks and the philharmonic at the park.

Hope these help you break your rut.

Best,
F. B.

Breakfast:
sauteed mushrooms with Scrambled eggs
A slice of really good whole grain toast with "real" apricot preserves
A green smoothie
Lunch:
Grilled chicken and veggies (you can grill the chicken days before)
Wraps: with any type of protein, even veggie ones with fresh mozzarella, tomato and fresh basil (a touch of olive oil and balsamic) yum.......
Dinner:
Make lasagne on a day when you have more time, it actually takes better two days later... heat and serve.. add greens and you have a meal
Tacos: having already grilled a batch of meat on a previous day, you slice it, add fresh avocado, (I like red bellpepper) and whatever else says taco to you..
I love LARGE salads for dinner... nicoise is yummy.. fresh streamed greenbeans, hardboiled eggs, fresh or canned tuna, olives, red potatoes, (see online for recipe).. most of the items you can prep ahead of time...

I cook ground beef/grill chicken breast on the weekends for the week.
Then I either freeze it or keep in the fridge for easy grab & fix. Fridge is best
if you think you'll use it duriing the week.

Breakfast:
-smoothies
-scrambled eggs & turkey sausage
-egg burritos (great for on the go)
-breakfast bars & protein shakes

Lunch:
-turkey sandwiches you make like a deli
-salads w/all the fixings (grilled chicken, boiled egg slices if your kids like
them...mine don't, bacon bits, diced tomatoes, diced onions. Let everyone
assemble their own.
-turkey pita pockets w/shredded lettuce & avocado

Dinners:
-ground turkey meatoaf (this one takes longer so you can make ahead)
-ground turkey spaghetti
-shredded bbq pork on sandwiches
-taco salad made w/ground turkey. Refreshing on a hot day
-bbq chicken breasts, corn on the cob, salad
-ground turkey burgers
-Shepherd's pie (make ahead, freeze then bake)
-chicken pot pie (make ahead then just stick in oven)
-taco salad add cooked ground beef to salad fixings, toss w/Thousand
Island dressing

Lunch? Dinner leftovers. My DH routinely takes in portions of whatever we had the night before.

I will admit, my kid usually starts the day with frozen waffles, or toast, juice or fruit. Depends. She's not a big cereal eater.

Stir fry is a good way to use a number of items and be reasonably healthy. Same with a good chili with lots of veg.

Consider, too, using a crock pot.

For a healthy lunch/dinner - try a frittata - eggs and veggies.
I like onions, zucchini, summer squash and mushrooms in mine - just a sprinkle of peperoni in it gives it just the right flavor for my taste.
Leftover (I rarely have any) reheat easily in the microwave.
They are very versatile!

http://www.yummly.com/recipes/zucchini-mushroom-frittata

I like PBJ lunches to pack since they need no refrigeration.

breakfast my kids like oatmeal
lunch i just whipped up a vegetarian chili (aldi's organic mild salsa mixed with a can of red beans, a sprinkle of chili powder and some rice topped with cheese and sour cream)
for dinner i am making chicken parmesan and nodles with garden beans. this meal takes about 45 min.
we also make pizza, chicken tacos, homemade chicken nuggets and fries, burgers and mac-n-cheese (or portabella shrooms instead of the ground beef burger) grilled tenderloins and mashed potatoes, griled porkchops and tater tots (i have a cast iron grill pan and use it often but love grillin outside too) i can share any recipe you want just pm me most of the meals i make are 30-45 minutes to make some are less. and rarely do i use pre packaged stuff since dh is allergic to onion and that is in everything thats prepackaged, we also grow as much food as we can so its fresh foods too

The 4 of us are all on different schedules so breakfast is grab something out of the fridge. I usually have yogurts, cheese sticks, fruit cups, fresh fruit, instant oatmeals, cold cereal, a breakfast casserole that you can just get a scoop and heat up, frozen burritos.

Lunch is sometimes leftovers, wraps or sandwiches, salads with different toppings, soup when it's cold.

Dinner is a meat, veggie and starch. Super easy and quick dinner is chili-mac (2 boxes mac n cheese as directed, stir in 2 cans chili and heat), tostadas with canned refried beans, lettuce and cheese or nachos made with shredded chicken, chopped lettuce and tomatoes, cheese and salsa. Also quesadillas are quick and easy and everyone likes them. And every Friday we have the kids (every other weekend) we have pizza and salad and watch a movie together.