No Sad Salads. No steamed sufferings!
No Sad Salads. No Steamed Sufferings!
If the best thing you can say about dinner is that it was good for you, it needs more going for it.
Can we please take the guilt off the menu?
Eating has apparently become a subject you must study before breakfast.
Breakfast is essential. Skip breakfast. Eat more often. Stop snacking. Cut the carbs. Love the wholegrains. Avoid processed food. Try this powder, which appears to have required quite a lot of processing.
By lunchtime I’ve heard six opinions, interrogated my yoghurt and developed a headache.
Can a woman just EAT?
I want to nourish myself. I’d also like to enjoy it. Without a committee of strangers on the internet supervising every mouthful.
When did lunch become a character assessment?
“I’ve been good today.”
“I was naughty last night.”
“I really shouldn’t.”
As though dinner is keeping a file on us.
Salad makes you virtuous. Dessert makes you a confessor. Then Monday arrives and we “get back on track” with the solemnity of a household budget crisis.
That’s a lot of meaning to pin on a sandwich.
I’d like a little less moral judgement with my meals, thanks. There’s barely room beside the pepper grinder.
Everyone has THE answer. Usually in three easy payments.
THE way. THE problem ingredient. Follow the rules and everything falls into place.
And if it doesn’t? You weren’t committed enough.
How convenient.
I’m wary of any advice that leaves a woman feeling like a failure before she’s even worked out whether it suits her life. Does it allow for her budget? Her tired days? The household she’s feeding and her firm intention not to cook three separate dinners?
Or does it assume a personal chef and a spare fridge for tiny containers?
Plans look marvellous on a screen. Living with them is another matter.
And if you need real guidance? Find someone qualified who knows YOUR life. Not a stranger with a powder.
Enjoyment gets a seat at the table
Hence: No Sad Salads. No Steamed Sufferings!
Somewhere along the way we decided the least appealing option must be the most worthy. That enjoying our food is a suspicious little indulgence needing supervision.
Nope.
I want to finish a meal thinking, That was lovely, not Well, thank goodness that’s over.
There are no bonus points for enduring your dinner.
So here are my three rules. No science. No scorecards. Just enjoyment prompts:
Something crunchy.
Something saucy.
Something that makes you smile.
Tick all three and you’re laughing. Tick one and you’re still miles ahead of the sad salad.
And on days when there’s nothing in the tank or the fridge? A cooked chook, a bag of salad with dressing and a couple of squares of chocolate tick all the boxes!
Convenience is allowed a seat at this table too.
Nourishing and enjoyable were never rivals. They can share a plate. 😂
So, how do you Wendify “What’s for dinner?”
The unendingly repetitive question. Every. Single. Night.
In my house, it’s Dori, me and two golden retrievers who would enthusiastically volunteer to dispose of almost anything. Except kale. Apparently, even they have standards.
So I keep the kitchen stocked: frozen veg, tinned beans and tuna, eggs, cheese and yoghurt. Always.
And sauces & dips. I LOVE ’em! Dori doesn’t. For me, they’re what turns a quick dinner into one I actually want to eat, and avoiding a trip out for chocolate keeps us BOTH happy. One dinner, room for two preferences.
Here are a couple of regulars at Lipski Lodge!
Omelette night. Every veg I can find, bread and butter on the side, and a big dollop of cottage cheese (I just LOVE the stuff!). Perfectly satisfying. Pudding is protein yoghurt mixed with chia and cocoa, topped with a few chocolate chips and frozen raspberries. One VERY happy tummy.
Salmon night. Steamed veg and baked salmon (steamed, yes, but never suffering) with air fryer spuds and sweet potato, and lashings of something over the top. Sauerkraut on the side, ranch over the veg and salmon. Yum, yum, YUM! Pudding is raspberry jelly whipped with Greek yoghurt, my latest favourite.
Satiety isn’t only about what we TASTE. It’s about what we SEE. So pile on the colour, find some crunch, and garnish with something you’d happily lick off a spoon. Now you’ve got something to look forward to, even when your get-up-and-go has got up and gone.
Remember the Wendify motto: NO sad salads. NO steamed sufferings!
Nourishing and enjoyable were never rivals. They can share a plate.
So enjoy your dinner. You deserve one that makes you smile.
Join The Radiance Room, where this week I’m sharing my Chokkie Fix with members!
