Veggie-Rific!

I spent some time using the fresh produce I bought today to make a huge salad that I’m hoping will last me the week and to cut up some veggies for when I feel like munching on something. One of my biggest issues with vegetables in particular is that I find they take more time and effort to prepare than my stomach wants to allow, so I’m hoping that doing the prep work ahead of time will help with this. Unfortunately, one of the other issues I have had in the past is that I can be wasteful when I decide to bypass the healthier options when I am crazing something else. I’m hoping that cutting everything up - and risking that it will all spoil a bit faster - doesn’t backfire and leave me with a lack of produce when I want it.

Something worth noting here is that I am far from a domestic goddess. It’s not that I couldn’t cook to save my life, but I just don’t do it… call it laziness, lack of training, disinterest, or a combination of those reasons and others. I am perfectly capable of following recipes on the odd holiday or gathering when I do prepare food, but I’m not much of a creative force in the kitchen. Anyhow, the reason I’m going on about this is because I figured I may as well post the ingredients that I put together for my salad since it is possibly the closest thing to a recipe that anyone will ever see on here. Plus, hopefully I will enjoy what I made and refer back to what I put in it at a later date so that I can make it again.

SEVEN DAY SALAD:
- 1 head of lettuce, shredded
- 2 celery stalks, chopped
- 1 carrot, grated
- 1 sweet pepper, chopped
- 1/2 head of cauliflower, chopped
- 1 broccoli crown, chopped
- 10 chive stems, chopped
- 2 medium tomatoes, chopped
- 5 mushrooms, sliced

A couple of green onion stems could be substituted for the chive, but I used what was growing in the garden for now. I am hoping that the tomatoes and mushrooms keep their freshness throughout the week, but I purposely cut them up today because I’m trying out a produce storage container that I bought a while ago but haven’t yet used. I’m also thinking that it might be nice to grate a little cheese or to slice a hard-boiled egg into the mix when I am ready to eat a bowl of the salad. Hmmm… maybe even a few blueberries would be good to add.

FOOD & BEVERAGES:
- 6 glasses of water throughout the day
- 2 toasted English muffins with peanut butter
- 3 hard boiled eggs with calorie wise Miracle Whip
- 1 1/2 cups Caramel Kettle Corn Crispy Mini Rice Chips
- 3 garden strawberries
- 1 crown chopped broccoli and 1 sweet pepper with light ranch dressing
- 8 large crackers with 2 Tb. Tex Mex Cheese Whiz
- 1 glass of milk
- 1 cheese sandwich on white bread with lettuce, tomatoes, mustard, calorie wise Miracle Whip, margarine, and pepper

EXERCISE:
- 15 minutes on the recumbent stationary bike
- 1 set of 5 minutes of weight lifting with 2.5 lbs per arm
- 15 minute walk