New Recipes: What I’m Trying

My 5-Minute Meal Planning System is helping me keep my head above water in this stage of life. Most of our meals/recipes take less than 20 minutes to make. We rotate through a week’s worth of meals every five weeks. It takes me less than 5 minutes each week to select our meals and order our groceries. No joke! I just went through my rotation, and realized there are three meals not making me happy. It’s time for some new recipes!

So much of what I read about perimenopause points to the Mediterranean Diet.

Here is a basic summary:

• Eat: Vegetables, fruits, nuts, seeds, legumes, potatoes, whole grains, breads, herbs, spices, fish, seafood and extra virgin olive oil.
• In moderation: Poultry, eggs, cheese and yogurt.
• Eat only rarely: Red meat.
• Don’t eat: Sugar-sweetened beverages, added sugars, processed meat, refined grains, refined oils and other highly processed foods.

New Recipe #1: Chickpea Fritters

I’m excited to try these! And I’m excited to double the batch so I can freeze the extras. And you can bet I will be using the food processor to mash up those babies.

I’m going to plan this meal in Week 1 because we have a mediterranean meal in Week 5 that always has leftover tzatziki and hummus. It will be a great way to use up those leftovers.

New Recipe #2: Mediterranean Nachos

Alright. I might be pushing my luck with this recipe. But I’m going to give it a try and see if I can make it in 30 minutes or less. I’m not going to make the special sauce. I’m just going to use the leftover tzatziki!

New Recipe #3: Mediterranean Quesadillas

I’m pretty sure I’ve chosen the top three unhealthiest Mediterranean recipes, but this is how we role at the Cotner-Bradford house! I’m excited to try these. Again, we will not be making our own sauce. I will be ripping off the plastic top of the store-bought sauce and spooning it on. Voila!