Surviving the Big Family Sunday Dinner

Sundays, like any day of the weekend, can be problematic while trying to eat healthier and lose or maintain weight.  You've likely got more family around than on school or work nights. Several of us have grandchildren that like their "treats" and there may be a family meal where no one wants your low-fat tofu croquettes. (come on, they're good!)

If you take little portions SOMEONE is always going to say "you need to eat more - I didn't bring the mega cheesecake so you could pick at it" unintentionally sabotaging your efforts.

Though I still laugh at the time, while dieting and eating at my Dad's house with family, my Dad said "you're picking at your food, you eat like a bird!"  to which my big brother grinned and said "yea, RODAN!"  which cracked us both up. I really miss him.

What is working for me is to have just small servings of the higher fat, higher calorie "good" stuff, make your treats or baked items smaller sized so the little ones can enjoy one without you eating a piece the size of a brick and filling up your plate with fruits and veggies so you and those around you have a sense of a hearty meal.

For breakfast - eggs, veggie "sausage" and mini scones (served on a salad plate).  

The scones -

In bigger bowl

2 cups self raising flour (in the UK, I believe it's "self-raising")
1/4 sugar
mix and cut into the flour 5 tablespoons of well chilled butter, cut into small pieces.

In a small bowl:
1/2 cup  plus 1 teaspoon buttermilk or plain keefer (if you don't have buttermilk, add 2 teaspoons of lemon juice or vinegar to the measure - fill with milk and let sit 10 minutes).
splash of vanilla
1 egg all whisked together

Combine wet and dry ingredients and mix just until holding together (will look very shaggy) and knead 10 times on a floured board. If the mixture looks too dry, add another teaspoon of liquid. Handle as little as possible or you WILL have a brick.

Pat out on pizza or cookie sheet sprayed with non stick spray until about 7-8 inches wide and about an inch high.  Dip a serrated knife into flour and cut the scones into 8  to 12 pieces, depending on how small  you want them (regular or mini) separating them slightly with the knife.

Bake  in preheated 450  F. degree oven 15-17 minutes. (check and rotate at 12 minutes)

I knew evening supper would be fairly heavy so my third meal was a smoothie with a handful of spinach, 1/2 banana,  a cup of berries and a cup of keefir with the usual cup of water and ice. That makes a LOT of smoothie for about 250 calories. I'll drink one glass as a meal and have the rest as a snack later with a little dish of baby carrots.

Dinner was a chicken and biscuit style casserole I made up.  I replaced half of the chicken with steamed broccoli, and the other half with Gardein "chicken" nuggets, chopped, used reduced fat cream of chicken soup, vegan sour cream substitute, fat-free veggie stock, and replaced the buttermilk in the biscuit topping with almond milk soured with lemon juice.

But the biscuit-like crust was REALLY buttery (as was the intention to get the fluffy texture and flavor I wanted) so I knew I needed a small portion to keep the saturated fat content down.  

As for the portion size, I just sort of winged it to be about a cup of food.  I went back and got  a little more, but honestly, in the old days I would have filled my plate, so even with "seconds" I feel like I was improving.

It was a huge hit with family and I was asked to write down what I put in it to make it again.

As far as portion size - some folks recommend using the plate method ( a little less than 1/4 for protein, a little less than 1/4 for starch,  a little more than half  to be vegetables). I bought one of those plastic divided plates a while back to get an idea of how much is a serving.

You can't stack the food up like a high rise, it has to fit in the dish.  It was a helpful tool but I think it should have been labeled like this.