Diet day 2: Need a fast, healthy dinner....

So day 1 was a success -- big deal, I know. But at least it's a start. I was "good girl:" no indulgences, kept the food diary as vowed and ended up with about 1250 calories and the scales showing me a pound lighter this morning.
It's ridiculously cold outside and on top of that, I've developed some kind of illness, a virus I assume. Those factors make it harder not to just keep storing up the fuel. But, I resist!
Meanwhile, this is one of my longer days at work and I don't have the energy or motivation to cook a meal from scratch tonight for my husband and me.

The solution? Frozen food! Here's one of the few such things I can recommend: multi-grain roasted vegetable lasagna from Trader Joe's. I'll steam a vegetable to go with it and give my husband some bread & olive oil (he has a big appetite, never gains weight though). About 1/3 of the lasagna package and the veggies makes about a 400-calorie meal.
But mostly I just want to pack up, walk through the cold to my garage and go home to bed!

"Convenience products for gourmets"

That's what I recall as a description of Trader Joe's mission, from a New York Times article a couple of years back. I almost blush to admit how many of their products show up in my cooking, but if you can have convenience and healthy, tasty food, what's not to like?

The above photo of a mid-week supper includes butternut squash pureed with spices (cinnamon, cumin, ginger, a dash each of nutmeg and cayenne)-- the squash already peeled and cut into cubes at TJs. The veggies consist of leftover steamed Brussels sprouts mixed with a frozen TJ vegetable mix called "soycotash." And the fish--grouper from Luken's at Findlay Market--is topped with Joe's artichoke and red pepper bruschetta sauce.

If you want to convert to a more healthy diet but don't want to take up cooking as a vocation, you could do worse than to spend a half hour or so looking closely at TJ's produce, pantry, and frozen food aisles. And no, I am not on their payroll!
Anyone who has a favorite grocery store, or particular products, that healthy foodies should know about, please weigh in. Leave a comment, or email me at pamamitchell@cinci.rr.com.