Funny – I think real calamari, tentacles and all, is delish but this hot dog version just gave me a full body shudder. Red-neck seafood, indeed.
Portia di Rossi had to ice her arms between takes on Ally Mcbeal because she was so thin that her arm veins were ridiculously prominent. (Can you imagine being hired to be the Skinny Actress Arm Icer??) Kelly Osbourne recently ‘fessed up that her drug addiction was born out of the media calling her fat and ugly. (But now everything is better because she can wear a bikini!) And then there’s this: “real” housewife Bethenny Frankel started her own cafepress store and her first creation was a baby onesie for her infant daughter Bryn Hoppy which would be totally sweet except:
I KNOW. Perhaps she’s just trying to promote her Skinnygirl brand (although that in and of itself is a questionable motive) but it sure reads like a diet advertisement. She explains it thusly, “Skinnygirl is the name of my line of nutritious products and recipes and I hope to raise Bryn to value a healthy lifestyle as I do.” Heaven help poor Brynn if she ruins her mommy’s image by being chunky! Because as we all know skinny=healthy. Come on Bryn, Barbie’s baby doesn’t have dimpled toddler thighs with rolls! Best work on that.
And this was the reason why dinner was late tonight! No, I’m not putting Jelly Bean on a diet. I was so busy seeing red over Bethenny’s doomed offspring that I’d forgotten about my own offspring until they were all clinging to my legs and whining about being hungry. For not ever watching TV, I’m amazed at the amount of celebrity gossip that filters into my consciousness. Sadly, this is probably the real reason my brain is full (don’t forget to enter the contest! $250!!) – I’m so busy trying to remember if Halle Berry is now divorced (yep!) or if Suri Cruise has ever worn the same dress twice (nope!) that sometimes I forget to start dinner until it’s the exact time we should be eating it.
Seeing as we had the 3rd-grade choir concert to attend tonight, dinner could not be pushed back. So I made my go-to quickie meal. I define a quickie meal as something that goes from fridge to table in ten minutes or less. No need to call the pizza delivery man either; dinner’s got to be healthy. This was what was on the menu tonight:
Garlic shrimp: Warm olive oil in skillet, add garlic paste from jar, dump in a bag of frozen shrimp (vegetarian/vegan option: tempeh or tofu) and dust with sea salt. Sprinkle a couple packets of True Lemon or Lime over the top (optional but really tasty). It’s done when shrimp is pink – about 5 minutes. Protein!
Popcorn: While shrimp is cooking, use the handy-dandy microwave air-popper – my absolute favorite kitchen gadget ever! – to pop up some corn. Drizzle with a tablespoon of melted coconut oil. (I don’t salt it and my kids don’t seem to miss it but you can add whatever topping you want. I toss mine with curry powder and turmeric – don’t judge, it’s awesome!) Whole grains + yummy fats!
Mini sweet peppers and snap peas: Don’t be fancy – we’re in a hurry! – just slap the bags on the table. Veggies!
That was it – healthy meal, 8 minutes (yes I timed myself) and totally kid-approved! (It was also cheap: I calculated it at $7.50 for the whole meal which works out to $1.30 ish per serving.) We finished with plenty of time to get to the choir concert. Except that the car battery died and so all the rushing around did was wind my kids up and make them crazy until daddy could get home and free us from our asylum. Yes, the 3rd grader was crushed.
Do you have a super-quick healthy meal that is your standby for those nights where you are too busy wondering if Taylor Swift really is dating a man old enough to be her father (even if he is as gorgeous as Jake Gyllenhaal) to plan out dinner? I need some new ideas before the kids get sick of shrimp! And what do you think of Bethenny’s baby onesie – am I being oversensitive or does it upset you as much as it did me?
Written with love by Charlotte Hilton Andersen for The Great Fitness Experiment (c) 2010. Thanks for reading!