Planning for a Busy Day

Thursday this week was our really busy day. I had to work in Columbus and go to a few client meetings, which means dropping the kids off at the sitter at a specific time to make sure I get there in time (my time management skills could always use some improvement, oops). In addition to working in Columbus for the day, I needed to stop at the mall on my way home and return some shoes and at Costco to get some water (for Tim) and Peanut Butter (for L&L). I then needed to get home, pick up the boys from the sitter and go to swim lessons. So, my food/eating plan for the day was as follows:

Plan:
Breakfast: Smoothie
Snack: apple & PB
Lunch: Panera
Snack: Snack Bar
Dinner: Crockpot Veggie Stew

Here was my actual:
Breakfast: Smoothie
Snack: Trail Mix
Lunch: 2 pieces of Chicken Thai Pizza on whole grain crust (from CPK)....this was kind of a fail
Snack: a few samples of stuff at Costco
Dinner: Crockpot Veggie Stew + apple and PB

So....I totally splurged on the lunch item above, but other than that (and the samples at Costco) I did alright for running around all day. The crockpot veggie stew was super yummy, though, so I'm really glad I had that ready to go when we got home from swim lessons. It helped me avoid eating fast food, which was bonus!

I went with super simple this time and used the canned veggie soup that my mom and I made this past summer. So I only had to sear the beef (2nd half of "stew meat" that I used in my Gyros on Tuesday), and threw it in the crockpot with a can of low sodium beef broth, half a chopped onion, smashed garlic clove and a bay leaf. I let just the beef cook all day while I was gone. When I got home from work (around 5pm) I threw in a Quart sized jar of homemade canned veggie soup into the crockpot and let that cook until we got home from swim. It turned out great! I typically make beef-veggie crockpot stew with all the random veggies I have in the fridge, a can of diced tomatoes and sometimes a can of tomato sauce as well, but this was quicker, easier and still really healthy since it was all veggies and homemade canned soup from the summer (and my mom's garden). I was still a little hungry though, so also ate an apple with some peanut butter, one of my favorite foods/snacks! I forgot to take a picture of the stew, so here is a picture of the canned soup I keep for quick/easy dinners. Love this stuff!

Homemade Veggie Soup (and my sad little herbs behind it)