Change Your Center!

When I was growing up, every meal centered around the meat. What would go with pork chops, what to serve with the roast beef, and on and on and on. I remember our big Friday night grocery shopping as a child.  We started at the meat counter, then we picked up everything else!  The meat, or the protein, was always the center of every meal and each dish was decided upon with regard to how it complimented that protein. Even as my children were growing I did that very same thing in meal planning. First I would decide the protein, be it pork steak, ring bologna, beef roast, or chicken, and then I would decide what ‘went with it’. That was typical meal planning. Not once did I look at a beautiful head of cabbage and think, ‘hmmm, what could I do with this?’ Times have changed! Thank goodness! Now I think of lucious vegetables I can make and perhaps pick a lean protein to go with that. I always weigh the protein whether it is fish, or chicken, or very, very, very, rarely red meat. Each person gets a 4-ounce serving, and that’s it! No seconds on protein! Vegetables? I never weigh those and encourage everyone to eat as much as they want. Meals have changed, thank goodness!