Easter Fallout

I ate more this weekend than I have in ages. Besides the usual yummy Easter dinner of turkey, ham, mashed potatoes and gravy, cabbage rolls and all the usual trimmings, there were just so many delicious desserts! I had worked my way through apple pie, a traditional Czech lamb-shaped pound cake coated in buttercream from my sister's in-laws, almond-raspberry and peanut butter cupcakes (one of each), and a small piece of my Grandma's birthday carrot cake, before I realized I hadn't even had any chocolate!

Hence, this week, things will be on the light side (with the occasional chocolate Easter egg thrown in for good measure). On our way back to town (yesterday, due to a one-day delay while we waited for D to get over a stomach bug--YUCK.) we stopped in at Dad's Nutrition Centre to stock up on organic vegetables. I decided to just build a meal plan from what I found rather than starting out with one.

Last night I started things off using the bundles of fresh broccolette in a delicious dish of pasta with chickpeas and broccoli. It was just what the nutritionist ordered.

Another great thing about it was that Baby G could eat it as well. I pulled out some pasta and chickpeas before I made the sauce, and cooked one of the broccolettes whole instead of chopping it, and he pretty much ate what we did. In fact today I just gave him some of the leftovers, 'sauce' and all, since the sauce was just olive oil and lemon juice, really. G has moved forward in his eating by leaps and bounds since I gave in and let him have puffed wheat. Which means he can also have bread. He seems much happier now that he can eat toast with D and me in the mornings. He just wants to skip the baby food stage and move on to the real thing! It helps that, while he's only 8 months old, he has eight teeth, so he can chew as well as or better than most one year olds.

It's 4 PM and I didn't have a plan for supper tonight, until I looked at Moosewood's Simple Suppers and realized I can turn the leftover Ukrainian Easter bread (Paska, lovingly braided by my grandmother) into a savoury bread pudding. It's going to get turned into Savory Bread and Cheese Bake. The golden raisins in the bread will add just the slightest touch of sweetness. Not terribly light, but I'll keep the portions small and eat extra broccoli slaw, dressed with simple olive oil and lemon juice.

Still have Thursday and Friday to figure out...I'll get there. But it will contain one or more of the following: Swiss chard, zucchini, yellow and orange peppers, yams, potatoes or celeriac.