Meal Plan For Wednesday – For the Gut and Heart

Wednesday is a special day. It is the middle of the week. It is the time to rejoice that the first two weekdays have gone by uneventfully – and the time to plan to get some major work done before the weekend begins.

On Wednesday you want to eat meals that will re-energize you and allow you to do all the work that you are enthusiastically looking forward to – on Thursday and Friday. But you don’t want the meals to keep you in the kitchen all day – because you want to celebrate, plan and accomplish that you have planned. So wholesome hearty meals that don’t keep you in the kitchen all day is what we have planned for you.

Challenges with planning the Wednesday menu 

  1. Each meal of the Wednesday menu must have all the nutrients in the right proportion
  2. The meals must ensure a mid-week maintenance of all the organ systems of the body
  3. The meals should be easy to cook – so that the chunk of time and energy available can go towards midweek celebration and planning.
  4. The meals should have a fun element attached to them. They should not be boring.

 

Wednesday menu breakup

  1. A healthy breakfast
  2. A wholesome 11 am snack
  3. A packed tiffin with a treat
  4. A satisfying and strengthening lunch
  5. An energizing 4 pm snack
  6. A nourishing dinner

Weekly menu planning – Day 3 – Wednesday

This menu is designed by Simran Oberoi Multani with nutritional and parenting inputs from Dr Debmita Dutta

Breakfast – Laal saag paratha

10 am snack – Apple cinnamon whole wheat muffin with Almonds and seeds

Lunch – Rajma curry, Laal saag coconut stir fry

Lunch box – Mixed vegetable sandwich

Evening snack – Baked spiced Makhanas

Dinner – Whole wheat Quesadila wrap

Also see The Monday menu and the Tuesday menu

The features on the Wednesday Menu

  1. The meals are rich in vitamins and minerals
  2. Every meal is fiber rich and is designed to keep the digestive system and the heart happy.
  3. The meals are loaded with high quality protein
  4. Three different fat sources have been included in the menu
  5. Every meal is designed to energize the body with carbohydrate but prevent a spike in blood sugar
  6. The menu is designed to include interesting food that looks like a snack while being a wholesome meal – so that children love them
  7. Cuisines from all over the world bring their benefits to this meal – while keeping things interesting and also easy
  8. A key ingredients are mixed and matched to make the meals interesting and easy to cook.
  9. The snacks can be cooked ahead on the weekend to minimize the kitchen workload on weekdays.
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The theme for the Wednesday menu

The key ingredients for Wednesday are Rajma (red kidney beans) and Laal saag (Amaranth leaves) and mixed vegetables like capsicum, onion tomato cabbage and carrot. Both ingredients are rich in vitamins minerals and are used in various combinations through the day. The laal saag (Amranth leaves) are used at breakfast and lunch. The rajma is used at lunch and dinner. And the mixed vegetables are used for the lunch box and dinner.

Weekly menu plan for wednesday

Weekly menu plan for Wednesday

Recipes for Wednesday

Breakfast

Amaranth / Lal Saag Paratha(with seeds) and Green Chutney

amaranth paratha with seeds

Amaranth paratha with seeds

Ingredients 

Chopped lal saag  1 cup

Melon seeds -1 tbsp

Whole wheat flour – 1 ½ cups

Jowar flour -1/2 cup

Warm water

Salt – 1 tsp

Ajwain –   1 tsp

Method-

  1. Mix the saag, seeds, flours, salt and ajwain well.
  2. Slowly add warm water and knead the dough.
  3. Do not make the dough sticky.
  4. Make like chapattis on the tawa and add ghee.

11 Am snack

 Apple-Cinnamon WW Muffin with Almonds and mixed seeds and raisins – Add some savory variant too

Ingredients

Whole wheat flour – 2 cups

Baking powder – 2 tsp

Cinnamon -2 tsp

Chopped almonds – as needed

Raisins – as needed

Seeds – as needed

Eggs – 2

Coconut sugar or cane sugar – 1 cup

Cup oil -1/3 cup

Vanilla extract -1/2  tsp

Grated apple – 2

Milk – ¼ cup

Method

  1. Preheat oven to 170 degrees C.
  2. Keep the cupcake liners ready.
  3. In a large bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder, sugar, cinnamon.
  4. In another bowl, whisk the eggs, oil, milk and vanilla together until combined.
  5. Fold the dry ingredients into the wet ones.
  6. Add the grated apple, almonds, raisins and seeds.
  7. Fold everything  together  to combine well.
  8. Put the batter into liners
  9. And bake for 20-25 minutes or
  10. Until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Savoury version-

You can make a non-sweet muffin by excluding the sugar, vanilla, almonds, raisins and apples. All you need to add in place is cheese, veggies of your choice, salt, pepper and basil/oregano.

Lunch box

Sandwich

sandwich with veggies

Sandwich with veggies

Sandwich with same set of veggies that will be used in the quesadilla at dinner

Lunch

Rajma curry

Rajma

Rajma

Lal Saag-Coconut Stir Fry

amaranth coconut stirfry

Amaranth coconut stirfry

Ingredients

Chopped lal saag – 1cup

Panch phoron spice mix -1 tsp

Salt to taste,

Gingelly or groundnut oil – 1 tbsp

Grated coconut (dry or fresh) – 1 tbsp

Chopped onions – 1/4  cup

One dried red chilly.

Method-

  1. Heat oil in a pan.
  2. Add the spice mix and red chilly
  3. Stir for a minute.
  4. Add the onions and sauté until brownish.
  5. Now add the lal saag
  6. Salt and top it with the grated coconut.
  7. Mix well for 5 minutes until the saag is cooked well.
  8. Serve hot.

 

4 pm snack

Baked Spiced Makhanas

spicy baked makhana

Spicy baked makhana

Method-

  1. Take some makhanas/foxnuts in a baking tray or dish
  2. Drizzle with oil
  3. Add dried chives, salt and paprika.
  4. Mix well to coat all the makhana will the spices.
  5. Bake at 175 degree C, for 20 minutes
  6. And they are done.
  7. Can be stored in air tight container for over a week.

Dinner

Whole wheat Quesadilla wrap

whole wheat Quesadilla wrap

Whole wheat Quesadilla wrap

Whole wheat Tortillas can be made and kept in advance.

Ingredients

Whole-wheat flour – 2 ½ cups

Olive oil -1/3 cup

Salt -1 tsp

Water heated -1 cup

Mix it all together

Roll out very thin chapatti-like shape.

Then cook it on the non-stick pan until it cooks through.

Filling can be Rajma, to which you have added some grated cheese, oregano and a bit of homemade tomato sauce. You can add grated carrot and/ or capsicum to it.

Also read How to plan a balanced diet for your child

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