Welcome to Heather’s Unmeasured: A blog dedicated to random ideas and rants about the highs and lows of meal planning and meal prep
Today, I'm feeling the benefits of having a meal plan because work has been insanely energy-draining (for several reasons), and feeding my family is one less thing to have to think about. That said, I have been skipping taking an inventory of my kitchen when doing my weekly program, and I realized this morning that I am missing cheese for lunches the next two days. Like I actually thought to myself, “And this is why you don’t skip steps…”
Tuesday is my normal “mid-week stop at the store day”, so I really didn’t want to make another stop just for cheese, but if it was nutritionally more beneficial to have it, I was willing to stop since it’s on my way to my 9-5. So for the first time, I used Google's Gemini, to supplement my program. BTW, I’m not on the AI bandwagon, and I’m not sure I’ll use it often, but it was super duper helpful for me today, and then it hit me…this is your first Heather’s Unmeasured blog post.
Here’s the gist of my chat; Gemini is quoted or paraphrased:
Heather: which is more nutrient dense rice and beans or rice beans and cheese
GG: rice, beans, and cheese is more nutrient-dense
Considering I planned on making rice, bean, and cheese burritos, I rephrased my question because maybe the tortilla and cheese make another complete protein…to me, it was worth asking…
Heather: is a rice cheese and bean burrito more nutrient dense than a rice and bean burrito
GG: Yes, a rice, bean, and cheese burrito is more nutrient-dense than a plain rice and bean burrito…
Heather: im trying to justify whether or not its worth the nutrients to stop at the store just for cheese
GG: No, it’s likely not worth a special trip just for the nutrients…
GG: If you want to save yourself the trip, let me know: what other ingredients you currently have in your fridge or pantry?...
GG: I can help you build the most nutrient-dense burrito possible with exactly what you have on hand.
Heather: rice beans tortillas eggs avocado oil frozen spinach and butter
GG: “You can make an incredibly nutrient-dense burrito right now that completely beats the cheese version, without leaving your house..”
After reading about incorporating the spinach into the beans, adding an extra drizzle of avocado oil, and adding eggs…
Heather: how would i add frozen spinach to dried beans (P.S. I have been soaking black beans for the last day plus…)
GG: Fully cook the beans, thaw and drain the spinach, combine at the end, emulsify with fat
GG: What type of dried beans are you using? Are you cooking them on a stove, in an Instant Pot, or a slow cooker?
Heather: black beans and instant pot
Then it gave me directions on how to cook the beans, and I cook with dried beans often so I figured I was done…
Heather: thx gemini (⇠ is anyone else polite to their AI tools?)
GG: You are very welcome! Enjoy your nutrient-dense burrito - - you definitely saved yourself a trip to the store.
GG: Are you planning to fry your rice in butter or avocado oil?
Maybe I’m not done…How did it know I wasn’t making steamed rice??? Scrolls through chat to see if I said anything specific about the rice…
Heather: i am making mexican rice for this so i will add tomato sauce, garlic powder, cumin. whats better here: butter or avocado oil?
Also at this point, I’m happy with the results of this chat so I figured I’d use some punctuation to make it easier to understand me?...this is a peek at how my brain works…
GG: Avocado oil is the better choice for making Mexican rice….
GG tells me why avocado oil wins (high smoke point and better consistency), and I decide to use avocado oil for the rice and butter as the fat emulsifier when I add the spinach to the beans…
Heather: great, ill add butter to the spinach and black beans
GG: That is an excellent choice....
Here’s the lesson I learned today:
Don’t skip meal planning steps…and if you do, use your available resources to your advantage.
Don’t concede and go to the store…again.
In the end, you just might make a better burrito.
Until next time, happy eating!!
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