Maxwell 40: Wearing Their Vests in an Apartment for Fun

[freejugar]

If you're gonna give a recipe, give it complete. Amount of veggies, nuts, what kind of beans, recipe for the dressing, picture of the finished product. You can even include grocery lists too.

Why are they so bad at explaining things?

 

[church_of_dog]

Okay, I eat large salads for supper often in the hot weather.  And one of the (hopefully few) things I have in common with the Maxwells is that I don't need a lot of variety in my life.  Once I know how to make a salad I like, I'm content to make that same salad several days in a row without feeling the need to change it up for variety's sake.

BUT.

What exactly is the purpose of all the jars?  Are they taking these with them for lunch out of the house?  No (at least I don't assume so).

If the point is to save time by doing all the chopping etc at once, I get that.  But why not end up with one big container of chopped tomatoes, one of sliced carrots, one of cut celery, etc.  Lettuce I would not cut in advance, and definitely not more than one day in advance, as it browns too quickly.

When I make a big salad it only takes a few minutes without anything being prepped in advance, so I don't really get the point of her strategy.

I'm weird so my salads don't even include tomatoes.  I use 1/2 to a whole heart of romaine (or about 4 ounces of loose leaf locally grown lettuce).  Diced red onion, garlic, kalamata olives, half an avocado, blue cheese crumbles, occasionally a hard boiled egg (usually if I'm out of avocado or blue cheese).  Sprinkles of flax seeds, chia seeds, dulse flakes (seaweed), nutritional yeast, raisins, olive oil and rice wine vinegar.  Seasonal additions sometimes a few radishes or asparagus stalks or a red bell pepper.  This is not a low-fat recipe, folks!  I think I estimated it once at around 700 calories.  But I do think it's healthy and I like the taste.  My theoretical blog post would at least show a photo of the assembled salad...

[usmcmom]

I’ve been eating this salad for lunch most days. I discovered these salad toppers...in my pantry. I sear some shrimp and corn so both have a little bit of brown on them. I add sliced strawberries and peaches, cucumbers, onions and radishes and toss it all into Romaine. Drizzle with maple balsamic and top with these crunchy goodies. I love it. 
 

I usually just use a bottle of balsamic vinaigrette and add a bit of maple syrup (or honey).  Also, I cut my lettuce with a plain old knife. 

[HerNameIsBuffy]

6 minutes ago, usmcmom said:

Also, I cut my lettuce with a plain old knife. 

I tear my lettuce like a true artisan!

[nvmbr02]

I used to do mason jar salads for work but the ones I did had everything in one jar, you put the dressing in the bottom and then the veggies with the lettuce on top. I am very picky about my veggies, especially lettuce, being wilted or turning brown and I found it to be very effective at keeping everything fresh. But now that both my husband and I are home we just make salads fresh. It takes me 15ish minutes to throw together a salad for both of us (which is our lunch 3-4 days a week). We frequently use leftover meat from dinner the night before and just throw whatever veggies with it that go the best. Last night we had grilled chicken with BBQ sauce and todays lunch salad is BBQ chicken, grilled corn (also leftover from last night) black beans, tomato, red onion, yellow and red pepper and avocado. I'll add some cheddar cheese to my husband's and I will probably add some cucumber to mine. It is a great way to use up dinner leftovers that we would otherwise toss out. 

 

Edited July 8, 2020 by nvmbr02
typo

[fundiefan]

When I worked in the office (I WFH now) I took salads for lunch more often than not. 

On Sunday's, I'd do all my food prep. Clean & dct the veggies & store them all in bulk in the fridge. Clean the lettuce & that is what I'd put in separate containers right away because I have a small fridge & a big container of lettuce takes up too much space. Plus, I hate wilted & brown lettuce & by doing it in individual containers I could include paper towels to help soak up the water - that doesn't work as well with a large container becasue the paper towel gets soaked quickly. But, anyway. All that was done before the week began. Each night when I did my "nightime routine" - which really was just showering & making lunch for the next day - I pulled out one container of lettuce & all the veggies & built my salad. Took 3 minutes, tops. I kept dressing at work so I didn't have to deal with that. 

Now that I'm home I still do it much the same, just not nearly as often because since I am here & have a full kitchen of choices, I can decide each day what I want for lunch & don't have to preplan as much. It's not hard to do and I don't really get the jar thing - not for my purposes, anyway. I suppose I do the same thing, just in rubbermaid bowls rather than mason jars. I know glass is better for the environment & that probably plays a role in their popularity, but if I have glass, I will break it. It's just as guaranteed as if I wear white I will spill. 

To make this even longer *sigh* - but to actually complete the salad process - my salads were pretty much always the same. A mixture of lettuce - whatever was on sale that week. Red onion, snap peas, cherry (not grape) tomatoes, cucumbers, hard boiled egg, avacado, a cruncy topper, sunflower seeds and dressing, usually Trader Joe's Everything Ranch. There were changes & additions at times, but that's the necessary basics. 

[HerNameIsBuffy]

Say what you will about their lack of excitement while food blogging, I was thrilled that Teri is allowed the individuality to not like celery (even though Steve does) and to mix her kale up with some lettuce.  With all that autonomy it's practically an open marriage!

[usmcmom]

I am also one of those people who can eat the same thing every day. Once I find something I like, I’ll eat it most days until I start getting tired of it. I usually have a salad for lunch and I have two that I enjoy a lot. One starts with chopped rotisserie chicken and the other is the shrimp salad I mentioned above. Boiled eggs are a standard salad protein for us too. And black beans - I always keep those on hand. 
 

I was wondering why Teri didn’t put her chopped veggies in smaller jars. It seems she could go down a size with those Mason jars and save some storage space. The bigger ones were barely half full, if that. 

[Alisamer]

I am a super picky eater but I will occasionally eat a salad - I like spinach and/or romaine for the greens, plus some fruit (sliced apple, or strawberry, or just some grapes and/or blueberries). If I have any I'll add something crunchy (nuts, croutons, once I crumbled up some rosemary crackers) and maybe some bacon bits or grilled chicken. For dressings I usually use a fruit vinaigrette, but on a vacation with my friends I discovered a bottle of Panda Express sweet chili sauce in the fridge and used that, and it was AMAZING. Sweet and spicy and so good. 

[deborahlynn1979]

Quote

We like these salads so much that we are happy to eat them every day.

ORLY, Terri? Are you?

[Hane]

Somehow, I wasn’t infuriated by this post, but I wondered why people who are retired/work from home have to do so much complicated prep work for something that doesn’t even need cooking.

[Giraffe]

I’ve never been successful at food prep because I rarely eat the same daily. I should start prepping ingredients instead of meals. That would still save a lot of time. 

[daisyjane1234]

Similar to Teri and Steve I eat a largely whole food, plant-based, low-sugar diet, though I am much less rigid. For example, I somehow thought they didn't eat pasta or bread, etc.  I happily eat those foods. Hell, I love a good carb. Give me a warm baguette over chocolate cake any day!  I also don't have a problem with eating similar, or the same, food day after day.  I often make a huge batch of something and eat it for several days.

However, I also know that I can eat a HUGE salad for lunch and be downright starving by mid-afternoon. I usually need snacks between meals, otherwise I am famished.  Rather than telling us about an individual meal - oatmeal for breakfast, salad for lunch - I would be interested to know what their daily food intake looks like.  If you're strictly following a WFPB diet you usually need to eat more food to be satiated. In fact you're advised that if you're eating whole, plant-based foods you probably don't need to restrict portion sizes.  I find I usually need to eat a couple of apples or bananas, a pile of veggies, and occasionally a small handful of nuts, between meals.  Given the Maxwell tendency to restrict food intake and fast, I wonder how they manage the need to eat more food.

[SassyPants]

6 hours ago, freejugar said:

If you're gonna give a recipe, give it complete. Amount of veggies, nuts, what kind of beans, recipe for the dressing, picture of the finished product. You can even include grocery lists too.

Why are they so bad at explaining things?

 

They are barely literate and have zero social skills. Clear communication is not their jam. Sarah graduated from Teri’s Table of Terror, yet she can not scribe a grammatically correct sentence, or one that conveys a clear and concise thought. I don’t want to hear about how educated Teri is, because her offspring are not, and she IS responsible for those failures.

[jakesykora]

8 hours ago, freejugar said:

<snip>

Why are they so bad at explaining things?

 

Yet they never fail to "explain" really important things. Like including it's the "___ (fill in any son's name) Maxwell family" on every single series of family photos.

Lest we suddenly forget who their kids are, that only their sons are married and carrying on the precious family name, or which family's blog we are even on. ::eyeroll::

Edited July 8, 2020 by jakesykora

[SassyPants]

We like these salads so much that we are happy to eat them every day.

Um, better be careful or Steve might deem them an idol and place them on the forbidden list! Likely to be replaced with a big bowl of Steve approved celery.

[lilith]

They aren’t eating enough in my opinion. I know Steve had to change his diet for his health (and to lose his tiny ungodly belly) but he’s looking positively gaunt lately. That man needs protein and Teri definitely needs a decent amount of calcium in her diet at her age and after a life of childbearing and nursing.

[browngrl]

4 hours ago, Giraffe said:

I should start prepping ingredients instead of meals. That would still save a lot of time. 

I highly recommend this. I failed at food prepping many times. I'd get bored of a meal or things would change texture over time and then I'd just go buy some takeout. Then I started to prep ingredients. Game changer. I will do things like make dozens of meatballs or roast a lot of chicken or cook up mushrooms in a garlic/white wine/butter sauce or cook large batches of tomato sauce, wash any hardy vegetables that last well eg carrots, cabbage etc. It is so easy and quick to throw together a meal when all I have to add is some perishables which don't freeze/store well. 

 

[Bethy]

4 hours ago, Hane said:

Somehow, I wasn’t infuriated by this post, but I wondered why people who are retired/work from home have to do so much complicated prep work for something that doesn’t even need cooking.

Because the 15-minute block labeled Lunch Prep only exists on the schedule on certain days, silly! Seriously though, I'm guessing they've always batch-prepped their lunches and aren't about to stop now, even though what they're eating would be better with at least some of the ingredients prepped daily.

3 hours ago, daisyjane1234 said:

Given the Maxwell tendency to restrict food intake and fast, I wonder how they manage the need to eat more food.

Clearly, they're not. That's why Steve's color looks so "off" and we mistook Teri for one of the grands in the background of a recent picture. She's so painfully thin that her head looks disproportionately large to the rest of her. They should be adding in extra snacks but it sure doesn't look like they are.

[ElizaB]

I will admit I am a huge fan of food prep and I do salads in a similar method. However, mine were done like that so I could throw them in my lunch box each morning. When work from home started my food prep stopped as I knew I didn't have to grab and go. However, because my salads aren't prepped I find myself eating less healthy things. I can see how doing it this way keeps you accountable (not that they would dare slide) to eat your healthy prepped lunch. When I saw the post I actually thought that maybe I should food prep my salads again so I will actually eat them for lunch. 

[crunchycarrots]

17 hours ago, JermajestyDuggar said:

Pinterest was covered in this type of thing 2-3 years ago. Steve and Teri would know this if they had any clue as to what Pinterest is.

Ha! I remember Mason jar salads being a big thing on Pinterest 7 years ago, before my kids were born and I was still working and taking lunch to work.  I found out about them on facebook after one of my friends posted a picture of the ones she made.  I went and looked at the posts just to make sure of the date- yep 7 years ago.  These folks are seriously behind on the times, in so many ways.  I'm sure I'm stating the obvious, but even if the content wasn't dated, what they've posted is not enough content to warrant an entire blog post.  I just don't get why they're so resistant to other forms of social media.  This kinda thing would be perfect for Instagram, a couple of pictures of their jar salads and a quick caption is all that is needed. ?

[fundiefan]

7 hours ago, crunchycarrots said:

Ha! I remember Mason jar salads being a big thing on Pinterest 7 years ago, before my kids were born and I was still working and taking lunch to work.  I found out about them on facebook after one of my friends posted a picture of the ones she made.  I went and looked at the posts just to make sure of the date- yep 7 years ago.  These folks are seriously behind on the times, in so many ways.  I'm sure I'm stating the obvious, but even if the content wasn't dated, what they've posted is not enough content to warrant an entire blog post.  I just don't get why they're so resistant to other forms of social media.  This kinda thing would be perfect for Instagram, a couple of pictures of their jar salads and a quick caption is all that is needed. ?

They are not only behind, they are superficial. "Look here, good bye" is the extent of their communication. Nothing about how it's helpful, where they heard about it, how they make it their own or get creative, just the facts, ma'am and absolutely nothing more. 

They do their blog posts for themselves - look at us and how godly we are - not to offer anything to or for anyone else. 

[smittykins]

On 7/7/2020 at 10:04 AM, danvillebelle said:

My "just born" photo in my baby book is so awful I used to stare at it as a child in a kind of horrified fascination...I couldn't believe it was actually me.  

My 3-month is not much better because I was a heavy drooler, but at least I was chunky with big blue eyes...not a squished alien with crazy hair.

In the book “From Here To Maternity” by Carol Weston, her husband asks “You know how they say all babies look like Winston Churchill?”

’Yeah.”

”Do you think ours looks like Buddy Hackett?”

”Kinda.”

[Austrian Atheist]

I'm a vegetarian and I like salads as a main dish but my portions are huge - I mean HUGE - and contain a lot of proteins (not only toppings). I would starve. I hope it's more than it looks, I hope they add a lot of those toppings but they really look fragile latley. I don't think they get enough calories. Greens don't have a lot of calories, just fiber.

And I don't get why they prepare it in advance when they don't travel (or go to work and take it as a lunch). They are five adults who don't really work. Vitamins get lost if vegetables are cut too early and stored too long. So why don't make the salads fresh? It's 10-15 minutes max for two people.

[Bethy]

1 hour ago, fundiefan said:

They are not only behind, they are superficial. "Look here, good bye" is the extent of their communication. Nothing about how it's helpful, where they heard about it, how they make it their own or get creative, just the facts, ma'am and absolutely nothing more. 

They do their blog posts for themselves - look at us and how godly we are - not to offer anything to or for anyone else. 

I'm not saying you're wrong, but I do feel like the blog was better years ago. More actual how-tos, when that's what they were going for. The blog posts from the younger girls were always awful, but we haven't heard from them lately; the boys tended to be preachy and overbearing, but they're all "extended family" now, so we're down to the original blogging team - Steve, Teri, and Sarah. Which makes me wonder if Steve/Teri are so hungry they can't concentrate, and whether Sarah really is depressed.

ETA: in the "glory days" of the blog that I'm thinking of (the Uriah years) they were actually going places and doing things. We saw a lot of quarter-turn-toward-the-camera-and-grin while setting up tables, and many pictures of conferencegoers (who may or may not have given permission for their image to be used) as well as some stops at various landmarks and even random "look at this cool sunset" shots through the bus window. Now there's nothing going on, much of the "extended family" seems to value privacy, and there's way less to share.

Edited July 9, 2020 by Bethy
thought of something else