Best Meals Yet and Week of April 11th Preview

Avid readers,
Sorry my posts have been so far apart.  This week I ate some really great foods and I'm very excited to share them with you!

DAY 80

Today I had my Go-To breakfast with 1 cup of skim milk.  Are we allowed to call it skim milk anymore?  Only non-fat?  I remember as a kid despising skim milk.  Now I can't fathom drinking anything else!
For lunch I had leftovers from our delish beef and broccoli stir fry.
During the day I snacked on:

• 1 cheese stick
• laughing cow spreadable cheese on 3 rykrisp crackers
• 1 vitamuffin top
• 3/4 cup blueberry kefir
• zumba gym class.

For dinner we had a chicken and toasted peanut "toss" which basically means stir fry.  They recipe only called for cooking the veggies for 3 minutes, which basically meant they were still raw, and Michael Jordan and I really prefer the veggies (esp onions) to be cooked.  I ended up cooking them up more before we packed them away for leftovers.  This dish was supposed to be made with pork, but we replaced the pork with chicken.  Served with brown rice.  There's also a ginger sauce that goes on it, that I thought called for WAY too much ginger and really didn't like it.

 

DAY 81

For breakfast today I had eggwhites and mozz cheese.  And it tasted like ginger from the sauce we made last night.  I lodged a complaint with my maid/MJ.  He apologized.
I actually took my egg "on the go" with me by wrapping it in foil and carrying it along with me.  That's when I realized I wasn't the only one who walks and eats breakfast.  The problem is that the other two people I saw walking with their breakfasts were eating Doritos.  Wow unhealthy.  It wasn't even 9am.  So sad.

For lunch I had left overs from our chicken/peanut toss.  They were better with the more-cooked veggies.

I snacked on: 

• 60 cal raspberry yogurt
• go to snack
• apple
• mini twix and milkyway bar
• coffee!

At work they got a new coffee machine with a new type of coffee that is SO much better than the burnt junk they used to have.  This is a dangerous new development.  


For dinner we tried this delicious new recipe!  It's called a southwest turkey bake.


You mix up some lean, ground turkey (cook on pan until no longer pink) and then add black beans, salsa, cumin and red pepper.  We found this great natural salsa where I recognize all the ingredients and it actually tastes really good!  Mix those together and then fill a 13 x 9 pan.  Separately mix cornbread mix (we used whole wheat corn bread) with an egg and low sodium chicken broth.  Pour over the turkey mix and bake for 15 - 20 minutes at 400º.  (Your are supposed to top it with Mexican cheese, but we skipped that step).
IT WAS SO GOOD!  MJ ate double what we were supposed to.  Seriously YUMMMMMY - you should try this!!!!

first piece never comes out pretty

a flawless second piece!

sideview

Today I also decided to try out dessert since we haven't done more than the occasional cookie or vitamuffintop.  

I made dessert nachos!  You cut up a whole wheat tortilla, sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon.  Bake for 10 minutes.  Serve with low-fat yogurt, fruit and chocolate chips!  Huge success!  So easy and can be changed to include whatever fruits/toppings you like!

 

DAY 82 

Today I had my go-to breakfast for breakfast.  With a coffee.
For lunch I had leftovers from my turkey bake.  MJ brought two portions for his lunch as well!  
I was pretty good about not snacking today, and I'm not sure how/why that happened.

For dinner, I used what we had around the kitchen to make a meal.  I had planned on making this recipe that called for butternut squash and replacing it with sweet potatoes, but upon further investigation, I realized it really wasn't possible.  Instead I peeled the sweet potatoes and sliced them like thin potatoes chips, seasoned them to taste and baked them for 8 minutes on each side.  Meanwhile, I baked some chicken and sauteed some broccoli and green onions.  The end result was a nice meal that turned out pretty good.  We tried some hawaiian teriyaki sauce on the side (about the size of a quarter) to give the chicken some flavor.

I had some fun with the plating... serve irish flag style...

or serve bulls-eye style!

After dinner we went out with some of our friends and I order my vodka gimlet.  The server called me an "advanced drinker."  I was very proud.  Then I almost got some late night falafel, but didn't give in to the peer pressure.  I was very proud.  

DAY 83

Today I tried another Amy's Organic breakfast.  This time, I tried the Mexican tofu scramble.  It was SO good!  I almost couldn't believe it.  I immediately added it to next week's shopping list.
For lunch I used some of the leftover plain chicken from dinner to make a salad - adding lettuce, craisins, pistachios and a light sesame ginger dressing.

For dinner we had another banquet to attend for work.  The good news is we got a free meal and I didn't have to cook.  There's no bad news.  I ate a salad, a roll, and the main course was chicken with asparagus (3 spears) and some mashed potatoes.  I, of course, ate the slice of cheese cake and berries for dessert.  And drank the free wine.  And then switched to free vodka gimlets.  Thank you, work function.  

DAY 84

This morning I made eggs with onions and a scoop of salsa.  I guess I enjoy the Mexican flavoring in my breakfast foods.  Okay let's be serious, in all my foods.  I love avocados too.  mMmmm that sounds good.  I'll need to add some avocados to our lineup next week.

I snacked on a chewy mocha brownie cookie (fresh from the freezer - that's right, they're still good!) and a 100 calorie pack of cheese.

For lunch I had a leftover portion of the turkey bake.   Still good.  I'm sad it's all gone.   MJ ate all our leftover couscous tilipia too.  We did a good job of getting rid of stuff we had in the fridge this week!

MJ snacked on an Amy's Organic Black Bean Veggie Burrito.  He gave it a big stamp of approval but declined the option of writing a guest post.  Mabye next time.

For dinner, we met up with some friends who cooked us rice with sauteed peppers and tofu.  It was served with a peanut sauce and I think it came out well and looked really easy to make.  They also had some corn chips/tortillas and this delicious bean dip out, that MJ and I devoured.  Apparently they bought it at a farmer's market, so now I'm working on convincing MJ to attend said farmer's market so that we too can purchase this bean dip.  

So that's all in our fantastic week of cooking!  Michael Jordan said it was probably our best week of meals to date.  

Week of April 11th

Coming up this week, we've decided to make:

1. Spanish Style Chicken with Mango Salsa 
2. Mediterranean Veggies with Navy Bean Penne (vegetarian)
3. Fish Tacos
4. Leftovers 

We only actually need to cook 3 meals this week because then we'll be heading home where Mama Chickpeas will take over the cooking!  Don't worry, the blog will continue from the Chickpea home!

What are you making this week? Need other suggestions?

Running, An Early Seder (Passover Preview) and a Delicious Stir Fry (Days 78 and 79)

DAY 78

Michael Jordan and I woke up very early today to go for a run together.  I've mentioned running a few times before, and how much I enjoy running with MJ because we get to spend time together.  Let's be clear that I have not always been a runner.  In fact, this time last year I HATED running.  It was boring, hurt my knees, and I always got cramps.  MJ started running last spring when the weather got nice and I went with him one time.  We probably ran a half of a mile and I stopped more than 10 times.  It was bad.  Really bad.  After the "Julie Loop," MJ ran another 2 miles before calling it a day while I stayed in and cried about how horrible it was.  But I tried it again and only stopped 5 times.  And then could run the whole "Julie Loop" without stopping.  Then the loop got bigger, and then doubled in size.  And I liked it.  We were probably running about 3 miles then, and we decided to sign up for a 5K (3.1 miles).  I ran the whole 5K without stopping and set a time of 31:51 - beating my goal of "under 40 minutes."  We ran another 5K later in the fall and plan on running in more this spring.  

So today we went for a run before work and we ran 4.4 miles!  That's my longest run to date.  I was confused because my fitbit told me we ran about 5.2 miles, so I wonder if I just took a lot of steps, which made the miles seem longer?  Not sure.  Maybe I just misread it before we started running.  Either way, it felt great to achieve my longest run and get so many steps in before even going to work!

We got back and I did my Monday Morning Weigh In.  I'm down 2 pounds from last week, so only 3.5 more to go to get to my goal weight!  That's only 1 pound above my lowest point so far on this clean eating meal plan.  Meanwhile, if you're keeping score, MJ hasn't gained a pound.

For breakfast I broke out of my routine of eating my go-to english muffin breakfast and whipped up some eggs.  2 egg whites with onions, tomatoes, and part-skim mozz cheese to be exact.

For lunch, I tried Annie Chuns's Chinese Chicken Soup Bowl, that was located in the organic section of the supermarket.  I picked this soup because:

1. It looked yummy
2. It looked easy
3. I did not have to keep it refrigerated/frozen
4. I could recognize all the ingredients on the back of the box.

Well I was right on 3 of the 4 above.  The last three.  This soup was not yummy.  Don't get me wrong, it wasn't bad, but it was not "yummy."  I'd probably compare it to a healthier version of cup of noodle soup.  That's not a good thing.  Coincidentally, MJ also tried this soup for dinner, and agreed that it was disappointing and not worth repeating. 

The only good thing is that there's a coupon for Annie's products inside the label!  Looking at the Annie Chun's website now, there are definitely other products that look good and that I'd be willing to try.  Maybe I'm just not an instant soup fan?

For snacks today, I had 1 health valley chocolate granola bar and 1 90 calorie special K bar.  I'm not thrilled with either one, but I will say that I won't be purchasing the 90 calorie special K bars again because I can't recognize a thing on the box.  I'm sure this sounds like old news to you, but I was persuaded by the packaging and "chocolatey chip cookie flavor" that was promised.  After all, we all know I'm a sucker for cookies.
I also had 5 french fries (stolen from a friend) and some tam tams (a Passover cracker, similar to matzah) and salsa.

Some of you may now be thinking something along the lines of.... "WHAT?  What's a tam tam?  Where did this matzah talk come from?  It's not passover, is it?  Since when is Julie Jewish? Are we about to learn something personal about Julie beyond the anonymous pen name??" 

Well avid readers, after 78 days I'm pleased to share with you that I am Jewish.  If you notice, there's no pork, ham, bacon, or sausage posts.  I don't eat piggies. Oink oink.  You're welcome, Wilbur. 

"But Julie, you ate shrimp!  Can you eat shrimp?"  Very astute observation, blog reader.  I did/do eat shrimp.  No, I'm not supposed to.  It's not kosher.  I make my mom sad every time I cook shrimp.  (Sorry mom!) But I make my own rules and do allow an exception to be made for shrimp.  


I do tend to refrain from mixing meat and dairy products together.  I have separate plates and silverware for meat and dairy foods. 99% of the meals I cook are Kosher-style.  If you have any questions about keeping Kosher, let me know.


Anyway, you're still right - it's not Passover and Passover doesn't start for another two weeks, so what's the deal with the tam tams? 


Well, a few coworkers decided to put together a model seder to help teach both Jewish and non-Jewish colleagues about Passover.  So I attended a seder, even though I have 2 weeks to eat regular foods before Passover begins.


"WHAT?  Julie you are going to have MORE dietary restrictions?"  Yup.  During Passover I can't eat anything with leavening in it, including, but not limited to, wheat, barley, oats, rye, and spelt.  I'll explain a lot more about Passover in 2 weeks when the holiday begins, since I will be cooking/eating only foods that are Kosher for Passover.

So anyway, back to my story.  I went to a model seder, and at the model seder I ate:

• a few bites of matzah
• chicken (probably 4 ounces)
• 1 slice of brisket 
• 5 bites of roasted potatoes
• grilled veggies
• 1/2 bite of a cookie
• Wine!

The best part about passover is that you get to drink a lot of wine.  That definitely makes the amount of foods you can't eat more bearable.  I hope you are now all sitting on the edge of your seats waiting for my Passover posts.

After dinner I watched a horrible horrible game between UConn and Butler.  Sigh.

DAY 79

Once again, I decided to make eggs for breakfast.  Exactly the same as I did yesterday, so I put them on a different colored plate so you would know I really did eat them two days in a row and didn't just recycle pictures.  Would I do that to you, avid reader?  

At work I had a cup of coffee.  And a free (delicious, unhealthy) blueberry muffin.  And another cup of coffee.  What, the first one was bad.  And cold.

For lunch I tried Amy's Organic Cheese Burrito.  It was pretty good, but I didn't heat it up enough so the middle wasn't hot.  That's my fault, not yours, Amy.  I see on the website that Amy's Organic makes low sodium burritos also, so I'll have to look for those next time I am in the store.

For snacks I had my go-to almond butter snack, 1 apple, 1 cheese stick, 2 rye krisp crackers and 3 cheese cubes.

For dinner, I made a DELICIOUS DELICIOUS Beef and Broccoli Orange Stir Fry from the Best of Clean Eating Magazine Cookbook!

Ingredients:

• 12 ounces soba noodles (TOO MANY - 4 ounces uncooked is enough)
• 1 lb lean round steak, pounded to 1/4 inch thickness and sliced into strips 
• 1/2 cup white onion diced
• 2 cups fresh broccoli florets 
• 1/2 red bell pepper, julienned
• 2 tbsp low-sodium tamari soy sauce
• juice 1 medium orange  
• 2 gloves garlic 
• 2 tsp raw organic honey
• 2 tsp whole-wheat flour

Recipe:

1. Cook noodles according to package. Drain and set aside.
2. Heat large skillet over high for 1 minutes. Reduce heat to medium-high, mist with cooking spray and saute steak for 5 minutes or until cooked through. Remove steak, leave juices in pan.
3. Add onion, broccoli, and pepper, saute for 5 minutes.
4. In medium bowl, whisk together soy sauce, orange juice, garlic, and honey.
5. Add steak back to pan and pour in mixture. Saute until heated through then whisk in flour to thicken. Add noodles to pan and cook until warmed. 
6. 1 serving = 1 cup = 257 calories

The only thing I really changed was the amount of noodles (less) and the amount of veggies (more).  It was really easy and turned out great.  MJ helped himself to thirds! The meal says it serves 6, but I really think it would only serve 4.    

Let me know if you try out the beef and orange stir fry!

Tourists, Bridal Luncheons, Traveling, and a Light Meal (Days 75 - 77)

Hello my blog readers.  All 3,500 of you!  I can't believe my personal little blog project has been read by over 3,500 people.  I appreciate that my blog is being followed and read by so many people.  Please continue to read!

DAY 75

Breakfast - go to breakfast.  As per usual.  

Today I took off the morning from work to be a tourist in my own town.  MJ and I are planning on moving in about 4 months and I created a bucket list of things that I must do in this city before I leave.  Today I went to a top tourist site with Mrs. Jordan.  Without ruining the anonymity of this blog, I'll just say that we did a lot of walking.  So much so that my fitbit total for the day was 16,182 without going to the gym or actively exercising!!!

  

After being tourists in our own city, Mrs. Jordan and I went out for lunch at a hot spot in the city.  The place was packed by 11:30am!  Luckily we got a table without a wait (the last one!) and enjoyed a delicious lunch.  I had two small slices of bread with butter, and the special of the day: chicken with stir fry veggies, rice, and a sweet teriyaki/cherry sauce.  It was delicious and I basically ate the entire thing.  I also had a diet coke so I'd have enough caffeine to have a productive day at work for the rest of the afternoon!

I don't remember what snacks I ate for the rest of the day, but I think it's safe to say I had a cheese stick.

For dinner, I met up with a few friends from high school at this Italian restaurant.  WHAT?  Out to eat TWICE in one day??? I know, right?  Bad choices.  


But I still tried to be good!  I picked a whole wheat pasta with shrimp and veggies in it, topped with a light lobster sauce.  I also had two slices of bread with that and some wine.  Then MJ and I split some chocolate mousse for dessert.


I'm glad that I had a high-scoring fitbit day in lieu of my not so great meal choices.    Sorry I have no pictures to share with you from today.

DAY 76

Breakfast - go to breakfast.  As per usual.  Again.

Today I happily attended my friend's bridal shower luncheon.  There was a pre-selected menu for us with a few different options.  I picked a potato leek soup (very good), a grilled chicken caesar salad, and some vanilla and chocolate haagen dazs ice cream.  How could anyone say no to haagen dazs??  Picking the grilled chicken was definitely a good choice, and the salad was very lightly dressed so I think I did fairly well considering we were out at a restaurant!

After the bridal luncheon, MJ and I hopped in the car and headed to the beach to see my college roommates: Annabelle, Tiffany and Desiree.  And all of their respective boyfriends.  I was really good not to snack in the car.

For dinner, we had some homemade burgers and veggie kabobs that Annabelle's boyfriend grilled for us on the BBQ.  I limited myself to 1 burger + bun + ketchup and as many veggies as my heart desires!  I also had some bites of a yummy potato salad.  And one slice of American cheese.  Just because I missed it.  Processed American cheese is NOT included on the recommended clean eating food list!  

After dinner I had a few drinks.  When my friends went out for late night snacks I caved and got 3 chicken fingers.  Which was really only 1.5 chicken fingers because MJ ate half of them.  Which was really about 6 bites of chicken.  I know that eating late at night is bad for you.  So is eating fried chicken strips.  I recognize that most late night food options are really unhealthy, but I think chicken fingers may be the lesser of the evils.  No, I don't think chicken fingers are healthy.  But I ate them.  They weren't good.  

However, the plus side for my horrible late night eating is that after midnight and before I went to bed, I had 5600 steps (dancing) on my fitbit.  Quite an impressive way to start a day.          

DAY 77

This morning for breakfast I had an egg and cheese sandwich on a croissant and a cup of coffee.  Once again, croissants are not healthy.  I should not have picked a croissant.  However, when faced with a list of 5 unhealthy bread options for a breakfast sandwich, I'm going to select the yummiest one every time, and the yummiest one is definitely a croissant.  And it was yummy.

Then I said goodbye to my college roommates and drove back home with MJ.  Again, on this car ride home we were very good about not snacking.  

For lunch, we got deli sandwiches on kaiser roles (again, not healthy.  I miss you wheat bread!!!).  I had half of a turkey, lettuce, tomato and mayo (GASP) sandwich.  I know, I know.  How horrible could I possible be in one 24 hour period?  Pretty horrible.  

When we got back home I felt that I needed to cleanse myself of my junk food habits and cook a good, clean eating meal for dinner.  Before dinner, I snacked on one cheese stick.  Then I planned out our meals for the week and took Michael Jordan to the grocery store with me to get everything we needed.  We also saved over $20 by buying things that were on sale and using coupons!  


For dinner I made a tilapia citrus couscous from the best of clean eating cookbook!  

This was really easy to make:

Step 1: Cook 1 dry cup whole wheat couscous

Step 2: Chop up 2 carrots, celery (I skipped this because I don't like celery), 1/2 red pepper, 1 medium yellow onion.

Step 3: Cook 4 tilapia fillets on a pan - 2 minutes per side.

Step 4: Make a dressing from the juice of 1 lime  + zest, the juice of 1/2 lemon + zest, 1/2 tsp dijon mustard, 1 tbls evoo, 2 tbsl dried parsley flakes, 1 clove garlic - minced.

Step 5: Add everything in a big bowl

Step 6: Eat!  1 cup = 1 serving = 154 calories!

MJ and I agreed this meal was light, healthy, and easy!  In the future, we might try to marinate the tilapia before hand or cook up the veggies to give a fuller taste.  Let me know if you try out this recipe!

Days 67 - 70

Dear Readers,
I'm so sorry that I haven't been blogging!  I was about two days behind when computer mouse stopped clicking, and the apple store needed to borrow it for a while to fix her up.  She's back and working, and now I have a lot of food to share with you!  I'll try to do a quick synopsis since I have so many days to cover!  Unfortunately I have no pictures to share.  I'm so sorry, I'll do better next time!

DAY 67

For breakfast I had a half cup a kefir.  Clearly that means I was starving by the time I got to work, so I purchased an egg and cheese sandwich.  It was on white bread, and I can't remember the last time I ate white bread.  I tried to pick off the extra pieces/crust and only eat the egg-y and cheese-y parts.  Along with this white bread sandwich came a huge coffee.  

For lunch I ate the leftover Jack Daniels pulled chicken with brown rice.   


I ate a lot of snacks throughout the day, including:

• 5 multigrain flaxseed crackers with peanut butter
• 50 calorie blueberry yogurt
• cheese stick
• apple

For dinner, we went on a double date with our friends the Paternos.  I had edamame, 1 vegetable dumpling and delicious sushi.  We also had some tasty martinis and a few beers.

Overall, I did a good job eating up some of the leftovers we had in the house, but shouldn't have purchased breakfast AND dinner.  

DAY 68

For breakfast today, I had a whole wheat English muffin with peanut butter.  I couldn't have my "go to" breakfast because we were out of bananas.  

I met my fairy blog mother  for lunch and we shared a Chopt Salad, which as you remember is super low cal and also great for sharing!

For my snack I ate a Twix.  It was one of those days.  You know what I mean. 

For my other snack, I had a cheese stick.  Much better option.


After work I went to an African Dance class, and set a new "fitbit high score" with 18,482 steps!  Take that twix bar!  


After the gym I had a little bit of a smoothie that MJ made and then we ordered in some dinner.  I had some trout with a butternut squash and wheat berry risotto.  Delish!  Pretty sure it's not healthy though.

For dessert I had a VitaMuffin Top and loved it.

DAY 69

Tonight we had a big banquet for work, and I was hosting a pot-luck dinner before the banquet for some coworkers.  This meant that MJ and I needed to pre-workout in anticipation for the night to come.  We went for a run (about 3.3 miles) and ended at our favorite bagel place as usual.  This will surely become a once a weekend habit, weather permitting!  At the bagel place I got a whole wheat bagel (scooped out) with low fat cream cheese, lox, tomatoes and onions. 

The only other snack I had during the day was a "go to" almond butter slice. 


Then I made an epic amount of pasta.  For the pot luck, I was making pasta, some one was bringing different sauces, another person was bringing garlic bread, someone else was bringing bruchetta, someone else mini hot dogs and some baked cheese dish, others brought desserts, and of course all the men who were not domestically inclined brought alcohol.  

I think it's safe to say that this was definitely my "night off" of my clean eating meal plan.  I wasn't too too bad though!

However, I did set a new new world record in my own fitbit stats!   After running in the morning and dancing at the banquet, I put in 19,861 steps! And the crowd goes wild!!!!!!!

DAY 70

Today for breakfast I had a little 50 cal yogurt and a half of a banana.  Then MJ and I ran some errands (AKA to the apple store to bring my poor little laptop in to get fixed!)  We also stopped at Costco and I had a few free samples - turkey bacon, tuna, and apple juice!  Don't you just love free sample day at a food store?!  I mean they stuff they have is always so random but you can't help but try it, right?


For lunch we had pasta and turkey meatballs.  I mean I have a TON of pasta left over and hate to see it go to waste.  YES, I did call the local homeless shelter and unfortunately they can't accept cooked food.  


In the afternoon we had some cantaloupe and mini cheese quiches.  Also we had some brownies.  Also a caramel machiatto from starbucks.  I forgot to say a skinny one.  Shoot.

For dinner we went out to eat with the Jordans.  I had 2 little slices of bread and 1 cup of mushroom/barley soup (with 2 saltine crackers).  For my main dish, I had cod with green beans almondine and rice pilaf.  


For dessert I had 2 bites of dark chocolate with mint in it.  Totally unnecessary.  Man I was not good at all this weekend.  This is not going to go well tomorrow on that scale. 

Week 4, Sunday (Day 64)

Monday Morning Weigh In:

I lost another half pound this week.  That means I'm only 2 pounds away from my goal weight.  I'm also 2 days away from finishing the meal plans in the book.  

Breakfast: 1/2 cup oatmeal, 1 chopped apple, 1/2 tsp cinnamon, 1/4 cup low-fat milk; 3 egg whites

This morning's breakfast was pretty good.  I ate the apple as a whole apple instead of spending time chopping it up.  The oatmeal was decent with the cinnamon.  I upped the milk to 3/4 cups and instead of 3 egg whites had 1 hard boiled eggwhite.  Very filling.
  
Snack 1: 2 tbls natural almond butter, 1 whole wheat English muffin

This was a nice twist on my normal "go to" breakfast.  I think I like peanut butter on an English muffin better than almond butter on an English muffin, but it wasn't bad at all. 

Lunch: 1/2 cup edamame, 3/4 cup wild rice; 1/2 cup blueberries with 3/4 cup yogurt

I vote this meal in the "strange" category.  When I went to prepare this lunch in the morning, I was disappointed to see that MJ selected a package of edamame that expired the week before.  I could see that the edamames were brown and slimy inside.  I ran to the grocery store and went right to the customer service desk.  They let me replace the edamames, but all the fresh packages were expired or dated today (I advised the customer service lady to take the bad edamame off the shelves) and so I had to get frozen edamames.  This only required a little more effort on my part in the morning, but I definitely like the ease of using the fresh, shelled edamames.

Instead of wild rice, I used microwavable frozen brown rice.  Way easier since I had to spend more time with the edamame.  I threw in some soy sauce as well to add some flavor to  my otherwise boring lunch.  


I never got around to eating the yogurt or blueberries.  Whoops.


Snack 2: 1 sliced banana with 1 tbsp natural peanut butter wrapped in 1 whole wheat tortilla; 1 handful unsalted almonds

Another snack similar to my "go to" breakfast and lunch, but different.  This was a pretty good snack, but could definitely use a big cup of milk!  


I also had 1 mini Reese's Peanut butter cup.

And a free iced coffee from Dunkin Donuts (SO MUCH BETTER THAN STARBUCKS!)

And 2 beers at happy hour.

Dinner: 3 oz grilled pork chop (replaced with chicken thighs), 1 cup torn romaine lettuce and 1/2 cup chopped cucumbers with 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar and 1/2 tsp evoo; 1 cup cooked black beans; 1/2 cup cooked quinoa

MJ and I don't eat pork, so we replaced the pork with some chicken thighs.  I ended up broiling the thighs so they would cook fasted.  We also didn't have any black beans, so we used a can of chickpeas instead, which went well with the "salad" side dish.

This was my first time making quinoa.  My mom warned me to rinse the quinoa a few times before I cooked it to get off the "yucky" taste.  Rinsing quinoa is kinda tricky because it is so small!  I need a strainer with smaller holes!  Mom also suggested throwing fresh, raw garlic bulbs into the water while the quinoa was cooking to give it some added flavor.  I think the final result turned out very successful!

 

Looks good right!??!?! It was super filling and I would definitely make this meal or some combination of this meal again!     


The only negative thing was the amount of dishes I used making this meal.  Good thing the rule in our house is whoever cooks doesn't have to do dishes!  Thank you, Michael Jordan.

Also, I didn't go to the gym today, but Mr. Fitbit says I walked 12,419 steps (5.35 miles) and burned 2,152 calories!


Also, I now have over 3,000 blog hits!  Thank you for reading my blog!!! Maybe one day my blog hits will surpass my fitbit steps.... maybe...

Day 18 (Week 2, Wednesday) and Day 19

MJ informed me that I forgot to mention that while I was eating my mushroom asparagus risotto, he and his friend Michael Vick were eating 12 inch subs from one of my favorite (not healthy) sandwich places.  I tried to block this incident from my memory.  Like the plate full of fresh chocolate chip cookies.  I'm trying to be strong-willed against bad foods.  So far, so good.

DAY 18 - WEEK 2, WEDNESDAY

Breakfast: Breakfast Burrito (1 whole wheat tortilla with 4 scrambled egg whites, 1/2 oz cheddar cheese, 1/2 red and 1/2 green pepper); 6 oz fresh squeezed orange juice
This is one of my favorite breakfasts, especially since all my veggies were already cut up in my "Wednesday" bag.  But I can't possibly eat 4 egg whites in one sitting, so I cut it down to 2.  Today my wrap totally fell apart but still tasted very good.  I'd probably replace some of the peppers with onions next time.  And what's a "burrito" without some avocado?  I make a mental note to switch this up next time.
There is no way I'm squeezing my own orange juice.  The effort to results ratio is totally not in my favor.  Instead, I bought a small single-size container of all-natural orange juice.  I drank my 6 ounces (aka 3 gulps).  I'm not sure what to do with the rest of the carton.  Glad I didn't buy a full-sized one!


When I got to work, I made the necessary decision anyone facing 6 hours of meetings would do to survive: purchased coffee.  I got the smallest size and used skim milk and splenda.  I don't think the Clean Eating editors sanction the use of splenda, but I thought they would prefer the healthier "sugar" even if it was a substitute.  I wish the coffee shop had that flavored fat-free half and half so I wouldn't have needed any sugar at all.


Snack 1: Chocolate Smoothie (1 cup low fat milk, 1/4 cup chocolate protein powder, 1/2 cup frozen strawberries, 5 ice cubes); 1 handful of unsalted almonds
I look ahead at breakfast and see that there is no possible way on earth to make a smoothie at work in a blender!!!  I don't know how this could possibly be appropriate, so I improvise.  MJ makes me a "chocolate milk" for breakfast using some milk and chocolate protein powder.  It was very good.  I sure do miss chocolate milk.  I packed a container with plain yogurt and 5 frozen strawberries for work, but it tasted bad by the time I ate it at work (yes, I kept it in the fridge the whole time, Mom) so I threw it out.  Yuck.


I did eat the unsalted almonds.  And by unsalted almonds I mean 12 cocoa almonds.  Actually 11.  I let my friend Charlotte try one.  She's the one on the 1034 calorie diet.  I hope that one almond didn't push her over her measly calorie limit.  Charlotte informed me that because she lost two pounds, she is now only allowed to eat 1008 calories.  This cannot be a healthy diet.  I need to start carrying sugary snacks to revive Charlotte when she passes out from malnourishment.


Lunch: French Tuna Salad (green beans, 1 hard boiled egg, sliced radishes, tuna, red onion, red pepper, red leaf lettuce and 1 yukon potato)
This lunch may take the crown for most awkward meal ever.  It was so bad that someone even said to me "what the heck are you eating?!" 
Sigh.
First of all, this salad to forever to prep.  I had to hard boil eggs (BIG shout out to Michael Vick for this guidance on boiling eggs.  Now can you teach MJ how to peel them?!)  I also had to boil a potato.  The cookbook says it would be ready in 15 minutes and it wasn't close.  I let it cook for 25 and the middle was definitely still hard.  I also had to steam the green beans.  Then I had to cut slice and measure everything else.  Huge time commitment.
Second, the dressing had 1239081 ingredient.  It served 4 and only had 1/4 tsp of some ingredients which is a huge pain in my butt.  Essentially the dressing was red wine vinegar and dijon mustard. 
Third, the salad was ridiculous.  It didn't taste good and I only really ate the egg and the tuna.  Huge disappointment.  I ate my cashews early.


Snack 2: 1/2 grapefruit, 15 unsalted raw cashews
Okay I know you're not going to believe me, but I actually brought the grapefruit to work, already cut in half, and brought a spoon.  But I never ate it. I guess I have some mental block.  It's back in my fridge.  I'll probably throw it out soon.


Instead, when I got home I ate some whole wheat bread with almond butter.  When MJ got home, he ate finished the entire container of almond butter.  There go my snacks for the next few days!


Dinner: Boring Chicken, Boring sweet potato, Boring broccoli.
Boring, boring, boring.  Plain, plain, plain.
I purposely picked to eat Wednesday's meal today because I knew I was meeting my friends from high school out for dinner and didn't mind replacing this boring, plain meal.
Instead, we went out for Mexican.  Shocking, right?  I got to the restaurant first - mainly because I like getting to places early, but also because I wanted to really check out the menu and see what non-fried options I had.  While I was waiting, I also googled the calorie contents of Mexican drinks - Margaritas, Sangria, and Beer.  They are all bad.  I drank water.
I ended up ordering a grilled chicken fajita and only eating one of the little tortillas that came with it.  I ate the rest of the grilled chicken and veggies "a la carte," if you will. Oh yea, I ate about 10 chips with salsa.  But I let my friends finish the rest.  No one notice that I wasn't eating the chips or drinking.  Score one for me!


After dinner some co-workers were meeting up for drinks, so I met them for my standard vodka gimlet.  A few other women there were mentioning that they too were trying to watch their weight - one ordered water (cue pregnancy comments) and the other ordered vodka with diet coke.  I told her how fabulous vodka gimlets were and I think she's hooked now.  

DAY 19

Today was another day of leftovers!  My friend invited me over for breakfast.  I call her my Fairy Blog Mother because she told me to start "tweeting" when I made new posts so my "loyal fans" could follow.  I feel like a caveman trying to use twitter.  It's not as easy as Geico.


For breakfast, my fairy blog mother served 1 egg on a toasted whole wheat English muffin with some low-fat cheddar cheese.  It was delicious and I hope to convince her to cook for me more often!   I also had a cup of coffee because she had brewed some Dunkin' Donuts Hazlenut coffee and I couldn't resist the smell of it.  Two coffees in two days?  What's happened to me?!  This time, I only used 1% milk and no sugar (or splenda).  
We headed off to work and I went to a class during gym again.  For lunch I had a veggie burger with low-fat mozzarella cheese, 1/2 avocado and 2 slices red leaf lettuce on whole wheat bread.  So good!  I think veggie burgers are my new favorites.  I bought the morning star kind.  I'll have to check the box and make sure to buy the same kind each time at the store.


For dinner I ate the left over risotto with 3 ounces of shrimp.  It was just the right portion size and was a pretty good combo.  


My snacks today weren't at any particular time, so I saved them for the end.  I ate:
• a handful of cocoa almonds
• 1 low-fat cheese stick
• 2 almond butter cookies.


I know, I know.  What is wrong with me?  I'm not supposed to be eating those! But I went to the gym and I feel justified.  I also really didn't eat that many calories today.  But I'm sure I had more than Charlotte did.  Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong, Charlotte.  

Week 2, Tuesday (Day 16)

Wow.  I have over 500 hits on this blog.  Thank you for reading!  It has definitely encouraged me to continue on this eating adventure.


I did something that you probably thought I wasn't smart enough to do.  Monday night, I cut up all my veggies for the upcoming three days of meal plans.  Everything.  Every pepper and onion was cut up, measured, and placed in a labeled baggie.  I find that when I'm spending time in the morning chopping up stuff for breakfast, I don't get a chance to fully prepare my snacks and lunches, and I feel rushed.  I don't like feel rushed.  I liked preparing.


Breakfast: 4 egg whites scrambled with 1 slice diced canadian bacon, 1 slice diced tomato, 1/4 cup diced onion, 1/4 cup diced green pepper; 1/2 cup low fat milk
I open the bag labeled "Terrific Tuesday" (thanks, MJ) and pour my pre-cut veggies into the pan.  Easy as pie.  Mmmm pie.  That sounds good.  I replace the bacon with cheese because and egg without cheese is like a burger without ketchup.  Mmm burger.  That sounds good.  I am THRILLED that I get to drink milk today.  That is, until I pour out my 1/2 cup and see how much I really get to drink.   Go ahead and try this at home.  Pour a half cup of milk and tell me how many gulps it takes you to finish.  The answer is 2.  


Snack 1: 2 tablespoons hummus, 10 sugar snap peas; 1/2 avocado
When I ate this snack, I was talking with a co-worker who is trying out her own calorie counting to lose weight for her pending nuptials.  She is allowed to eat 1034 calories a day.  How frickin' unrealistic is that?!  That's definitely not a lifestyle change that could last for any long duration of time.  I'll have to keep tabs on her to see how she's doing.  I take out my sugar snap peas with pride and explain to her that I have 1500 - 1800 calories a day and I'm losing weight. I save my avocado for later because I feel obnoxious enough knowing that my co-working is starving.


Lunch: Sautéed Sole Sandwich with Citrus Slaw
How dare you, editors?!  You say I need to eat a warm fish sandwich on a toasted bun?  Seriously?  While at work?  You suck.  You advertise this as a meal plan for busy cooks, but you are seriously mistaken if you think a busy cook can make a fish sandwich at work.  
I'm mad.  I'm actually furious.  But I'm dedicated to the ski pants cause and I go home for lunch.  I replaced the sole with tilapia and it was SO good.  Almost worth leaving work for lunch.  But the Citrus Slaw (cabbage, carrots, orange, and some weird dressing made from lemon juice, greek yogurt and mustard) was horrible.  Absolutely horrible.  I threw it out and ate the other half of my whole wheat bun with almond butter.  Much better.  Back to work!


Snack 2: 1 pear; 1 oz stilton cheese, 4 whole wheat crackers
For whatever reason unknown to me, I can't bring myself to eat this pear.  I like pears, but I haven't wanted to eat this.  
What is stilton cheese?  I looked around the grocery store for 15 minutes and found no stilton cheese.  I replace it with a 100 calorie pack of cheese, which happens to also weigh 1 ounce.  Win.  


Dinner: 1/2 cup basmati brown rice, 1 cup assorted stir fried vegetables, 3 oz shrimp; sauce: 1 tbls balsamic vinegar, 2 tsp whole-grain mustard
I ignored the sauce and used my own spices to make this meal - which actually turned out tasty and very filling.  MJ and I vote this dinner most filling of all dinner's we've made.  I messed up on the shrimp though:  I weighed out 3 ounces before I cooked them, and they cooked down to two ounces.  It's okay though because it was very, very good.  

Dessert: Celebratory Almond Butter Cookie
MJ and I had some more good news to celebrate, so we each had one almond butter cookie.  I froze them last week and we just warmed them up in the microwave.  Mmmm.  Can I eat a second one MJ?  No?  Alright fine.  Jerk.

Day 15

This morning I weighed in and saw that I lost another pound!  I'm down about 4 pounds from where I think I started.  I have about 9 more pounds to go to get to my goal "fit in my ski pants" weight. MJ weighed in too.  He gained one pound.  One stinking pound in 15 days.  I'm obviously better at gaining weight than he is.  
I'm still pleased with my accomplishments.  It's nice to know that pizza and mexican food still can equate to a negative weight on the scale.  


Today is leftovers day!  By that I mean I'm using up all the extra stuff that didn't fit into a meal plan for the past three days.  


For breakfast I have 2 egg whites, sautéed spinach, part-skim mozzarella cheese.  I have nothing exciting to say about this breakfast.  Sorry. 


Snack 1 was a slice of whole wheat bread and 1 tablespoon almond butter. Delicious as always.


For lunch I created my own salad: baby spinach, 1/2 avocado, 1/2 cup white beans, 1/2 cup tomatoes, balsamic vinegar.  This salad was okay.  For whatever reason, I liked it better as a snack yesterday than as a salad today.  Maybe I'm just getting sick of spinach.


My second snack was a 100 calorie pack of cheese; 8 carrots, 2 oz hummus. I decided to go with this snack because it was quick and easy, and the 100 calorie pack of cheese is obviously not going to show up in my meal plan, but I don't want them to sit uneaten in my fridge.


SURPRISE!  My cousin Jamie came to visit.  Jamie is a few years younger and many inches taller.  He was hungry, so I served him chips and salsa and made a little bit of guacamole.  I probably had about 15 chips with salsa and/or guacamole.  It was too tempting.  


Jamie decided to stay for dinner so MJ and I took him to the grocery store.  I can't express how pleasant it is to have two gophers come along for a shopping trip.  I bought food for dinner and another 3 days of the meal plan.  One of the upcoming lunches calls for tofu, and I was having trouble locating the tofu in the store.  I asked an employee for assistance:
"Excuse me, do you know where the tofu is?"
"Toe Food?"
"Tofu."
"Toad Food?"
"No, tofu, like what vegetarians eat instead of meat."
"You mean tofi?"
"What? I mean tofu.  T-O-F-U"
"Oh. Let me go ask."
I found the tofu.  I'm really interested to know what toe food, toad food, and tofi are, and whether any of them are typically sold in a grocery store.


For dinner, I served honey glazed salmon and tuna with spinach, mushrooms, tomatoes, and cauliflower.  I probably got enough food to serve 6 people, which was fitting when I have two hungry  men eating with me.  I helped myself to a little bit of salmon and probably 4 ounces of tuna with a lot of cauliflower.  Jamie and MJ devoured everything else.  I guess it was good.  


I didn't eat anything for dessert, even though I really wanted to.  I gave Jamie some Reese's Peanut butter cups and sent him home.  Jamie doesn't know that I'm doing this crazy meal plan and even after grocery shopping with us I don't think he picked up on it.  It's nice to know that I can cook a healthy meal and it appear to be a normal and fulfilling dinner.  Although Jamie did question why I purchased tofu.  I question that too.

Week 2, Friday (Day 12)

I'm back on schedule to follow the meal plan after a few days of going solo and making up my own snacks and meals.  I can't say that I'm excited, but I can say that eating what the editors tell me to eat rather than what I would choose to eat certainly makes for funnier blog posts.

Breakfast: 3 egg whites and 1 whole egg scrambled, 1 cup sauteed baby spinach, 1 tablespoon mozzarella cheese on half of a whole wheat English muffin; 1 cup low fat milk

Yayyyy I get to drink something other than water for breakfast!!! Did I mention that it's been 12 days since I've had coffee?  Milk is a nice change of pace.  My breakfast is big and very filling, although I wonder what I'm supposed to do with the lonely top half to my English muffin.  It's like a salt shaker without it's pepper.  Very, very sad.  

Snack 1: Half a sliced cucumber, half a sliced red bell pepper; handful unsalted almonds

Breakfast was honestly so filling that I didn't eat my morning snack until after 1pm.  During my lunch break at work, I went to a class at the gym and ran some errands, including a quick trip to Bed, Bath and Beyond to purchase my fabulous new food scale.  Totally worth skipping lunch to buy it.  I'm tempted to try it out on my desk but decide that would be in poor taste and my boss would definitely not approve.  I'm also curious how much the stack of things I need to do work for weighs.  Probably more than the number of ounces of fruit I'm allowed to eat.  How is that fair?

By the time I get to the snack I find it overwhelming.  What size cucumber did they have in mind when they suggested I eat half of one?  I mean bell peppers typically conform in size and shape, but is there an average sized cucumber?  Size apparently does not matter to these editors.  I think I have about 12 slices of cucumber, which is half of the cucumber I purchased.  The scientist in me is upset with the lack of standards in the serving size.  The fat kid in me wished I picked a bigger cucumber.

Also, I've been so hooked on cocoa almonds since Jason and Bethany introduced me to them that I replaced my lameo/boring/plain almonds with fabulous/delicious/cooler cocoa almonds.  Upgrade city.  Minus the fact that chocolate does not really go well with cucumbers.

Lunch: 4 oz low sodium turkey, 1 lettuce leaf, 1 tomato slice, 1 slice avocado on 2 slices of quinoa bread; ¾ Low fat greek yogurt with 1 cup frozen strawberries (thawed)

Okay what the hell is quinoa bread?  And why is this the third type of bread that you've required me to buy within an 8 day span?  What happened to the pumpernickel rye you made me by last week, you bully?!  I rebel against the purchasing of quinoa bread for two main reasons: 

(1) my grocery store does not sell quinoa bread.  

(2) I still have 2 loaves of bread (whole wheat and pumpernickel rye) left over from last week.

So, in an effort to save money, I did not purchase the nonexistent quinoa bread and instead used pumpernickel rye.  I refuse to be bullied by these meany editors.

My sandwich is great even though I probably took more than one "slice" of avocado because I'm confused about how one would even slice an avocado.  Plus I really like avocado so I'm going to err on the side of inclusion and use a big "slice."  

I wait a while before eating the greek yogurt and strawberries because when I first took a bite the strawberries were still frozen and tasted horrible.  Once I let them thaw out a bit, the yogurt tasted more like a strawberry yogurt should.  I think this whole problem could have been avoided had I been allowed to use fresh strawberries instead of the frozen ones. What gives? 

Snack 2: 1 cup cherry tomatos, ½ cup chickpeas

I ate this snack right before dinner.  Because it was right before dinner, I only had the chickpeas.  I like chickpeas.  That's why I named my blog after them. 

Ok that's a lie.  I named my blog after them because they rhyme with cottage cheese.  You caught me.

Dinner: Chicken and Summer Vegetable Cacciatore with Polenta

Hmmm where do I begin??  First of all, it took 30 minutes in the store and some time on google to figure out what polenta was and whether the store carried it.  Apparently, polenta is yellow corn meal.  Thanks for explaining that one, editors.  I find the yellow corn meal and finish up my shopping.  I guess I should have known right away this meal was destined for disaster because it is called "summer" vegetables and, being that it is January, it's winter.  The meal says that it serves 6 people.  Awesome.  Thirding everything will be super easy.  Oh wait.  You say I can only make 2 4-ounce pieces of chicken?  8 ounces of chicken is supposed to serve 6 people?  8 is not divisible by three.  I go ahead and make all the chicken because MJ eats triple what I eat and the estimated calories for the entire meal for one serving is only 110.  I decide I can splurge and have more chicken since that won't even put me at a 200 calorie meal.  Making the meal was pretty easy, but definitely was lacking in taste.  I mean I really like squash, zucchini, peppers and tomatoes, but this meal really tasted like nothing.

And the polenta?  It looks vomit.  Yellow, mealy vomit.  It tastes like bland, mushy corn.  MJ is a trooper and eats up his three servings.  We make the executive decision to dispose of the leftover polenta.  This meal is going on the "never make again" list.  

Being that it was Friday night, we met some friends out at the bar.  I politely declined their invitations to try their fried calamari and mac-n-cheese.  But boy did they look good.  No beer for me either.  Can you guess what I ordered?  If you guessed vodka gimlet, you win!  The prize?  Knowing that you are a true fan of my blog.  Go ahead and order on next time you go out.  I bet you'll be hooked.

Day 11

Today I was back at home but hadn't yet taken a trip to the grocery store, so I was determined to eat only what I already had in the house.  My plan for the future weeks is to not waste any foods. If I have leftovers, I will incorporate them into the upcoming days somehow.  I am not made of money.  Au contraire, I am made of fat. 

Today was the most boring day of blogging ever because I got to pick everything so nothing was bad.  Please brace yourself for the boredom:

For breakfast, I cooked up 2 egg whites, onions, some roasted red pepper, and 1 tablespoon mozzerella cheese.  Yum. I really can't believe I didn't eat eggs before this healthy eating kick - they are super easy.

For my first snack, I ate 6 oz low fat plain yogurt with 1/2 cup granola.  I was definitely right that plain yogurt tastes better with stuff in it.  If I had any fresh fruit I would have eaten that instead of the granola, but overall a pretty filling snack.

For lunch I had some leftover couscous, 3 oz tuna, and 1 tablespoon cheese - a quasi tuna melt.  Kinda.  

Snack 2 consisted of 3/4 cup kefir and a 100 calorie pack of cheese. 

Now for the exciting part. Buckle up.

For dinner, I flipped to the "Cooking for One or Two" section of the cookbook. I almost spit my water out laughing all over the cookbook because the first recipe listed serves 4.  Jokes on you, editors.  I turn the page.  I happen across a salmon recipe that is served with an orange glaze and decide that the meal is easy and suits my fancy.  But requires a trip to the supermarket.

Boyfriend and I venture out to the grocery store armed with a list of the ingredients we need for dinner as well as the next 3 days of food.  That's all.  I'll go back Sunday night to shop for the rest of the week. I am determined to win this fight against produce going bad.  

I'd like to pause here because I've had a request from one of my readers that I give my boyfriend a name.  From now on, he will be called Michael Jordan.  He picked this name on his own.  He's very creative.  And original.  I'm just going to call him MJ. 

So MJ and I got back from the store and I whipped up some fabulous salmon, served with spinach, mushrooms and tomatoes in a orange glaze.  Now the orange glaze was exceptionally delicious, but was definitely not the right consistency.  The editors suggest the glaze be used on any chicken or fish dish, so I will certainly be trying this again.

I found it very interesting that the orange glaze was made with Smuckers Low Sugar Orange Marmalade - not the Sugar-Free kind. I figured out that the sugar free kind is loaded with artifical crap (i.e. Splenda) that the clean eating editors think are bad for you.  I totally get you, editors. 

So tomorrow I'm back on track with my meal plans.  My apologies for my boring eating life today.  Tomorrow brings more misproportioned embarrassing foods, so get excited.

Shoutout to whoever is reading this blog in Germany. I wonder how you say cottage cheese in German.