Thai Meatloaf

This is probably one of the weirdest things I've ever made.  MJ loved it.  I'm going to tell you what I did, and then tell you what you shouldn't do.

What I did:

1. Cook 4oz of spaghetti.  Drain and add 1 tsp oil. 
2. Line a baking tray with parchment paper and lay spaghetti pieces out in a flat, unclumped manner.  This is a pain and takes forever.  Especially if you first take the time to lay out your spaghetti on the baking DISH instead of the TRAY and then have to move all the spaghetti and do it again.
3. Preheat oven.
4. Cook sliced bella mushrooms for 5 minutes.  Drain and set aside.
5. In a bowl, mix meat**, 1 tsp soy sauce, 1 tsp ginger, 2 minced cloves garlic, 1 egg, 2 tbsp water, and minced cilantro.  Then add 1 cup whole wheat bread crumbs.
• **The recipe called for ground pork.  We don't eat pork, so I used ground turkey.
6. Fold in mushrooms
• I asked MJ to do this step as I was fixing my spaghetti.  He was completely perplexed by my use of the word "fold" since there was no laundry to be seen.  I corrected myself and said "mix" and he then understood.
7. Put meat mixture into a 9 x 5 baking DISH.
8. Put both the dishes in the oven - the meat on top and the noodles on bottom. 
9. Bake 20 - 25 minutes "do not over bake."
10. Cut into 4 pieces and serve with baked noodles on the side.  Top with carrots and green onions.

What you should do:

1. Completely ignore steps 1 and 2. This hard, baked spaghetti was awful and flavorless and we had no idea how to eat it. Real spaghetti or just some brown rice or any Asian style side dish would have been much better.
2. Bake the heck out of the meatloaf. After 25 minutes my loaf was completely raw. I ended up flipping the dish so it baked through on each side and probably kept it in the oven for 45 minutes. Maybe use a dark coated loaf pan instead.

The good news: MJ loved this dish and it was really pretty. He said it was delicious and had great flavor. I, however, was so turned off by the baked noodles and frustrated by the amount of time it was in the oven that I refuse to make this meal again. However, I did tell MJ that I'm more than willing to try this recipe again, but making meatballs instead of meatloaf. I'll blog about that when I do.

10 Minute Turkey Tacos

The other night, MJ and I had the easiest dinner ever invented.  The recipe came from one of my clean eating cookbooks, but I changed it to be Julie Chickpea style.
 
This meal is so easy, I would trust MJ to make it on his own.

Here's what you do:

1. Take some small, whole wheat wraps (we used 5: 3 for MJ, 2 for me) and wrap them in foil and throw them in the oven to warm up.

2. Brown some lean, ground turkey.  Season lightly.

That's it.  Seriously.  Everything else is ready to go:

Open a bag of lettuce.  Put lettuce on wrap.

Open a can of low sodium black beans.  Spoon beans on wrap.

Open a jar of natural salsa.  We used Trader Joe's Fresh salsa.  Take a look at the ingredient list.  It should only say things like tomatoes, onions, cilantro, etc.  No words you can't pronounce.  Spoon salsa on wrap.

Open an avocado.  Spoon directly into mouth.

Add ground turkey. 

Eat tacos.

10 Minute Turkey Tacos!

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?

Day 72

Aloha!  I am not in Hawaii.

Breakfast
For breakfast today I tried something new and totally different!  I got a frozen breakfast called Amy's Organic Tofu Scramble which is all natural, has all ingredients I can read and pronounce, and was a nice change of pace from my normal breakfast routine.  The whole breakfast was only 320 calories and it definitely held me over until lunch time!  It wasn't extremely attractive to eat, but it was definitely palatable.

At work I drank a super big coffee.  Shocker.  Does anyone else find coffee a necessity on a Tuesday? 


Lunch
For lunch I had more leftover pasta and meatballs with tomato sauce.  I only had 1 serving of turkey meatballs and this will likely be the last time I eat the pasta.  I did find a single guy from my hometown who just moved in to my building and said he would love some free pasta, so I will be passing that on to him and advising him to freeze it or toss it.


Snacks
My snacks today were 1 red delicious apple and 1 slice of whole wheat bread with almond butter - my go-to snack.  We're at the point where Michael Jordan will pack his own almond butter slice every day!  I'm impressed how much our regular routines have changed since we started eating these new foods.
 

Dinner
MJ was working late today, so I met my fairy blog mother out on the town for this fun girls event (with free drinks) and then dinner.  At the girls event, they were sampling these new Micaelob Ultra Dragon Fruit Peach that is only 95 calories!  I didn't think it tasted anything like beer, but it was definitely sweet and pretty tasty.  Mom - you might even like it!

For dinner I got a bento box at this Asian place - my bento box came with seared tuna (probably 3 oz), broccoli, sweet potatoes, rice, 1 veggie egg roll and some veggie tempura.  It also came with a mango margarita, which was gross and was not consumed.  

The good news is that today was another high-scoring fitbit day!  17,400 steps (7.49 miles - 2308 calories burned) without setting foot in the gym!  And a lot of them in high heels!


Overall just an okay day clean-eating wise, but all for a good cause - Happy Birthday to my Fairy Blog Mother!!!  

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 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.

Days 9 and 10

DAY 9


Today is a full day of totally, 100% eating outside my own house.  I traveled another hour to spend the day with my brother Jason and his wife Bethany.  I ate a quick breakfast on the go - a slice of whole wheat bread with 1 tablespoon almond butter and 1 banana.   This would definitely be approved by the editors of Clean Eating.  


When I arrived at my brother's house he wanted to go out for lunch at his favorite Mexican place.  I was hesitant to agree until he told me there's a 2-for-1 deal on lunches.  Win.  Nothing beats a cheap meal.


When the bowl of chips and salsa were placed in front of me I was like one of Pavlov's dogs.  I sat in agony watching Jason devour the chips.  I caved and ate 4 chips with salsa.  And I even tried to wipe the salt off them... if that counts for anything.  For my actual meal I was not a good, healthy eater.  I had a mini-veggie burrito (with broccoli, onions, beans, cheese) and a cheesy something-or-other mexican dish.  I did leave most of the beans and rice on my plate and did NOT order a margarita! 


When Bethany came home from work I made Jason and Bethany try my almond butter cookies.  They both enjoyed them and I left a few for them to snack on in the upcoming week.  I ate one as well, so I guess that counts as snack 2.


For dinner I was much better - Bethany was nice enough to make a homemade meal, which totally makes up for my horrible lunch and dinner from the night before.  Bethany made ground turkey with sauteed onions, whole wheat pasta and tomato sauce.  It was so good!  I limited myself to a small helping and made a mental note of the recipe so that I could cook the meal for myself at home.  My favorite part about visiting Jason and Bethany was that they had a scale that weighed the food we were making so it was really easy to portion out how much meat, etc. to make!   I will have to buy one of those for my own home and avoid eyeballing the measuring cup and doing my own math for the fishman.  They seem to be pretty reasonably priced at Bed, Bath and Beyond.  


I thanked Jason and Bethany for dinner, left them some almond butter cookies, and headed back to our friend's place an hour away.  When I arrived, I was sad to hear they hadn't eaten dinner yet and they were on their way out.  We went to this place known for burgers and I felt compelled to have some type of food in front of me so I didn't just eat my boyfriend's french fries.  I ordered a plain side salad - lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, carrots.  Balsamic vinaigrette on the side.  I maybe ate half the salad, but it kept me sidetracked from eating too many french fries or tasting the hamburgers.  Meanwhile, they were downing beers.  I know that I can't have mexican AND beer in the same day, so I resort back to my vodka gimlet.  


Today I probably didn't lose any weight.  In fact I probably made zero or backwards progress.  Ugh I'm going to need new ski pants.




DAY 10


Before we head back home, we go out to breakfast with our friends to say goodbye.  The eggs benedict are recommended to me, but knowing that Hollandaise sauce is probably not on the top 100 list of healthy choices to make, I created my own egg-white omelette with onions, green peppers, cheddar cheese, and 1/2 slice of whole wheat toast.  


We say goodbye and then we were back on the road, ending our mid-week trip.  But first, another 6 hour car trip to get through.  I snacked on 10 cocoa roast almonds.

Jason suggested I try these and they are awesome.  Much tastier than just a regular boring old almond.  According to the Livstrong website, they are really not that bad for you and can make a good snack.  I also had 1/2 of a banana.  


For lunch we were set on not eating greasy, gross, rest stop food.  I held off having to pee for over an hour so that we could find a rest stop that had some type of sandwich place where I could buy a healthier sandwich on whole wheat bread.  After we passed 14 different rest stops, we finally found the holy grail: Quiznos.  We pull over and I sprint inside to use the bathroom. Much to my dismay, Quiznos is closed.  
The smoothie place is closed.  
Even the pizza place is closed.  
What's open?  
Burger King.  @$!*%!@$&* 


I insist that we leave the rest stop without food.  Heck, I have enough snacks packed to feed a very small country.  I refuse to eat the fried Burger King "food."  My boyfriend is understanding and we get back in the car.  He eats a clementine to prevent starvation and/or hating my guts for being picky about our lunch.  Luckily, the next exit had a huge sign indicating they were the proud home of Subway.  The true holy grail.  
Thanks to Jared's Subway diet, Subway makes it so easy to figure out what's healthy and what's pretending to be healthy but is really a fatty, lonely food item that just doesn't want to get picked last for gym class.  Not this time Mr. Mayonnaise.  I order a 310 cal turkey sandwich and I'm pumped.  I'm back on track to being a healthy superstar.


We get back home to our apartment and each enjoy an afternoon snack of 1 slice of whole wheat bread with 1 tablespoon almond butter.  Delicious and super easy to make.  


Now dinner.  You thought I was being really good right?  Did I convince you my bad eating habits from the previous days were over?  If so I am a good magician.  Watch out Harry Houdini.  


For dinner my boyfriend and I went out to celebrate a number of very important things that required a very nice celebration.  Life is full of celebrations and I will continue to celebrate happy things.  This means I had a 1 glass of white wine.  For an appetizer I had 3 steamed vegetable dumplings.  For the main meal I had sauteed chicken with vegetables (onions, peppers, zucchini) and a little bit of white rice and egg.  I'll have to remember to ask if they have brown rice if we go back to the same restaurant.  The meal also came with assorted side dishes - bites of eggplant, broccoli, sprouts and potatoes.  I tried to avoid eating too much rice and focus on the veggies.  The meal was probably not too unhealthy, but the portion sizes were way bigger than what Clean Eating would tell me to eat for a week!  


Oh and dessert.  I had some gelato.  It was very very good.  I was very very bad.  Tomorrow I NEED to go back to the gym.  I had a great mini vacation visiting friends and family and celebrating happy occasions, but I'm glad to be home so I can get back on track...
...and so can my zipper.

Day 8

I got on the scale today.  I hadn't been weighing myself all week and I think I'm down at least 2 pounds.  I say at least 2 because I didn't really record my starting weight, so I'm trying to remember the last weight that I saw.  I'm please with this success and vow not to weigh myself again until next Monday morning.


Today (and this week really) I'm not following their meal plan because we're traveling and I won't be able to follow their full days until likely this Friday, and it's only Monday.    So I've created my own meal plan...


Breakfast: 2 egg whites, mushrooms, 2 tablespoons low fat cheese
I opted for this breakfast because I wanted to use up the stuff we already had around the house.  I've definitely going to make an effort to use up leftovers from now on - following their food plan to a T will be a waste of food and money.  You don't control me, clean eating editors!  


Snack 1: approximately 1.5 ounces smoked salmon, 2 whole wheat crackers
What better way to use up the remaining smoked salmon that I opened yesterday than to eat the rest of it today?  I cut yesterday's snack in half and left out the avocado.  It was delish and I'm pleased with my selection.


And then we left on our road trip up to see our newly engaged friends.  Estimated time in the car: 12 hours.  
Number of hours away from home: 48
Before we left I packed a huge beach bag full of non-perishable snacks portioned out in the correct "snack" sized bags.  I packed whole wheat crackers, granola, clementines, bananas, apples, whole wheat bread, almond butter, etc. And almond butter cookies (half came with me, half went to the freezer).  I also timed our trip so that I would be eating lunch in the car so I would have something more substantive to eat to prevent me from snacking too much.


Lunch: 2 ounces deli turkey breast, 1 slice tomato, 1/4 avocado on 2 slices of whole wheat bread
Another great use of leftovers - I finished up all the turkey and avocado that we had, and then cut up the rest of the tomato as a bonus snack in the car.  I wrapped each half of the sandwich separately and tried to space out the distance in the car so I had something good and filling waiting for me to eat.


Snack 2: 1 apple, cut up veggies (carrots and peppers) with homemade hummus 
I somehow only snacked on one apple in the car!  6 hours and only 1 apple consumed!  I am thrilled, because I know it's going to be hard to continue eating healthy when we arrive at our friend's house.  


Much to my delight, when we did arrive, my friend made us some homemade hummus and cut up some fresh veggies for us.  This was a nice treat and a great snack to welcome us.  And it was yummy.


Dinner: pizza.
Sigh.  My avoidance of greasy, fattening, unhealthy foods came to a crashing halt tonight.  Our friends insisted on taking us to the best pizza place in town.  When I inquired about healthier options, I was told there really weren't any.  So pizza it is.  Luckily the pizza was thin crust so each piece was smaller than a usual slice of pizza, but probably no healthier.  I'm hoping that I saved enough calories that this dinner didn't totally kill what I've been working for.  But I am trying to live a normal life and normal people eat pizza.  When life hands you lemons, make lemonade.  When life hands you pizza, eat it (in moderation).  

Week 1, Friday (Day 5)

I want to start by saying I can't believe how many hits I've gotten over the past 24 hours.  I'm glad to be promoting a healthy, clean lifestyle.  Feel free to comment or follow my blog and try stuff out on your own.


Breakfast: 1 oz ham, 2 egg whites, 1 Tablespoon Mexican Cheese blend; 1 slice rye toast; 6 oz orange juice


I really enjoy having eggs for breakfast.  I never really cooked breakfast before this new meal plan, but cooking up liquid egg whites is so fast and easy.  This morning I made an egg white omelet - using 2 tablespoons of cheese and no ham.  I ate it on the toasted pumpernickel rye bread as an open-faced sandwich.  Pretty good start to the day.   Except I never bought orange juice.  I've seriously gone to the grocery store 7 times now.  Seven!  For 5 days of food.  I refuse to go an 8th time just for orange juice.  I really need to re-do the shopping for week 2.  I replaced the orange juice with non-fat milk.  No harm, no foul.


Snack 1: 1 Banana, 2 Tablespoons almond butter (Friday's Snack 2)


The almond butter was calling my name, so I replaced today's snack with Friday's snack.  I also haven't had a banana all week.  This snack was delicious - but it is so hard to eat almond butter without having a glass of milk!  
By the way, I haven't mentioned that this whole time I've only been drinking water unless otherwise indicated.  That's right - I haven't had any coffee this week! (Except my vanilla frap on Monday, but is that really coffee?)


Lunch: Turkey Sandwich (3 oz turkey, 1 slice tomato, 1 oz jarlsberg cheese, 1/8 avocado, 2 slices wheat bread); apple; 1 tablespoon natural almond butter


Today I went to a gym class during lunch, which gave me extra energy to get through the day - and postponed when I ate each meal/snack, which left me less hungry come dinner time.


I was so excited to finally eat a "normal" lunch!  A normal lunch that required my 7th trip to the grocery store to get another avocado.  I replaced the slice of cheese with another 1/8 of avocado.  I love avocado and find that it completes a sandwich very well and you don't even need a condiment to make it taste good!  I also ate an apple, but since I had almond butter for my snack, I replace it with..... you guessed it... an almond butter cookie.  No surprise there.  I'm a sucker for cookies and will do whatever possible to add them into my meals.


Snack 2: 1/2 cup low-fat plain yogurt; 1 cup sliced strawberries


Tricked me again, Clean Eating Editors.  You told me to get low-fat plain yogurt for this week, and then on Monday you made me put it all in a smoothie.  There is no yogurt left to eat today.  I swap it out for my remaining Greek Yogurt.  I added sliced strawberries and the 5 leftover raspberries I hadn't eaten yet.  They really don't taste that good with the greek yogurt.  I guess I just don't like greek yogurt that much.  Oh well.


Dinner: Light and Healthy Chicken "Fried" Rice; Coconut Chai Chocolate Cake (Thursday's Dinner) 


I was very excited for this dinner - essentially its a lot of veggies in a home made "fried" rice that isn't fried.  You make the brown rice first, and then being the intelligent, planning woman that I am, I scooped out the 1/2 cup rice that I will need for lunch on Sunday.  My boyfriend kindly labeled it "Julie's little b!tch cup of rice."  Thanks for rubbing it in, dear.  
I cooked up broccoli, onion, peas, carrots, red pepper, scallions, and zucchini.  We need a bigger wok!  The recipe says it makes 8 bowls, and even though there are only two of us, I don't like cutting down veggies, so I made it all.  Also, my produce is going bad.  It was now or never, so I picked now.  
You cook the chicken, then cook all the veggies, add the rice and then push them aside to cook up some eggs to get that "fried" rice taste.  Did I mention we need a bigger wok?  


The final product looked - and tasted - delicious.  It was hard to resist taking more than 1/8th of the dish, so I ended up eating another spoonful.  Boyfriend devoured at least 3 servings.  But then he did ALL the dishes, so I instantly forgave him.  I mean there were a lot of dishes.  Did I mention I have the best boyfriend?  I think a huge part of living a healthy lifestyle is having a great support system.  I don't think I would have made it past the original shopping list if my boyfriend wasn't encouraging and supportive - and eating this stuff with me.  If you are thinking about trying this out, make sure you have some support - even if that's an online blog!  But seriously, thank you boyfriend!  


Finally, tonight's meal calls for dessert.  But I'm living a normal lifestyle, so tonight we're meeting friends out at a bar.  I skip the dessert in lieu of my pending alcohol calories.


At the bar everyone ordered beer.  But not I!  I ordered Vodka Gimlet - vodka on the rocks with a splash of rose's lime juice.  I got compliments on my sophisticated "adult" order.  I can't seem to locate a good calorie counter online to tell you how many calories that is - but I think the vodka is 64 and the lime juice is 13.  Not too shabby.  When we left the bar some people wanted to get pizza.  I made the smart choice and just went home.  I'm really proud of myself for being able to go out and keep making healthy choices.  Maybe this won't be too bad after all.