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.