Posts from — November 2008

It seems many people eat oatmeal for breakfast, but there’s a new guy in town -Cream of Wheat! You may remember this from childhood days; I had this a lot growing up. The daughters like it too, which is nice. I always buy the instant packet variety, but now Cream of Wheat has revamped itself to include more whole grain (which means more fiber) and it’s available boxed with a 2 1/2 min. cook time. I cook mine in the micro, so it’s still basically “instant” for me! For 3 tbsp. (which doesn’t sound like much, but it is a huge serving) it is 100 cal., 0.5 gr. fat and 4 gr. fiber(*if made with water)…

Now, what do you do to make this taste good, you say? You make Warm Pumpkin Pie Cream of Wheat! I adapted this recipe from The Biggest Loser Cookbook…

• 3 tbsp. Cream of Wheat (use the amount of water needed for your choice of preparation -stovetop or micro)
• dash of salt
• 2 packets of Splenda
• 1/4 tsp. cinnamon
• 1/4 c. pumpkin puree
• 1 small rectangle of graham cracker

Cook Cream of Wheat according to package directions. You can add the spices before cooking. Stir in pumpkin puree at the end and top with crushed graham cracker.

*You can enhance this to your own taste. The original recipe called for the addition of ginger and cloves, but I’m not a lover of too much spice. So, play with this to come up with the flavors that remind you of pumpkin pie. A little vanilla extract would probably be good , also. Next time…

This big serving was a 2 pt. breakfast! This might be kickin oats to the curb…

I was cleaning up this afternoon, so I decided to have a quick snack to tide me over until dinner. I like these Clif Z Bars. I haven’t met a flavor that I didn’t like! I chose the blueberry for my snack. It was sweet and satisfying …I think… I really wolfed it down. That was not an example of “mindful eating”…

Dinnertime was hectic. The in-laws came to visit, the daughters had a friend over and everyone was wanting something different to eat. They decided that raviolis was their dinner of choice, so they got that with some wonderful crusty bread and a salad. I wanted to try and make a “baked potato soup” using some of the leftover mashed potatoes from Thanksgiving. I liked the way this turned out and it couldn’t have been easier! I really can’t call this a recipe. All I did was use about 1 1/2c. of leftover mashed potatoes (these were lowfat) and add about 1 c. chicken broth and whisk it in a saucepan until heated through. I topped it with 1 oz. 2% cheddar cheese grated, slice of center cut bacon, crumbled and a little chopped scallion. Just like a “loaded” baked potato! It was awesome. I will definitely try this on the husband and daughters for one of our “quick” night dinners. I had some leftover asparagus and broccoli rabe as a side. Veggies all the way!

A nice filling dinner, but I had to end with a sweet. I dug into the Holiday Ginger Cookies – just three – well, and a couple tastes of little daughter’s chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream. It wasn’t good AT ALL. Was that convincing??? :p

The protein from my yogurt this morning really did a good job in holding me until lunch. I was pleasantly surprised about that! Lunch was tough because I do have many leftovers in the fridge but, my in-laws are coming tonight, so I decided to save our leftovers for them. I ended up with soup and a yummy bagel. The soup I have buying lately is actually found in the freezer section of the supermarket! It comes packaged with 2 pouches to a box . I love instant portion control. They have many varieties, but I mainly buy the Minestrone and Vegetable Soups. This minestrone is only 100 cal., 1.5 gr. fat, 4 fiber and 320 mg. sodium (which is relatively low compared to some of the canned guys)…

To go with my soup, I had a Western Alternative Bagel with thinly sliced ham, cranberry honey mustard and Brie. Yes, BRIE!! I love all cheese, but brie is one of my top faves. I was lucky enough to find a light brie. It is only 70 cal. and 4.5 gr. fat for 1 oz.! I spread the cranberry honey mustard on the bagel, layered on the ham and topped it with the brie. I ran it under the broiler to get the cheese all melty. I loved this lunch!!!! Bread and cheese, what’s not to like!

So far, I’m holding strong. Not feeling the urge to munch out. We’ll see what the rest of the day brings:)