Posts from — September 2009

This kitchen wallpaper removal/painting prep/nasty cold is not leaving me with much creativity in the food department.  The kitchen is a mess, so minimal “cooking” is going on.  So, I thought this is a good opportunity to stress the importance of “being prepared” with respect to staying the healthy eating course.  As the saying goes, “if you fail to plan, you plan to fail”!

During the weight loss journey, I have heard many people (including myself) say that they didn’t have time to cook healthy foods or didn’t have the right ingredients in their pantry, fridge or freezer.    This lack of time and staples makes it all too easy to opt for takeout, especially when you’re getting in late from work, activities or when your kitchen is a huge mess!  It is so important to have a basic stock of pantry staples, so that you are able to throw something together at a moments notice.  I always keep some canned soups for quick lunches or dinners paired with salad or grilled cheese.  Also, cans of diced tomatoes make great quick pasta toppings;  just saute with garlic and extra virgin olive oil, pour over some whole wheat pasta and finish off with some grated parmesan.  Canned beans are a good option, too.  You can add some chick peas or cannellini beans to a pasta dish for an extra protein punch or just add them to your salad for more staying power.  Some of my fridge/freezer staples are bagged salads ( I make my own by cutting up romaine hearts and placing them in large zipper bags), tortillas, baby carrots, apples, cheese, eggs, yogurt, veggie burgers (homemade or store bought), soups, precooked taco meat (turkey or beef), chicken cutlets and frozen veggies, just to name a few.

But, I have to say that my saving grace many days and especially during this kitchen project has been having leftovers in my fridge and freezer.  I used to balk at leftovers.  Why eat the same thing over and over??  Unless, it’s brownies, of course.  However, there probably wouldn’t be much of those leftover!  Now, I look at leftovers in a whole new way.  Leftovers allow me to have a quick and healthy option with minimal effort or fuss.  Knowing that I had those meals and fridge/freezer items made it easy for me to make good choices during this tiring project;  just heat and eat!  Gotta give props to the microwave!!!   Having these options, besides being a real time-saver, allowed me to “plan” to stay on track.  Failure was not an option!  Love it when a plan comes together

Onto the food!  Warning:  prepare to bored out of your mind.  Not much creativity here, just necessary eats!

Thursday

Started the day off with a hearty bowl of leftover oat bran.  I have to say, I wasn’t quite sure how precooked oat bran would translate, but it was just fine with the addition of a little extra water to thin it out while reheating.  I morphed it into PB&J Oatbran with a bit of grape jam and PB2…

Lunch was a Cedarlane Beans, Rice and Cheese style Burrito with a side of POPchips and a peach…

After tons more wallpaper scraping, I decided I needed a break.  I couldn’t shake another Starbucks craving!  The crack is back!!!  This time, I went for a Pumpkin Spice Light Frappuccino…

OMG!  Loved it and a Grande is only 150 calories, .5 grams fat and 3 grams fiber.  Heeeelloooo!!

Scrape, scrape, tape, tape, paint the trim.  UGH!

Dinner was a Dominex Eggplant Burger topped with leftover Hot Artichoke-Cheese Dip and baby spinach on a deli flat, a side of carrots and a Chobani nonfat strawberry yogurt for dessert…

Wallpaper on…

Wallpaper off —thank, gawd!!!

Now to choose a color….

Friday

I felt a lot better this morning!  Still stuffy, but no fever and head throb.  Since I was on the mend, I decided to make a quick run to the gym.  The Arc Trainer was calling my name!  Brought my breakfast to-go…

The Arc Trainer whipped me good for 30 minutes which was all I had time for since I had a late morning doctor’s appointment.  On the way to the appointment, I munched on a Blueberry Apricot Oat Bran Muffin (from the freezer)…

I went for a routine physical and all checks out, except for my hip which the doc thinks is bursitis and wants me to consult with a Sports Medicine doc for it.  Yikes!

I made it home for a “leftover” lunch before running out the door again to pick up paint and supplies.  I went with Chickpea Croquettes and the ever easy side of carrots and apple…

Later, a Peanut Butter Cookie Larabar was needed to help with the paint color choosing…

And dinner was leftover crock pot chicken with a side of sweet potato fries (pre-cut from Trader Joe’s)…

Thanks for hanging in there with this marathon post!!!  Hope you have a great weekend!  I’ll see you tomorrow for the “reveal”

ONE GOOD THING: Leftovers!!!!!!

I feel like H E double hockey sticks.  The sick people got me with this nasty cold.  The daughters are better, but the husband and I have the worst of it now.  My head feels like an elephant is stepping on it.  Excellent.  But, nothin’ stops a mom, so I keep on trudging…

After getting the daughters off to school, I mixed up a batch of stovetop oatbran for the husband and I.  I used the same method as oatmeal, the bran just takes a few extra minutes to cook and I like the texture a  lot more than regular oats.  To mine, I added 1/4 c. dried cherries, some dark chocolate chips and a couple chopped walnuts.  Cherry Chocolate Walnut Oatbran is GOOOOD…

and filling.  I think.  Hard to tell because I’m not so hungry due to the giant foot on my face.  But, I’m pretty sure the bran did a good job and I wasn’t ready to eat something until around 1:30.  I was craving cheesiness.  I had some leftover Hot Artichoke-Cheese Dip, so I schmeared that over 2 slices of Seven Grain Bread, topped each with 1/2 slice of Asiago cheese and ran it under the broiler.  With a side of fuji apple, it was heaven…

I spent the remainder of the day scraping wallpaper off my kitchen walls.  Can I tell you how much this job sucks??  Wallpaper scrapers should make a million dollars a year because it is a very sucky job.  Tedious, time-consuming and requiring loads of patience of which I have none!  Scrape, scrape, peel, dip, scrape…

I forgot that I got recruited volunteered to help out in the church office while little daughter was in religion class, so I left in my schlocky scraping clothes and headed over to organize papers for a couple hours.  FUN ;P

When we got back, I was in no shape to be cooking a big dinner.  My head was killing me, so I announced “breakfast for dinner” which made everyone happy- eggs, bacon and bagels have a way of doing that!  I wasn’t much in the mood for eating anything (gosh, WHY can’t this happen everyday!!  Without the stinkin’ head throb), but decided I should feed my body something nutritious.  Thankfully, I had loads of  Big Batch Bulgur Chili already portioned out, so I heated up a container and topped it with some avocado and a sprinkle of lite cheese…

Despite my head, I continued to scrape until bedtime.  We hope to be painting on Saturday, so I’ll be able to show the before and after this weekend.

Off to do more scraping….

Stay well, everyone!!!

ONE GOOD THING :  I didn’t think about food much at all today.  I love when that happens

The infirmary is open.  The husband and daughters are sneezing and snotting all over the place.  Won.der.ful.  Big daughter stayed home from school, but since the husband was home, I was able to get in a quick stint at the gym.  Before I left, I grabbed breakfast to-go:  Banana Walnut Breakfast Cookie topped with PB2…

I came up with the cookie recipe the other day and tried it out on the daughters.  They were a big hit;  big daughter ate 2!  They are quite large and very hearty.  I can’t share the recipe with you, yet.  You’ll have to wait to “buy the book” –LOL!  I’m submitting it for Jen’s awesome e-cookbook that she’s putting together for charity, so stay tuned for more info!

After munching down my cookie, I headed straight for the elliptical for a decent 15 minutes.  My friend, Coleen, wanted to bravely try out another contraption, so I went along for the ride.  And a ride it was… The Arc Trainer!!  I have aptly renamed it The Brutalizer.  It is one tough workout.  I did 20 minutes on it and was dripping with sweat.  It was great!  Definitely my new favorite machine.  I threw in a couple sets of lower body exercises with the weights and I started home to the infirmary.  Hack, hack, sniffle, sneeze.  UGH!  On the way, I couldn’t shake a strong craving for an old friend…Starbucks!  I know I shouldn’t have…I really, really shouldn’t…been doing so great being “off” coffee.  But, the Pumpkin Spice Latte was just too hard to resist…

I missed it sooooo much…

Yes, I realize that when you kiss your coffee cup, it’s 1) extremely weird and 2) a sign you have a major problem.  *cue Amy Winehouse*  I don’t want to go to rehab, I say noooo, nooooo, noooo.    It was so good!  I spread the happiness by bringing big daughter a Mocha Frappuccino for her sore throat and she was thrilled!  See?  Spreading the love….

So, when I am stuck in the house with a bunch of sickies, what do I do??  Cook.  And Eat.  But, I mainly chose cook  and I decided it would be healthy, so that’s a step in the right direction!  Ever since seeing this amazing recipe for Big Batch Bulgur Chili on Just Sweet Enough’s blog,  I knew I had to try it.  It was easy, delicious and made a ton!

I had a hearty bowl for lunch…

with a side of Barbeque POPchips …

Yum!  And I have plenty left over that I portioned out for quick heat and eat lunches or dinners…

Little daughter had dance class in the afternoon, so dinner was a crockpot concoction.  I never have much luck with my crockpot meals (too dry/overdone), but I thought I’d try it again.  I pre-browned some chicken thighs and placed it in the crockpot with a little white wine, chicken broth, garlic, lemon zest, s +p and some chopped red peppers.  It was all ready when we got home.  I nuked up a steamer bag of red potatoes and organic corn and dinner was done!

My plate…

And again, I have some leftovers for another time when I don’t feel like cooking.  Which might be sooner rather than later because I think they got me.  The sickies.  I’m feeling a little…ACHOOOOO!  Boo

ONE GOOD THING:  Making extra food and freezing it leaves me with lots of good, healthy options for times I don’t feel like cooking or just need to grab something quick.

Question of the Day:  What are your favorite “cook and freeze” meals?