kale chip disaster August 22, 2008

my first attempt at making kale chips failed miserably. i don’t think i put enough kale pieces on the cookie sheet because they came out crumbly, like melt-in-your mouth crunchy and not in a good way. also, they were WAAAAAY too salty, it ruined the flavor of the kale. i sprinkled on quite a bit of salt because i was afraid i wouldn’t like kale’s natural flavor. i was wrong.

i’m going to try again soon because i have a ton of kale sitting in the fridge now that i need to use. here’s last nights batch before going into the oven.

and close-up, bathed in salt and olive oil.

fresh out of the oven on my plate along with my chick’n sandwich.

you can totally see the salt concentrations… it makes me gag just looking at how salty they were. my sandwich was good though. it was a chick’n patty on an ezekiel english muffin with a tiny sprinkle of mozzarella (that i couldn’t even taste) and some spicy mustard.

i was probably full after just eating that but i was so disappointed in the kale chip disaster that i craved something creamy and cool and sweet. i compromised by adding a tbsp. and a half of agave nectar to some soy yogurt and pairing it with kashi h2h and slivered almonds. so really it was a trio of things in there, (not counting the agave) not a pair.

friday morning dawned bright and early today. after my shower i was hungry so i dipped into my cantaloupe.

lots of fresh juicy cantaloupe and i ate it all. cantaloupe is my all-time favorite favorite fruit ever. of all time. i love it so much that last statement wasn’t even redundant.

i wasn’t so hungry after all that cantaloupe but i packed some grapes and an almond butter & banana sandwich for mid-morning.

having eaten all of that i should be stuffed. but i’m definitely already hungry for lunch. i’m excited to share something i’ve actually cooked myself with my dad. i had a ton of stuffing left over the other night from the spicy bean stuffed peppers. i brought the filling to work with me today and plan to run next door for some lettuce we can wrap it in for spicy lettuce wraps! i know he’ll love them because they’re really hot and he likes jalapenos.

hot hot hot August 21, 2008

as if it’s not hot enough outside i have to turn up the heat a little by having a leftover spicy bean stuffed pepper for lunch.

whoops, that reminds me that i completely skipped posting breakfast. it was a good one today, too. a fruit smoothie in almond milk with cantaloupe, frozen strawberries, and blood orange sorbetto.

clearly, i didn’t use ALL of that stuff. but what i did use yielded a perfect 16oz. here it is in my very own homemade go-cup.

i felt like having waffles this morning in addition to all the fruit so i toasted two flax waffles and spread a little smear of almond butter on one and a mashed banana with sugar-free maple on the other.

i ate it sandwich style and it was delicious. here’s breakfast all together.

yes, that is an old cottage cheese container. i like to do my part by reusing.

back to lunch. for dessert i packed 4 caramel tea cookies which is technically 1 and 1/3 serving. and all that was left so i decided just to pack them all.

tonights planned workout: step-circuit. i’m not a huge fan of step classes so we’ll see how this one goes…

craving a balance August 13, 2008

i’ve decided that i definitely need to workout more, even more than i already do, because i just like food too much. i enjoy eating and i’d rather not put so many limitations on what i can and should eat. i like working out and the bottom line is i need to create more time to be active so i can start enjoying my life in a body i can be proud of. what brings this on is the discovery that i don’t have a waist and it’s high time that i get one. now that i’m done philosophizing (sp?) i can present breakfast.

same as yesterday, i started out with half a chopped cantaloupe. only today’s isn’t blurry

and followed it up with 1c. of kashi h2h with pecans and a small chopped banana in 1/2c. of soymilk

i ate at around 830 and started getting hungry again at around 1030 (!!) but i chugged water and staved off the real hunger until just now, 1215-ish.

cold breakfast August 12, 2008

yesterday my body temp was way up and i think it was because i had hot hot oats for breakfast. so today i had half a cantaloupe (that i chopped up last night in my motivational kitchen frenzy)

it had been in the fridge so it was nice and chilly. and blurry, too, apparently. to supplement i had 1 heaping cup of kashi h2h with a dash of apple oh’s and a small sliced banana in 3/4c. of soymilk

i had all that around 830 and exactly 3 hours later at 1130 i had this cherry pie larabar

and i’m trying not to be hungry again ’til 130 because it just seems like a good time to eat lunch. i packed a can of amy’s lentil vegetable soup and some true north pistachio crackers. lentils usually keep me full for a long time so we’ll see what happens because i already ate the only snack i brought.

a hungry day June 10, 2008

if yesterday was an unexpectedly satisfying day, today i’ve been hungry within an hour or two of eating anything! it’s so frustrating but i’ve got a lot on my mind and i’ve managed to keep myself distracted. it also helps that i drink a lot of water. when we got the sparkletts service i had them set it up right next to my desk

it’s the foolproof way to stay hydrated, i just roll my chair over for refills when i get thirsty (or hungry one hour after eating, grr).

i had a morning snack again today because i’ve been eating breakfast so much earlier than i’m accustomed to now that i swim. today i had what was left of my fat free vanilla yogurt (about 1/2c.) with 1oz. of pecans and the other half of my juicy delicious cantaloupe.

oh yes, and another hungry girl cookie.

lunch after that couldn’t come soon enough… i had a cup of spaghetti squash with 1tbsp. of olive oil and some fresh goat cheese. it is the sun-dried tomato kind i bought at the farmers market.

for dessert i had homemade chocolate mousse. i whipped it up last night with two ripe avocados and cocoa powder. it tastes so rich and decadent and creamy one would never know it is made with avocados. i got the recipe from shape magazine and used sugar-free maple syrup and splenda.

i served about 1/4c. and it was so rich i couldn’t finish it! i’ll have to share it with my friends this week so the rest of the batch doesn’t go bad. sara is lactose intolerant and loves dark chocolate so i hope she likes it!

i got hungry too soon after my indulgent-looking (and tasting) meal but i held off until 330, almost 4, to eat my pre-workout snack, the rest of the Think Organic bar i had a taste of yesterday.

very disappointing. the ingredients are simple like larabars but it sure doesn’t match up in taste. my workout starts in half an hour and my tummy is rumbling. some days are just better than others. *sigh*

the best i can do is hang in there. at least i have my workout and sweet potatoes tonight to look forward to!

purple power smoothie June 9, 2008

i am back to my AM swimming regimen as of this morning. breakfast part one/pre-workout snack was a smoothie. i basically threw some stuff in the blender and got this:

it was good but i plan on modifying it for flavor and calorie content tomorrow. it consisted of 3/4c. of light vanilla soymilk, 1/4c. of egg whites (for protein), 1/2 a frozen banana, 1/2c. of frozen cherries, 1tbsp. of powdered greens (for fiber) and 1tbsp. of flax oil (for good fat). i love that i was able to squeeze all of those nutrients into a delicious frozen drinkable breakfast, go me. tomorrow i think i want to add nonfat vanilla yogurt as part of the 1c. total liquid dimension (so 1/4c. of egg whites, 1/4c. of yogurt and 1/2c. of soymilk) and 2oz. of vemma mangosteen supplement. i also want to just use cherries for the fruit, the greens mix better with tart fruit than sweet banana i think. and good lord, 1/2tbsp. of flax oil is plenty! a whole tablespoon sets me back 120 calories! i’ll take sixty and 7 grams of good fat, thank you very much. we’ll see how it comes out tomorrow, i can’t wait to try it!

breakfast part two was 1/2c. of cottage cheese with 1oz. of pecans and a drizzle of honey.

AND my fresh fruit summer staple:

JUICY CANTALOUPE! it’s my ultra fav, i can’t get enough!

neat! June 6, 2008

look at this neat ticker i created through myfitnesspal.com

Created by MyFitnessPal – Free Calorie Counter

now i can track my progress with a little orange fish, just what i always wanted!
today has been a light food day so far, i’m stuck at the office for longer than i normally would be on a friday and i hurried out the door this morning so i had to pack all of my food and i ended up just throwing a bunch of stuff in the bag.
breakfast was my yummy cottage cheese-vanilla yogurt muesli and the rest of my fresh cantaloupe. this breakfast is my favorite because it’s uber filling and incorporates all of my favorite flavors. i only have one pre-portioned serving left so i guess i’ll just have to make more!

i got distracted doing a bunch of stuff while i was eating (because i was already in the office) even though i know i’m not supposed to multi-task anything with eating i didn’t really have a choice this morning. the busy-ness caused me to forget to take a picture ’til i was almost done with it and forget the cantaloupe altogether. but everyone knows what cantaloupe looks like… delicious.
lunch was an avocado-tuna nicoise pita, again. i’m over it, didn’t even take a pic. i need some variety in my lunch! i’m craving a really good salad. i’ve got a few favorites but they’re all from expensive restaurants and have dressings that i’m sure are too good to be low-cal. to surprise my tastebuds with something different, i had half a grapefruit with some splenda sprinkled on top.

and that’s it! that’s all i’ve eaten today. just 655 calories. i’m not hungry, i just wish i had some flavor. i can’t wait ’til my larabars come in the mail!

weekend June 2, 2008

saturday morning i had a smoothie before working out. i put a cup of nonfat milk with half a frozen banana and a cup of frozen peaches. it was so think and frozen, like a milkshake! of course i added the customary 1/2tbsp. of flax oil, too. total was 253 calories. i drank it on the way to my saturday morning jazzercise super-workout.

the rest of my food choices were kind of a blur because i just grazed a lot. i tend to do that on weekends… i’m not super proud of it but i’ll be reevaluating my habits and tweaking what i can for maximum energy and weight loss until the big beach vacation (BBV) in july. i really want to look my very best, of course, but i also want to win the $100
here are some food highlights from the weekend so i can catch up:
i made the hungry girl peanut butter fudge with pumpkin and it was delicious! i’ll definitely make it again. it was a big hit at home with the fam, too. i had three squares with coffee and toast.

salad for lunch before we hit the road to grandma’s:

at my cousin’s baby shower i had a lot of fruit and some bites of pretty much everything else except the pasta salad and the slaw dishes.
this tuna salad was my favorite and i paired it with some cantaloupe wedges:

really yummy cake for dessert (loaded with sugar, i’m sure):

an artfully sliced strawberry:

breakfast sunday: an over-easy egg on toast with some laughing cow spread.

chicken taco for lunch with grandma’s highly caloric cheesy frijoles

some more baby shower cake :/

and i’m spent.