Thursday, 8/9/2012

I did much better with eating responsibly today. My back was feeling a bit better, so I made it to the gym to swim for an hour and a half, but I took it a little easier and spent some extra time in the hot whirlpool.

Breakfast

banana on the go

Lunch

Subway 6" buffalo chicken sandwich on honey oat with pepper jack cheese, avocado, and all available veggies and Lay's Garden Tomato & Basil potato chips

Snacks

jambalaya and OJ

Nature's Own Oatmeal Toaster - Cinnamon Raisin and nutella

Dinner

rotisserie chicken, potato gratin, broccoli, and spinach salad with tomato and queso fresco

Dessert

the last of the Reese's Peanut Butter Cup ice cream treats...

Wednesday, 8/8/2012

This was not the most successful day food-wise. I suffered from back-ache all day, probably because of the work I did the day before trimming the hedges with the apparently-too-heavy-for-me electric hedge-cutter. I didn't get to go swimming and could not seem to stop eating.

Breakfast

egg with spinach, salsa, and left-over cheesy potato casserole

Lunch

Amy's Indian Mattar Paneer meal (curried peas & paneer cheese with rice & chana masala) and grapes

Snacks (far too many!)

garlic & herb crackers with red bell pepper hummus and queso fresco

Nature's Own Oatmeal Toasters - Cinnamon Raisin with Nutella

nachos made with chips, cheddar, salsa, and jalepenos

Microwave popcorn - a 100 calorie packet

Dinner

Jason's Deli salad bar - tons of veggies, bean salad, potato salad, a little hummus, nuts, and a little blue cheese dressing

Jason's Deli salmon half-sandwich with fruit and sweet yogurt dip

Dessert

Reese's Peanut Butter Cup ice cream novelty

Tuesday, 8/7/2012

I guess I'm a "regular swimmer" at the gym now. I got asked for advice on avoiding the adverse effects of chlorine by a couple of ladies in the locker room...

Breakfast

grapes with a messy frittata made with eggs, left-over Jason's Deli pasta and meatballs, peas, bacon, and queso fresco

Lunch

Lean Cuisine santa fe-style rice & beans meal served with salsa, jalapeno pepper, and chips

Snacks

chocolate covered toffee almonds from a fantastic local coffee shop

Non-fat Greek yogurt with frozen blueberries, honey, and locally made honey & strawberry granola

blueberry waffles with syrup

Dinner

baked tilapia, mixed veggies, cheesy potato casserole, and spinach salad with dates and queso fresco

Monday 8/6/2012

More church this morning, but I got in an hour of swimming. Here's what I ate:

Breakfast

string cheese

grapes and coffee

Lunch

Subway turkey and ham 6" sub on honey oat bread with all the veggies, pepper-jack cheese, and avocado...with Baked Lay's southwestern ranch chips

Snacks

light toasted bread, roasted red bell pepper hummus, and baby spinach

chips with cheddar, chili, salsa, and jalapeno peppers

Dinner

Jason's Deli penne with marinara, meatballs, and asiago cheese. I ordered the "light" portion, and this is what came! It was huge and so was my soup, so I ate only about a third of this and took most of it home. I did eat the yummy focaccia with my soup, though.

Jason's Deli chicken pot pie soup with strawberry

Jason's Deli soft-serve ice cream (vanilla and chocolate twist)...didn't finish it

Lean Cuisine Makeover

While some frozen entrees are reasonably edible and even tasty, including Lean Cuisine meals, they generally aren't the most attractive foods when eaten straight from the container. Also, eaten alone, they rarely constitute a well balanced, full meal. For example, Lean Cuisine's roasted garlic chicken meal tastes fine, and the spinach side is actually pretty good, but it's fairly gross-looking after being heated in its plastic container. I mean, they don't even show a picture of it on the front in its actual container...and if you look closely at the top of the package, they've even added a side of bread with some sort of dip... The reason for this is that there are very limited carbohydrates in this particular meal, and by itself, it isn't a balanced meal, regardless if some people avoid starch or not.

I didn't take a picture of the meal in the container, but in case you haven't seen one of these meals...here's what the messy container looks like with the food removed. Yuck. (The container with the food in it didn't look much better.)

To balance the meal, I toasted two pieces of light Wonder bread and cut them into small triangles. The spinach wasn't as creamy as I expected, and I thought a small amount of crumbled cheese would look and taste good. I added queso fresco. To add even more color contrast and a bit of sweetness and additional vitamins to balance the meal even more, I also put a few seedless grapes on the side. Here's the final outcome, which tasted great!

Most frozen entrees can be greatly improved with the addition of at least a small salad and some fresh fruit. Even if you don't add anything to your frozen meal, I highly recommend putting it on a fresh plate if that is convenient/possible.

Sunday, 8/5/2012

As usual, my Sunday was a busy day. I have a church gig in the morning, which means breakfast on the go. I went swimming in the afternoon and had dinner with the family in the evening. Here's what I ate:

Breakfast

a rather ripe banana

Lunch

Hormel chili with a large amount of salsa added and a small dollop of light sour cream, salad greens, chips and melted cheddar, and beef hotdogs with Dijon mustard (I only ate about half of the chili mixture and only one of the hotdogs)

Snack

Lean Cuisine roasted chicken meal (chicken in sauce and creamy spinach and veggies mixture) with light toast points, queso fresco, and seedless red grapes

Dinner

chips, salsa, and bean dip with jalapenos (this was shared)

and some chili con queso (on a flat plate)

shrimp fajitas, grilled veggies, rice, cheese, sour cream, guacamole, pico de gallo, and chicken tortilla soup. Fresh flour tortillas not pictured. (I only ate one tortilla, and I didn't eat the rice or sour cream. I had a bit left over of everything except the shrimp and the soup.)

Dessert

Reese's peanut butter cup ice cream novelty (While not the lowest in calories, this is the yummiest store-bought ice cream treat I've ever eaten...I highly recommend it...just don't eat them often.)

Saturday, 8/4/2012

Yesterday was a wash. I forgot to take pictures of everything but lunch due to an early start and a longer than expected road-trip. Today was a bit better, although I didn't capture a breakfast shot.

Breakfast (no picture this time!)
I had a scrambled egg, with three small pancakes and a little maple syrup.

Lunch

Subway 6" sandwich - honey oat bread, "buffalo" chicken, pepper-jack cheese, guacamole, and all available veggies with Sun Chips (6 grain medley parmesan & herb)

Snack

thin-crust veggie pizza

Dinner

steak with Heinz 57 sauce, jambalaya, and peas

Dessert

sliced apple with a mixture of all-natural peanut butter and Nutella