Food Friday - Super Salads

from Kris B.

I am a huge fan of salad and I'm not particular about what kind of salad I eat.  The only thing here is that I am not a fan a most salad dressings.  Even when I'm not watching my calories, I don't eat dressing on my salads.  So the problem for me, as I am looking for ways to trim those unnecessary calories, is not adjusting to eating "dry" salad, but frather inding a dressing that I will enjoy when the salad must have a dressing.  And let's face it, chicken salad is not salad unless it has dressing.

This is a simple chicken salad, given its flavor by tarragon and chives and its crunch from toasted almonds.  The dressing is a mixture of low-fat plain yogurt and light sour cream.  Aside from cooking the chicken, it takes no time to prepare; but, it is best if allowed to sit in the fridge for 12-24 hours to give ample time for all of the flavors to meld together.

INGREDIENTS
3 small chicken breast halves
3 ribs of celery, diced
1 bunch of chives, finely chopped
2 TBS fresh tarragon, finely chopped
1/2 Cup low-fat plain yogurt
1/4 Cup light sour cream
1/4 Cup toasted almonds
Salt Ground black pepper
Salad greens

Coat a skillet with non-stick cooking spray.  At medium high heat, cook the chicken, 4-6 minutes on each side until there is no pink and the juices run clear.  Remove from heat and allow the chicken to rest for ten minutes.  Once cooled, cut into bite-sized pieces.

Combine the yogurt, sour cream, celery, tarragon, and chives in a medium bowl,  Once it has cooled, add the chicken.  Mix.

Cover and refrigerate for at least an hour or up to 24 hours. (The longer it is refrigerated, the better the salad will be.)

Just before serving, add desired amounts of salt and pepper and the almonds, reserving a few for garnishing, if desired.  Serve on a bed of your favorite salad greens.

Makes 4 servings.

Nutrition information: per serving; 177 calories; 5g fat; 8g carbohydrates; 25g protein; 3g fiber; 182mg sodium



from Tracey G

Another funny opposite between Kris and I, is my love for salad dressing. I was one who only ate salad so I could have dressing! After all, it would look kind of crazy me eating salad dressing from a spoon! I was never a fan of creamy dressings (other than for potato salad, macaroni salad chicken salad etc), ranch was a dip for me, not something that went on my salad and so forth. I preferred, and actually still do, a vinaigrette-style dressing. My first ever salad dressing was plain vinegar and olive oil. I remember once, as a little girl, my mom had run out of olive oil - it was a staple in our household and at the time and where we live, you couldn't get it here. So we used to bring it back up north with us from visits downstate in the Detroit area - same with feta, but that's another story, lol. So what did she do? She substituted VEGETABLE oil in its place. I remember I almost spit out my bite of salad (I actually may have!) - it was awful! Like taking a drink of your iced tea and discovering it's Coke or vice versa, it was just wrong. She never ever did that again.

But anyway, I do love a good vinaigrette, and I think one of my all time favorites is a raspberry vinaigrette which I use on this salad. It is a "lite" version, and it's one of my particular favorites. I use this one even when I'm not eating mindfully because I just love the taste of it - it's Ken's Steak House Lite Raspberry Walnut Vinaigrette. It's the best one I've run across that reminds me of the very first one I tried in a restaurant. The rest of the salad I pulled from various things I love in salads. I had this idea to just pull them altogether and tie them up with my favorite dressing, and I was very happy with the results!! It was actually yummy enough that dressing may not have even been needed as all the flavors mixed together to be just right on their own.

The ingredients are approximate and you can, once again, add or subtract whatever you like!

Red, White and Blue Salad

serves 6

8 cups spring mix salad greens

2 cups halved fresh strawberries

1 cup blueberries

1/2 small red onion, thinly sliced

1/3 cup raspberry vinaigrette

1/2 cup crumbled feta

Combine greens, onion, and berries in a large bowl; drizzle with vinaigrette and toss to combine. Sprinkle with cheese and serve immediately.

Food Friday - Dessert Anyone?

from Kris B.

A month into our mindful eating journey and we are doing pretty well.  Yes, we both succumbed to dessert last weekend, but starting on Monday we were right on track.  What we learned from our mutual experience last weekend was that we are never going to be able to do without desserts every now and then.  Call it weakness.  Call it reality.  It is what it is.  Rather than beat ourselves up over our seemingly disparate desires to lose weight and eat desserts, we decided to look for calorie friendly desserts, foods that will satisfy that inevitable sweet tooth, but also satisfy our SparkPeople food logs.  This week's recipes do both as well as passed the taste test with our families.

Keep in mind that we are trying to eat regular everyday foods so no artificial sweeteners, etc.  As with everything else here at Pixels, Plates, and LOLs, it is only the real deal!  Lol!  The key to success is everything in moderation.  I headed to the Internet in search of a cookie, my personal downfall, that tastes like a real cookie, but won't reside on my hips for eternity.  I am very happy with these Cinnamon Pecan Wafers that Eating Well (November/December 2010)  offered.  Sweet, crisp, nutty - this 63 calorie cookie is perfect as dessert or a snack.  I enjoy mine with a nice hot cup of black coffee.  Lol!

INGREDIENTS
1/2 Cup unsalted butter
3/4 Cup granulated sugar, divided
1/4 *light brown sugar
1 large egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
 1 1/4 Cups *whole wheat pastry flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/3 tsp salt
1 Cup finely chopped pecans
1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

* The original recipe calls for light brown sugar and whole wheat pastry flour.  I used dark brown sugar and white whole wheat flour.  

1.  Beat the butter, 1/2 cup granulated sugar, and brown sugar in bowl of an electric mixer on medium high until creamy.  Add egg and vanilla and beat well.  Combine flour, baking powder, and salt then add to the butter mixture.  I sifted the dry ingredients into the butter mixture.  Beat at low speed until combined.  Stir in pecans by hand.

2.  Divide the dough in half and use lightly floured hands to shape each portion into a 6-inch log.  Wrap each log in wax paper and freeze until firm, at least 1 hour.

3.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

4.  Unwrap the dough and let stand at room temperature for 5 minutes.  Combine the remaining 1/4 of granulated sugar and the cinnamon on a shallow plate.  Roll the log in the sugar mixture, then slice into 24 1/4' thick cookies.  Place the cookies about 2 1/2' apart on an uncreased cookie sheet.

5. Bake one batch at a time, until lightly browned, 10-12 minutes.  Transfer to wire racks to cool.

The uncooked dough or the cooked cookies may frozen for up to three months.  Store cooked cookies at room temperature in layers separated by wax paper in an airtight container for up to five days.

Nutrition information: per cookie; 63 calories; 4g fat; 7g carbohydrates; 1g protein; 1g fiber; 26 mg sodium; 13 potassium


from Tracey G.

In this effort to eat better and more mindfully, I've been in pursuit of some easy alternative recipes for desserts and snacks. I don't always have dessert, but there are times when that "gotta-have-something-sweet" hits and I'd rather not throw away all my hard work over something like that, or I've made a special dinner and would like a special treat - that's reasonable but still yummy - to go along with it.

 A few years ago Taste of Home put out a "Comfort Food Diet" cookbook, where they compiled a bunch of recipes, from snacks through dessert, that are reasonable in calories and so forth. They are all organized according to type of food (snack, breakfast, dinner etc) and then, in that, they are organized by calories. It's a pretty nice set up and all "normal" foods, some light on their own and  some that have been smartly lightened up. They of course have newer incarnations of it now, I just bought myself a couple digital versions recently and am looking forward to using them as much as I've enjoyed using the one I got this recipe from - my original! It's been a great tool in eating healthier without sacrificing a thing and without feeling like I'm dieting - because that is not my goal. I don't want to go on a diet - that's too restrictive sounding and that's where I fail. Tell me I can't have something and it becomes number one on my list to have! 

This cheesecake version comes in at 163 calories as written, I added one more graham cracker and that bumped it up to 172 calories per serving. And the serving size is nice too - not skimpy in the least. I thought that it would be cut into 10 or 12 slices, and I was wrong - it's cut into only 8. A very nice serving! The cherry topping is a light pie filling - and that's another item I had no issues with it tasting "diet" etc. It was a nice addition - and honestly, I liked the cheesecake just as much without the topping. 

This was another surprisingly simple recipe to pull together - I even double checked my recipe thinking that I must have missed something somewhere, but nope, it was just that easy!

No-Bake Lemon Cheesecake

courtesy of Taste Of Home; can be found here: No-Bake Lemon Cheesecake

1 whole reduced fat graham cracker, finely crushed, divided

1 package (.3 oz.) sugar-free lemon gelatin

2/3 cup boiling water

1 package (8 oz.) reduced-fat cream cheese, cubed

1 cup (8 oz.) 1% cottage cheese

2 cups reduced-fat whipped topping

1 cup reduced-sugar cherry pie filling

1. Coat a 9-in. springform pan with cooking spray. Sprinkle half of the graham cracker crumbs on the bottom and 1 in up the sides of pan; set aside. Dissolve gelatin in boiling water; cool to room temperature.

2. In a blender, combine the gelatin mixture, cream cheese and cottage cheese; cover and process until smooth. Transfer mixture to a bowl; fold in whipped topping. Pour into prepared pan. 

3. Sprinkle with remaining graham cracker crumbs. Cover and refrigerate for at least 4 hours or until set. Carefully run a knife around the edge of pan to loosen, then remove sides of pan. Garnish with pie filling. 

Yield: 8 servings

Nutritional Information: 1 piece equals 163 calories; 8 g fat (5 g saturated fat); 17 mg cholesterol; 240 mg sodium; 15 g carbohydrate; .55 g fiber; 7 g protein

It's All A Matter of Perspective

This week begins my sort-of summer break.  Though I am not teaching over the summer, I will be working part time doing curriculum design.  That's OK.  The hours are flexible and there is no homework!

My first text message of summer was sent to Tracey at 6am Monday morning.  It read:
Chocolate cake: 1, Me: 0.   Mondays are our weigh days and we check in with one another once we have stepped on the scale.  I lost nothing last week.  I was not surprised because on Saturday I met for lunch with a group of friends that I have not seen in over a year.  I made reasonable food choices with my actual lunch, but everyone was ordering dessert and I gave in to a piece of chocolate cake, a big piece of chocolate cake!  It was good and I enjoyed it.  Did I log it in SparkPeople?  Nope!  First of all I had no idea what the actual calorie count was.  That is probably a good thing.  Lol!  I did not have any eater's regret.

When Tracey and I began our mindful eating journey together, we said that this was not a diet.  Nothing was off limits.  We simply wanted to be more conscientious with regard to what kinds of foods we eat and the number of calories we consume.  Our goal is to make a lifestyle change, not just try "a diet" for awhile to quickly drop a few pounds, only to gain them back probably faster than we lost them.

My piece of chocolate cake day was the only day during the week that I exceeded my recommended calorie intake.  That one day negated all that I had done the other six days of the week.  That was an eye-opener, but it is all a matter of perspective.

As I tell my music theory students, a perfect fourth sounds dissonant when surrounded by thirds and sixths and consonant when surrounded by seconds and sevenths.  Or, a photo taken at ISO 1600 may look grainy when compared to one taken at ISO 400, but may look great when compared to one taken  at ISO 6400.  Maintaining a steady weight feels pretty good when your goal is to not gain, but its a little disappointing when you are hoping to lose a few pounds.

Why is it that when I gain a pound I feel like a failure yet when I lose that same pound it feels like too little to make any kind of difference?  This kind of thinking doesn't make any sense.  If a pound gained is something to be upset about, then a pound lost is something to celebrate.  Its that simple.  Either it makes a difference both directions, or it doesn't.  And maintaining a steady weight, whether ascending or descending digits on the scale, is ok.  The good news is that once I reach my goal weight, I know that I can eat that piece of chocolate cake and all will be well!

Tracey found herself in this same situation over the weekend.  She and her family went out for dinner.      They had a Blizzard from Dairy Queen for dessert.  Our advice to one another was if you are going to have it, enjoy it!  It definitely isn't worth the calories if you don't enjoy what you are eating!

It is now a new week.  We are both back on track.  Content with the choices that we made over the weekend.  Content with the message from the scale on Monday morning.  Confident that we can continue from where we are and move forward, which is exactly what we are doing!

I don't foresee chocolate cake in my future this week, but you never know.  Lol!  My intention is to stick to the calorie guidelines that I know will help me to continue a downward trend.  We'll check back in next week and let you know if we are moving again in the desired direction.

Until then...

Food Friday - High In Goodness, Low In Calories

from Kris B.

We are two and half weeks in to our “weight reduction plan.”  With encouragement from another, both of us are doing pretty well staying within our allowed calorie range each day and not feeling hungry.  There does, however, come a time when we want a sweet snack, not a reward necessarily, but a sweet something that we can eat and enjoy and not feel guilty about having had.  It is from this place that we bring you this week’s recipes.

I like cake, but I am not a big fan of frosting.  Even though I have a powerful sweet tooth, most frosting is even too sweet for me.  I often scrape all but a thin layer of the frosting from cake and cupcakes.  I know.  It sounds like a waste; however, often there is someone nearby that has the exact opposite preferences - they love the frosting but not the cake.  It works out for all involved!  Lol!  When I make cake at home, I don’t go to the trouble of making frosting  unless I have to.

A favorite cake at our house is angel food cake.  No one expects it to have frosting.  Perhaps a dollop of whipped cream, and some kind of fruit and it is perfectly dressed and good to go.  Angel food cake is also low in calories abd fat free!  This recipe weighs in at 146 calories per (naked) slice.  Adding fruit and a little whipped cream ups that at little, but this treat still comes in far below the average for most desserts.

INGREDIENTS

12 eggs, whites only) or 1 1/2 cups egg whites)

1 Cup flour

1 1/2 cups sugar, divided

1/4 tsp salt

1 tsp cream of tartar

1 tsp vanilla

1 tsp almond extract

1 TBS lemon juice

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

In a medium bowl, sift together the flour and half (3/4 cup) of the sugar.

Using an electric mixer, whisk the egg whites until  foamy..  Add the salt and cream of tartar.  Continue to whisk until soft peaks form.  Add the remaining 3/4 cup of sugar a little at a time.  Once stiff peaks have formed, beat in the vanilla, almond extract, and the lemon juice.  

Using a spatula, stir the sifted flour and sugar into the egg white mixture 1/4 cup at a time until all is incorporated.  Evenly spread the batter into an ungreased angel food cake pan (tube pan).

Bake for 50 minutes or until cakes feels slightly springy to the touch and is golden brown.  Remove from oven and invert the pan on a glass bottle to cool.  Once cooled, loosen the cake from the pan with a metal spatula and invert cake onto a plate.

Eat the cake as is, with a little non-dairy whipped cream (if you are watching calories) and fruit.  Or, if you must, drizzle with a glaze or sauce of your choice.

Makes 12 servings

146 calories; 5g protein; 39g carbohydrates; 2g fiber; 29g sugar; 0 fat; 0 cholesterol; 100mg sodium


From Tracey G.

As we come to the end of Week 3 (I've rounded up, lol) in the new Mindful Eating challenge as I like to call it, it's occurred to me that we need some healthy sweets as well occasionally. I'm not a big sweet eater, but sometimes I just gotta have it! Cupcakes, cakes, frosting and so forth. I want to be prepared for such things and have a few healthier alternatives in my bag of tricks. Not that that means I'm not going to enjoy the real deal occasionally, after all there's nothing off limits, it's all about moderation. I would just like a few healthier alternatives to old favorites and some new just-because-they-sound-good healthier things at my disposal.

Recently, I bought myself a subscription to Eating Well magazine, if their magazine is half as informative and helpful as their website, it will be deemed a good move on part! I just got my first issue this past week and this was one of a few recipes in it I decided I was going to try. I did a bit of a hunt around the internet for blueberry pound cake recipes - wanting to see how much this one might differ, and from most of the ones I ran across, this had about half the calories of most, as this comes in at about 303 calories per serving according to the recipe notes. And the 1-inch thick slice - as pictured in my photo, that is considered a serving, is really a pretty good size!

Aside from it being really yummy, it's also a one-bowl recipe - nice! It came together easily, which is always a bonus. I also know it was a hit with my boys - Harry told me that I deserved 63 kisses for it, where he came up with that number as being a good rating is beyond me, but I'll take the kisses and he took a second slice! Hubby asked me if it was easy to put together, which I've come to learn is code for "so, will you make this again because it's really good!"!

I did have to make one major change because I realized I didn't have the ingredient - it calls for 1.5 cups of white whole-wheat flour, I didn't have any, so used unbleached all-purpose. And a minor change was I used frozen blueberries - they aren't the greatest in the stores this time of year fresh, so frozen are always a staple I have on hand. 

Blueberry-Lemon Ricotta Pound Cake

Courtesy of Eating Well Magazine and can be found here: Blueberry-Lemon Ricotta Pound Cake

8 Servings

3/4 cup granulated sugar

5 tbsp unsalted butter, at room temperature

3 large eggs, at room temperature (see tip below*)

3/4 cup part-skim ricotta cheese

2 tbsp lemon zest

2 tbsp lemon juice plus 1 tsp, divided

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 1/2 c white whole-wheat flour

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

2 cups fresh blueberries (I used frozen)

2 tbsp packed confectioner's sugar

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Coat a 9x5-in. loaf pan with cooking spray and line the bottom with parchment paper.

2. Beat sugar and butter in a large bowl with an electric mixer on medium-high speed until creamy**. Beat in eggs, one at a time, until fully incorporated. Reduce the mixer speed to medium-low and beat in ricotta, lemon zest, 2 tbsp lemon juice and vanilla until just combined. Sprinkle flour on top, then evenly sprinkle baking powder and salt over the flour. With the mixer on low speed, beat until almost combined. Add blueberries and  gently fold into the batter. Transfer to prepared pan.

3. Bake the cake until starting to brown around the edges and a tester inserted in the center comes out clean, about 1 hour. Let cool in the pan on a wire rack for 20 minutes. Run a knife around the edge to loosen the cake, then invert it onto the rack. Carefully turn it right-side up. Let cool completely.

4. Clean the bowl, add confectioner's sugar and whisk in the remaining 1 tsp lemon juice until smooth. Brush the glaze on the cake.

Serves 8: One 1-inch thick slice each

Nutritional information: Calories 303, Fat 11g (Saturated Fat 6g), Cholesterol 96mg, Carbohydrates 45g, Total Sugars 25g (added 21g), Protein 8g, Fiber 3g, Sodium 319 mg, Potassium 124mg

*This is a trick I've used for ages to get eggs right out of the refrigerator to room temperature quickly, that they suggest as well: Place the eggs (in the shell) in a bowl of lukewarm water for about 5 minutes. I usually do that first when I start a recipe that needs room temp eggs, so that by the time I'm ready for them, they are ready for me!

**They do note that for best cake texture to make sure you beat it long enough together to look creamy, and the time it take can vary. I never really did see "creamy", but it still turned out well for me!

Food Friday - Breakfast, Lunch or Dessert!

From: Tracey G.

I'll admit it, I'd rather drink my breakfast in the form of coffee, rather than eat it in form of food. I've never been one to eat breakfast, it's always the last thing I want to do when I get up. And honestly, it still takes a backseat to my first cup of coffee, I can't jump out of bed and eat. And I've never been one for "traditional" breakfast foods AT breakfast, give me cold pizza over a bowl of cereal any day! But, if there is one thing I've always liked and that would be the warm cereal varieties. I love Cream of Wheat, that was my first love. Then when oatmeal went "instant" with yummy flavors (the fruit and cream varieties!) that one became acceptable as well.

Now that I'm trying to eat mindfully, breakfast at a some point is a must. And for me it needs to be super easy and quick or I'll skip it and drink more coffee. Lately I've been seriously enjoying the little instant oatmeal cups - they have such lovely varieties for a fairly reasonable cost, and they are so fast a simple to make. But then I remembered the recipe in my favorite-make-it-homemade-cookbook, The Homemade Pantry by Alana Chernila for homemade instant oatmeal! I was intrigued! I went to Pinterest (I've come to love that site!) to see if there were other recipes for it as well, and I found a few that also sounded pretty good and very very close in method/ingredients etc. So, I pulled from a couple recipes and adapted the one from my cookbook - and was super pleased with the results and how easily it came together. Was not time consuming whatsoever. Actually, chopping the almonds I toasted so they could be added to my portions if I so choose, took the longest I think! Now, you can of course mix all of your add-ins right into the base mix, but since Harry doesn't care for nuts in his oatmeal, I left the base as is and we can add in the extras at the time of making it. You're only limited to your imagination - I always have dried berry mix on hand, dried cranberries, raisins (even though I don't like them in anything other than Raisin Bran cereal, Harry and Jeremy do) and generally an assorted variety of frozen fruit in the freezer to choose from.

A lot of recipes use powdered milk in the mix, but I read somewhere that supposedly that can cause mold to grow over time, so I followed the suggestion of using powdered non-dairy coffee creamer. I chose to use Coffee Mate Fat Free French Vanilla. When I was actually adding it in though, I discovered that it might be a bit too overpowering, so I went half regular powdered non-dairy creamer (Coffee Mate brand) and half of the Fat Free French Vanilla. I think that worked out just right!

As usual, this recipe of course can be modified to your tastes. Leave out the cinnamon or add more if you want. You can use just the 1/2 cup of brown sugar as I did or more - one recipe gave a span of 1-2 cups for the amount. I discovered the 1/2 cup was just right - and wouldn't be too sweet if I wanted to add a little extra brown sugar or maple syrup on the finished product before I eat it.

There are also many possibilities for packaging - I have it in a screw-top canister, but it can also be portioned out into snack-sized bags for individual packets or even put into a canning jar with a lid for travel or even the hot coffee cups with lids you can buy in the grocery store. There are so many possibilities, I know I will likely get portioning some out into the snack-sized bags so that it's easy for Harry to fix himself a bowl when he wants.

I am having so much fun finding recipes to help me stay on track of mindful eating - and oatmeal is a super source of all kinds of goodness!

I chose to use Quick Oats - the 1 Minute variety, for speed's sake and easy preparation in the microwave. The original recipe from the book (and some I ran across out there) use the regular old-fashioned oats. You could prepare them with boiling water poured over and then cover the bowl. If using the regular old-fashioned, I believe it's a sit time of 5 minutes while covered. If you chose to prepare the quick oats this way, of course sit time would be less. You could microwave prepare the regular old-fashioned oats too, just again, adjusting the time accordingly.

And now, on to the recipe...

Homemade Instant Oatmeal

Makes 16 half cup servings

8 cups of quick-cooking oatmeal (the 1 minute variety is what I used)

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup fat-free French Vanilla powdered coffee creamer

1/4 regular powdered coffee creamer

1 tsp salt

1 tbsp cinnamon

Add-ins of choice - dried cranberries, raisins, toasted nuts etc.

Preheat oven to 325°F. Spread oats on cookie sheets and bake for about 20 minutes. Cool slightly then, in a blender or food processor, blend 4 cups of the oats, brown sugar and salt until powdered. In a large bowl combined the rest of the oats, the blended oat-mixture and the coffee creamers. Stir well to combine. Store in a covered container for 4 weeks, in the fridge in a covered container 3 months or in the freezer for 6 months.

To prepare: Combine 1/2 cup of the oatmeal mixture and add-ins of choice if desired and 3/4 to 1 cup water and microwave 1-2 minutes or as long as necessary to desired doneness, stir and serve with  toppings of choice.

Nutritional Information for 1/2 cup of dry mix, prepared with water, with no additions (courtesy of plugging in my ingredients in the SparkPeople Recipes app):

Calories 194, Total Fat 3.4g (saturated fat .9g, polyunsaturated fat 1g, monounsaturated fat 1g) Cholesterol 0g, Sodium 151mg, Potassium 26mg, Total Carbohydrates 39.3g, Dietary Fiber 4.2g, Sugars 11.3g, Protein 5g. 

from Kris B.

Before you continue reading, there are a few things you must know.

• Breakfast is my favorite meal
• I love peanut butter.
• My idea of diet food probably differs from that of most.

Now we can continue..

One thing I know about myself is that if I am going to be successful with losing weight, it has to be done somewhat on my terms.  What that means is that I need to control my caloric intake by adjusting my portion size rather than depriving myself of certain foods.  All in all, I am a healthy eater in terms of the types of food that I like and enjoy eating; I just tend to eat more than I should for a serving.  That said, I also don’t want to be overly hungry.  That will lead me to failure as well.

The SparkPeople app is more bound by routine than I am.  Every day by 12:30 it is probing me as to why I have not logged my lunch.  Simple answer.  I have not had lunch yet.  If I have a designated lunchtime, it is not until 1:30 in the afternoon.  Several of those days, breakfast happens at 6:15 am.  That makes for a long haul to lunch.  Therefore, I need to eat a breakfast that will carry me through that seven hour stretch.  That means that my breakfast generally needs to be a high protein meal and is therefore a higher calorie meal.  Enter the Peanut Butter French Toast.

This recipe came into being from the fact that I could not decide what I wanted for breakfast.  Oatmeal?  An egg sandwich?  Toast with peanut butter?  Because I could not make up my mind, I had a little bit of everything.  Oat bread spread with peanut butter, topped with bananas, and dipped in a French toast egg batter and cooked on a griddle.  With a bit of sweetness from powdered sugar and a little light butter for cooking, this recipe totals 397 calories.  Based on my schedule and eating patterns, that works for me.

MY INGREDIENTS

1 egg  (78 calories)

1 TBS light almond milk  (3 calories)

1 1/2 tsp powdered sugar, divided  (15 calories)

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp vanilla

2 slices Orowheat Healthful steel cut oat and honey bread  (160 calories)

1 TBS Jif creamy peanut butter  (95 calories)

1/2 banana  (55 calories)

1 tsp Land o Lakes light butter  (17 calories)

In a bowl big enough to dip the bread, beat the egg.  Add the almond milk,  1 tsp powdered sugar, cinnamon, and vanilla.  Beat until thoroughly combined.

Divide the peanut butter and spread half on each slice of bread.  Then layer one side of the bread with banana cut into slices 1/2” thick.  Top with the other slice making a peanut butter and banana sandwich.  You could stop here and life would still be good!  lol.

Dip the sandwich into the egg mixture making sure to cover both sides.

Over medium high heat, melt the butter in an appropriately sized skillet for your sandwich.  Place sandwich in skillet until the bottom is  golden brown and slightly crispy.  Turn and repeat for the other side.

Remove from heat.  Slice in half and sprinkle the remaining 1/2 tsp of powdered sugar over the top.  Serve immediately.

Half a serving of this makes a nice dessert or snack as well!

There are many ways that the calorie count of this recipe could easily be reduced.  

• Use egg substitute instead of a real egg.
• Skip the powdered sugar.  (But why?  It adds much more than 15 calories of goodness to the taste)
• Use a light or low calorie bread.  There are some brands available that have only 40 calories per slice.)
• Use a whipped peanut butter.  
• Skip the butter.  You can spray your pan with a non-stick cookie spray and that will keep your French toast from sticking.  The butter, however, does help it to crisp and brown with the desired golden color.

Calories 398, Total Fat 17g (saturated fat 2.9g, polyunsaturated fat 1g, monounsaturated fat 1.9g) Cholesterol 192.6mg, Sodium 499.2mg, Potassium 215.7mg, Total Carbohydrates 50.3g, Dietary Fiber 10.1g, Sugars 14.9g, Protein 20.3g. 

Tuesday in Texas - Reflections On Week 1 of Our Weight Loss Journey

I am no stranger to the weight loss routine.  Once I became a real adult with a family and a job, I stopped riding my bike a hundred plus miles a week; unfortunately, my appetite didn't didn't adjust to that more sedentary lifestyle and those numbers that once accumulated as miles ridden changed to pounds gained.  I first got serious about losing weight twelve years ago when I joined Weight Watchers.  I was diligent and it worked.  After letting the pounds again slowly find their way back, I again followed the WW plan in 2011 and again was successful in losing the extra weight.  So why am I here again?

The fact that I keep finding myself in the same undesireable place is not the fault of Weight Watchers.  I am fully responsible.  Basically, I can't multi-task.  I tend to focus all of my energy and interest in one direction.  If that one place is not making healthy choices about nourishing my body, I make mindless choices and find myself exactly where I am now - once again working to shed those pounds that I don't want.  As I mentioned in my Friday post, I am not using Weight Watchers this time.  It has changed and so have I, so something new it is.  The big difference this time is that I am counting actual calories rather than "points."  Wow!  Has that been an eye opener!

I walk home from school every day.  It is a 1.3 mile walk.  Thanks to the app Map My Walk, I know that I walk at a pace of four miles per hour and that 1.3 miles is covered in approximately 2600 steps. This is all good information to know.  My walk puts me a quarter of the way there to the recommended 10,000 steps a day.  The shocker came when the app told me that my walk only burned 118 calories.  I sent a message to Tracey saying that my attempt at exercise only earned me a banana, which is 110 calories.  Lol!  A cup of black coffee is 2 calories. The handful of peanuts that I often grab between classes is 130 calories.  The crackers that I snack on when I get home from school add another 200 calories to my daily intake.  Though none of these things in and of themselves has a particularly high caloric value, taken collectively and added to the calories from three meals a day, the number starts to soar.  Even on the days where I did not snack or have any extras, like bread with my meals, I have had no problem getting to my alloted number of calories (1200-1500) per day.  I don't even want to think about how many mindless calories I have been consuming for the past few years.  I can tell that it has been a lot now that I am tracking every little thing that I eat, even those mints that you pick up on the way out of the restaurant.  They count too!

I lost four pounds last week.  That is not a healthy loss.  I am shooting for 1-2 pounds per week.  I do know that the first week of any positive change in eating habits usually causes a higher than average loss.  With this same discipline, I look for things to level off this week to a healthier 1-2 pounds  As Tracey said, we'll be happy as long as there is no gain though at least minimal loss will be most welcome!

Once of the things that I have done this time around, that is suggested by Weight Watchers bit I have never done, is to take a "before" picture and body measurements.  FYI.  All of this documentation is securely hidden away in an undisclosed location!  I certainly don't want to look at these things on a daily basis, but I do think that they will help me to see improvement along the way that perhaps the scale doesn't show.  I also have a designated pair of jeans for "the pants test."  We all know when our jeans are getting too tight.  We also know when they start to feel better.  Once a month I'll try "the pants" on and see how they feel.  To me, that may be a better indicator of where I am than any number on the scale.

Here is another observation from this week:  Though cooking meals from scratch at home is certainly healthier, it makes calorie counting much more tedious.

The SparkPeople app is great in that it gives you the tools to enter your recipe inbformation ingredient by ingredient and it will then supply you with all of the pertinent nutritional information, which can be stored. This process is not hard, but it takes time and depending on the recipe's ingredient list can be considered tedious.  This is especially true when the app also contains a barcode scanner for packagaed food.  Hold your phone up to the product's barcode and "boom" the item and all of its detailed information are logged in for you.  You don't even have to push the button on your camera.  Once the scanner has a clear read it's done.  Scanning my prepared chicken and rice burrito is a whole lot easier than measuring out all the ingredients and then typing everything in.  Boy do I sound lazy!  Please don't answer that!  I prefer to think of it as being too busy, but I could be a bit lazy, too!

All in all, I'd say we are off to a good and positive start.  I've already learned a lot about my habits, both good and bad, and have made some positive changes to help eliminate the bad ones.  One mindful step at a time and we'll get there.

Bring on week two!

Monday In Michigan - Positive Thinking!

Well, I must say I consider week one of "eating mindfully" a success. Lost one pound - not a great loss, but a respectable one. And for me, personally, a realistic one. Would I have liked to have the scale show me a bigger loss? Of course, but I am taking a different road this time to my goals - I'm taking "no gain" as a success and any loss as a big success. I'm preferring to see things in a positive light, rather than "gosh, I could have done better". I'm sure I could have, but beating myself up isn't going to fix things. I'm actively trying. Not just eating whatever and hoping and praying I lose a pound, lol. That right there I also consider a win! So, yes, I am taking this weigh-in as a win!

I especially learned that I eat a lot out of boredom. This past week I really took the time to figure out if I was bored, or truly hungry. That stopped a lot of unnecessary mindless snacking. I was actually surprised to discover how much of that I did. It's absolutely a truth that you eat more than you think you do, lol. Keeping track - actually logging it into a food diary, proved it to me! And by logging, it kept me accountable - really made me take a look at what I was eating, and whether I was hungry or not. Not only the "hungry/not hungry" thing was discovered but the poor food choices I'd been making was discovered as well! And all because they were the "easy" solutions.

That "easy" thing comes from my lack of pre-planning! I am hoping that, along this journey and within the next few months, to rectify that - find things I can easily plan ahead with for snacking, breakfasts and lunches. I can say for sure though that I am hot on the trail of discovering what I can do to facilitate eating smarter and putting in better fuel as often as I can! And it's actually a pretty fun challenge - one I'm enjoying!! I love tracking things down and trying new recipes, even if they flop it's fun!