WIAW #6 – summer, summer, Summertime!

It’s Wednesday, which means it’s time for another WIAW. What I Ate Wednesday is a fun weekly post/blog social event started over at Peas and Crayons. If you want to follow my eats everyday, become my friend on MyFitnessPal.

As promised, now that school is out and I’m on summer vacation, I’ll never miss a WIAW post, which means I’ll be able to share my weekly eats for the next 10 weeks, minimum. Fun stuff!

I mentioned on Tuesday that I am back at the top of my game in terms of nutrition, but I want to emphasize that the 1200-calorie days are now my lifestyle, not just the pre-op diet. After meeting with the nutritionist last Friday, she re-emphasized that I needed to cut out snacks. The thinking is that after weight-loss surgery, I won’t be eating snacks, so they want to encourage me to begin those behaviors now. The meal plan is set up so that each meal is about 400 calories, which is more than I’d been eating per meal, but ends up being less overall throughout the day, because of the elimination of snacks. I did tell her that ever since I quit smoking (almost two years ago, woot!!), I’ve started craving something sweet after dinner, which has been my downfall lately. So she said it would be acceptable for me to take some calories from breakfast (because I don’t like eating so much first thing in the morning) and have a piece of fruit with some cheese or a yogurt as a “dessert.” Perfect.

Since I have two days of food to share with you, I decided to divide this post up by days, rather than meal type.

~Monday, June 11~

Breakfast: 1 cup cottage cheese with 1 cup mangoes = 290 calories

I don’t have a lunch photo because I was sort of rushing around between errands and then meeting my dad to go swimming.

Dinner: cucumbers & tomatoes (lazy girl’s salad) with TJ’s turkey meatballs & TJ’s brown rice medley = 420 calories

Monday was an excellent day.  I wasn’t hungry at all, and stayed well within my calories.  Eating the three larger meals worked really well.

~Tuesday, June 12~

Tuesday I had the type of breakfast the nutritionist wants me to eat every day.  Actually, she wants me to add in a piece of cheese, but I saved that for later in the day.

1 slice of TJ’s Daily Bread Wheatberry & Sesame, Saturn peach, TJ’s egg white salad with chives, Chobani 0% Greek strawberry yogurt = 380 calories

Tuesday’s lunch was absolutely delicious, and I highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys lentils and Mediterranean flavors.  You can get the recipe here.

Lunch: Mediterranean lentil salad – lentils, purple onion, grape tomatoes, Italian parsley, green onion, olive oil, salt/pepper/garlic powder = 397 calories
(This photo is of the entire batch I made; I ate half of it).

Dinner: salad – mache, 5oz shrimp, crimini mushrooms, sugar snap peas, & green onions + 3/4 cup of TJ’s brown rice medley = 404 calories

“Dessert”: 1 cup cantaloupe and 1 slice of Fontina cheese = 156 calories

Tuesday I was over my calories by 137, which isn’t bad, considering it’s my second day doing this. Still, I’m going to do my best to stop having the dessert and instead, satisfy my sweet tooth with this…

Iced coffee, sweetened with Stevia in the Raw = 0 calories

Coffee never affects my ability to sleep, and since I always seem to have some leftover from the morning brew, I might as well use it this way.  The Stevia helps sweeten it and drinking a zero-calorie drink helps to fill me up.  Win win.

So far so good with this new lifestyle.  It’s incredible what a change in mindset, followed by positive actions, can do!

I highly recommend joining in on the WIAW posts! Not only do you get a TON of great ideas for healthy, interesting meals, but you can make some new blogging buddies, too.

What was the best thing you ate today? This week?

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WIAW #5 – My Food In Brief (emphasis on ‘brief’)

It’s Wednesday, which means it’s time for another WIAW. What I Ate Wednesday is a fun weekly post/blog social event started over at Peas and Crayons. Since I’m always looking for new, healthy meal ideas, I thought I’d participate.

This past week has been really crazy for me (this one will be too), since it’s getting to the end of the year and lots of projects are coming to a head. But I didn’t want to go without any sort of WIAW post, so you’ll forgive this week’s brevity. (I can promise that as soon as I’m on summer vacation, my posts will be much richer).

Breakfasts this week were the same old thing – Greek yogurt or a Luna bar during the week, oatmeal on the weekend. I’ve been opting for the snooze button over the extra minutes it would take to put together a Green Smoothie during the week. Another reason I’m looking forward to summer.

Lunch:

I love this salad from Trader Joe’s! It has a great combination of flavors, and tastes a lot better than most other chicken salads I’ve had. I eat it with crackers (as shown), or on top of mixed greens.

On Friday the weather was really strange, unseasonably cold, so soup was the perfect meal.

Dinner

I was excited to try this TJ’s gluten-free pizza that had a crust made of masa. It was one of those that you’re supposed to put straight on the oven rack, and I should have known better, because it made a huge mess. The crust never got crispy, and while it tasked okay, I’m not sure I’d repeat it. I added my own hot sauce to give it a bit more kick.

Snacks/Dessert:

Last night’s “dessert,” really ripe watermelon. I used the tips for choosing a good watermelon that I found on Pinterest, and it worked. Look it up! Oh, and that’s my pooch, Sofi, in the background looking quite shaggy and in need of a good groom, but still adorable.

I highly recommend joining in on the WIAW posts! Not only do you get a TON of great ideas for healthy, interesting meals, but you can make some new blogging buddies, too.

What was the best thing you ate today? This week?

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WIAW #4 – Lots & Lots of Photos!

It’s Wednesday, which means it’s time for another WIAW. What I Ate Wednesday is a fun weekly post/blog social event started over at Peas and Crayons. Since I’m always looking for new, healthy meal ideas, I thought I’d participate. The hardest part of the whole thing for me has been remembering to take photos of my food, so I really put some effort into it this week.

I am really excited to post all of the great photos of food that I ate this week. As it turned out, I had some really fun food experiences. That’s one of the things that I love about these posts – it helps me be a bit more mindful and present with the food I’m eating.

Breakfasts:

I didn’t take photos of most of my breakfasts this week, because they weren’t any different from last week. Most of them were Chobani yogurt or Luna bars.

Saturday’s breakfast: Lundberg brown rice cakes, Justin’s peanut butter, strawberries.

Lunch:

Lately I’ve been eating salads for lunch day in and day out, but this week I tried to change things up a bit. I still had some salads, but a couple of them were ones that I got from a rare trip to Whole Foods.

Whole Foods’ Kale salad with walnuts, feta, and purple onions; cherries.

Whole Foods’ cabbage crunch salad – raw cabbage with nuts, green onions, sesame seeds, & light Asian dressing.

This week I also enjoyed another old favorite of mine – Trader Joe’s egg white and chive salad. I don’t know what it is about this stuff, but I absolutely love it, and I no matter how much I’ve tried to recreate it, I haven’t been able to.

TJ’s multigrain pita crackers, egg white salad w/ chives, and the last of the cherries I bought late last week.

Snacks:

Since my breakfasts and lunches are so similar, I try to spice up my afternoon snacks as much as possible. Lately I’ve been trying to eat the things that I love in moderation. It’s not always something I can do well, but this past week it’s been working.

I tried Simply Sprouted Way Better sweet potato tortilla chips (from Whole Foods) with cherries.

Dates and Machon cheese (from Spain)

When I went on the hike in Muir Woods, I had to bring along food that didn’t need refrigeration. The nuts were a given, but the turkey jerky was something new. I can’t recommend the Krave jerky highly enough. It was expensive at $5.99 for a 3oz pouch, but it was something that I would buy again and again. Most jerky is really dry and tough to eat, but this one was tender/moist/soft (that sounds strange, but I mean it in the best possible way). The Basil Citrus was one of the best combinations I could have chosen. Delicious. I also like that it’s made in Sonoma, CA which is only two hours away (driving time).

Mixed nuts with Krave turkey jerky. I love the basil citrus flavor. I’ll buy this again.

Dinners:

My sister and I live next door to each other, and whenever my nieces are with their dad for the weekend, LC and I get together for dinner on Friday or Saturday night.  Usually I cook for her, since I get home so much earlier than she does.  Plus, she’s always cooking really nutritious meals for her girls, and I like giving her the night off.  But this past Friday, she cooked for me.  I hadn’t been feeling well from the time I’d eaten lunch – really nauseous and sick – I don’t know if it was something I ate, or sitting in the sun too long reading a book, or what, but it was bad.  Until she made me this posole that knocked my socks off.  It’s a traditional Mexican spicy soup, usually made with pork, but LC used chicken because she prefers it that way.  You how everyone brings chicken soup when people are ill?  Well, bring me a piping hot bowl of this posole any time!!  I felt good as new as soon as I had a few spoonfuls.  And the numbers on it were excellent!  Only 262 calories for a large bowl.  It’s really easy to make, so it’s going to be in regular rotation.  Once I make it, I’ll be sure to post the recipe.

Chicken Posole. A spicy, broth-based soup with chicken, hominy, cabbage, radishes, and lime.

Saturday night I was in the mood for more spice, so I made my lowfat chicken curry.  This time I used boneless, skinless thighs because they were cheaper than breasts, but I have to say, I didn’t like it as well.  I think thighs are probably better for grilling or baking, because they stay moist and juicy, but for something like this that simmers in a nice sauce, they tasted almost gamey.  Not great, but not inedible.  The recipe is usually a favorite, though, so if you like curry, I’d definitely give the recipe a try.

Lowfat curry chicken on rice with cucumbers (to help cool my mouth after all that spice).

Last but not least is a meal that I really enjoyed on Monday night.  It’s a nod to my heritage, but it was also really quick & easy, as well as nutritious.  The color in the plate was beautiful; I’m not sure if the photo is doing it justice, but it gives you an idea.

Polenta, lightly sauteed with butter and rosemary under peppers, onions, and chicken sausage. Two types of sausage – garlic herb and sweet Italian.

All in all, a really delicious week.  It was so nice having lots of photos to comment on, so I’m going to make a huge effort again this week to slow down, take a picture, and then enjoy my meals.

I highly recommend joining in on the WIAW posts! Not only do you get a TON of great ideas for healthy, interesting meals, but you can make some new blogging buddies, too.

What was the best thing you ate today? This week?

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#WIAW #3 – Mother’s Day Appetizer Special

It’s Wednesday, which means it’s time for another WIAW. What I Ate Wednesday is a fun weekly post/blog social event started over at Peas and Crayons. Since I’m always looking for new, healthy meal ideas, I thought I’d participate. The hardest part of the whole thing for me was remembering to take photos of my food.

This week I had a really hard time remembering to take the photos, but I promise to get better, because I really do make a lot of good food, and I want to share it with you guys. So hang in there with me, it’ll be worth it.

Which is not to say that I don’t have some good food to show you this week, because I do!

Sunday was Mother’s Day and we decided to have a BBQ at my sister’s house. I was tasked to bring an appetizer, and because the weather has been so much like summertime, I decided to make a classic Italian summer salad, with my own little twist. Actually, I think the twist might have come from Rachael Ray originally, but I’ve been doing it this way for so long, that I claim it as my own.

Caprese kabobs. Red and yellow grape/cherry tomatoes, mozzarella balls, and basil. Topped off with olive oil, balsamic vinegar, salt, pepper, & garlic powder. So good, and fun to eat, because of the skewer.

Breakfasts this week have included Chobani yogurt. I tried some new flavors, including mango (pictured) and blood orange. My favorite Greek yogurt is Fage, but for individual, flavored yogurts, Chobani is excellent.

I’ve been having the S’mores flavor Luna bar either for breakfast or for a mid-morning snack on the days when I felt like I needed a little something extra.

Lunch: I have salads everyday for lunch, but vary what I put in them. Lately it’s been chicken, but today I chose shrimp. I kept it simple and only added cucumber and baby mixed greens. The dressing will be olive oil, the juice of one lemon, salt, pepper, & garlic powder.

My afternoon snacks this week have consisted of 28g of Pop Chips (sour cream & onion flavor) and a 2% sharp cheddar cheese stick. Salty, crunchy, and a bit of protein – my favorite kind of snack.

Not pictured:  Dinners.  What’s up with that?  The only excuse I can offer is that I’ve been a bit busier in my evenings this week and by the time I get home from working out or attending classes, I’m famished and all I can think of is preparing the food and eating it, not taking photos of it.  As to why I don’t have any from the latter portion of last week?  I blame my memory.  But what I lack in photos I can make up for with a recipe.

Last night I had one of my favorite meals, my version of Hungry Girl’s 10-alarm crockpot chili.  While most of the “recipes that HG offers are heavy on the processed foods, this one is one of the rare ones that has all real/whole food ingredients, which is why I like it so much.  Well, that and the fact that the crockpot makes it really easy, the recipe makes a huge amount, and I can have leftovers in the freezer for nights like last night when I just want to eat something quick.  If you need other recipes, check out my Bella Cooks page.

I highly recommend joining in on the WIAW posts! Not only do you get a TON of great ideas for healthy, interesting meals, but you can make some new blogging buddies, too.

What was the best thing you ate today?

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#WIAW – 1st Week of May

It’s Wednesday, which means it’s time for another WIAW. What I Ate Wednesday is a fun weekly post/blog social event started over at Peas and Crayons. Since I’m always looking for new, healthy meal ideas, I thought I’d participate. The hardest part of the whole thing for me was remembering to take photos of my food.

Today’s food shows what I ate on Monday. The only thing I didn’t include were my snacks, because I complete forgot to snap those pics. I’m sure the more that I do these posts, the better I’ll get at remembering to photograph the food. The other WIAW bloggers definitely inspire me to aim for better food photography – their posts have the most gorgeous photos!

Breakfast: A berry green smoothie: 1 cup blueberries, 1 cup almond milk, 2 ice cubes, 1 scoop protein powder, 2 cups spinach. I love starting my mornings this way.

Lunch: 1 cup whole strawberries; salad with 2 oz. poached chicken breast, 2 cups spring mix, grape tomatoes, and crimini mushrooms with a raspberry vinaigrette. (Plus the obligatory keyboard in the background to show that I eat at my desk while reading your blogs).

Dinner: Trader Joe’s low fat chicken chow mein. I love all the veggies they pack into this easy-to-make dish. It’s a great weeknight meal.

Not pictured: snacks – I’ve been on a kick lately to have a small serving chile-spiced dried mangoes,  1 oz fontina cheese, and Trader Joe’s salt and black pepper lentil chips.  I’ll do my best to get a photo of the snacks next week.

I highly recommend joining in on the WIAW posts!  Not only do you get a TON of great ideas for healthy, interesting meals, but you can make some new blogging buddies, too.

What was the best thing you ate today?

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WIAW – April Challenge Week 4

Recently, I’ve been seeing a lot of my blogging buddies posting WIAW posts, and I had no idea what that meant. (Yes, maybe I’ve been living under a rock (or a pile of papers that need grading)). What I Ate Wednesday is a fun weekly post/blog social event started over at Peas and Crayons. Since I’m always looking for new, healthy meal ideas, I thought I’d participate. The hardest part of the whole thing for me was remembering to take photos of my food.

As you can see, the challenge in April was to eat an extra cup of veggies. No problem there! I make green smoothies for myself most mornings and pack veggie-laden salads everyday for lunch. And I try my best to eat more veggies for dinner, too. My main goals when it comes to balancing my plate at every meal is to make sure I have protein, veggies, and that I’m keeping the carbs low(ish).

Here’s what I ate on Sunday, but really this could have been from any day this week, because I have variations on the same meals for breakfasts and lunches. Dinner is the one where I add some pizzazz and variety.

Green smoothie: 1 cup almond milk, 2 cups baby spinach, 1 cup strawberries (or 1 banana), 1 scoop banana bread protein powder. 285 calories of deliciousness. It keeps me full for hours and gives me a nice dose of veggies/fruit right from the start of my day.

Lunch: a big salad with: 2 oz poached chicken, sliced crimini mushrooms, sugar snap peas, broccoli slaw, sweet white corn, and mache. Trader Joe's Spicy Asian Peanut dressing. 15 Kashi TLC crackers.

Not pictured: PM snack – 1 cup of red, seedless grapes and 1 oz of smoked guoda cheese. (I told you remembering to take photos was the hardest part!).

Dinner: steamed asparagus with olive oil, salt, pepper, & garlic powder; Lundberg Parmesan risotto; broiled chicken breast with teriyaki soy vey

I really liked doing this food log because it helps me see how colorful and varied my food is.  Plus, knowing that I had to take photos of it helped me stick to my proper portion sizes. WIAW may just become a regular post for me.

What was the best thing you ate today?

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