So for our first day of our "Cook Yourself Thin" Challenge we started off with
Breakfast: French Toast Bread Pudding and Violet Morning Smoothies. For the smoothies I didn't have just blueberries, I have the berry mix combo from Costco that has blueberries, cherries, pomegranate seeds and blackberries and I also didn't have any Pomegranate juice, so I substituted orange juice. I segmented the orange I had jested for the French Toast custard and served that with breakfast too. It was delicious! The bananas in the custard were just great and gave it a sweetness that made it so you didn't mind that it was drenched in syrup.
Lunch: My daughter and I worked together on the Creamy Corn Chowder soup and we paired it with the Cheddar Melts that are made with low-fat cheddar and apples. Hubby got to have a whole sandwich since he can have more calories (256 in a whole sandwich), and my daughter and I split the other. Very good and the soup has great flavor and you don't even miss it not being made with cream!
Dinner: Tonight I will be making Pork with Apples. Now there is cream in this one, but only 2 tablespoons to give it some richness. Along with that we will have a nice green salad with a Ranch Dressing by Ellie Kreiger.
Total Calories: 1014 for all 3 meals!! Along with that I had 4oz of Orange Banana Pineapple juice for 60 calories and 2 Brown Sugar Kiss meringue cookies at 11 calories each.
So I am still under for the day and have some left for a snack, but right now I am not even hungry. I feel full and satisfied by lunch and feel great!
**All the recipes from today are in the Cook Yourself Thin Faster book - even the cookies!
Sunday, January 23, 2011
Starting Today
So I decided to go ahead and start the challenge today instead of tomorrow. Yesterday I went out shopping for the weeks menu. It did not go well. I went to 2 stores and didn't find a lot of the stuff I need, so I get to go out again today! Ugh!
Any who, I added a new page called Stats. That is where I will post my weight and measurements each week. I weighed myself this morning and as usual I think my scale is off. When I go in for doctor visits I always weigh 4-5 pounds more than at home - so that should tell you that my home scale isn't real accurate. But I will make due with what I have.
As for my husband he gets to have 550 more calories than I do, but with him being laid up in bed and not up to eating a bunch, he is eating what I eat and then also adding in saltines and jello to soothe his stomach.
Any who, I added a new page called Stats. That is where I will post my weight and measurements each week. I weighed myself this morning and as usual I think my scale is off. When I go in for doctor visits I always weigh 4-5 pounds more than at home - so that should tell you that my home scale isn't real accurate. But I will make due with what I have.
As for my husband he gets to have 550 more calories than I do, but with him being laid up in bed and not up to eating a bunch, he is eating what I eat and then also adding in saltines and jello to soothe his stomach.
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
Surgery Success
For you follow my blog.... My husband had his surgery yesterday and it went very well. In fact he may get to come home today!
Turkey Meatloaves
Just now I whipped up a batch of Cook Yourself Thin's Turkey Mini-Meatloaves. Now these have actually been a staple in our house ever since I bought the cookbook, and we love them. They are portioned out by using a measuring cup and they are only 227 calories! Add in the roasted root veggies that they suggest (at 121 calories) and you have a dinner for only 348 calories. And let me tell you these little suckers are yummy! The nice part about these too is that you can play around with the veggies you add to them. Today I added a red pepper along with the onion and spinach.
This picture is of them still raw - so they don't look quite as yummy yet. What I am doing with these is flash freezing them and then will move them into ziploc bags in dinner portions for the 3 of us. When we are ready to cook them, that is when I will make the glaze topping.
Try these, you will really like them. I will type out the recipe later and put it on the recipe page. But I also put the link to the show where they make them for you too. See my links page.
Try these, you will really like them. I will type out the recipe later and put it on the recipe page. But I also put the link to the show where they make them for you too. See my links page.
Monday, January 17, 2011
Tomatillo Salsa
Last night I was the BBQ master. Most of you who know me, know that I let my husband be the BBQ'er and I am the indoor chef. Well I took the reins last night and roasted all my tomatillo ingredients myself. Doing this gives the salsa such depth of flavor with the smokey element from the bbq.
First I slice the onion in 1/2" or so rings. Then husk and wash the tomatillos, and wash 2 jalapenos. All veggies get a brushing of oil to keep them from sticking to the grill. With the bbq on high heat, everything gets all lined up. Close the lid and let the heat do the work. Keep turning your tomatillos and peppers so that they are getting cooked and charred on all sides. I don't time anything, I just go by look and feel. I use tongs and when the tomatillos are good and dull green in color and squish a little with a squeeze of the tongs - they are done. The peppers skin will char a bit (not burn) and will split open.
It is an awesome and different way of making salsa verde. Because the ingredients are all hot, you could can this as well. I put the recipe on the recipe page - give it a try!!
First I slice the onion in 1/2" or so rings. Then husk and wash the tomatillos, and wash 2 jalapenos. All veggies get a brushing of oil to keep them from sticking to the grill. With the bbq on high heat, everything gets all lined up. Close the lid and let the heat do the work. Keep turning your tomatillos and peppers so that they are getting cooked and charred on all sides. I don't time anything, I just go by look and feel. I use tongs and when the tomatillos are good and dull green in color and squish a little with a squeeze of the tongs - they are done. The peppers skin will char a bit (not burn) and will split open.
It is an awesome and different way of making salsa verde. Because the ingredients are all hot, you could can this as well. I put the recipe on the recipe page - give it a try!!
Friday, January 14, 2011
Mango Salsa
This is the mango salsa I made and canned earlier this week. I put them in pint jars as I don't bother wasting my time with those little half pint jars. The color from the camera is not giving it is true justice as it is really a beautiful yellow with red and orange from the roasted peppers and the green from the fresh cilantro. I can tell you that it tastes even better than it looks!
Tomorrow I will be making Roasted Salsa Verde. I roast the tomatillos, onion, and pepper all on the bbq until softened and browned. This gives it a delicious smokey flavor and also a bit of sweetness to the tomatillos and onion. It is awesome!!
House Smells Awesome!
Okay, doing more food prep today! Just poached chicken and also roasted some chicken breasts too. Why poached do you ask. Well it is a lean alternative to roasting. When you roast your chicken with the skin on, all the fat from the skin is absorbed into the meat. The other great thing about poaching it is that if you add some vegetables and herbs you will also make your own chicken stock. Homemade chicken stock is the best way to insure you know what is in it and that you can control the amount of salt. In fact you can poach the chicken without even adding salt to the stock. That way you are ensuring that you are not over salting future recipes.
So once the chicken is cooled, I will shred it off the bone and store it in ziploc bags and put it in the freezer. Now it will be ready on hand for when I want to make chicken salad sandwiches, bbq chicken pizzas, enchiladas and so on. I will also freeze the stock for use in rices, soups and whatever else. Pretty cool huh.
Now I did roast about 4 of the breasts today for the Barefoot Contessa's Curry Chicken Salad Sandwich wraps. A big favorite of ours. Hard part is even though I don't know the calorie count, I can guess it is super high. I mean a cup of roasted cashews for crying out loud - that is 680 calories right there (for the entire recipe that serves 6 ). What I did do though is replaced her 1.5 cups of mayo for 1 cup Greek yogurt and only .5 cup of mayo, so that should help a little!
Since the diet doesn't officially start yet, we are going to enjoy these Curry sandwiches without the quilt darn it! It is such a beautiful day that I am going to pack them up for a picnic dinner at the beach with my family. It is going to be awesome!
So once the chicken is cooled, I will shred it off the bone and store it in ziploc bags and put it in the freezer. Now it will be ready on hand for when I want to make chicken salad sandwiches, bbq chicken pizzas, enchiladas and so on. I will also freeze the stock for use in rices, soups and whatever else. Pretty cool huh.
Now I did roast about 4 of the breasts today for the Barefoot Contessa's Curry Chicken Salad Sandwich wraps. A big favorite of ours. Hard part is even though I don't know the calorie count, I can guess it is super high. I mean a cup of roasted cashews for crying out loud - that is 680 calories right there (for the entire recipe that serves 6 ). What I did do though is replaced her 1.5 cups of mayo for 1 cup Greek yogurt and only .5 cup of mayo, so that should help a little!
Since the diet doesn't officially start yet, we are going to enjoy these Curry sandwiches without the quilt darn it! It is such a beautiful day that I am going to pack them up for a picnic dinner at the beach with my family. It is going to be awesome!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)