May 22, 2008

Goddess Lunch

Posted by winningfriendswithsalad under Lunch | Tags: , , |
[2] Comments 

As I mentioned, I finally packed my lunch, hooray. I even tried a new recipe: Goddess Garbanzos from ED&BV. I followed the recipe for the most part, but made substitutions according to what I had in house – plus I made it with extra capers. Because I heart capers. :) I also had two mini whole wheat pita’s on the side for scooping.

This was tasty, and I definitely enjoyed all the different flavors. I couldn’t decide what to have with this, so I ended up just eating my emergency snack: two mini-muffins.

Although I do like these muffins, I really don’t think they’re worth the caloric investment. Two mini guys are almost 200 calories! That’s too much for something you just pop in your mouth. I don’t think they’ll be a repeat recipe. Lunch was 521 calories, 87g carbs, 13g fat, 14g protein.

Tonight I’m attending the goodbye party for my friend and colleague, Ian. :( It starts at 5. I’m planning on forgoing drinking so that I can hit up Chelsea Piers tonight. I probably will have a club soda and lime plus my workout snack at the bar. That pool is calling my name!

PS. I’m really feeling last night’s workout today! My whole body feels stretched out and strong! I’m LOVING it!

 

May 11, 2008

Kate’s Bake Shop

Posted by winningfriendswithsalad under Dinner | Tags: , , , , , |
[8] Comments 

Hey guys! Whew, I’ve had a long evening in the kitchen! I decided to make two types of cookie for my recipients: “You Got Your Peanut Butter in My Chocolate” Cookies from ED&BV, and Chewy Raspberry Cookies from Veganomicon. I used the basic recipes, except I subbed Cashew Macadamia Butter for PB, and Blueberry Preserves for Raspberry Preserves. Here are all the cookies cooling:

PB on the left, Blueberry Chocolate on the right. I have to say, neither of the proportions were correct for me. The PB recipe was supposed to make 12, but I made 18! And the Blueberry Chocolate was supposed to make 12, but only made 10. Go figure. The PB batter was soooo delicate, though. It was impossible to scoop with a spoon! Luckily, before I met Peter, he had a jones for chocolate chip cookies one night and went to Bed, Bath, and Beyond where a saleswoman led him around buying the most random kitchen utensils, including this:

A batter scoop. The first time I saw this, I believe my exact words were, ‘Ah, you got taken for a ride.’ Well, I bite my tounge! This little baby saved these cookies! They would have been a crumbly disaster if not for this guy. Whew!

Two weird things about this baking experience: a) I’ve known for a long time that the best way to cook is to clean as you cook. You use something, you put it away, you use something, you put it away. But I’ve never actually had the maturity to do this. Well, tonight I was positively rigid about it – the kitchen was sparkling the entire time I baked! I even stopped in the middle to sweep. Bizarre…and even more bizarre… 2) I didn’t nibble at the batter AT. ALL. Not once. I knew it was delicious, but I knew it wasn’t for me. So I just didn’t eat it…weird.

Anyway, I’m going to give some of each to Ira and Martha; and also to my friend Ian’s (Hi Ian!!) girlfriend who is a student at the Bumble and Bumble Academy and will be giving me a haircut for free tomorrow as part of her class. Score! I took a ‘before’ picture tonight, so I’ll show you guys the finished product tomorrow!

For dinner, I wasn’t really that hungry (mostly I’m just tired) so I had a TJ’ Chicken Sausage on an Ezekiel Bread ‘Roll’ with about 20g of kale chips.

Well, after I did the math, I realized I was about 200 cals short for the minimum of my calorie range, so I needed more. I made a little parfait: 105g nonfat vanilla yogurt, 67g blueberries, 85g strawberries, and 12g Fiber 1.

Dinner was 347 calories, 56g carbs, 7g fat, and 21g protein.

I feel really proud of myself today. I feel like I made really responsible choices for my life and body. Night all!

 

May 8, 2008

Reinvention!

Posted by winningfriendswithsalad under Lunch | Tags: , |
[5] Comments 

Hey all!

Not only was the Butterfinger Muesli delicious, it was filling! It was a good 4-5 hrs before I started thinking about lunch. Last night, I took out a serving of ED&BV’s Cocoa Coconut chili for lunch, without realizing I was having chocolate in my breakfast. Oh well, it’s just a chocolate kind of day, I guess. I made this chili a few weeks ago and have about 5 servings in the freezer. I liked this as a soup, but I wanted to give it a little twist for lunch. So I made it into a burrito! I drained a little of the liquid from the chili, put it on a tortilla and heated it for 3 min. Before:

After:

You could add Fage as sour cream, spinach or a little cheese to make it more burrito-like. Three things: I wish I had access to an oven to make this, it would have been crispier; I am terrible at folding burritos to keep them together, so I had to use a fork and knife, boo; and I wish I had drained more of the soupy stuff – it was very hard to eat. Even so, it was delicious, especially for something throw together at the last minute! I liked this reinvention better than the original I think.

On the side I had some sumo-strawberries:

All together:

Delicious. It’s been a caloric day so far, though. Lunch was 616 calories, 106g carbs, 16g fat, and 23g protein. I think since starting the blog, I’ve been more concerned with the creativity of my meals and less about the calorie count – although I’m always very concerned with the nutritional value. I’ve still been staying within my calorie range, I just have been eating my calories in an off-balance way (a lot during the day, and less at night). Although, I have been feeling very satiated with my meals lately, so maybe this is how my body wants to fed. But I do feel that I need to create a balance between creativity and calorie value in order to reach my weight loss goals.

Have a great afternoon!