For The Love Of Leftovers

This kitchen wallpaper removal/painting prep/nasty cold is not leaving me with much creativity in the food department.  The kitchen is a mess, so minimal “cooking” is going on.  So, I thought this is a good opportunity to stress the importance of “being prepared” with respect to staying the healthy eating course.  As the saying goes, “if you fail to plan, you plan to fail”!

During the weight loss journey, I have heard many people (including myself) say that they didn’t have time to cook healthy foods or didn’t have the right ingredients in their pantry, fridge or freezer.    This lack of time and staples makes it all too easy to opt for takeout, especially when you’re getting in late from work, activities or when your kitchen is a huge mess!  It is so important to have a basic stock of pantry staples, so that you are able to throw something together at a moments notice.  I always keep some canned soups for quick lunches or dinners paired with salad or grilled cheese.  Also, cans of diced tomatoes make great quick pasta toppings;  just saute with garlic and extra virgin olive oil, pour over some whole wheat pasta and finish off with some grated parmesan.  Canned beans are a good option, too.  You can add some chick peas or cannellini beans to a pasta dish for an extra protein punch or just add them to your salad for more staying power.  Some of my fridge/freezer staples are bagged salads ( I make my own by cutting up romaine hearts and placing them in large zipper bags), tortillas, baby carrots, apples, cheese, eggs, yogurt, veggie burgers (homemade or store bought), soups, precooked taco meat (turkey or beef), chicken cutlets and frozen veggies, just to name a few.

But, I have to say that my saving grace many days and especially during this kitchen project has been having leftovers in my fridge and freezer.  I used to balk at leftovers.  Why eat the same thing over and over??  Unless, it’s brownies, of course.  However, there probably wouldn’t be much of those leftover!  Now, I look at leftovers in a whole new way.  Leftovers allow me to have a quick and healthy option with minimal effort or fuss.  Knowing that I had those meals and fridge/freezer items made it easy for me to make good choices during this tiring project;  just heat and eat!  Gotta give props to the microwave!!!   Having these options, besides being a real time-saver, allowed me to “plan” to stay on track.  Failure was not an option!  Love it when a plan comes together :)

Onto the food!  Warning:  prepare to bored out of your mind.  Not much creativity here, just necessary eats!

Thursday

Started the day off with a hearty bowl of leftover oat bran.  I have to say, I wasn’t quite sure how precooked oat bran would translate, but it was just fine with the addition of a little extra water to thin it out while reheating.  I morphed it into PB&J Oatbran with a bit of grape jam and PB2…

Lunch was a Cedarlane Beans, Rice and Cheese style Burrito with a side of POPchips and a peach…

After tons more wallpaper scraping, I decided I needed a break.  I couldn’t shake another Starbucks craving!  The crack is back!!!  This time, I went for a Pumpkin Spice Light Frappuccino…

OMG!  Loved it and a Grande is only 150 calories, .5 grams fat and 3 grams fiber.  Heeeelloooo!!

Scrape, scrape, tape, tape, paint the trim.  UGH!

Dinner was a Dominex Eggplant Burger topped with leftover Hot Artichoke-Cheese Dip and baby spinach on a deli flat, a side of carrots and a Chobani nonfat strawberry yogurt for dessert…

Wallpaper on…

Wallpaper off ---thank, gawd!!!

Now to choose a color….

Friday

I felt a lot better this morning!  Still stuffy, but no fever and head throb.  Since I was on the mend, I decided to make a quick run to the gym.  The Arc Trainer was calling my name!  Brought my breakfast to-go…

The Arc Trainer whipped me good for 30 minutes which was all I had time for since I had a late morning doctor’s appointment.  On the way to the appointment, I munched on a Blueberry Apricot Oat Bran Muffin (from the freezer)…

I went for a routine physical and all checks out, except for my hip which the doc thinks is bursitis and wants me to consult with a Sports Medicine doc for it.  Yikes!

I made it home for a “leftover” lunch before running out the door again to pick up paint and supplies.  I went with Chickpea Croquettes and the ever easy side of carrots and apple…

Later, a Peanut Butter Cookie Larabar was needed to help with the paint color choosing…

And dinner was leftover crock pot chicken with a side of sweet potato fries (pre-cut from Trader Joe’s)…

Thanks for hanging in there with this marathon post!!!  Hope you have a great weekend!  I’ll see you tomorrow for the “reveal” :)

ONE GOOD THING: Leftovers!!!!!!

Life Is Good

Thanks for your comments on my last post;  sad to see many of you are like me and don’t take time to “just be”!  We have to work at that, right?!!

There was no time to “just be” in the morning either!  For some reason, it started off rush, rush, rush!  Before I ran out the door to take little daughter to school, I made up my Yogurt Bowl.  Many of you have asked about making the fruit “syrup”, so here’s a look…

Slice a few (about 3-4) strawberries and place in a microwave safe bowl…

Microwave for 30 sec.- 1 min. (depending on fruit ) until it appears “cooked” and the juice releases…

That’s it!  Couldn’t be easier!  You could do it stovetop also in a bigger batch, refrigerate and add to yogurt (or top ice cream, mmmm) as needed.

I poured my strawberry syrup over the remainder of my Chobani nonfat plain yogurt, added more fresh berries and sprinkled with a bit of Post Trail Mix Crunch…

then ran out the door with my ginormous container to eat in the car…  at red lights and stop signs, MOM!!!

I finished most of it just as I was pulling in to the gym.  I wasn’t that hungry, so I left the rest and headed in to get my sweat on with one of my new LIFE IS GOOD shirts…

Gotta love that!  There’s also a cool tag at the bottom of the shirt…

Okay, enough of my dopey wardrobe!  Anyway, I hit the elliptical for 40 minutes while watching my boyfriend, Dr. Oz and his new show which was quite steamy (sex ed) I might add!  Then, he did some dance which made me love him even more!

I tore myself away from the tv’s and did a 25 minute lower body circuit weight workout.  I love  the leg press;  makes me feel like a brute!

After a stop at the produce store, I headed home and was ready for lunch!  I got hungry earlier than usual, probably because I didn’t eat enough at breakfast.  But, my stomach was telling me that I couldn’t put it off any longer.  I broke open one of these Cedar Lane Bean ,Rice and Cheese Burritos.  I’ve showed these before, but it’s been a while…

They are really good and filling!  I wolfed it down with a side of leftover sweet potato fries and a fuji apple…

Yes, WOLFED.  As in here one minute, gone the next.  That was NOT mindful eating!!!  And then, I knew it was coming.  Because I didn’t pay much attention to the eating process, I still wanted to munch away.  And I did…on these guys…

x about 55!!  Ugh!  I knew I was doing it and WHY, so I guess that’s part of the process of learning to STOP it next time.

Believe it or not, I was hungry again later when the daughters came home.  I’ve been eyeing this Pecan Sticky Bun Granola up (why do I buy these things?!)

so I had a small bowl with skim milk…

Dinner was nothing fancy, but I’ll call it Pasta Pesto Primavera!  I made some Ronzoni Smart Taste Rotini Pasta, mixed it with a little pesto and a box of Green Giant Immune Blend Veggies…

finished with some Parmesan cheese…

Quick and easy!

And later, I may or may not have had a little bit of this…

Chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream.  I did not have that;  I don’t know who is writing this right now!!! ;P

ONE GOOD THING:  I recognized why I pigged out after lunch, so that I can try to prevent that next time :)

*I took 5 minutes right before bed to “just be”, but I think I fell asleep about 2 minutes into it!  Does that count???*

Have a great day everyone!

Empty Nesters

The husband and I feel like empty nesters. The daughters are spending a couple of days with their grandparents - it's so weird without them! You tend to get into certain routines when the kids are around, so when they're gone it's different. No rushing around. It's kinda relaxing. And we sure do love the uninterrupted night sleep! Little daughter still wakes up in the night - we're hoping she will outgrow this by age 16! Anyway, on to the food...

I woke up, headed to the treadmill for a lame-o run (my heart just wasn't in it) for 30 min. and then had a leisurely breakfast of apple cranberry bread and a sliced pear for 3 Points...



Then the husband and I went grocery shopping. The husband would rather stick hot pokers in his eyes than go grocery shopping, but he wanted to spend our "empty nest" day together doing things! The deal was that he could come only if he promised to "be good" because, frankly, I would rather stick hot pokers in MY eyes than have him shop with me!! He promised to be on best behavior, so together we went. On our lovely excursion in Trader Joe's ( the most crowded place in the universe), I came upon these guys...


Well, you know I am all about the chips! The nutritionals were great: 38 crisps are 120 cal, 3 gr. fat and 1 gr. fiber = 2 Points. Sold!

When we got home, I put the Sea Salt and Pepper Rice Crisps to work on my plate (huge serving - I like that!) with a Cedarlane Beans,Rice and Cheese Burrito (I mentioned these before -so awesome!) and some leftover roasted cauliflower with a little cheese. A non-colorful plate of yumminess for 8 Points...

Not sure if I'll have a snack this afternoon; I ate lunch late and we are headed to my parents for dinner and to pick up the "birdies". I'll bring a bar with me, just in case. Don't want to overeat tonight because I plan on going to my WW meeting tomorrow morning. I know it won't be pretty, but I don't want to add any more ugliness to what will surely be my weigh-in tomorrow!

Be back later...

Shopping and Baking

Food shopping was on my agenda today. I got through it pretty quickly, got everything I needed and found some exciting new food finds! I will be sharing these with you as I try them. Let's start with lunch today! I found this yummy Beans, Rice and Cheese Style Burrito at my local supermarket in the frozen food section...


It's by a company called Cedarlane. It has 260 cal., 1 gr. fat, 7 gr. fiber and 13 gr. protein. That comes to only 4 Points. I popped it in the micro according to package directions and dove in. It was terrrific! I would definitely buy this again. I had two plums along with it ; a great no-brainer lunch...

During my food shopping trip, I also bought a bunch of these beat-up bananas for only $1.14...

I was thinking smoothies and Whole Grain Banana Bread!!!! I knew I couldn't stay away from it for too long. I got to baking it right away - smelled so good.

I decided I should have a snack while the bread was baking. That way I won't be tempted to eat the whole thing when it comes out! I grabbed a Fiber One Strawberry Yogurt and an Eating Right Bar...

Dinner tonight was Barbeque Turkey Meatloaf. There was a round of applause from little daughter. Not really. She declared her hatred and begged for the Banana Bread. Although I tried to maintain my stance that I have two menu options : Take It or Leave It, I ended up caving. She ate banana bread for dinner with attitude because she said, "It's healthy, Mom, right???" Can't argue there...

Along with my delicious meatloaf, I made brown basmati rice with added sauteed mushrooms and onion, and some sauteed frozen spinach. It was a very good and filling meal. Oh and the husband said it was great! I wish I had recorded that...

After dinner I couldn't help myself - I had to make another banana recipe. You will be seeing lots of banana-ish things as I will be trying to use up my bounty! Consider yourself warned!!! I wanted to try and make a breakfast cookie. Something healthful and quick to eat in the morning since there will be lots of rushing out the door until Christmas. I played around with some ingredients and ran the recipe through the WW Recipe Builder until I came up with the Point value I would want. I really didn't want to spend more than 3 Points for a breakfast and these cookies came out to 2 Points!! Here's a little sneak peek...

I'll try them tomorrow for breakfast and let you know if they are a hit. Stay tuned.... :)