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!!!!!!

The Project And New Food

I spent the morning "washing that gray right out of my hair". Anyone remember that old commercial?? What a freakin project to do this every 4 weeks! I didn't even exercise this morning. I think I got in enough yesterday for today, though! When the hair project was completed, I had a leisurely breakfast - 3/4 c. Puffins, 1/2 c. unsweetened vanilla Almond Breeze and a ton of blueberries for 3 POINTS...


I got some fun mail delivered today! Carol from Uncovering Food randomly chose me as her July "Follower of the Month". How cool is that?! No giveaways to enter, just follow her blog and she could choose you as her Follower of the Month! She sent me this package of goodies; well, not just me, she added something for the daughters, too! That sure won them over!


Not long after putting away our goodie bag, I was starving! Maybe knowing I wanted to try these new Dominex Eggplant Burgers for lunch made me extra hungry...

The nutritionals are terrific...

Only 1 POINT per patty!

I followed the skillet method of cooking using nonstick cooking spray...

All burgers must have cheese! My new fave as of late...

One slice is only 1 POINT and full of flavor...

I put my eggplant burger between 2 slices of Pepperidge Farm Light Style Wheat and added additional toppings of baby spinach and roasted red pepper. The usual sides came along - Kettle Baked Potato Chips and a juicy sweet plum...

It was a terrific 6 POINT lunch! The eggplant burger is very similar in texture to a Boca veggie-type burger, but the flavor is definitely bumped up a notch. Some of the veggie-type burgers can be bland, but not these eggplant burgers. They are a great find!

I had some errands to run late in the afternoon and started to feel hungry again. I decided to have a small snack to tide me over. And I do mean small. These mini Clif Bars are itty bitty...

Not sure they are worth the 100 calories! It was an o.k. 1 POINT snack :(

Dinner was a homemade "frozen dinner" of Chicken and Broccoli with Garlic Sauce for 5 POINTS...

and a side of these "heat and eat" veggies...

The whole package is only 90 calories and 1 POINT...

I was in the mood for a big fat dessert! But, I chose a skinny one - Deep Chocolate Vitatop with a scoop of Breyers Fat Free Double Churn French Chocolate and a tiny squirt of light whipped cream for 3 POINTS...

I think I won't be a total slug, so I'll do the 10 minute strength training tonight!

It's almost Friday.......... =]