Wednesday, May 26 -- Week 21, Day 4

It was soooo hot today. I almost didn't even want to eat anything, but my stomach always wins. I ended today at about 1260 calories, and I had a quick 2 mile bike ride. Wish I could've gone further, but I messed around until twilight, so I had to make it quick.

BREAKFAST:

• 1/2 wheat bagel
• 1/3 cup ricotta cheese
• splenda & cinnamon
• 1 cup apple carrot juice
• 1/4 cup skim milk

I was very surprised by this. I never would have thought to put ricotta on a bagel. Actually, it called for cottage cheese. I've never been a fan of the texture of cottage cheese, so I thought I'd give ricotta a try. And you know, with the Splenda, it was just a nicely sweet breakfast. It was definitely too much ricotta, as you can tell in the photo, so I'd cut that amount in half next time. But it was a nice, refreshing, new idea!

LUNCH:

• deli meat salad with 2 oz. deli ham, cucumber, green pepper, tomato, lettuce, and Sheetz fat-free Italian dressing
• carrot sticks
• 1 peach
  

I've come to really enjoy salads. I'm gradually adding new ingredients to them. Eventually I hope to be built up to real-live salads! This wooden bowl is actually huge. It's easily 7 or 8 inches across, not a normal sized cereal bowl.

I don't recall having ever eaten a fresh peach before. I absolutely did NOT like the feel of the fuzzy skin in my mouth, but that was easily solved. This peach was super-ripe, so it peeled off very easily. I liked it!

Apparently, someone else had my camera during lunch, because here is what I found when I uploaded my pics today. Remember that old drug-prevention commercial from the late 80's where the dad asks the son where he learned about this stuff, and the boy finally shrieks, "I learned it from watching YOU, alright?!?!" That's what this feels like. My kids think it's perfectly normal to take a picture of their lunch before they eat it...

DINNER:

• 1 grilled chicken thigh
• 1/2 cup sautéed zucchini and tomato
• salad with ranch
• 1/2 cup fruit salad

I have always preferred chicken breasts to thighs, but since starting this diet, I try to cut costs where I can, so I've been buying leg quarters. I didn't realize what I was missing out on when a thigh is properly cooked. This was absolutely delicious! I marinated it all day in an herb-garlic-wine marinade. Yum!

The zucchini dish was just thick-sliced zucchini that I cut into chunks and a tomato. I cooked them in some olive oil, garlic, and pepper. I did have to add a little water to get enough steam to cook the zucchini until they were crisp-tender. Very good, actually!

The fruit salad was made by Jacob. He made a huge bowl of it by himself for lunch today. It was very good! I did give him my maraschino cherry, because that seemed like an odd addition, but overall, he is a fruit master!

Snacks today consisted of an apple and 2 whole graham crackers. I was supposed to have another peach this evening, but Jacob proudly made a pitcher of Kool-Aid and presented me with a cup of it. Rather than say, "Sorry, can't drink it - it's not in my diet," I just smiled and thanked him and drank it. A cup of Kool-Aid has 90 calories in it. It was borderline sickeningly sweet, so I suspect he used more sugar than it calls for. But he was so proud to make me a drink, I couldn't bear to turn it down. So I skipped the peach.

Tomorrow, we'll be away all day, so I'll be packing lunches again. Fortunately, the plan tomorrow originally called for sandwiches, so that works nicely. I'll be taking a half a PBJ on homemade wheat (baking in the machine as I write this), a peach, and some carrot sticks. And lots of water. We'll be outside all day. Hopefully it won't be as hot as it was today. I think it hit 90° today. Ugh.