Thursday, May 13 -- Week 19, Day 6

My willpower has been restored!

BREAKFAST:

Original:

• 1 small pear
• 1 oz. brie cheese
• 3/4 ounce crispbread
• 1/4 cup skim milk
• coffee or tea

My adaptation:

• 1 small pear
• 1 oz. colby cheese
• 3/4 ounce melba toast
• 1/4 cup skim milk

I don't recall having ever eaten a fresh pear before. It was ok. It'll grow on me.

I didn't even bother looking for brie cheese. I don't doubt that I'd like it. Maybe I'll try to get some next week. I wonder if I can get it in a really small amount, since I'm likely the only one who will eat it.

I had two unopened boxes of rosemary-olive oil melba toast in the cupboard from last week. That meal must've gotten skipped. Or ignored. Or something. I was a little nervous about it, because I do NOT care for the flavor of rosemary. I only bought it because it was the only flavor the had in stock. But it was surprisingly delicious! A fun finger-food breakfast. I read a vegetable cookbook while I was eating, and it lasted a good 15-20 minutes.

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LUNCH:

Original:

• tofu casserole
• alfalfa or bean sprouts with 1/4 cup sliced canned water chestnuts on lettuce and sesame vinaigrette
• 1/2 cup strawberry-flavored gelatin
• 1 cup skim milk

My adaptation:

• Greek salad
• 1/2 cup lemon low-calorie gelatin
• 1 cup skim milk

Tofu just isn't going to happen. Not now, not ever. However, I was supposed to have a Greek salad last week that I ended up missing. I had this super-expensive feta cheese in the refrigerator that I didn't want to go to waste, so I had the Greek salad instead of tofu casserole. It was quite good! It was tomato basil feta, lettuce, cucumber slices, tomato, and light Italian Romano dressing. Sadly, I'm almost to the end of that bottle. I'll have to get another, even though I've got about 20 salad dressings in the cupboard. And that's not an exaggeration.

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DINNER:

Original:

• 3 oz. broiled hamburger
• 1/2 hamburger roll
• 2 tsp. ketchup
• eggplant and pepper salad
• 1/2 medium dill pickle, sliced
• coffee-yogurt shake

My adaptation:

• 3 oz. hamburger
• 1/2 Kaiser roll
• 2 tsp. ketchup
• 1/2 cup fried potatoes
• 1/2 cup sautéed lemon-garlic green beans
• mango frozen yogurt

This was a really pathetic dinner. I was sad that my burger didn't have a top. Or cheese. Or bacon.

I have no comment on the eggplant pepper salad. I had fried potatoes and green beans instead. Because I could.

I saved the mango frozen yogurt for bedtime snack, only because it wasn't frozen yet. It was a little odd. Mango is an acquired taste, I think.

I ended the day at about 1235 calories.

Veal Medley

• 12 ounces veal cutlets, pounded and cut into 1-inch strips (I used veal cube steak)
• 1/8 tsp. white pepper
• dash salt
• 1 T. plus 2 tsp. margarine, divided
• 2 cups sliced mushrooms (I used 1 cup)
• 1 T. enriched flour
• 3/4 cup chicken broth (I used turkey)
• 2 tsp. grated Parmesan cheese (I didn't realize we were out until it was too late, so I used mozzarella)
• 1/8 tsp. ground thyme (I've never been wild about the flavor of thyme)
• 1 cup sliced drained canned hearts of palm, 1-inch pieces (carrots worked just fine)
• 1 cup hot cooked enriched spinach noodles (I used Wacky Mac, which is a mix of spinach, beet, carrot, and white noodles)

Season veal with white pepper and salt. Melt 1 tsp. margarine in a small nonstick skillet; add veal and sauté for 3 minutes or until tender, stirring often. Remove veal and set aside. Add 1 tsp. margarine to skillet and melt; add mushrooms and sauté until tender. Set aside. Melt 1 T. margarine in saucepan; stir in flour. Stirring constantly with a wire whisk, gradually add broth; cook, stirring often, nuntil thickened. Stir in cheese and tyme. Stir in veal, mushrooms, and hearts of palm and cook 5 minutes. Add cooked noodles and toss.

I did steam the carrots in the microwave for 5 minutes first. And rather than mixing it all together, we just topped our noodles with the veal mixture.

Wednesday, May 12 -- Week 19, Day 5

BREAKFAST:

Original:

• 1/2 medium banana, sliced
• 3/4 oz ready-to-eat cereal
• 1 cup skim milk
• coffee or tea

My adaptation:

• 1/2 medium banana
• 1 1/2 oz ready-to-eat cereal
• 1 cup skim milk

Seriously, 3/4 of an ounce of this cereal was about 12 pieces. It was really good though! Quaker Oatmeal Squares. I ate them dry, and drank the milk separately. Delicious!

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LUNCH:

Original:

• 1 cup tomato juice with lemon wedge
• spinach-cucumber egg salad
• 1 ounce pita bread
• 1 tsp. reduced-calorie margarine
• 1/2 cup blueberries

My adaptation:

• 1 cup apple juice
• 3 oz deli meat
• 1 ounce pita bread
• 1 tsp. reduced-calorie margarine
• 1/2 cup strawberries with Splenda

I know this was a pitiful version of the original. I keep meaning to get V8 Splash juice. I know it's not quite the same as tomato juice, but at least it's got some tomato juice in it and is bound to be a better substitute than apple juice.

And egg salad is absolutely disgusting. So deli meat it was. I accidentally grabbed onion-flavored pitas, and I'm so glad I did! What a great way to add flavor without any extra calories! Now if only they made onion-flavored wheat pitas...

I am looking forward to blueberry sale season. $3.99 for a 6 ounce container??? I do NOT think so. I paid $3.48 for a 32 ounce container of these strawberries. They were really good. I thoroughly enjoyed them. Besides, aren't they pretty with their Splenda sprinkles?

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DINNER:

Original:

• veal medley (click for recipe)
• 1/2 cup baked acorn squash
• tossed salad with dijon-herb dressing
• 1/4 small cantaloupe
• 1/2 cup skim milk
• coffee or tea

My adaptation:

• veal medley (carrots instead of hearts of palm, whatever they are)
• 1/2 cup baked acorn squash
• lettuce with light Italian romano dressing
• 1/4 small cantaloupe
• 1/2 cup skim milk

This was good. Veal is expensive. The recipe called for 12 ounces, but at $9-something per pound, a half a pound was plenty. I just cut it up smaller. I had a pack of Wacky Mac noodles in the cupboard, which is a mix of carrot, beet, white, and spinach noodles.

The acorn squash ... our oven is still on the fritz. The oven guy is supposed to be here in the morning to fix it. I ended up cooking the squash in the microwave. It was so easy. And the flavor reminded me a LOT of sweet corn. I liked it. I did put a dab of butter and a sprinkle of brown sugar on it, but I couldn't even taste it, so I'll just skip that next time.

The cantaloupe isn't in the picture, because I actually had that for a snack tonight after the soccer game.

Bread and butter was supposed to be one of my other snacks, but I chose to have it with dinner instead. I stupidly ate a whole slice. This was a quick-bake white bread, because I forgot to put the bread in earlier. It was very very dense, so my one thin slice was actually 3 ounces. I definitely should have had just a half a slice, but I wasn't thinking straight. So that cost me an extra 150 calories today. :-(

Everyone was quite happy with dinner tonight, myself included. It was a nice break after last night's dinner.

Just a heads-up: we won't be having Tofu Casserole for lunch tomorrow. More deli meat is just fine with me!

Tuesday, May 11 -- Week 19, Day 4

I have no excuse for the last couple days, so I'll not even bother to make any. This week has some really odd things coming up, so there will be more adaptations than usual. I didn't get groceries on my normal day, so that threw a bit of a kink into today's menu, not having the necessary ingredients. Today was a mish-mash of a couple different days. (See? I made excuses anyway!)

BREAKFAST:

Original:

• 1/2 cup grapefruit juice
• 1 oz cheddar cheese melted on 1 slice pumpernickel bread
• 1/2 cup skim milk
• coffee or tea

My adaptation:

• 1/2 cup apple juice
• 1 oz cheddar cheese melted on 1 small bagel
• 1/2 cup skim milk

Mmm... How appetizing does that look?? Our broiler isn't working, so I had to microwave it. Great flavor - wish I could have broiled it. Bagels are the ONLY bread we had in the house today. And I'm not ready for grapefruit juice just yet.

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LUNCH:

Original:

• 3 oz. boiled knockwurst with 1 tsp. prepared mustard
• 1/2 cup sauerkraut
• 12 oz. light beer

My adaptation:

• 3 oz. turkey kielbasa
• 1/2 cup green beans
• water

I don't know much about knockwurst, but I think turkey kielbasa is a suitable (and tastier?) substitute. I didn't want mustard, and it has no nutritional value that I know of anyway. I also don't like the string-texture of sauerkraut, so we had green beans. (See what I mean about more adaptations than normal??) And beer? Gross.

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DINNER:

Original:

• 3 oz broiled flounder
• 1/2 cup steamed spinach
• 1/2 cup steamed sliced carrot
• tossed salad with russian dressing
• melon mousse
• 1/4 cup skim milk
• coffee or tea

My adaptation:

• 3 oz sautéed cod
• 1/2 cup sautéed kale
• 1/2 cup corn
• small baked potato with spray butter

This is where things started to get really dumb. I was bouncing all over the week's menu with this. Dinner was supposed to be a veal-vegetable medley over pasta, but I didn't have any of the ingredients for it yesterday. We did still have cod in the freezer from a meal we ended up not eating last week, and there was a flounder meal earlier in this week that we didn't eat. So I used cod instead of flounder, and used the rest of the flounder menu. Kind of.

The cod - again with the broiler. I just coated it with some cornmeal, salt, and pepper, then sautéed it in a little olive oil. I've never cooked fish for myself before, so I had no idea what I was doing. I think it was probably done. I didn't love it, which doesn't surprise me. It didn't have a whole lot of flavor, and the texture will take some getting used to. I will never become a fish lover, but I could probably tolerate it for a little variety now and then. And I can't deny the health benefits of it!

The spinach - we still had an entire bunch of kale that didn't get used two weeks ago. It was still surprisingly fresh. So here's where I went wrong with that: I didn't steam it. I sautéed it in bacon, garlic, and lemon juice. But I figure if it takes a little bacon to get me eating more vegetables, that's a sacrifice I'm willing to make. ;-) It was ok. I should have skipped the lemon juice. That was an odd match. And I was very surprised by the texture. I was expecting a pile of mush, but it actually had a substantial texture to it- a good solid bite of food. Almost felt like meat. I only ate half of it though.

Carrots - I hadn't shopped yet. Didn't have any. Realized pretty late, so threw a bag of corn in the microwave. Very high in sugar, I know, but at this point in the day, I was only at somewhere around 600 calories, so I had plenty to spare.

Didn't feel like a salad today. :-(

Didn't have the ingredients for the melon mousse, which is a shame, because I was actually looking forward to it! Maybe I'll be able to squeeze it in next week.

Forgot the milk.

So after dinner, I was at a grand total of 805 calories. I had also biked 5 miles, so I figure I was running low on calorie intake. I had a big bowl of ice cream. :-) I think I ended the day somewhere around 1300. I said it was a big bowl, didn't I?

So this brings me to my newest thoughts on the subject of this diet and groceries: These ingredients are KILLING our budget. So, new plan. I will follow the diet as closely as possible for 5 days a week, giving myself 2 days to use up leftover ingredients. I will still stick to lo-calorie on one of those days, but the other will be an off-day. I will stick to this diet for 3 weeks. I will use the 4th week each month to recover our budget. This is the week that I'll coupon shop for whatever. It will give me freedom in my cooking. I'll still try to keep it low-calorie and healthy, but we cannot sustain this kind of grocery shopping regularly and long-term. Rather than give it up altogether, I think this may be a workable solution. So that's the plan. We'll see how it goes.

Wednesday, May 5 -- Week 18, Day 4

Looking back over the original menu today, my actual menu bears little resemblance. I still ate some well-rounded meals and came in at right around 1200 calories for the day, so I'll still consider it a successful day.

BREAKFAST:

Original:

• 1/2 cup grapefruit sections
• 1 ounce Brie cheese
• 3/4 ounce Crispbread
• 1/2 cup skim milk
• coffee or tea

My adaptation:

• 1 small orange
• 1 ounce colby jack
• 1 slice homemade wheat toast
• 1/2 cup skim milk

Not an overly exciting breakfast. I'm always surprised that orange sections are less sweet than I expect them to be. I know colby jack is no substitute for brie, but I chose to use what I had on hand this week, as much as possible, without totally sabotaging the diet. (Ok, so maybe colby vs brie is a bit of a sabotage, but work with me here....) I now know what crispbread is, so I'll see if I can get a pack of that for next time. I feel certain I'll like it, if I can find it.

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LUNCH:

Original:

• 1 cup mixed vegetable juice
• 3 oz poached salmon
• 1/2 cup cooked zucchini slices with diced pimiento
• 1 slice enriched bread
• 1 tsp. margarine
• 1/2 cup vanilla low-calorie pudding

My adaptation:

• 1 cup apple juice
• 3 oz deli ham
• 1/2 cup sautéed zucchini slices
• 1 slice homemade wheat bread
• 1 tsp. margarine
• 1/2 cup vanilla low-calorie pudding

Again with the totally lame substitutes. Drinking vegetable juice seems gross to me. I'm sure I'll try it someday, just to say I did. And I can't explain my fear of seafood. Deli ham works just fine for me. I do like low-calorie chocolate pudding better than vanilla though.

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DINNER:

Original:

• marinated mushroom appetizer
• 3 oz broiled pork chop
• 1/2 cup steamed green beans with 1/4 cup canned water chestnuts
• tossed salad with 1 tsp. vegetable oil plus lemon juice
• 1/2 cup skim milk
• coffee or tea

My adaptation:

• skipped the mushrooms
• 3 oz sautéed pork sirloin steak
• 1/2 cup frozen green beans - no water chestnuts, thank you
• water

Another dinner inhaled in mere moments, so I forgot to get a picture. Mushrooms are very very very far into my future right now. I can be brave about a lot of foods, but mushrooms (and seafood, apparently) aren't on that list right now.

I opted for pork sirloin steak because it looked good to me at the time. It actually was quite good. I'll definitely get it again. Something's wrong with our broiler, but I unfortunately didn't notice until about 10 minutes after I put the steaks in the broiler. They were still raw, and we had to leave in about 10 minutes, so I tossed them in a skillet. They were good and juicy - not dry at all, like our pork chops usually are.

I had made some mashed potatoes for the rest of the family, so I tossed a small amount (maybe 1/2 cup?) on my plate. I think I posted once before about that. I chose to have a little bit so that I wouldn't one day cave and eat a whole pot of them.

Green beans were un-extraordinary. I simmered them in a bit of water with a plop of minced garlic and some chicken bouillon. No water chestnuts. I tried them. I didn't care for them. No need to try them again.

And I totally forgot to have a glass of milk.

Snack was supposed to be 1/2 cup raspberries (too expensive right now) and 1/2 cup cantaloupe. I opted for a small bowl of popcorn instead.

So yes, a lot of changes in the menu today, but not a total wreck of a day. Good calorie count, and decent fruit/vegetable intake, so I'm happy with it.

Tuesday, May 4 -- Week 18, Day 3

BREAKFAST:

Original:

• 1/2 medium banana, sliced
• 3/4 ounce ready-to-eat-cereal
• 1 cup skim milk
• coffee or tea

My adaptation:

• 1/2 medium banana, sliced
• 3/4 ounce ready-to-eat-cereal
• 1 cup skim milk

This was a pretty straightforward meal. I skipped the coffee/tea. 3/4 of an ounce of cereal is pathetic. Because I put the banana in my cereal, I skipped the Splenda. It was fine, but not enough. Again, I plan ahead when I see a tiny breakfast, and I put it off until at least 10:00, so lunch isn't far behind.

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LUNCH:

Original:

• 3-4 ounced broiled chicken
• 1/2 medium cucumber, sliced
• alfalfa or bean sprouts and radish slices on lettuce with dill vinaigrette
• 1 slice cracked wheat bread
• 1 tsp. margarine
• club soda with mint sprig

My adaptation:

• 3 oz cooked deli ham
• 1/4 medium cucumber, sliced
• green salad with lite Italian vinaigrette
• 1 slice homemade wheat bread
• 1 tsp. margarine
• water

By the time I remembered to eat lunch, it was 3:00, and I was in no mood to wait for the chicken to cook, so I grabbed some deli meat out of the fridge. Close enough.

Half of a cucumber is an obscene amount of cucumber, so I stopped at a quarter. I was surprised by it. I had cucumber and radishes on a salad last week and didn't care for it. Apparently it was the radishes I didn't like, because I kind of liked the cucumber.

I ended up chopping everything but the bread into one big pile. The saltiness of the ham, the tartness of the dressing, and the sweetness of the cucumber made a nice combination!

The 4-day-old bread was extremely dry. No amount of butter could have helped it. Maybe I should have toasted it.

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DINNER:

Original:

• 1 cup tomato juice
• 3-4 ounces broiled calf liver
• baked yams
• stir-fry pea pods
• green salad with wine vinegar and herbs
• 4 medium dried apricot halves

My adaptation:

• 1 cup orange juice (I know, I know ... not even close)
• 2 ounces sauteed round steak
• baked yams
• stir-fry pea pods
• green salad with garlic caesar dressing
• 4 pieces of dried fruit (1 pear, 1 apricot, 2 apple slices)

This was a pretty good meal. I'm not at all excited about drinking tomato juice. Maybe later. Not yet. Orange juice was fine, but isn't a good sweet potato chaser.

I refuse to try calf liver. We had one tiny pack of round steak left, so we all actually ate a proper portion, instead of triple what we should be eating. Just seasoned it with salt and (too much) pepper and sautéed it in a tiny bit of butter.

The baked yams were just baked in the microwave, scooped out of the shells, and whipped with orange rind, allspice, and salt. I don't particularly love sweet potatoes, but they are alright. Another one of those I'll-eat-it-occasionally-but-not-all-the-time foods.

The stir-fry pea pods ... I opted for a pea pod stir fry mix with pea pods, carrots, onions, and mushrooms, because it was cheaper than just a bag of pea pods. They were sautéed in some olive oil, then I added a bit of water and 2 beef bouillon cubes and simmered until the liquid was gone. They had an excellent flavor. Mushrooms are yet another item on my not-yet list, so I left a small pile of mushrooms and onions on my plate. Aaron reached over to my plate and ate every last one of them up! And some of my lettuce too!

I threw together a quick salad (out of the bag - I'm very skilled), but just wasn't in the mood for it. I had a bite or two, but that's it.

The dried fruit was an odd way to end the meal. I'm quite full.

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I haven't yet eaten my snacks of 1/2 cup low calorie jello with 1/2 cup sliced strawberries, and 1/2 cup plain yogurt with 1 tsp. jelly. After those, I will end my day at around 1150 calories.

BREAKFAST:

Original:

Monday, May 3 -- Week 18, Day 2

Whoops - many diets have a false start, right?? Trying again ...

(At the beginning of week 2, I am down 4 pounds, so a weekend off must not have been too detrimental!)



BREAKFAST:




Original:

• 1 medium kiwi or 2" wedge of honeydew
• 1 soft-cooked egg
• 1/2 english muffin, toasted
• 1/4 cup skim milk
• coffee or tea

My adaptation:

• 1 medium kiwi
• 1 over-easy egg (fried in skillet with cooking spray - no added fat)
• 1/2" thick slice of homemade wheat bread
• 1/4 cup skim milk

I think this is my first experience with kiwi. It had a nice sweet flavor, but I've always been averse to crunchy seeds in my food. I can easily see myself eating it again though. I assume a soft-cooked egg is the same as a hard-boiled egg, only not cooked as long? Since I wasn't sure and didn't feel like looking it up, I just went with another fried egg. I fry my eggs in butter cooking spray, so the nutritional value is the same.



I forgot to make English muffins yesterday, but we had some 2-day old homemade wheat bread. The older it is, the nicer is slices. I was able to slice a really really thin piece quite easily, then sprayed it with spray butter. AND ... I decided there is no good reason why I can't just buy a half gallon of skim milk for myself for the week.


So this breakfast was a grand total of 196 calories. Again, it wasn't very filling, so I'm glad I waited until after 10 to eat.



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LUNCH:



Original:

• 3 T. peanut butter on 1 slice raisin bread topped with 2 tsp. reduced-calorie strawberry spread
• carrot and celery sticks
• 1/2 cup applesauce
• hot spiced tea

My adaptation:

• 2 T. peanut butter on 1 slice wheat bread topped with 2 tsp. regular strawberry spread
• carrot sticks
• 1/2 cup applesauce
• hot spiced tea

I only used 2 tablespoons of peanut butter, because 3 seemed like a ridiculously huge amount to put on half a sandwich. And I'm not a peanut butter lover. Peanut butter flavored things, yes. Straight peanut butter, no. I used honey peanut butter. It was actually pretty good. I haven't had a pbj since probably 4th grade, so it was a little bit of a flashback to elementary school. :-)


I learned last week that I do NOT like celery sticks, so I didn't even bother with them this week. Carrot sticks are ok, but I get bored with them. I should find a fat-free dip or something. The applesauce is my homemade applesauce, only lightly sweetened. Mmm.


Tea - I don't recall that I've ever had a cup of hot tea. This was just a regular tea bag, then I sprinkled some cinnamon and 2 whole cloves into a coffee filter, wrapped it with the string on the tea bag, and let it all steep, with a splash of lemon juice. It was ok. A little on the bitter side, I thought. I added some Splenda and that made it alright. I'm sure I'll have it again, but it won't become a daily habit.


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DINNER:


Original:

• spicy meat turnovers
• 1/4 cup cooked peas
• 1/2 cup cooked wax beans
• tossed salad with green bell pepper rings and lemon juice
• 6 fluid ounces light beer
• fruit pie
• coffee or tea

My adaptation:

• spicy meat turnover
• 1/2 cup cooked wax beans
• green salad with light italian romano
• 1/2 cup boiled potatoes

I forgot to take a picture again. We were in a really huge hurry, running very late for gymnastics. My notes: the turnovers were pretty good. I should have seasoned the meat. That's just a common sense error there... How to make them: simmer sliced onions in a half cup of beer until the liquid is mostly gone. Plop the onions into a flat 6" burger disc and fold it in half. Pinch the edges shut and broil them. There was a sauce too, but it was pretty non-descript. I ended up using ketchup. It was a lot of onion. It didn't taste oniony, but I'm just not used to eating mouthfuls of onions.

I burned the peas, because I forgot to put water in the pan. Really, I have been cooking for longer than 2 weeks, although sometimes you'd never guess it. Wax beans are among my favorite veggies, so I enjoyed them. The salad was a time thing again. It was easier to just grab a handful out of the bag and throw it on my plate than it would have been to slice green peppers. The potatoes were just to prevent me from binging later. I love boiled potatoes. I figure a half cup now and then is better than eating a whole pot of them later because I miss eating them.

I skipped the beer because I don't like it. I've already expressed my opinion on coffee and tea (although I made an exception at lunch today). And we didn't have fruit pie because I forgot to make it. But it's just as well, because the in-laws treated us to an ice cream cone after gymnastics.

I ended today at about 1550 calories, which is very very high for this particular diet. Apparently I'm not supposed to use 80/20 burger. :-) But I burned 225 during my run this evening, so I'll consider it a 1325 day. Totally reasonable.

Looking ahead to tomorrow ... we will NOT be eating calf liver. Sorry to disappoint you...