Tuesday, May 25 -- Week 21, Day 3

This was another busy day. We were gone from 11:30 until 3:45 getting replacement glasses. I had planned ahead and packed lunches for everyone. The last thing we need is another excuse to spend money and eat bad food at the Food Court! I'm so glad we did. The kids even enjoyed it, because it was like a picnic.

BREAKFAST:

• 1 1/2 oz. Oatmeal Squares
• 1/2 cup apple-carrot juice

1/2 cup skim milk

Nothing remarkable here. We've seen this meal quite a few times.

*********

LUNCH:

• Greek salad
• 3 pieces melba toast
• 1/4 cup raisins
• 2 Auntie Anne's pretzel sticks

I didn't get a picture, because I didn't bother taking the camera to the mall with me. I've posted several pictures of Greek salads before though. The pretzel sticks were a delicious treat.

**********

DINNER:

• 3 oz. roast beef
• 4 oz. baked potato with spray butter
• 1/2 cup wax beans
• lettuce with 1 T. asiago peppercorn dressing
• 1/4 cup homemade gravy

A beef meal is always a treat! This was no exception. And a baked potato!! Mmm. Would've been great with bacon, butter, and cheese, but I was content with spray butter, and I dipped it in my gravy. Very good!

I ended the day with a slice of cantaloupe (also a new food I've come to love!) and a glass of milk. Total for the day: around 1250.

I think I've found a good middle-ground here. I'm still having plenty of variety, LOTS of fruits and veggies, trying new foods. I'll continue to use the current menu in the WW book for inspiration and see how it goes.

Italian Green Beans

ITALIAN GREEN BEANS

The WW cookbook called for "Italian Green Beans," but didn't include a recipe. I totally made is up as I went, and I was very happy with the results!

Ingredients:

• 1 lb. fresh green beans, snapped in half
• 1 T. butter
• 1 T. olive oil
• 1 tsp. minced garlic
• chicken broth (maybe 1/2 cup?)
• 1 medium tomato, cut into chunks
• 1 tsp. Italian seasoning
• salt & pepper, if desired

Heat butter and olive oil in medium skillet until butter is melted. Stir in garlic and Italian seasoning. Add green beans and stir to coat. Add chicken broth and stir. Cover pan and simmer about 10 minutes until beans are crisp tender. Add tomato and salt & pepper, if desired. Stir; cover pan and simmer about 5 more minutes until tomatoes are tender.

This would probably be pretty good topped with some freshly grated Parmesan too!

Chicken Sorrentino

CHICKEN SORRENTINO

Ingredients:

• boneless, skinless chicken thighs


• eggplant slices


• pizza sauce


• mozzarella cheese

I read this recipe in a book, but then did it on my own. I didn't measure anything, so the recipe is not at all exact.

The recipe called for boneless, skinless chicken breasts. I used regular thighs. Skin them, debone them. Salt and pepper them. Spray a skillet with non-stick cooking spray and heat it up. Cook the chicken until lightly browned on both sides. Meanwhile, in a separate skillet sprayed with cooking spray, lightly cook eggplant slices (lightly salted, if desired) until soft and lightly browned on both sides.

Put the eggplant on top of the chicken. Pour some pizza sauce over it and sprinkle with mozzarella cheese. Put the lid on and let simmer until the cheese melts.

Monday, May 24 -- Week 21, Day 2

Today went well. I had an unexpected bump at lunchtime, but it worked out in the end, and I came in at a good 1137 calories. My stomach isn't growling, and I feel satisfied with what I ate today.

BREAKFAST:

• 1/2 cup strawberries with Splenda
• 2 pieces dries fruit
• 1/2 whole wheat bagel
• 1 tsp. margarine
• 1 oz. colby cheese

This was a deli bagel. It was worth the splurge. I LOVE deli bagels. I stopped myself at a half a bagel, which was tough to do, but I figured I'd only regret it if I let myself eat the other half.

The dried fruit was silly. 2 pieces. What's the point?

But the strawberries were delicious! I can't believe I've been missing out on the deliciousness of fresh strawberries all these years!

Cheese is cheese.

LUNCH:

• We left the house in a hurry today, and I forgot to grab lunch before we left, so I swiped 2 pieces of personal pan pizza from the kids. They noticed.

DINNER:

• Chicken Sorrentino (click for recipe)
• 1/2 cup no yolk egg noodles
• 1/2 cup steamed carrots
• 1/2 cup Italian Green Beans (click for recipe)

The chicken sorrentino was completely new for me. Eggplant is utterly unextraordinary. I didn't even know it was there. I guess its only purpose was the added nutritional benefit. I still have quite a lot of it left, so I'll have to find something to do with it in the next day or so. Apparently eggplant doesn't last very long.

The green beans were also delicious!! I totally made them up, and I highly recommend them.

Snack today was a popsicle made from sugar-free orange jello mix, 1 cup boiling water, a banana, and a cup of plain yogurt. It was ok. A pretty strange texture though. Just like I would imagine gelatin-ed yogurt to feel like.

I ended the day with a 4 oz glass of red sangria. Mmm. Only 88 calories, and now I am relaxed. :-)

Saturday, May 22 -- Week 20, Day 7

Today was a very busy day, but I think I managed pretty well. Today was a scheduled use-up-perishing-ingredients day. I did NOT have a plan, which is always scary. We had a soccer game this morning, and my morning was a bit of a rush, so I just grabbed some cold cereal, juice, and milk. I actually went with the 3/4 oz serving suggested by the book, because I knew I'd be busy and not have a chance to think about being hungry, and that I would be eating at noon.

BREAKFAST:

• 3/4 oz oatmeal squares
• 1 cup milk
• 1/4 cup apple juice

We took the kids to EMS Day at the ambulance hall after the soccer game. Free food! You can bet I was all over that. I had resolved to control my eating while we were there. Fortunately there was plenty to do, and the food wasn't near where we were. I had a grilled chicken leg quarter, a few bites of potato salad, and a cookie. But then I went out to watch the helicopter take off and grabbed a burger on the way back in. Not sure the count on any of that, but it was certainly better than I'd have done another time, I'm sure.

DINNER:

• about 1 cup egg noodles
• about 1/2 cup chicken in gravy
• 1/2 cup carrots
• small salad with the last of my delicious light Italian Romano Red Pepper dressing

Another good dinner. This is how normal, non-1980s Weight Watchers people eat. Normal food that everyone likes. :-) I have next week's menu planned out and ready to go. It was a combination of the book menu and a few of my own adaptations. Next week I will be back to posting the original menu as well as my adaptations. Don't expect them to be close. I mostly used the book for inspiration.

I found a second copy of this book at a thrift store this week for $1.99. I almost bought it because I thought it was funny that I found another. But then I realized I have no use for a second copy, and that it would be a food expense, so I left it. It's at the new animal shelter thrift store by SNK, if anyone's interested.

Friday, May 21 -- Week 20, Day 6

Friday was a good day! I enjoyed all my food. I'm not sure on a final calorie count, but I think it was around 1100.

BREAKFAST:

• 3/4 oz oatmeal squares
• 1 cup skim milk
• 1/4 cup apple juice

This was unremarkable. I really like this cereal. I absent-mindedly put my milk ON it one day and found that I MUCH prefer eating it dry. Mmm-mmm.

LUNCH:

• salad with 3 oz deli meat and 2 T. lite 3-cheese ranch dressing
• 1 orange
• 1/2 cup green beans

My salad was delicious. It was lettuce, cucumber, carrots, ham, and dressing. Very large. Very good. The green beans were green beans. The orange tasted funny - a little bitter, so I didn't eat it. The last one I had was better than that, so I think this one was just old. I got some fresh ones today.

DINNER:

• beef shish kebabs
• salad
• sugar-free vanilla pudding

Shish kebabs ready to grill. You can tell whose was whose by what's on it. Top has beef, potatoes, mushrooms, carrots, green peppers, and onions. That was Mark's. Next one was mine. All of the above minus mushrooms. Bottom two were for the kids to split. Just meat, potatoes, and carrots.

This was the leftover stuff thrown into a grill basket. Good thing. One shish kebab does NOT feed a person.


Here they are cooked. They were yummy! I steamed the carrots and the potatoes in Ziploc steam bags until they were not-quite done. I will do them a little less next time, because they kind of burned on the grill until the meat was done. On the other hand, the onions and peppers were still mostly raw. Not sure how to fix that. How do you par-cook peppers and onions??

After soccer practice, I still had a snack of 3 oz. of frozen yogurt and 2 graham crackers left. I chose to translate that into frozen yogurt on a cone, so we went to the ice cream house. Very good treat, well within my calorie goal for the day. Good meals today!

Thursday, May 20 -- Week 20, Day 5

The day started out innocently enough...

BREAKFAST:

• 1 cup apple juice
• 1 pita broiled with mustard and 1 oz. cheese
• 1/2 cup skim milk

This was actually really good. I wish I'd been able to broil it instead of microwave it, because that would probably make it even better. I even enjoyed the mustard. It gave it a nice tangy surprise. I will definitely do that again in the future, probably on english muffins.

LUNCH:

• 2 T. peanut butter
• 2 tsp. strawberry jelly
• 1 slice homemade wheat bread
• carrot sticks
• 1/2 cup homemade applesauce

This also was very good. I'm not wild over carrot sticks, but I'd certainly rather eat them than celery sticks! And how quickly a simple PBJ has grown on me. I REALLY enjoyed it this time! Maybe I was just super-hungry...

DINNER:

I am going to make more excuses. We were supposed to have beef shish kebabs. I set out the meat to thaw, forgetting that we have no oven, no broiler, and no gas for the grill. So nothing else was thawed. It was a really really bad day. I was literally in tears by the time Mark got home. He took pity on me and went and got a pizza.

And that's all I'm going to say about that.

One of the best things about dieting is that each day is a new start. No matter how badly I screw it up one day, I can always try for a better day the next day. I'm not completely convinced yet that doing my own menu is going to work. I think I've lost my momentum this week. It's been a week full of unexpected complications. I will try my own menu again next week. I looked at the next week in the WW book and have made my modifications. I'm ready for a new week!

I'm looking forward to tonight's dinner though, because I believe we're getting gas for the grill so we can have our shish kebabs, which reminds me to marinate the meat this afternoon. I think I'll parboil some potatoes. We also have a green pepper and some sliced mushrooms (not sure how well sliced mushrooms will stay on the skewers, but we'll see). Maybe some onion chunks on Mark's. Anything else?