A little background on how the week went food wise. I couldn't get enough of it really. I was so hungry all the time. I only remember one day that I didn't have a morning snack and that was because I was so busy I couldn't actually feel my hunger. I felt the pangs of “stress eating” coming on, something that I battle with constantly. I don't impulsively eat when I'm depressed really (you know, whenever that might happen for about 2 seconds nowadays). I eat when I'm stressed. Feeling pressure. It's an oasis almost. I'm overwhelmed so the soft, chewy center of a Snickers bar is all I can think about. Or a plate of cheese fries. And I want it whether I'm hungry or not.
We're starting a very stressful time at work. Last year I gained 11 pounds back after some successful weight loss and I'm well beyond losing all of that again already. This year, I refuse to give in (too much). I think making sure I keep up with my exercising and trying to use that as stress release more than taking a dip in an endless bowl of ice cream will be essential.
I'm super excited that next week I'll be going to a dance class; something I haven't done since I was 15. I found an adult ballet class that does a ballet/yoga hybrid. They meet weekly on Mondays, which is a really good night for me. I'm hoping that this will give me an alternative to the gym and keep me from getting burned out. To be honest, I love the feeling of being all sweaty and motivated after 40 minutes on an elliptical, but it's starting to get mighty boring. Feels just a little like a hamster wheel.
In doing this, maybe I can get back into doing yoga at home. I think why the gym is so good for me is it gets me out of the house and away from so many distractions. There's always stuff to do here. There's dishes to be done, laundry to be washed... I've just recently let myself enjoy reading again because I always get distracted by work.
There was a triumph amongst the plethora of eating that went on this week. So I was laying on the couch, watching television, and this commercial comes on:
Marketing win. Way to go Frito-Lay company. I have been JONESING for some regular, good old-fashioned Lay's potato chips ever since. (I'm licking my lips right now. I can't help it). I have been wanting them so bad. Though a more accurate Queen song to play in the background would probably be “Get Down, Make Love” because yea. It goes that deep with me.
That was not an intentional pun. That was just a happy accident.
So. Friday while eating my Lein Cuisine Pepperoni Pizza, a coworker was running out to get herself a sandwich and I said, “Hey! If they have regular Lay's there, would you pick me up some? Not a big bag... a little one?” And she said sure. So I was giving in to temptation. Except she had to go be a ROCK STAR and bring me back Baked! Lay's. Of course, that's not what I wanted. But that's what I get. Because I didn't need them. Then today, I had every intention to buy myself a little package of the tiny bags of Lay's at the grocery store. Except I'm very much a Grocery List kind of gal (I can remember a ton of stuff long term... but sometimes I forget to wash my hair in the shower. And I forget things that aren't on my grocery list). And I didn't put it on my list. Thus it got forgotten.
THANK GOD!
Seriously. I'm not sure what gets into me, but I've been wanting certain things like CRAZY. They're comforting. I am afraid if I deny myself too much, I'll go insane and get a family size bag of Lay's and you'll find me on a street corner, sitting in a cardboard box, shoulder deep in an empty potato chip bag crying my eyes out. But if I just stay away... maybe I'll be okay.
That's the plus that I don't keep snacks here. I have two boxes of Girl Scout cookies sitting on my kitchen table. Last night I had three. I put them on a plate and enjoyed them. And I didn't go back for more. There was once a time when I would eat a whole box of Tagalongs before I left my office the day they were delivered to me. Insert gluttonous groan of satisfaction here.
I don't like food at all.
So speaking of food, I've done some mad cooking today. And I've eaten something that I cooked today which, as you know, is quite rare! I made a tasty pasta dish for lunches last week which I will share, I made another pasta dish for this week (which I sampled earlier for lunch) and I've got a Crock Pot full of Red Beans and Smoked Sausage going for lunches this week too.
Let's start with last week's pasta. It's funny because last week's pasta looks a lot like this week's pasta. I've got this thing going where pasta + tomatoes + green vegetables = meal! It's sort of the philosophy behind the frozen dinner to me, except when you eat a frozen dinner you intake a third of your daily sodium recommendation... which don't get me wrong, I do that a lot. But I try my best not too. MyFitnessPal loves to tell me when I've eaten too much sodium. And sugar. I surprisingly go over on sugar every day. Not a lot... it's not like I eat a box of cookies or anything.
So recipe numero uno; I'm really not sure where I found this originally. I was flipping through my little notebook of recipes and found this. Of course I can't follow anything exactly, so I made a few alterations. Essentially it's a Portobello and Asparagus Pasta Salad. I'm sure it would be good cold; I reheated it at lunch. Yum. This recipe makes three servings. Here's what to do:
1 pkg sliced portobello mushrooms (I didn't want to mangle them by getting whole caps. I did cut them once short ways in addition
to them already being sliced)
About 1 lb asparagus, cut into bite sized pieces
1 containers of grape tomatoes
2 servings (read the box) of uncooked penne pasta
1 ½ Tbsp of olive oil
Italian Seasoning
Cook your penne according to package directions. While that cooks, toss asparagus, mushrooms and tomatoes into a pan and cook until they are at desired doneness. I added some water to the pan and covered it for a while, steaming them a bit.
Combine olive oil and a generous helping of Italian Seasoning (I like the McCormick Grinder!). Mix that together and set aside. Drain pasta and return it back to the pot. Put about 1/3 of your spiced olive oil on the pasta and mix well. In a large bowl, combine pasta and your cooked vegetables. Top with the rest of the olive oil and combine well. Portion out evenly 3 ways and you're looking at 328 calories. This was actually very filling. This got me through to the end of the day.
As you may notice, I didn't add cheese to it. It's funny. I love cheese. But I've been leaving cheese out of a lot of recipes. It just doesn't need it. And I think it adds a lot of unnecessary fat. That's the perfect segway into the next recipe where I left the cheese out as well. I left it out of this because it has cheese in it already.
This next recipe was inspired by one found in my Betty Crocker 300 Calorie or less cookbook. The way I made it, it ends up being 325 calories, but that's just because my portion is a little larger. This recipe makes 4 servings.
1 10 oz pkg refrigerated cheese tortellini (you can use any kind, just factor in the change in calories when doing so, if you're watching that sort of thing).
1 container cherry tomatoes, halved
1 10 oz pkg frozen broccoli florets
1 1/2 tsp olive oil
¼ tsp garlic powder
¼ tsp crushed red pepper flakes
1 ½ Tbsp basil paste (it's these awesome things in the veggie area that I LOVE. You can use fresh basil too)
Cook the tortellini according to package directions, adding the frozen broccoli in the last 3 minutes of cooking. Frozen veggies will drop your water temperature, so it'll stop boiling. Don't worry. Just kick up your temperature a little and it will be hot enough at the end.
In a tiny, tiny bowl, combine oil, garlic powder, crushed red pepper and basil. Stir stir stir. Set aside. In a large bowl, add tomatoes. Add about ½ tsp of your oil and spice mixture to the tomatoes and gently toss. Once pasta and broccoli are finished, drain well. Add the pasta/veggie mixture to your bowl with the tomatoes and top with the remaining oil mixture. Combine gently as your tortellinis are delicate creatures.
This was VERY good... I ate it 2 hours ago and I could probably have a snack, but I'm not dying of hunger or anything.
Lastly, let's talk about my new slow cooker! So my Crock Pot is a hand-me-down from my dad (I mean, I stole it from my dad and he hasn't said anything, which he probably will now since he might actually read this. But he has one so he can't complain. Also I live 1000 miles away from him, so what's he gonna do about it? Hahaha). Whoa, digression. Anyhow, this hand-me-down Crock Pot is just fine. It does what it needs to do. Except it's one of those that doesn't have the lift out thing. So cleaning it takes FOREVER. You have to soak it, and soak it, and soak it. And scrub it in a very interesting fashion poised on the side of the sink.
So I bought a new one. It's beautiful and red. Amazon had it marked down from $66 to $18 so how on earth could I pass that up? I thought it would be fun to try some slow cooker recipes that I normally wouldn't go for because it's such a hassle to clean my other Crock Pot. I pretty much only use that one for pulled pork. Pulled pork is worth trying to clean something for three days after you enjoy it.
Here's what I've got cooking in it right now; Red Beans and Smoked Sausage. This will be served over couscous because 1) rice is okay, but a little boring and takes forever; 2) I just like saying couscous. The stats on this sans rice or couscous (couscous... couscous... couscous) is 287 calories and a nice 16 grams of protein. I didn't get to make it exactly how I'd planned because the grocery didn't have low fat smoked sausage today. Weird, huh? So here's how I made it; this is nearly a Cooking Light recipe:
3 cups water
1 cup dried red kidney beans (soak them first according to package directions. I did the quick soak method. They're not cooking for 16 hours so you really should prep them).
1 chopped yellow onion
1 chopped green bell pepper
¾ cup chopped celery
1 teaspoon paprika
1 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
½ tsp black pepper
½ of a 14 oz package of beef smoked sausage
3 garlic cloves, sliced thin
Combine everything into your slow cooker. The Cooking Light recipe says to use a 2-quart, but this filled my 4 quart pretty nicely. Cover and cook on HIGH for 5 hours. I'm going to take a look at it at 4 hours since this is the first time using my new slow cooker and I don't know how hot it gets. Really, the beans are all you have to worry about being done. The sausage is cooked. The veggies should be fine after 4-5 hours.
Fun fact; if you're wanting to salt this recipe, do it after it cooks. I learned this recently; if you salt the beans before they slow cook, something about the salt will keep them from cooking properly. How interesting.
Serve over your choice of grain and make sure you add the calories of that grain. It ain't free.
This has been a long post, so thanks for hanging in there. My weight loss this week was barely a blip on the radar. I'm the same weight today that I was on Monday so I might see another .3 loss like I did last week. And that's okay. It goes in waves. And so long as all this food frenzy didn't make me gain a lot, I'm satisfied.
I want to take a moment to mention something (someone) pretty awesome that came into my life recently (it's been a few months, but definitely recent if you compare it to how long my family members have been in my life). I've had a new boyfriend for a while and I can't help but give him a big shout out this week for how awesomely supportive he has been about my weight loss and how awesome he EATS! He's a pretty healthy guy and I would be lying if I said that being near someone who takes good care of themselves isn't seriously key to me being successful. I'm nearly 15 pounds down from our first date and that is so unlike anything I've ever experienced. So, thank you. I've known many sabateurs along my journey and he is the exact opposite of that. Weight loss is definitely a road you take alone... but having someone there being supportive is priceless. And not everyone gets that luxury. I'm a very lucky lady. Did I mention he likes my cooking? :) And he eats brussel sprouts. OMG you know you're so jealous of me right now.
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